📪 HH #103: The New Advantage in Junk Removal

Justin Hubbard
Sep 20
4 min read

TL;DR

Customer service used to separate you from the competition. Then it was websites, social media, and online booking. Today, those are just table stakes. The new competitive edge is AI.

In my business, every lead—whether it comes from a form, text, chat, or phone call—is answered instantly by AI. It follows up automatically, books jobs faster, and keeps customers from slipping away to a competitor. On top of that, AI supports my team by answering questions, quoting jobs, and reducing the constant interruptions that kill productivity.

This setup means no lost calls, no missed opportunities, and more time to focus on running the business instead of chasing the phone. Back in 2014, fast callbacks gave you an advantage. Now, adopting AI does. The haulers who integrate it today will be the ones everyone else is scrambling to catch tomorrow.

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Full Newsletter 👇

Back in the day, having above-average or excellent customer service was enough to separate you from the rest of the industry. You answered the phone. You called people back right away. You did the right thing, showed up with a smile, and did a good job. That was enough to get ahead.

When I started back in 2014, it was basically my company and a few big franchises in town. A completely different scenario than today. The small local hauler really had the advantage. We used simple tactics like guaranteeing a call back within 30 minutes if we missed you. We made sure everyone knew we were truly local—not some franchise pretending to be. We went above and beyond, and that alone gave us a competitive edge.

But those days are long gone.

Since then, competition has tripled in my area—and it’s the same across the country. What used to give you an edge is now the bare minimum. Even technology, which was once a huge differentiator in such a low-tech industry, has become standard. A clean website, social profiles, online booking—all of that is now expected by consumers.

And now, we’re at the next revolution: AI.

This is the new edge. Most businesses haven’t caught up yet. If you already have strong customer service and basic technology in place, AI is where you can pull ahead again.

How I Run My Business

Here’s how we use it day-to-day. First, every form on my website automatically pushes straight into our system. It doesn’t just sit in an inbox waiting to be handled by an admin.

The second a customer fills out a form, it drops into our CRM, and the system instantly starts following up by text and email. These are not canned, robotic responses. These are natural, human-sounding messages that actually feel like I wrote them (bc I did of course lol).

That’s important to note, because most people need five touch points before they make a decision. With this setup, I don’t lose leads just because I couldn’t call back fast enough.

Next, our website has an AI chatbot that’s trained specifically on my business—our services, our pricing ranges, our FAQs, even the way I talk. It answers customer questions in real time, 24/7. When the conversation is done, it emails me all the details so I know exactly what happened. Customers don’t leave my site confused or waiting—they get what they need right away, which keeps them from jumping to the next hauler down the list.

On the phone side, we use AI voice agents. Every call is answered, even if my admin team is putting out a fire, or probably in your case, out doing a job or driving the truck.

My AI voice agents sound natural—like real people, though they don’t pretend to be. They capture caller information, send it straight to my team, and drop it into the system so the same text and email follow-ups start automatically. I never worry about missing a call, and I never lose a job because I couldn’t get to the phone in time.

Check out an example of my AI voice agent here

As an aside, I wanted to include this message I sent someone on IG because it's relevant: "About 70% of people won’t leave a voicemail if you miss their call. So if 10 people try to reach your business and you don’t answer, you’ve likely lost 7 of them to a competitor. Since you usually close about half the jobs you get, that’s around 3 to 4 jobs gone. At $400 average revenue per job, that’s about $1,400 in lost revenue every week you miss 10 calls. Over a year, that adds up to more than $72,000 left on the table."

And what's been a real game-changer for company: my team uses the Hauler’s Edge AI. They can ask it to quote jobs more accurately and consistently—whether it’s in person or over text. They use it to get guidance on completing difficult tasks without blowing up my operations manager's phone all day.

You’d be amazed how often you get interrupted in this business, which makes it almost impossible to stay focused on the bigger things you should be working on. With this system, my crew has the answers they need, and I and my ops guys get our time back.

Why This Matters

This setup may sound fancy, but here’s what it really does: it makes sure no lead falls through the cracks. Calls, texts, forms, chats—it all flows into one place, and customers get followed up with instantly and consistently.

The customer feels taken care of. Your team feels supported. And you can focus on running the business instead of being chained to the phone.

Back in 2014, answering calls fast gave you an edge. Then it was having a good website. Today, the new edge is AI. The haulers who adopt it now will be the ones others are trying to catch in the years ahead.

If you want to learn more about running something like this inside your business, reply to this email.

Now that's the Haulers' Edge. ✌️