😬 Your voicemail just lost you a job.

Here's the fix:

March 27, 2026

This week’s special episode of SBM is presented by Podium

This week's episode is brought to you by Podium.

Podium deploys AI Employees that help contractors turn every conversation (text, call, or webchat) into revenue. Trusted by 9,000+ home service businesses, Podium captures and converts leads 24/7, driving both new business and repeat customers.

500+ Voice AI Employees. Conversion rates up to 10x higher than voicemail. A 4.8-star mobile app. 200+ integrations. And a 92% five-star rating earned over a decade of delighting customers.

FULL EPISODE BREAKDOWN:

Let me ask you something honest.

Last week, how many times did your phone ring while your CSR was already on a call? While a tech was mid-install? After 6 p.m.?

What happened to those calls?

Here's the real cost: it's not just one missed call. It's the customer who called back once, didn't get an answer, and Googled the next name on the list. It's the $8,000 install that went to the guy down the road—and you never knew, because you were busy running your business.

I hear a version of this story from contractors every single week.

On this episode of Service Business Mastery, we sat down with Dennis Steele, co-founder of Podium, to talk about what the most forward-thinking contractors are doing about it.

The short answer: they're hiring an employee who doesn't take breaks, never misses a call, and can handle multiple conversations at once—at any hour of the day.

It's not a chatbot. It's an AI agent. And there's a difference.

A chatbot answers. An AI agent acts—booking jobs, scheduling appointments, updating your calendar, following up on leads. All while your team focuses on the work that actually requires humans.

Podium's Voice AI Employees are currently converting at up to 10x the rate of voicemail. For every call that hits your voicemail, you're statistically giving work away.

If you want to understand how this actually works—and what contractors are doing right now to implement it—this episode is the clearest breakdown we've done.

A BIG THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS
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Thanks for being part of the Service Business Mastery community. Your commitment to growing a better business inspires everything we do.

Talk soon,
Josh & Tersh