Jamie Moksnes owns and operates JM's Hydro Wash, an exterior cleaning company based in St. Michael, Minnesota. The business handles house washing, pressure washing, soft washing, window cleaning, roof washing, restoration services, and holiday lighting. When you're the only person running the operation, you're also the only person answering the phone.
Challenge
Jamie is on the job most days. That means calls come in while the work is already underway.
"Being the owner and operator doing everything. All the daily duties. Then, I'm getting phone calls and having to stop and answer phone calls while I'm in the middle of a job. If I missed a call, it went to voicemail. If I was lucky, the customer would leave me a voicemail."
Most people who hit voicemail hang up. They don't leave a message and they don't wait for a callback. For a solo operator doing quotes on the fly, that's a real cost.
"It's tough to answer every single phone call. I just wanted something that would give me the ability to not have to answer the phone all the time, and the customer would still be able to interact with somebody rather than just leaving a voicemail."
Solution
Jamie set Upfirst up so incoming calls reach him first. If he's on a job and can't pick up, Upfirst answers immediately. There's no ring-out to voicemail.
"The nice thing with this is that I was able to set it up to where if the customer called me, then I had the first option to be able to answer. If I decline to answer the call, the AI assistant picks up right away, so there's always somebody there."
For exterior cleaning quotes, details matter. A window cleaning job requires knowing the number of panes, how they open, and whether any count as two. Upfirst handles that intake during the call, asking each question and capturing the specifics Jamie needs to prepare an accurate quote.
Jamie built the prompts himself, then tested how each conversation felt before going live. "You can go in there and you can give it all the prompts you want and then you can try it out and you can test it and see how it works, see how it flows for you."
Results
The setup holds up in situations Jamie didn't anticipate when he first signed up. Before a recent vacation, he added a note to Upfirst explaining when he'd be back. Every caller was told they'd receive a quote within 24 hours of his return.
"So like for instance, I just went on vacation, so I was able to throw a prompt in there on what days I was gone. Because at the end of the call, the way I have it set up is I have it informed the customer that they'll receive their quote within 24 hours, unless I need to follow up with them with any other questions. But I was able to throw in there that we're coming back on such and such a date. This is when Jamie will be following up with you."
Customers who call JM's Hydro Wash now reach someone every time. Jamie stays on the job. "Can definitely say it is very helpful."
