Michael Cooper runs Coop Visuals, a web design and local SEO shop in Fort Myers, Florida. He builds websites and manages Google Business Profiles for small businesses across Southwest Florida.
"My name is Mike Cooper. I'm the owner of Coop Visuals," he says. "So, we do some marketing for like small businesses."
His entire job is getting a client's phone to ring. That made the state of his own phone hard to ignore.
The Challenge
Michael asks every prospect a version of the same question.
"That's been the biggest thing for me is how much does a missed call mean to you?" he says. "Like, what's the value that's associated with that?"
He knew the answer for his own business. Calls came in all day, and he picked them up. Most of them were junk.
The calls that did matter needed real answers. People wanted pricing, they wanted to know which service fit, and they wanted a time on the calendar. Sending them to voicemail was not an option he was willing to take.
The Solution
Michael started looking for a service that could carry an actual conversation instead of taking a message.
"Having this kind of service where they can answer the call. They can answer questions about pricing," he says. "They can even get the scheduling taken care of and get them on the books for an appointment in that week."
He had a specific list, and most tools missed part of it.
"There was some pretty specific things I was looking for, and Upfirst seemed to be the one that kind of filled all those boxes," Michael says.
Setup decided it. "This one seemed to be the most ready to go out of the box," he says.
Upfirst now answers for Coop Visuals and fields the questions callers lead with. "It's handling all the FAQ questions and stuff like that," Michael says.
A caller asking about cost gets a real answer and a next step. "I'd be happy to help with that," the agent says. "Are you interested in pricing for a brand new website, a redesign of an existing site, or one of our other services?"
Michael sees every call without picking up the phone. "Like, just being able to get notified with the text message and email notification summaries of the calls that come in," he says.
The Results
The first month put a number on the problem.
"Like, the first month alone, it was able to scan out like probably at least 80 spam calls that were coming in," Michael says. "And so, it's situations where I was answering those during the day anyway. Being able to save me a few hours a day of not having to just answer or answer junk calls has just been amazing."
Those hours go back into client work. The real callers still get a fast, professional answer and a spot on the calendar.
Michael now recommends Upfirst to the trades businesses he builds websites for. "I have a few local business trades that I work with. Some clients. And so, it's like a HVAC company, a roofer," he says.
His pitch to them comes straight from the job site.
"The biggest selling point I've told to them is like, 'Hey, if you're at a job and you're on a roof or you're installing a new unit or something like that, and it's just you,'" Michael says. "Or like, sometimes the situation is a guy and his wife running the business, and if nobody's there answering the phone, they're just going to call the next person anyways."
For a business that sells phone calls, the phone finally works the way it should.
"Honestly, I've just loved it," Michael says. "It's been a really cool tool that I've been able to use for my business."