CPA

Pay per appointment

You pay for a meeting, or a booking.

The most expensive opportunity per unit, and sometimes the cheapest customer. It all turns on one line in the agreement: the moment the fee falls due.

Part 01 CPA

What the money actually buys

A slot in your diary, with a name in it.

This is the inquiry taken two steps further. Somebody has already found the customer, spoken to them, checked what the job is and where they are, and put a time in your calendar. You turn up, or your technician does, and the fee falls due according to whatever the agreement says triggers it.

SQL

Sales qualified lead

Someone has spoken to this person and confirmed there is a real opportunity: the right job, the right area, a budget that is not fantasy, and a willingness to meet. That check is what separates an appointment from a lead.

Step by step

How far along the path does your fee sit?

  1. 01 A lead appears The provider runs ads, buys leads, or works its own network.
  2. 02 Somebody calls them Job, area, timing and budget are checked by a person, not a form.
  3. 03 A time is agreed The slot goes into your diary. Some agreements bill right here. Billed if the trigger is booked
  4. 04 The customer shows up Confirmations the day before are what separate an eighty percent show rate from a fifty.
  5. 05 You quote Your price, your terms, your reputation. This part is not outsourced.
  6. 06 They agree to the work A booked job, which is still not a finished one.
  7. 07 The job is done and paid The only step that puts money in. Agreements that bill here cost the most per unit. Billed if the trigger is completed

Find your fee on this line before you sign. Everything between your trigger and the last step is risk you are carrying.

An appointment

A homeowner agrees to meet you Tuesday at two to look at a garage door that keeps jamming. You attend, you inspect, you quote $780. They say they will think it over. Under most appointment agreements, the fee is earned. You have bought the meeting, not the decision.

A booked job

Different deal. The customer has already agreed to the work and the price, and your technician is scheduled to carry it out. Further along, and priced accordingly. Still not the same as a finished job with money collected, because customers cancel, reschedule and change their minds.

Remember

Appointment, booked job and completed job are three different products. Know which one you are buying.

Part 02 CPA

What triggers the fee

One line in the agreement, most of the risk.

Providers set the trigger at different points along the same path, and each step later is better for you and more expensive per unit. There is no universally correct answer, only one you should choose deliberately instead of discovering on the first invoice.

Trigger Booked
You pay when A time goes in the calendar
Who carries the risk You. No shows are yours
Trigger Attended
You pay when The customer is there and you meet
Who carries the risk Shared. They chase the confirmation
Trigger Quoted
You pay when You deliver a real quote
Who carries the risk Shared, and leans your way
Trigger Sold
You pay when The customer signs
Who carries the risk Mostly the provider
Trigger Completed and paid
You pay when The job is finished and money is in
Who carries the risk The provider, and the price reflects it

The further down this table you go, the more you pay per unit, and the fewer arguments you have later.

THE MATH CPA
  • Fee for 1 appointment$50
  • You attendedYes
  • Quote given$780
  • Customer agreed to buyNot yet
You still owe $50

Example numbers. If your rule is they make money when I make money, the agreement has to say the fee is due only after the job is finished and payment is collected. Nothing else enforces it.

You might say

“Can I just pay when the job is done?”

The honest answer

You can ask, and some providers will do it, at a considerably higher price and often with a term attached. It is a fair trade: they are carrying your risk, so they charge for it. What is not fair is a booked trigger at a completed price.

Part 03 CPA

Show rates, cancellations and the small print

The gap between booked and attended is where money disappears.

Ask any provider what share of their booked appointments are actually attended. Quality focused programs quote high figures, often in the eighties or better. Appointments built from cold lead lists can be far lower. The difference is not a detail. It is the difference between a workable price and a painful one.

What moves a show rate

  • How long between the booking and the appointment. Same week beats next month
  • Whether anyone confirms the day before, by text and by phone
  • Whether the customer chose the time or was handed one
  • Whether the customer knows what the visit is, who is coming and what it costs
  • Whether they were sold the meeting or agreed to it

Ask before you pay

  • ? What is your show rate over the last three months, in my trade?
  • ? Who confirms the appointment, and when?
  • ? What happens if the customer cancels before I arrive?
  • ? What happens if they are not there when I turn up?
  • ? Can I reject an appointment that is clearly outside my area or trade, and by when?
  • ? What if the same customer is sent to me twice?
  • ? Is there a minimum volume, a term, or a setup fee on top?

You might say

“Two of the four last month were not home.”

The honest answer

Then the question is what the agreement says about attendance, and what the provider does to confirm. If the trigger is booked and the show rate is poor, you are funding their lack of confirmation calls. That is a fixable conversation, and if it is not fixable, it is a reason to leave.

Part 04 CPA

Flat fee or a share of the job

Two pricing shapes, two different risks.

Some providers charge a fixed amount per appointment. Some take a percentage of the job value. Some do both: a smaller fixed fee, plus a share of anything sold. Each shape suits a different kind of business.

$500 to $800 job

$200 to $250

$10,000 to $50,000 project

$3,000 to $5,000

Smaller jobs

Often a higher %

Illustrations, not standard rates. Published figures for home improvement appointments sit anywhere from roughly $100 upward depending on trade and market. Large projects often carry lower percentages or a cap.

Flat fee

Predictable, easy to budget, and it rewards you when you sell a big job. It punishes you when the appointment turns out to be a small repair.

Percentage

Scales with the work, so a small job costs you less. But your best month is also your most expensive, and the sum only works if the percentage leaves real profit.

The check to run before you agree

  1. 1 Take a realistic average job value for the work these appointments bring
  2. 2 Subtract labor, materials, vehicle, and your overhead share
  3. 3 What is left is the profit that has to cover the fee
  4. 4 Divide the fee by your close rate, because you pay for every appointment and win only some
  5. 5 If the answer eats most of the profit, the price is wrong for your business, however good the appointments are
THE MATH CPA
  • 4 appointments at $50$200
  • Quotes given4
  • Jobs won1
  • Job value$780
  • Profit on that job before marketing$310
Where you actually landed Up $110

Example numbers. One win in four covers the fees at this price. Put the fee up, or let the close rate slip, and the same month turns negative, which is why you run this sum with your own fee and your own close rate.

Remember

A booked job only helps your business if the numbers work. Run the sum before you sign, not after the third invoice.

Keep reading

The other ways you can be charged

Most owners are paying two or three of these at once without ever comparing them on the same page. Here is the rest of the set.

CPC

Pay per click

You pay for a visit.

Read it → CPL

Pay per lead

You pay for an inquiry.

Read it → Call

Pay per call

You pay for a conversation.

Read it →
Back to the plain guide → Get your free audit →