The problem
Sarah Thompson runs TrustPlumb, a 6-engineer plumbing business based in Birmingham. In 2023, she had a problem she couldn't solve: her booking rate was stuck at 55%, despite a full marketing spend and a growing reputation.
"We were getting the calls," she says. "We just weren't converting them."
The issue was simple: her engineers were on-site, her one office admin couldn't handle the volume, and calls were going to voicemail. The conversion rate from voicemail to booking was 12%.
She tried three solutions before CallWrk:
- A virtual receptionist service — £800/month, but they didn't understand plumbing terminology and were booking jobs incorrectly
- Call answering service — answered calls but couldn't book jobs or integrate with her CRM (Commusoft)
- Hiring a second admin — £28,000/year, but she was often sick, on holiday, or unavailable at peak times
None of it fixed the core problem: coverage gaps at exactly the moments demand was highest.
The CallWrk deployment
TrustPlumb deployed CallWrk in September 2023. The setup took less than a day — CallWrk integrated directly with Commusoft, and Sarah's call flow was configured to her exact specifications.
Key configuration decisions:
- Burst pipe and gas leak calls: immediate routing to on-call engineer
- All other calls: AI books directly into Commusoft with full job details
- Out-of-hours calls: AI handles and books overnight, engineer team sees full schedule in the morning
- Missed calls: CallWrk sends an SMS to anyone who called and didn't speak to the AI
The results (first 90 days)
| Metric | Before | After |
|---|---|---|
| Call answer rate | 55% | 100% |
| Booking rate | 55% | 90% |
| Monthly jobs booked | 180 | 295 |
| Monthly revenue | £57,600 | £94,400 |
| Office staff | 1 | 1 |
"The biggest thing for me is that I don't think about missed calls anymore," says Sarah. "Before CallWrk, I'd finish a site visit and scroll through missed calls wondering what I'd lost. Now I don't. Every call is handled."
The £800/month CallWrk subscription has replaced a £28,000/year employee and delivers materially better outcomes.
What's next
TrustPlumb is now deploying CallWrk's Outbound Campaigns module to run automated annual boiler service reminders — targeting their 800+ past customers who have serviced boilers due for annual checks.
"If CallWrk converts even 15% of those," says Sarah, "that's another £38,000 in revenue we weren't getting before."