Glossary
Terms of the trades
Trade, phone and marketing language in plain English.
- A2L refrigerant
- A lower-toxicity, mildly flammable refrigerant class. R-454B and R-32 are common examples.
- Abandonment rate
- The share of callers who hang up before reaching a person.
- AFCI
- Arc-fault circuit interrupter, a device that helps prevent fires caused by arcing.
- AHJ
- Authority having jurisdiction, the office that enforces code locally.
- Answer rate
- The share of inbound calls a person actually answers.
- ASA
- Average speed to answer, how long callers wait for a person.
- Blended CPL
- Cost per lead averaged across campaign types.
- Board fill
- The share of available schedule slots that are booked.
- BoardPilot
- The ProCall Field feature that finds open slots and helps fill them.
- Booking rate
- Booked appointments divided by live conversations.
- Branded search
- Ads triggered by someone searching your company name.
- Connect rate
- Live conversations divided by dials.
- CSR
- Customer service representative.
- DNC
- Do Not Call, including the national registry and state lists.
- Equity mining
- Working your existing customer list on purpose to find customers ready for service or replacement.
- FSM
- Field service management software, used for scheduling, dispatch and invoicing.
- GFCI
- Ground-fault circuit interrupter, a device that protects people from shock.
- LSA
- Local Services Ads, Google's pay-per-lead format for local service businesses.
- No-charge visit
- A complimentary inspection or safety check offered to get a technician in the home.
- Non-branded search
- Ads triggered by general searches such as "AC repair near me."
- Performance Max
- A Google Ads campaign type that runs across Google's channels.
- SEER2
- A seasonal cooling efficiency rating for air conditioners and heat pumps.
- Service line
- The pipe that brings water from the main to a home.
- Shoulder season
- The mild months between peak heating and cooling.
- Show rate
- Shown visits divided by booked visits.
- Speed to lead
- How quickly someone first tries to reach a new lead.
- TCPA
- Telephone Consumer Protection Act, the federal law on many calls and texts.
- Tonnage
- An air conditioner's cooling capacity. One ton equals 12,000 BTU per hour.
- UEF
- Uniform Energy Factor, the efficiency rating for water heaters.
- Zip clustering
- Booking nearby jobs together to reduce drive time.
Published by Service ProCall, which sells services to home service contractors. We name our sources and say when we are talking about our own products. Last reviewed November 2026.