Lead response for Melbourne landscaping and garden care

The quote goes to whoever answers first. Usually not you.

Nobody rings one landscaper and waits. Cushy answers every call and enquiry in under 60 seconds, has the conversation, and books the site visit in your calendar.

60 sec
Every enquiry answered
5 days
From setup form to live
$990
A month plus GST, no contract
Missed call · Dave M.
You were on a job
MISSED
8 seconds later
Cushy · replied in 8sHey Dave, sorry we missed you, we're on site. What's the job and whereabouts? Happy to lock you in.
After a quote on a full backyard reno in Balwyn 🙏
No worries. Are you free Thursday morning or would arvo suit better?
Thursday morning works
Booked · Thu 9:00am
In your calendar, details attached
WON
Missed callsWebsite formsFacebook messagesGoogle enquiriesAfter-hours textsWeekend callbacksQuote follow-ups
The problem

What's actually happening while you're on site

4:12pm, Tuesday

It rang out.

You were in a trench with an excavator running. By the time you climbed out and checked, they'd scrolled to the next landscaper on the map.

Missed call, Dave M.4:12pm
No reply sent
He rang the next mob4:14pm
They waited
Never
Two minutes was the whole window.
7:04pm, Wednesday

It sat in the inbox.

The enquiry landed while you were still packing up the trailer. You saw it the next morning. They'd already booked someone in for Saturday.

Website enquiry in7:04pm
She booked someone else8:30pm
You opened it9:11am
They waited
14h 07m
The job was gone before you read it.
6:40pm, Thursday

You replied, then went quiet.

You fired off a text from the ute at a red light. They asked what it'd cost roughly. That one sat until the weekend.

You: “Yeah, can do”6:40pm
Them: “Roughly how much?”6:52pm
You saw it2 days later
They waited
2 days
Warm lead, gone cold on the read receipt.

You can't answer a phone and lay a retaining wall at the same time. That's not a discipline problem, it's a systems problem, and it's fixable in five days.

Run your own numbers →

One backyard build is $25,000. This is $990 a month.

Plus GST, and winning the job shouldn't depend on whether you were near your phone.

The numbers

Why the first reply wins the job

Lead response automation is a system that replies to every enquiry within seconds and books the job, without anyone picking up the phone.

78%
of customers buy from the first business to respond
Widely cited across lead response research
21x
more likely to qualify a lead at 5 minutes than at 30
Lead Response Management Study, Oldroyd (MIT) with InsideSales, 2007
66.7%
booking rate on instant replies, versus 30% on standard follow-up
Chili Piper benchmark of 4 million form submissions, 2025
0.1%
of businesses actually reply inside five minutes
InsideSales lead response research

Read the full breakdown of how fast you should reply →

The maths

Work out what your reply time is costing you

Four questions. The last one is the only estimate in here, and it's yours.

Enquiries a month, the lot30
What's a job or a client worth?$12,000
Of the ones you quote, how many land?40%
How many a month don't hear back inside an hour?6
~14
A year, going to whoever answered first
$172,800
What that's worth in work

Cushy costs $11,880 a year before GST. You'd need about 8 extra jobs a year to cover it.

We assume half the enquiries you're slow on would have gone elsewhere anyway, and a 30% margin on the rest. The cost is quoted before GST because a registered business claims it back. On a maintenance round, count a client at what they're worth over a year rather than one visit. Directional, not a forecast.

How it works

Three steps. You do one of them.

Fifteen minutes of your time in total, start to finish.

  1. We do this

    We time you

    Twenty minutes. We look at where your enquiries land now and how long they actually sit. Usually you find out something you didn't want to know.

  2. We do this

    We build it

    Your number, your words, your calendar. Live in five days. You approve every line before it goes anywhere.

  3. You do this

    You turn up to the job

    It's already booked, with the details attached. You just drive there.

The full five days, step by step →

What you get

Everything, done for you.

  • Every enquiry answered in under 60 seconds, or that month is free
  • Missed calls get a text back in seconds, 24/7
  • Web, Facebook and Google enquiries answered instantly
  • It holds the conversation: what's the job, whereabouts, when suits
  • The booking lands in your calendar with the details attached
  • Your own Australian mobile number, so replies come back to you
  • Written in your words. You approve every line before it goes live
  • Monthly proof report: enquiries in, response time, jobs booked
  • Cancel by email any time. No contract, no exit call
The alternatives

Not your average answering service.

What it doesCushyAnswering serviceYou, on the tools
Replies in under 60 secondsYesNoNo
Answers at 6am on a SundayYesYesNo
Works out what the job actually isYesNoYes
Books it straight into your calendarYesNoYes
Sounds like you, not a call centreYesNoYes
Chases the quote afterwardsYesNoNo
Costs you$990/mo + GST$400 to $1,500/moA job a month

See the full comparison, including where an answering service wins →

The guarantee

Miss the minute, the month is free.

Every enquiry, under 60 seconds. If we ever miss it, that month is free.

Not a refund you have to chase. We track every response time and it's on your monthly report, so if the number slipped, you'll see it there before you have to ask.

And there's no contract. Cancel by email, any time, no phone call, no exit conversation.

Proof

We run it in our own family's business

I'm Jayden. Our family runs BCW Garden Care in Melbourne's east, about 15 enquiries a month. It has been running Cushy for three months.

Nobody stops mowing to answer the phone any more, and the 7pm enquiry gets a 7pm answer instead of waiting until nine the next morning.

Read the case study, including what we can't claim yet →

Every system I sell, I run in our own trade first.

What it costs

One price. No contract.

$990/month
plus GST
Up to 50 enquiries a month. Above that, $1,690.

No setup fee. Cancel by email any time. Miss the 60 seconds and that month is free. Charged as $1,089 a month including GST.

  • Live within 5 business days
  • Everything built, run and tuned by us
  • Pay 12 months up front, get it for the price of 10

Everything that's included, and what you don't pay for →

Questions

Common questions

Under a minute, usually within a few seconds. The moment a call rings out or a form is submitted, the reply is on its way. It works at 6am on a Sunday.

$990 a month plus GST for up to 50 enquiries, and $1,690 a month plus GST above that. What Stripe charges is $1,089 and $1,859, and if you're registered for GST you claim that back on your BAS. No setup fee and no contract.

Some will, most won't, and it matters less than you'd think. The setup asks you to paste your last three texts to a customer so we write it in your words, no “we value your enquiry”. You approve every line before it goes live.

No. Cancel by email any time, no phone call, no exit conversation. We'd rather keep you because it works.

Then cancel it. There's nothing to get out of. And any month where we miss the 60-second response on any enquiry is free regardless.

No. You get a dedicated Australian mobile number that sits alongside your existing one. Your number stays exactly as it is.

It says so and holds the conversation open rather than guessing. You get an alert, and the customer gets a reply from an actual person, you, without having lost the thread.

Yes, when it's done properly. We only reply to people who contacted your business first, every message identifies you by name, and every thread carries an opt-out that works instantly.

An answering service takes a message. This has the conversation, works out what the job is and where, and puts a booking in your calendar with the details attached. You don't ring anyone back.

Five business days from your setup form coming back. Fifteen minutes of your time in total.

More straight answers in the guides →

Too flat out to answer the phone?Good. That's the point.

Twenty minutes on a call. We'll time how long your enquiries actually sit, show you what we'd build, and you'll know by the end whether it's worth doing.

No contractLive in 5 daysMiss the minute, the month's free