You’ve placed your ad in newspapers, left door hangers in neighborhoods and marketed your business with all the resources you have. You’ve made sure to leave your contact information everywhere so you don’t miss any opportunities.
But, what if you miss the phone call? Statistics show that seven out of 10 people will hang up rather than leave a message. So, how available are you?
Being a small business, you may not have an employee to specifically answer the phone, but you should make sure that someone is picking up. Most lawn care operators are on the road daily, so you may want to look into call forwarding to your cell phone when you can’t be in the office. Potential clients want information immediately, and most will simply go down the line of companies and call the next one on the list if they can’t reach you. You can’t afford to let that happen.
If you simply can’t be reached during business hours, make sure the message on your answering machine or voice mail indicates that you’ll call back as soon as possible, and return the call preferably no more than 24 hours later. The message should also indicate other ways to get in touch with you: cell phone number, e-mail address, etc. Again, those messages should all be returned within 24 hours.
An answering service is another option, which is a third party you can hire to take your business calls. This allows people to talk with a live person. The answering service then can page, or send the messages via e-mail, text message or whatever works best for you. The benefit of this service is that you can set it up to take calls after business hours as well, so someone is always available to take the call.
What about a customer you already have? You’ve already won their business, now you need to work to keep it. If a client needs to reach you, are you readily available?
Amy K. Hill
Editor
ahill@MooseRiverMedia.com
