AI, compliance, and trust: The new playbook for Home Services

The home services industry has never been more dynamic—or more competitive. In our webinar, Home Services Perspective: From the Ground Up, Growth Strategies from Home Service Pros, industry experts Ryan Ducharme (VP of Marketing at WinChoice USA) and Dion Green (Senior Customer Success Manager at ActiveProspect) shared hard-earned insights on how Home Services companies can thrive in 2025 and beyond.

Moderated by Andrew Bailey, Content Strategist at ActiveProspect, the conversation spanned industry growth trends, lead buyer and seller dynamics, compliance, and the role of AI.

Key takeaways

Here are the key takeaways from our Home Services-specific webinar:

• Market growth: Home services are booming post-COVID, with demand fueled by tight housing markets and tech adoption.
• Diversification: Buyers should diversify across channels (not just vendors) to reduce risk and maximize results.
• Partnership depth: Fewer, deeper partnerships built on transparency often outperform many shallow ones.
• Lead quality: Quality beats quantity — higher-priced, well-vetted leads deliver better ROI.
• Data & scoring: Clean data, lead scoring, and enrichment are critical for targeting and conversion.
• Compliance as advantage: TrustedForm and vendor oversight protect from risk and build customer trust.
• Seller differentiation: Sellers stand out by sharing creative, consent language, and proof of compliance.
• Efficiency tools: LeadConduit and real-time routing improve speed-to-lead and reduce wasted spend.
• AI & automation: Valuable but only if inputs are clean; integrate thoughtfully into workflows.
• Core mindset: Trust, transparency, and process discipline are the foundation for sustainable growth.

The state of Home Services heading into 2026

Ryan painted a picture of an industry riding an extended growth wave. Post-COVID demand has fueled expansion in sectors like window and roofing replacement, and companies like WinChoice USA are scaling quickly.

A few forces driving this acceleration:

• Technology adoption: Once accused of lagging behind other sectors, Home Services firms are now embracing faster, more tech-forward strategies. AI is beginning to play a larger role in marketing, sales, and operations.
• Real estate market gridlock: With high home prices and interest rates keeping many homeowners in place, more people are choosing to renovate rather than relocate. Sellers invest in upgrades to increase property value, while stayers focus on comfort and efficiency.
• Vertical integration: Companies like WinChoice USA are growing not only in sales and installation but also in manufacturing capacity, creating new jobs and expanding output.
  

The message: Homeowners may not be moving, but they’re still spending—and home service providers need to meet that demand.

How WinChoice USA fueled explosive growth

Ryan shared that when he joined WinChoice USA, the company relied on just one or two lead sources—a risky strategy for any business. His first move was to diversify lead generation.

Key growth strategies included:

• Expanding lead sources: Bringing on multiple new partners, agencies, and launching owned-and-operated sites.
• Investing in sales talent: Hiring strong sales reps who could convert the leads into revenue.
• Upgrading digital presence: Building a new website to strengthen owned traffic channels.
• Data-driven decision-making: Using tools like ActiveProspect’s LeadConduit and TrustedForm to manage quality and compliance at scale.

The results? More stability, stronger ROI, and faster scaling across all aspects of the business.

Lead buyer & lead seller perspectives

Ryan has worked on both sides of the lead generation equation, giving him a unique vantage point.

His advice for lead buyers:

• Diversify wisely: Don’t spread yourself across 50 vendors—focus on fewer, deeper partnerships across multiple channels.
• Maximize value: Work transparently with vendors to align on goals, target customers, and cost efficiencies.
• Know your customer: Build clear personas based on actual data to guide targeting and vendor selection.
  

For lead sellers, the formula to stand out in a saturated market is simple:

• Lead with transparency: Share landing pages, ad creative, and consent language upfront. Buyers won’t work with vendors who can’t prove compliance.
• Do the legwork: Weed out bots, duplicates, and bad data before passing leads along. This increases value and allows sellers to command higher prices.
• Focus on outcomes, not price sheets: Buyers are willing to pay more for high-converting leads. Sellers who prove ROI can strengthen long-term relationships.
  

As Dion noted, the goal of lead management tools like LeadConduit isn’t to create friction between buyers and sellers—it’s to ensure both sides benefit from cleaner, more targeted data.

Compliance: From burden to competitive advantage

If there was one theme that kept resurfacing, it was compliance. Both panelists agreed: In today’s regulatory climate, compliance can’t be an afterthought.

For Ryan, independent proof of consent is non-negotiable. WinChoice USA even employs staff to review TrustedForm replays, ensuring consent language and form design meet requirements.

Dion emphasized that compliance tools are not silver bullets: TrustedForm captures proof of consent, but businesses must still ensure their forms meet FCC standards. ActiveProspect’s TrustedForm Verify helps by centralizing consent language across vendors and flagging discrepancies.

Beyond form validation, other compliance tools—like Litigator Scrub from Contact Center Compliance and Blacklist Alliance—protect buyers from costly “trap” leads designed to generate lawsuits.

Ultimately, compliance safeguards aren’t just about avoiding lawsuits. They build trust with customers, ensuring prospects know who’s contacting them, why, and how their information will be used. In an industry built on relationships, that trust translates into higher conversions and stronger brand reputation.

Balancing growth, cost efficiency, and transparency

One of the toughest challenges for marketers is juggling growth with compliance and cost control. Ryan argued that these elements aren’t separate—they’re deeply connected.

• Transparency drives conversions: Customers are more likely to respond if they understand who will contact them and why.
• Compliance reduces waste: Validating leads upfront saves money in the call center and boosts sales efficiency.

Cost efficiency comes from outcomes, not CPL: A $100 lead that converts is more valuable than ten $10 leads that go nowhere.

By building compliance and data checks directly into the process, companies can scale without cutting corners.

Underutilized tools & channels

Both panelists highlighted areas where Home Service companies are leaving value on the table:

• LeadConduit: Too many companies only use it for basic de-duping. With deeper integrations—SMS verification, call center routing, enrichment add-ons—LeadConduit can dramatically improve speed-to-lead and qualification.
• Lead scoring & AI: Still underutilized in Home Services, though adoption is growing. Ryan stressed the importance of data hygiene: “Your output is only as good as your input.”
• Feedback loops: Buyers who share disposition data with vendors help sellers improve lead quality. Without it, optimization stalls.

The role of AI in Home Services

Both panelists agreed: Companies that ignore AI risk falling behind, but adoption must be thoughtful.

Ryan’s approach is cautious: Test new tools, but don’t force them if they don’t fit your workflow. AI should enhance human interaction, not replace it. The focus must remain on customer experience—speed, clarity, and trust.

Dion pointed out that many tools already rely on AI under the hood, whether marketed that way or not. From predictive scoring to automated compliance checks, AI is quickly becoming embedded in everyday processes.

The bottom line: AI isn’t a magic wand, but when paired with clean data and clear processes, it can accelerate growth.

Final thoughts

The Home Services industry is poised for another wave of growth heading into 2026. But success won’t come from chasing the cheapest leads or cutting compliance corners. As this webinar made clear, the companies that win will be those that:

• Diversify their lead sources without diluting focus.
• Use technology like TrustedForm, LeadConduit, and lead scoring to optimize and protect their funnel.
• Build trust with customers through transparency, compliance, and communication.
• Integrate AI thoughtfully, as a complement to—not a replacement for—human expertise.
  

In short, the future of Home Services growth lies in doing the fundamentals better, faster, and with more integrity.

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