The Lead Engine Guarantee

Shown versus booked, and why the word matters

A booked appointment is a slot on a calendar. Somebody agreed to a time. That is all the word carries. A shown inspection is a different event entirely: the decision maker was present, your inspector arrived, and the roof was actually looked at. One is an intention, the other is work that happened.

The distinction matters because the two words are used interchangeably in this industry, and the arithmetic between them is not small. Take any vendor promising ten booked appointments a week. Ask what share of those bookings turn into an inspection that takes place. If the answer is somewhere in the region of half to six in ten, that ten becomes five or six real inspections on your estimator's week. The promise did not change. The number you can actually work did.

So a promise of ten booked and a promise of six shown are not a bigger number and a smaller number. They can be the same number described two ways, and the honest version is the one that counts the inspections. We publish shown for exactly that reason: it is the only unit that maps to your cost, because an estimator's drive time is spent whether or not anyone is home.

Read every vendor promise the same way, including ours. Ask which word they used, ask them to define it, and ask what happens to the number when an appointment does not take place. A vendor who counts bookings has no reason to care what happens after the calendar invite goes out. A vendor who counts shown inspections has to care about the confirmation, the read-back and the reminder, because those are the only things that hold the number up. Our Appointment Standard exists to hold it up, and the short definition sits on what is a shown roof inspection.

The seven checkpoints

1. 01

   Homeowner identity and property ownership confirmed

   Verified: The rep confirms they are speaking to a person who owns the property, by name, and that the name matches the address on the record.

   Fails when: Renter, tenant, or a caller who cannot confirm ownership.

2. 02

   Property inside the contractor's approved service area

   Verified: Every appointment is checked against the zip list and drive radius you approved at kickoff.

   Fails when: Address outside your approved zips or drive time.

3. 03

   Roof age and reason for the quote documented

   Verified: Approximate roof age, roof type where the homeowner knows it, and the actual reason they want a quote: a leak, a storm, a failed inspection, an insurance letter, a real estate transaction, or a planned replacement.

   Fails when: No stated reason, or pure price shopping with no roof issue.

4. 04

   Decision maker confirmed to be present at the appointment

   Verified: We ask directly whether anyone else is involved in the decision, and if so we book a window when that person is also home.

   Fails when: Decision maker unavailable at the proposed time.

5. 05

   Specific appointment window agreed and read back

   Verified: Not a vague day.

   Fails when: Homeowner will not commit to a specific window.

6. 06

   Calendar invite issued with a unique reference ID

   Verified: The appointment lands on your calendar with a unique reference ID, the qualification notes attached, and confirmation sent to the homeowner.

   Fails when: Invite not accepted by the calendar, or a duplicate of an existing booking.

7. 07

   Final internal QA review before release

   Verified: A second person reviews the recording or notes against checkpoints one through six before the appointment is released to you.

   Fails when: Any earlier checkpoint unmet on review.

The full detail on each checkpoint, including how it is adapted for commercial and property manager appointments, is on the Appointment Standard page.

What happens if an appointment fails a checkpoint

It is replaced at no charge. That is the whole remedy and the whole process.

There is no dispute process, no claim window and no panel deciding whether you are right. You tell us which appointment and which checkpoint it failed, and we replace it. The reference ID issued at checkpoint six is how both sides talk about the same appointment, so there is nothing to argue about in the first place.

What happens if we miss the weekly number

We keep calling at no additional cost until you are there.

The weekly number is the commitment. The calling behind it is our problem, not something we bill you more for when a market runs cold or a week runs short. If the shown inspections are not on your calendar, the dialing continues until they are.

What the guarantee does not cover

We guarantee inspections shown. We do not guarantee jobs closed, and we do not guarantee revenue.

What happens once your inspector is on the roof is outside our control and inside yours. Your close rate depends on your pitch, your pricing, your financing options, your crew availability and how fast you follow up on the estimate you leave behind. Two contractors working identical appointment volume in the same market routinely close at very different rates, and the difference is not the appointments.

We also do not guarantee that a homeowner will buy, that an insurance claim will be approved, or that a commercial building will move on a capital project this quarter. Anyone guaranteeing those things is guaranteeing something they cannot control. What we control is whether a qualified decision maker is standing there when your inspector arrives, and that is what is written down above.

Questions to ask any appointment setting vendor

Ask us these too. The answers are the whole comparison.

1. Do you guarantee appointments booked or appointments shown?
2. What is your replacement policy, in writing?
3. Is the appointment exclusive to me, or sold to other contractors?
4. Who makes the calls, and where are they based?
5. What qualification happens before an appointment hits my calendar?
6. What is the contract length and the notice period?

Frequently asked questions