Every tradie has a list of people they have already done good work for. They liked you, they trusted you, they paid you. And most of them have not heard from you since. That list is the cheapest source of new work you have, and it costs nothing to use.
Why it works
A stranger has to be convinced. An old customer already is. A quick, friendly text at the right time reminds them you exist, right when something needs doing. No ads, no lead fees, just a nudge to people who already rate you.
A text that does not feel salesy
Hi [name], it is [your name] from [business]. It has been about a year since I sorted your [job]. Worth a quick service check before summer? Happy to swing by. No rush either way.
That is it. Warm, specific, easy to say yes or no to. Send it to people you have not heard from in 6 to 12 months and you will be surprised how many reply.
The catch
To do this properly you need to know who to text, when they were last in, and what they had done, then write each one and actually send them. By hand, across a few hundred old customers, that is a weekend you will never get back, so it never happens.
None of it is hard. It is just one more thing to do at nine at night, which is why it does not happen. If you only automate one message, though, make it the one you cannot send at all: the reply to the call you just missed. BizEdge does one job: every call you cannot pick up gets a text back in seconds with your name and your business, and the caller's number lands on your phone. It is $49 a month plus GST, month to month, and the billing only starts once it has caught your first missed call. Setup is one code on your phone, and it works on Telstra, Optus and Vodafone.
A tool like ChatGPT can write the text for you too: how tradies can use ChatGPT.