PHAM NEWS | SEPTEMBER 2026 Business Matters


Social media adding to workloads


More than three quarters (76%) of UK tradespeople and small business owners spend time every week creating or editing social media content for their business, according to a study by Markel Direct. The survey of 501 UK tradespeople


and small business owners found that 54% spend between one and three hours a week producing content, while 11% spend up to a full working day managing their social media presence. The research also found that 69%


have never paid someone to create content for them and 65% have never received social media training.


More than half (55%) said they feel pressure to post regularly, 73% believe customers expect businesses to be active on social media and 63% struggle to stand out. Nearly a quarter (24%) said they


have received negative comments online, 25% have deleted or edited posts following criticism and 38% have held back from posting due to concerns about negative reactions.


The survey found that 39% have


insurance covering legal issues linked to social media activity, while 47% do not and 8% are unsure. It also found that 19% do not always obtain client permission before sharing images or videos of completed work, and 28% would not know what to do if a client raised a legal concern. ◼ phamnews.co.uk/926/32


Keep customers clear on your arrival times


Travel Plan Tracker is a journey- tracking platform designed to help trade and field service businesses keep customers updated on arrival times. The platform sends customers a web link by SMS or email showing a technician’s estimated arrival time, journey progress and planned stops,


without requiring an app download. Designed to reduce uncertainty around appointments and cut “Where’s my engineer?” enquiries, it tracks individual journeys rather than continuously sharing a driver’s location. Drivers control when tracking starts, with it ending automatically


on arrival. The platform is available in 25 countries on iOS and Android, with a 30-day free trial for businesses to test the service before subscribing and integrating it into their existing customer communication processes. ◼ phamnews.co.uk/926/33


AI phone assistant catches calls


Perth-based technology firm Whoza.ai has launched an AI-powered phone answering service designed to help plumbers and heating engineers respond to customer enquiries while they are on site. The service answers calls, gathers details from customers and either books appointments or takes messages. According to a survey by Fix Radio of more than 220 tradespeople,


34% believe they have lost work because they were unable to answer the phone, while around six in 10 said they struggle to take calls while working. Whoza.ai estimates missed calls cost UK trades around £2.3bn a year in lost business. Dru McPherson (pictured), founder of Whoza.ai, says: “A missed call


is a lost customer, and most trades never even see it happen. We’re not pretending technology is the only answer. Fixing your voicemail message costs nothing and takes 20 minutes. But if the phone is ringing while you’re working, something has to catch it – and it has to actually help the caller, not just apologise on your behalf.” The company is candid about where the technology still struggles.


Voice AI can mishear postcodes, wrestle with a strong regional accent on a noisy site, and some callers hang up the moment they realise they are speaking to a machine. McPherson argues that any AI tool sold to the trades should be judged on one question above all: does it book the job, or just take a message and promise a callback? “Make sure the tradesperson gets the call they’d otherwise have lost,


and let them get on with the job in front of them,” McPherson says. “That’s the whole point of it.” ◼ phamnews.co.uk/926/34


17


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133-504


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