Own a Business? Answer Your Damn Phone

[MattR82]

I immediately thought of this thread today. We just bought our first home yesterday and are in the process of making a few improvements to it before we move in.

Holy hell. Local businesses are ignorant.

I've called 6 dry wall guys today, 3 on word of mouth recommendation. One person answered his phone. He even laughed when I told him he was the only one "yeah, I get that a lot"

I even submitted 2 "request a quote" forms on some jenky old websites with no response.

Do these guys know how much business they're missing?? I'm not price shopping. If someone shows up today and their quote is affordable, they're hired.

Answer. Your. Damn. Phone.

I'm just flat out AMAZED this is even an issue for so many businesses.

I saw my Dad do it for years (Electrical business) and it drove me crazy. I learnt a hell of a lot in my teenage years watching him mismanage his business unfortunately (or fortunately if you look at it another way). Nothing could get though to him.

No joke, some small tweaks to how he ran his business, largely including customer service, and he could have been hugely successful. Instead, his competitors became millionaires.

 

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[minivanman]

Just curious, do you promote that you have a 24 hour contact? Or are there just a lot of weirdos out there lol.

Weirdos are just normal every day people. Did I promote it for 19 years for my cleaning business? Never. Do I promote it now? Not once. Over the last 10 years people have changed a lot. Moms finally get time to have quiet time or dads finish their work or vice versa. More and more people are awake during the late hours. I can drive through Dallas at 7am or 5pm or 11pm or 3am and the traffic is sometimes almost as bad no matter the time. A few weeks ago I pulled on to our cross street about 10pm and you would have thought it was
5 o'clock traffic. I don't know if they are weirdos... I'm up late every night (it's 1:23am right now). I'll get up at 6:43, make my grandson breakfast, take him to school and be back asleep by 9am... sleep till noon and start my day. I'm happy for my night owls. While all my competitors are asleep, I'm basically stealing their customers!

 

[MattR82]

Calling them weirdos was a bit flippant. But calling a business like that at 2am isn't something I would personally do unless it was an emergency, so that's why I found it a little surprising is all.

Now, taking the calls, that's another matter. Gravy

 

[Andy Black]

When I had my cleaning business we answered calls 24/7. You would not believe the number of calls I received at 2am from people wanting to know if we could come do an estimate. With my current business I am not dependent on the income so I can set my own rules. So here is what I did, since I drive a lot nowadays I can't really take calls or text and drive so I changed my voice mail to this:

Text me please ###-###-#### Thank you.

Almost everyone that gets the message does text me. Since I've gone to this method I actually found that I helped myself in more ways than one. Now I don't have to remember who called and about what as I am on the road. Plus, now I have the date/time stamp of the text for future reference. It is working great for me. I know it might not work well for others and some people might not like the idea at all. But, that's why I'm in the position I'm in and not having to depend on this business is because I've always tried to stay ahead of my time. By the way, 50% of all the washers/dryers that we sell are sold around midnight. Luckily my sales people start around noon and stay up LATE!!

Love this. I was thinking of putting a voicemail message up asking them to email me. Texting might be better.

 

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[minivanman]

Be sure to have a HAPPY tone and the very 1st thing you need to say is..... TEXT ME PLEASE!! ###-###-#### Thank you.

Don't start the message off with crap, "Ummmm, hello or something, aaaaahhhhhh can you text me?". Just tell them what you want them to do and do it fast and very upbeat. I can't say it would work for everyone but it works for me.

 

[MattR82]

Be sure to have a HAPPY tone and the very 1st thing you need to say is..... TEXT ME PLEASE!! ###-###-#### Thank you.

Don't start the message off with crap, "Ummmm, hello or something, aaaaahhhhhh can you text me?". Just tell them what you want them to do and do it fast and very upbeat. I can't say it would work for everyone but it works for me.

Little bit different, but at the moment I'm doing social media management for a business. Spend a lot of time carefully crafting how they look and sound, and when they do get an enquiry message from that platform, their response is so cold and unwelcoming (which is strange because it's the exact opposite of their personality). Reeeally irks me!

