You're one of four quotes.
Shared-lead sites sell the same enquiry to several firms. You're competing on price before you've even spoken to the customer.
AI-powered advertising · Mid-Essex
More booked jobs. Less chasing.
Shift runs your ads, replies to every enquiry in under a minute, and books the appointment straight into your diary. You pay a small monthly base, then for results.
Tuesday
09:41
The problem
Most marketing doesn't fail at the ad. It fails after the click, when the enquiry waits, goes cold, and books someone else.
Enquiries go cold while you're on the tools.
People contact a few businesses at once. The one that replies first, and properly, is often the one that gets the visit.
You can't see what it actually earns.
Reports full of reach and clicks, not booked jobs. It's hard to know what's working, so it's hard to know what to keep paying for.
How Shift works
From first ad to booked appointment.
One joined-up system. AI does the heavy lifting at speed; a person makes every decision that matters.
01 · Strategy
We study your area before we spend a penny.
A free audit shows what competitors near you are running and where your enquiries leak. Then we build the offer, the landing page and the tracking.
- Competitor ads snapshot for your trade and towns
- An offer worth responding to
- Landing page and call tracking built to convert
02 · Ads
AI builds and tests. A person signs off.
We create and test ad variations on Meta and Google far faster than a traditional agency, then put budget behind the ones bringing real enquiries.
- Facebook, Instagram and Google
- Real photos of your work, never AI-generated people
- Runs from your own ad account, so you own it
03 · Instant reply
Every enquiry answered in under a minute.
Our AI assistant replies by text or WhatsApp, asks your qualifying questions and books a visit straight into your calendar, even at 9pm on a Sunday.
- Replies in seconds, 24/7
- Qualifies: job type, budget, timing, postcode
- Books into your calendar and hands you a summary
04 · Results
Every lead logged. Every pound visible.
Your dashboard shows every enquiry, where it came from and what happened next. You pay per qualified lead or booked appointment, and can dispute any that don't qualify.
- Live dashboard, not a monthly PDF
- Dispute any lead within 72 hours
- Clear invoices: base + results
Human-led. AI-powered.
AI for the speed. People for the judgement.
Customers can spot lazy AI a mile off, and it costs trust. So we use it where it makes you faster, and keep people where it matters.
AI What AI does
- Builds and tests ads in hours, not weeks
- Replies to every enquiry in seconds, 24/7
- Qualifies and books appointments into your diary
- Watches competitors and spots what's working
People What people do
- Set the strategy and the offer
- Sign off every ad before it goes live
- Use real photos of your real work, never AI-generated people
- Step in whenever a conversation needs a person
Your dashboard
Every enquiry. One place.
Log in any time to see every lead, every booking and exactly what you're paying for.
Illustrative example.
The maths
What is one enquiry worth to you?
A simple rule: spend around 10% of a job's value winning it. Move the sliders to see what you can afford per enquiry, and what a month could look like.
You can afford up to
£300
per enquiry and still keep marketing at 10% of revenue.
Jobs won per month5
Revenue from those jobs£60,000
Est. total cost (Shift + ad spend)£1,700
Marketing as % of revenue2.8%
Illustration only. Assumes a £300 base, £30 per lead and around £40 of ad spend per enquiry. Real results vary by trade, area and offer.
Who we help
Built for businesses where one enquiry is worth a lot.
Trades & home improvement
Fill the diary with jobs worth having.
Exclusive enquiries for high-value work, answered instantly and booked as surveys and quote visits.
KitchensExtensionsRoofingLoftsSolar & heat pumpsDriveways
Enquiry-led independents
More consultations. Fewer no-shows.
For local businesses that win customers through a call, a form or a booking, and where each one is worth hundreds or thousands.
Private dentalAestheticsSolicitorsWedding venuesEstate agents
Pricing
Pay for results, not hours.
A one-off setup, a small monthly base to keep things running, then a fee only when we deliver.
01 · Setup
from£750
one-off
- Strategy and competitor snapshot
- Landing page and tracking
- AI reply assistant built and trained
02 · Monthly base
from£300
per month
- Ad management and creative
- AI assistant running 24/7
- Live dashboard
03 · Per result
from£30
per qualified lead, or from £75 per booked appointment
- Exclusive to you
- Dispute any lead within 72h
- Only billed when it qualifies
Ad spend is paid directly to Meta or Google from your own account. Full pricing
Founding clients
We're taking on five founding clients in Mid-Essex.
No made-up testimonials here. We're new, we're local, and we'd rather earn our case studies with you. Founding clients get preferential pricing and a direct say in how the service grows.
Apply with a free audit5
Questions
Straight answers.
What does Shift do?
Shift is an AI-powered advertising agency in Mid-Essex. We run Meta (Facebook and Instagram) and Google ads for trades and enquiry-led local businesses, reply to every enquiry within a minute using an AI assistant, and book appointments straight into your diary. You see every lead in your own dashboard.
How much does Shift cost?
Setup starts from £750 one-off, then a monthly base from £300, plus a fee per result: from £30 per qualified lead or from £75 per booked appointment. Your ad spend is paid directly to Meta or Google from your own account. We are not VAT registered, so the prices shown are what you pay.
What counts as a qualified lead?
A qualified lead is a unique enquiry from a real person, inside your service area, for a service you offer, with working contact details. If a lead does not meet that definition you can dispute it from your dashboard within 72 hours and you will not be charged for it.
Are the leads shared with other businesses?
No. Every enquiry Shift generates goes only to you. That is the main difference from shared-lead websites, where the same enquiry is often sold to several firms.
Do I own my ad account and data?
Yes. Ads run from an ad account in your name, your ad spend is billed to you by Meta or Google, and your leads and customer data are yours. If you ever leave, everything stays with you.
Will my ads look AI-generated?
No. AI helps us write, test and optimise ads quickly, but a person signs off every ad before it runs, and we use real photos and video of your work. We do not use AI-generated people in ads.
Which areas do you cover?
We focus on Mid-Essex, including Chelmsford, Braintree, Witham, Maldon, Colchester, Halstead, Coggeshall, Tiptree and the surrounding villages, and can run campaigns anywhere in Essex.
Is there a minimum contract?
We ask for three months to start, because ad campaigns need a few weeks of data to learn and settle. After that it is rolling monthly.