The steering rules
Price questions route to the estimate. When a lead asks “how much for a 400 square foot garage floor,” the honest answer is that it depends on condition, prep, and options, and the useful answer is a free estimate visit. Quoting numbers over text anchors the lead to a guess, invites comparison shopping on a number you have not scoped, and loses jobs you would have won in person. Ares deflects pricing naturally and offers times instead. Concrete times beat open questions. “Would Tuesday afternoon or Wednesday morning work?” converts better than “when are you free?” Ares reads your calendar and proposes real slots. Qualification happens inside the conversation. Service area, project type, and timing get established naturally across the exchange, not as a form-style interrogation. Leads outside your area or outside your services get closed out politely and tagged, so your calendar only carries real prospects.Around the appointment
- Confirmation: the booking is placed on your calendar and moved to the booked stage in your pipeline immediately.
- Reminders: the lead gets reminded before the appointment to cut no-shows.
- Reschedules: handled in conversation and moved on the calendar, not left to memory.
- No-shows: flagged to you, then re-engaged to rebook rather than written off.
What you control
Tell Ares in chat, once, and it sticks:- Which calendar bookings go on, and buffer rules around slots
- Minimum notice (“nothing same-day”, “nothing before 9am”)
- Which services warrant an estimate visit versus a phone call
- Territory boundaries, by city or radius