CATCHWELL
Automation · Melbourne

Nobody's beating you on the work. They're beating you on the follow-up.

You're the one answering calls mid-job, chasing quotes that went quiet, and doing invoices on Sunday night. Three jobs that have nothing to do with the work you're actually good at.

They don't need you. They need a system. I build it, run it, and stay out of your way.

Trades, clinics, nurseries, mobile services — anywhere the owner is also the receptionist.

Ring 0468 000 621

Let it ring out, hang up, and check your phone. It's a demo line — nobody answers, and nobody rings you back trying to sell you anything.

Whoever gets back first, wins.

Someone rings while you're mid-job. A quote goes out and sits there. An invoice slides past due and you're the one who has to bring it up. None of it is hard — it just needs doing right then, and there's nobody there to do it.

78%

of customers buy from the first business that responds. Not the cheapest, not the best reviewed — the one that got back to them.

more likely to get the conversation if you reply within the hour. Wait a day and it's sixty times worse.

Lead Response Management Study, 2007 · Oldroyd, McElheran & Elkington, Harvard Business Review, March 2011 (2,241 US companies audited).

Nobody types any of this. It all goes out on its own.

That's what lands on your customer's phone seconds after you don't pick up. You were still up the ladder, still with a patient, still out the back loading a truck. You didn't touch anything.

As far as they're concerned, you're already onto it. And when they text back, it comes through to your phone like any other message.

Dave's Plumbing
Sorry mate, on a job and can't get to the phone. It's Dave from Dave's Plumbing. Text me what you need and I'll ring you back this arvo.
Delivered · 9:41 am

Three systems. Same idea.

Something happened, and nobody followed up. That's the leak in all three.

Missed-call text-back

Your number stays your number. Nothing changes on the van, the website, or your Google listing.

I set up one code on your phone — takes about a minute — and from then on, any call you don't answer gets a text back in seconds. Your business name, your words.

Different message after hours, so someone ringing at 9pm doesn't get something that sounds like you're about to pick up. Same bloke rings three times, he gets one text, not three.

Quote and enquiry follow-up

You send the quote and hear nothing.

Day two, a short message asking if they got it. Day seven, one more. The moment they reply, everything stops — you're never chasing someone who's already answered.

You don't have to remember anything, and you don't have to feel pushy. It's the system being persistent, not you.

Invoice follow-up

Overdue by a day, a friendly nudge. A week, firmer. Two weeks, a text instead of an email. Three weeks, it flags the ones that genuinely need you to pick up the phone.

I write these with you, so they read like you and not a debt collector. Then every Monday, one message: what's outstanding, who's worst, what came in last week.

You still decide who gets chased and who gets left alone.

Most people start with one. They're built to run together, but I'd rather fix the leak that's actually costing you than sell you all three on day one. Tell me which one keeps you up and we'll start there.

The same Tuesday, twice.

Same job, same customers, same amount of work done. The only difference is who's doing the chasing.

Now
On the tools
Chasing calls, quotes, invoices
7am5pm11pm
With it running
On the tools
Yours
7am5pm11pm
A call at 11:20
You never find out it happened
Text back in seconds
Quote sent Tuesday
Chased when you remember
Chased on day two
Nine at night
Laptop out, invoices

Same job. Same customers. Same work done.
The difference is who's doing the chasing at ten at night.

It doesn't take much to pay for itself.

One job you'd otherwise never have known about. One invoice landing a fortnight earlier. One quote that turned into work because something followed up when you couldn't.

That's the month covered. Everything after it is money you weren't going to see.

And the rest of it isn't money at all. It's not taking the phone to dinner.

You don't have to believe me. I'll show you your own numbers.

Here's the honest problem with selling this: you have no idea how many calls you're missing. A missed call with no voicemail leaves no trace anywhere. It doesn't show up in your bank account as money you didn't make. It just quietly isn't there.

30

days free. Fully set up, fully running, nothing to pay. Not a trial that quietly bills you on day thirty-one — I'll tell you before anything changes.

0

guessing at the end of it. Every call gets logged — who rang, what time, what they got sent. At the end of the month I put that list in front of you.

If it's empty, you were right and it's cost you nothing. If there are fourteen names on it, you finally know what a month of missed calls has been costing you. Either way you find out, and either way you can walk.

How this actually goes.

A twenty-minute chat

Free, no obligation, mostly me asking questions. What gets missed, what eats your week, what you'd hand off tomorrow if you could.

Sometimes the answer is that you don't need this. I'll tell you if that's the case.

I set it up

About twenty minutes at your end. You keep your number. We write the messages together so they sound like you, not like software.

Then we test it standing there, so you've seen it work before I leave.

Then you forget about it

No app. No login. Nothing to check at the end of the day.

If something breaks, you text me and I fix it — usually the same day.

What it costs

First month free. Then $99 a month.

No setup fee. No contract. No minimum term. You want out, you text me and I turn it off that day.

First system$99 / month
Each system after that$69 / month
All three$199 / month
$99 is the founding rate, and it's for my first ten clients. It goes up after that — but not for you. Whatever you start on is the rate you stay on, for as long as you're with me.

Small on purpose.

You get my mobile, not a ticket number. No call centre, no offshore chat window, nobody passing you around.

I'm Callum. I've spent the last few years on both sides of this — labouring on sites, and doing sales for one of the bigger wholesale nurseries in Melbourne.

Both sides had the same problem, and it wasn't the work. The work gets done properly. It's everything around the work that leaks. Someone rings while you're mid-job, and by the time you get back to them they've already booked someone else. A quote goes out and sits there, because chasing it feels pushy. Invoices happen at nine at night because that's the only time there is.

None of that is really a business problem. It's a life problem. It's why people who are genuinely good at what they do still end up working seven days and taking the phone to dinner.

I understand the software and I understand the day. Most people building this stuff have only ever seen one of the two, which is why so much of it assumes you're sitting at a desk with both hands free. Nothing I build asks you to open an app while you're up a ladder.

I build these systems myself. Something stops working, you text me and I fix it — usually the same day.

I'm taking on a handful of businesses on purpose. I'd rather have five that work properly than fifty that half do.

The questions everyone asks

Do I need to change my number?

No. You keep the number that's been on the ute for six years. One code tells your telco to send unanswered calls my way instead of to voicemail, and you can undo it in ten seconds.

Why is it this cheap?

Because you'd be one of the first, and right now I want the proof more than I want the money. The rate goes up once I've got ten businesses running. If you're already on it, you stay on it.

Do I have to learn new software?

No. There's no app and no login. Texts come to your phone like any other text. If you never open anything, it still works.

What happens to my voicemail?

The text-back replaces it on unanswered calls. Most people who hit voicemail don't leave a message anyway — that's the whole reason this exists. But it's a real change, and I'd rather you heard it from me than found out on setup day.

Does the text come from my mobile?

No — it goes out from a dedicated number. Your business name is in the message, so they know exactly who it is.

What if it breaks?

You text me. Usually fixed the same day. I'm watching the logs too, so there's a fair chance I'll spot it before you do.