 

[Ernman]

Going back to amp's original post. I'd venture to say most of the "customer service" or sales folks at those labs are low paid sidewalkers or slowlaners. They have no vested interest in the success of the business other than their pay check. When I had my own car service is it was a 24/7 obligation. And yes, I answered calls at 2 AM. And yes, I drug my sorry butt out of bed and rushed to the airport to help someone stranded because their flight was late and the limo service left them there. Thank God, I'm not doing that anymore. We have people where I work now that wouldn't know customer service if it bit them in the a$$. One lady is so rude, I've told her supervisor to either get rid of her or take her phone off her desk. If you have employees, it becomes part of your leadership challenge to train them and keep them properly motivated so they represent you in the best light. Sorry - started my own rant there.

 

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[B. Cole]

To lend to this, in my most recent (first) adventure, I’ve contacted over 50 manufacturers trying to get one to help me finish up product development, quote labor and potentially be my manufacturer. Of all those facilities, the one I’m working with is the ONLY one that answered their phone and engaged me like a customer from the very start. The vast majority of them took my info at the desk and never called back. Those that called back, took days or weeks, and eventually dwindled down to where I quit pursuing them. I even wasted 6 weeks with one local factory who promised the world to my face in meetings, but never once returned my phone calls.

No doubt, the place I’m working with isn’t the fastest, most advanced or efficient, or even perfect at communication, but they’re the only ones that followed through. Sometimes the owner will text me after hours or on weekends just to share something, and he always responds to my texts and emails. He’s potentially going to get several hundred K/year from me, just for being the best communicator out of the bunch.

 

[MythOfSisyphus]

I don't have a business number on the website and I'm sure it has probably cost me many sales and long term customers, however I still think the pros of not having one outweigh the cons in my particular case.

Most of our customers are females aged 18-25 and generally prefer not to call anyway. We offer email, facebook messaging and a website chat widget as contact options. We respond to customers within 1 business hour 90% of the time.

It also means that my staff, who aren't trained in the use of our products (and it's simply not feasible for them to be) can filter only the difficult requests through to me while handling the rest via an FAQ database that I update.

 

[amp0193]

I don't have a business number on the website and I'm sure it has probably cost me many sales and long term customers, however I still think the pros of not having one outweigh the cons in my particular case.

It's fine not to have one, if that's the expectation. Sounds like your system works.

Why have a phone number on the site if you aren't going to answer it though?

 

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[minivanman]

I am 100% with you on that one. If you choose to 'take' calls or say that you do.... answer the phone. If you are too busy, take down your website or ads. Here is what I do nowadays, I've stopped using Google for these things. I needed an exterminator so I drove to the one down the street and talked to the lady in her office. I needed an a/c company so I stopped by and spoke to the lady at their office. BUT, listen to this one, I needed to have the locks changed when we bought this house so I went to the office of a locksmith.... he told me to CALL him! That's fine, it was on my way to the museum so it wasn't out of my way.... I get back home and called him..... no damn answer!

 

[Andy Black]

one local factory who promised the world to my face in meetings, but never once returned my phone calls.

This is why I like to go to email at some point. People can simply ignore emails but won’t do so when it’s a face-to-face conversation. That helps me screen them out.

 

[B. Cole]

On a sad note, the majority of businesses are going away from phone conversation, and absolutely insist that you contact them through their online email. Those that do have phones, are so horribly under-staffed or under-monitored it’s ridiculous. I guess most of them know that if you need their help, you’re going to painfully drudge through their preferred communication system because you have no choice. Service businesses of all things are the worst!

USPS - 3 to 5 hour wait list. ?! Gave up and filed a missing package report. 2 weeks later I get an automated email saying that my search ticket is still open. I replied back to tell them to stuff it in their a$$ when they find it, but the email kicked back as a no-reply email address.

USPTO - I’ve waited 3 hours on hold. Seemingly got the help I needed, it didn’t work, so I called back and waited another 3 hours. ?!

Wix - Doesn’t even have a phone system.

Most crypto exchanges - No phone system. They have your frigging money!

Facebook - Nope, weeks waiting on a return email.

 

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[amp0193]

I needed to have the locks changed when we bought this house so I went to the office of a locksmith.... he told me to CALL him! That's fine, it was on my way to the museum so it wasn't out of my way.... I get back home and called him..... no damn answer!

Sounds like a real winner!

 

[MythOfSisyphus]

It's fine not to have one, if that's the expectation. Sounds like your system works.

Why have a phone number on the site if you aren't going to answer it though?

I completely agree.

I wouldn't bother putting one up unless I knew someone would be available all day during business hours to answer it or at the very least, call back within an hour.