Intro: The Silent Phone Problem

Every van driver has been there.
One week you’re flat out, the next week… nothing.
No calls.
No messages.
No jobs.

Most people blame Facebook, or “January’s always dead”, or “Google is weird lately.”

But here’s the truth most driver-operators never hear:

Your phone goes quiet long before your work does — because of small tech mistakes that block your customers without you even knowing.

And they’re fixable in minutes.

Let’s break down the hidden stuff that kills enquiries, and what you can do about it right now.

1. Your Google Business isn’t actually verified — you just think it is

This is more common than you’d believe.

You create the profile, upload your logo, add your hours…
But if verification failed, Google hides you behind the scenes.

You still see your listing — but customers don’t.

Signs this is happening:

• You get views but zero calls

• Your profile says “Pending” or shows no insights

• Your posts get no impressions

• You never show on Google Maps for your own town

Fix it:
Verify properly using photo verification or video verification.
Takes 2–5 minutes.

2. Your phone number displays, but the button doesn’t work

You’d be shocked how often this happens.

Especially if you’ve changed SIMs, switched phones, or transferred your number between networks.

On Google, Facebook or your website:

• Call button does nothing

• WhatsApp doesn’t open

• Click-to-call fails on iPhone but works on Android (or vice versa)

Most customers don’t retry — they just call the next van.

Fix it:
Test your call buttons on three devices:

1. Your phone

2. Someone else’s phone

3. A tablet (or a different browser)

One broken button = a dead week of calls.

3. Your photos are killing your trust

Online customers think fast.

If your photos look like:

• a dark van on a rainy day

• a rubbish tip photo

• a screenshot from a job group

• a selfie holding a mattress

• blurry or stretched images

Customers scroll straight past.

Good photos = trust.
Poor photos = doubt.
Doubt = no call.

Fix it today:

• Park your van in daylight

• Clean it

• Take 3–5 clear shots from different angles

• Add one “driver handshake” style photo (builds trust massively)

Upload to Google, your website and socials.

4. Your website loads too slow on 4G

Van customers are usually:

• on a phone

• on the move

• comparing 2 or 3 businesses

If your site takes longer than 1.5–2 seconds to load on a mobile signal, they’re gone.

You never even see the visitor.
You just feel the “silence”.

Reasons your site loads slow:

• heavy images

• silly animations

• uncompressed photos

• a huge homepage made by a template builder

• hosting based in the US

Fix it:

• Use WebP images

• Compress everything

• Keep your design simple

• Use UK-based hosting

• Test your site using PageSpeed on 4G mode

(This is why a simple landing page often beats a big website.)

5. You’re invisible in the areas you actually want work

Many van drivers think they rank in multiple towns because they service multiple towns.

Google doesn’t work like that.
It prioritises proximity.

If your business address is in Halifax, you won’t show in Bradford unless:

• you have separate location pages

• you get backlinks mentioning Bradford

• you add Bradford-specific photos

• your GBP posts mention Bradford jobs

• you receive reviews from Bradford customers

Most drivers never do this.
So they stay invisible.

Fix it:
Create pages or posts that mention:

• places

• landmarks

• towns

• suburbs

• villages

Location relevance = ranking.

6. Messenger, WhatsApp or SMS is silently blocking people

This happens constantly.

Common issues:

• your inbox is full

• unknown senders go to hidden folders

• WhatsApp messages blocked due to a spam filter

• your phone storage is full

• network switches (EE → Lyca, etc.) break message flow

You think customers aren’t messaging.
They ARE — your phone is swallowing them.

Fix it:

• Clear storage

• Reset WhatsApp permissions

• Open the “Message Requests” folder on Facebook

• Turn off battery-saver mode

• Restart your device weekly

Sounds basic — but this fixes genuinely lost enquiries.

7. You’re missing reviews — the #1 ranking factor for van work

If two van guys are the same:

• same price

• same service

• same photos

The one with reviews wins every time.

Reviews are:

• ranking

• trust

• social proof

• conversions

• positioning

• authority

Fix it:
After every job, send a 10-second message:

“If you get a minute, could you drop me a quick Google review? It massively helps me rank locally.”

Even one review per week transforms your ranking within 90 days.

Final Thoughts

Van drivers don’t lose work because they’re bad at the job.
They lose work because tiny tech problems stop customers reaching them.

Most of them never know it’s happening.

Fix these 7 areas and you’ll see:

• more calls

• more messages

• more quotes

• more jobs

• more repeat work

Small tech habits make big differences.

And if you want a proper landing page or website built correctly — fast, clean, mobile-first and built for van-based businesses — that’s exactly what I specialise in.