Appointment setting services for home improvement and automotive businesses

Appointment setting is the step between an enquiry and a sale: someone contacts the people who showed interest, has a short conversation and books them in with a salesperson. The salesperson then runs the survey, home visit, showroom visit or call.

The person or system doing it is the appointment setter. In software and consultancy sales that usually means cold calling or emailing other businesses. In home improvement and automotive it mostly means following up consumers who already asked for a quote, a brochure, a finance decision or a lease price, and getting a time in the diary before they go elsewhere.

Timing is the hard part. Research published in Harvard Business Review found that firms replying to an online lead within an hour were about seven times more likely to qualify it than firms replying later, and 23% of firms never replied at all (reported by SmartCompany). Most sales teams do their best with new enquiries; it is the ones that went quiet that tend to be left.

This service is for owners, directors and sales managers who want more appointments for their team from the leads they already pay for. It is not a recruitment page. Search results for appointment setting are full of job listings, so it is worth saying plainly: Setterly does the setting for you with AI, and there are no setter roles here.

It suits businesses that sell to consumers rather than to other businesses, where a person enquired about something for their home or their car. That includes:

• Home improvement: windows and doors, kitchens, conservatories, roofing, blinds, shutters, heating, solar and mobility. The home improvement version of this page is home improvement appointment setting.
• Home services: loft, insulation, cover plans and other services booked by homeowners.
• Automotive: car leasing brokers, car dealers and car finance brokers, where the next step is a callback with an account manager, a test drive or a showroom visit. See automotive lead reactivation.

You have four realistic options: employ an appointment setter yourself, outsource to an appointment setting company or call centre, hire an offshore virtual assistant, or use AI on your own leads. They differ mainly in who you manage and how you pay.

Employ an in-house appointment setter

An employed setter learns your products and works to your scripts. You also carry the salary, recruitment, training, management and cover. UK salary data puts the average appointment setter at about £28,210 a year (Jooble; Indeed UK has role level data), and business development roles at £26,000 to £40,000 base (Coburg Banks). If you go this way, our guides on how to hire an appointment setter and appointment setter salary in the UK cover the detail.

Outsource to an appointment setting company or call centre

Outsourced appointment setting means paying an agency to make the calls. Agencies charge a monthly retainer, a fee per appointment or a mix of the two (Belkins describes the models). On forums, owners who have tried both often say the per appointment model is easier to judge, because you only pay when something is booked (Insurance Forums discussion). The trade-off is that agency callers are working many clients at once. Our guide to outsourced appointment setting in the UK compares call centres, agencies and AI in more depth.

Hire an offshore virtual assistant

Offshore assistants cost less per hour. Vendor figures put them at about $8.50 to $14.50 an hour (VA Masters). You still write the scripts, check the calls and work out how they cover UK evenings and weekends, which is when many consumers reply.

Use AI on the leads you already have

An AI appointment setter texts each lead, holds the conversation and books the appointment. Setterly works this way, on your existing leads rather than bought or cold lists. It can reply at 9pm on a Sunday, and every conversation is written down, so you can read exactly what was said. More on the technology on our AI appointment setter page.

Appointment setting costs range from an hourly rate for an offshore assistant to a full salary for an employed setter, or a fee per appointment from an agency. The figures below come from the sources listed at the foot of this page. Several are US or vendor figures, so treat them as a guide rather than a quote.

Setterly sets appointments by texting your existing leads with AI and booking them into your calendar. There are three steps.

1. Step 1

   You share the leads you already have

   Old quotes, unsold enquiries, finance applications and lease enquiries. A CSV export is enough to start.

2. Step 2

   The AI has the conversation by text

   Each person gets a two-way SMS about what they originally asked for. The AI answers questions and offers two times.

3. Step 3

   The appointment goes in your diary

   A survey, home visit, test drive or callback is booked into your calendar with notes from the conversation.

The first message mentions what the person asked about and makes it easy for them to say they have sorted it. When they reply, the AI keeps the conversation going: it answers questions about the product or the process, handles “not right now” and price worries, and offers two times. Messages come from a dedicated number in your business name. For the first days of a campaign a person on our UK team reads every conversation as it happens, and we keep refining the wording with you after that.

Because Setterly only works the leads you give it, the quality of the appointments follows the quality of your own lead generation. The full process is on how it works, and the old leads side of it is on lead reactivation.

Each campaign worked leads the client already had. Clients who agreed to be named are named; the rest use the description they approved.

Home improvement

Cloudy2Clear, a UK misted double glazing repair franchise, sent 6,769 old enquiries. 4,321 people replied and 673 appointments were booked, with £107,000+ in closed revenue so far (Cloudy2Clear case study). A UK electric heating company had 105 home surveys booked in its first 30 days. A single-branch UK window and door installer had 22 appointments in its first 30 days, which led to £31,483 in closed revenue against £1,520 paid to Setterly (window and door case study).

Automotive and car leasing

CarFinance247, a UK car finance broker, had 114 appointments booked from 3,895 leads, running from December 2025 to January 2026, over Christmas (CarFinance247 case study). Two car leasing brokers, Flexed and Eden Leasing, had 109 and 93 callbacks booked from 1,135 and 725 leads. A UK franchised dealer group with 20+ sites had 91 appointments from 725 leads.

No. Setterly does not cold call and does not buy lists. It contacts people who already enquired with your business, about the product or service they asked for. That is a different job from the cold outreach many appointment setting companies sell to software and consultancy firms.

Working your own leads also matters for compliance. Under PECR's soft opt-in, a business can send marketing texts to people who enquired about similar products or services, as long as every message identifies the sender and offers a simple way to opt out (ICO guidance). We look at where your data came from with you before a campaign starts. How we handle data is on trust and GDPR.

Ask how they are paid, whose leads they contact and whether you can read every conversation. Those three answers tell you most of what you need to know. A few more worth asking:

• Is there a setup fee, a monthly retainer or a minimum term, and what exactly is charged for?
• Do they contact your existing enquiries, or cold lists they source themselves?
• Who agrees the wording and tone, and can you see the conversations as they happen?
• How do appointments reach your diary, and what notes come with them?
• How do they handle opt-outs and data under UK GDPR?

For Setterly the answers are: pay per booked appointment with no setup fee and no retainer; your own leads only; wording agreed with you and every conversation visible; bookings straight into your calendar with notes.

These pages go deeper on the parts of appointment setting owners ask us about most.

• Home improvement appointment settingThe home improvement version of this page
• Lead reactivation for home improvementOld quotes into booked appointments
• Automotive lead reactivationCar dealers and leasing brokers
• How to Hire an Appointment Setter: UK and US Costs (2026)Costs and steps if you want to employ one
• Appointment Setter Salary UK: What It Really Costs to Employ OneWhat a UK setter really costs
• Outsourced Appointment Setting UK: Call Centre, Agency or AI?Call centre, agency or AI compared
• AI Appointment Setting: How It Works and When It Beats HiringHow AI appointment setting works

You pay per booked appointment. There is no setup fee and no retainer. CRM integration is optional and carries a one-off fee, agreed with you before any work starts.

We talk through how the per appointment price works against your average job or deal value on a short call. Book a call.