The Phone Is Ringing Less This Year For Everyone. Something Has Changed.

A lot of owners are noticing this year that while their phone isn’t totally dead, it is still quieter: even during periods that used to dependably bring in business in other years.

We know how it is: that creates a low-grade anxiety. You start checking reports more often, and you wonder if something broke. Eventually you have to ask if it’s just you, or if something serious has changed.

Well, it’s definitely not just you. We can tell you that something has, indeed, changed.

What’s Actually Happening This Year

Homeowners are still spending money this year, but they’re deciding on what to buy more cautiously. They’re spending more time doing research, and they’re spending as little as possible when they do call. They’re even waiting longer into their research before making a call.

It’s not exactly less demand, but it is delayed demand, especially for larger purchases.

This year, uncertainty in the market has caused people to hesitate. They’ve become more deliberate about what they’re doing, and they want reassurance before they engage with businesses. The change matters because the longer purchase cycle means businesses must stay top-of-mind for longer while homeowners are deciding how to move forward.

Don’t “Panic Respond”

When you start getting less apparent interest in your business, the knee-jerk sort of panic responses are understandable. You start running ads that feel more transactional, you run promotions, and you lower prices. You definitely go after every lead you can.

We know this can create activity in the short term, but unfortunately it also can train the market to wait for discounts and better deals. It has the added disadvantage of attracting customers who are already price-focused and impatient.

One home-service business we spoke to said they had experienced this firsthand when they leaned into discounts after their query volume stayed frighteningly low for too long. Though they started to receive calls again, their margins were lower. The phones were ringing and messages were arriving in the inbox, but it just wasn’t happening for the right reasons, and the situation became more stressful.

We can contrast this with another company we talked to in a similar market who did not resort to the panic response, and resisted the urge to change anything about their business. They just stayed visible and consistent and kind of gritted their teeth through the rising discomfort.

What happened was that their query volume declined, yes, but eventually stabilized. More importantly, the quality of conversations improved. They had fewer people shopping around on price while also talking to more homeowners who had already decided they wanted them.

In summary, we think this year is rewarding steadiness.

Trust Is Important

Homeowners look for shortcuts when they feel uncertain about the market, and they don’t want to evaluate every option. This is where it can help a lot to have built-up trust.

Businesses who’ve been consistent in presenting themselves a single way just sit in the background while homeowners think about what they need and compare between various services. They don’t disappear from consideration when decisions slow down.

When the call finally happens, the caller is sure of themselves and they press through the deal with confidence.

We’ve seen this across most of our customers: companies that invested in long-term visibility felt fewer swings this year. Still: the trust our customers had accrued kept their businesses more stable than it otherwise would have been.

How Not To Panic

I don’t recommend overhauling everything this year. Just focus on reinforcing your fundamentals. A few practical adjustments help:

Keep yourself visible, even when calls slow down, because being silent can cause the public to doubt you, and reinforce who you are by going beyond just what you offer customers. If people are familiar with you, they’re more likely to go with you. It’s a simple fact.

Try, also, to avoid offering discounts as a reflex, because price cuts now can multiply your business issues in the future.

Finally, try to pay attention to the quality of your calls, which can be considerably more important than their quantity.

To show you what we mean, a client of ours had fewer inbound leads early this year, but they also noticed that decision timelines got shorter once calls had occurred. The trust had already been built, so while the phone was ringing less, closing was happening faster. That’s what you call positioning.

In Short

This year feels different because it is different, but fewer calls or messages don’t necessarily mean your business is about to shrink. It might just mean that customers are deciding more carefully if they need to spend the money. Business owners who react calmly tend to come out stronger, while those who overcorrect tend to create problems that last longer than the slowdown.

I advise against trying to force your business to have a large volume right now. The goal should be to stay credible, familiar, and steady while people decide what to do. 

That way, when they do pick up the phone, they’re choosing a business they already trust.

And that choice is usually made far before the call ever happens.

If you’d like to receive the same “state of the economy” as I’m giving my clients, book time on my calendar and let me know.