Too many calls!

[dawsirn]

I was wandering what people do when they're busy as hell and have phone call after phone call from potential customers.
Do you stop what your doing, answer every call possible and arrange visits for quotes until all your evenings are booked up for the next few weeks? not to mention all the time taken with the actual quoting/emailing etc.

At the moment I'm finding myself letting the answer phone take the messages and then after listening to each one in the evening I'll call back the ones that take my fancy the next day IF I get the chance.

I know that makes me sound like a complete ----er but I find If I answer all the calls and go through with the quotes I end up having too much on and unable to fit in jobs for repeat customers such as Builders and the like.

I feel really bad for not getting back to people who have left me messages but I find it just gets a bit out of hand If I try and please everybody! Just a one man band at the minute so try not to overstretch myself.

Just trying to see how other people deal with this "problem"

Thanks

 

[Leesparkykent]

I was wandering what people do when they're busy as hell and have phone call after phone call from potential customers.
Do you stop what your doing, answer every call possible and arrange visits for quotes until all your evenings are booked up for the next few weeks? not to mention all the time taken with the actual quoting/emailing etc.

At the moment I'm finding myself letting the answer phone take the messages and then after listening to each one in the evening I'll call back the ones that take my fancy the next day IF I get the chance.

I know that makes me sound like a complete ****er but I find If I answer all the calls and go through with the quotes I end up having too much on and unable to fit in jobs for repeat customers such as Builders and the like.

I feel really bad for not getting back to people who have left me messages but I find it just gets a bit out of hand If I try and please everybody! Just a one man band at the minute so try not to overstretch myself.

Just trying to see how other people deal with this "problem"

Thanks

How is the new work mainly coming through, advertising, word of mouth etc?

 

[FatAlan]

As a customer who is trying to get a job done I detest tradesmen who do not call back when they say they will or do not respond. A quick call to say sorry, I m not able to do due to being too busy may pay dividends in the future or even a recommendation to someone else may result in them getting back at a future date.

 

[FatAlan]

I appreciate that it's a time management issue. Sounds like a good problem to have. How about getting a PA?

 

[Octopus]

Most days when my phone rings, if it's a name in my contacts I let it go to message..... If it's a new number I will often answer it.... If it's somebody with an fairly urgent requirement I have to tell them I'm booked for 3 weeks or so..... Unless it's a small job I can deal with on my way home.

I always call people back who leave messages.... But not everybody leaves messages!

 

[dawsirn]

How is the new work mainly coming through, advertising, word of mouth etc?

Bit of both. Try to keep a presence in the local magazines for when work is a bit slower. Have thought about removing them but might be too big risk.

As a customer who is trying to get a job done I detest tradesmen who do not call back when they say they will or do not respond. A quick call to say sorry, I m not able to do due to being too busy may pay dividends in the future or even a recommendation to someone else may result in them getting back at a future date.

I agree. and I have tried to adopt that approach but then it always seems to end up with me finding it hard to say no and putting myself under pressure trying to help them. I'll be honest and tell them I cant offer anything for few weeks/months etc but then they're happy to wait and the calendar books up solid and can't offer the sort of flexibility required to satisfy the Builders I work for! I at least ALWAYS arrive when I say I will and on time when I do.

I appreciate that it's a time management issue. Sounds like a good problem to have. How about getting a PA?

Did try using the Wife for this purpose but that seemed to add a different kind of stress to matters!

 

[Dominic Forristal]

have you considered using a call centre to handle your calls?

Any advice to us newbies?

I've had a few thousand business cards printed and am distributed them but obviously don't have 'word of mouth' recommendations yet as I'm so new...

 

[Octopus]

Any advice to us newbies?

In a few words:

Be polite
Follow through on your promises
Send written quotes or estimates clearly stating what you are doing
Be punctual
Tidy up afterwards
Despite what your invoices say, lots of people won't pay immediately so don't hassle people until 30 days


and in the event of a customer calling you afterwards with a question or problem, arrange to go back ASAP

and be wary of anyone who has a screwfix catalogue to hand .....

 

[sythai]

I

Just trying to see how other people deal with this "problem"

When things get too much I change my voicemail to help the situation...." Thank you for calling XXXXXX sorry we are unable to take your call. If you could please send all an enquires via email to xxxxxxx "

I always reply to all emails and within 24hours. I find it much easier initially dealing via email, than having to waste time on the phone.

This is for all new enquires. All existing customers/ contracts happily deal with on the phone.

If things do get a bit quiet I alter the voicemail and also take a chance and answer the odd random number from time to time.
It's usually someone wanting their cooker replaced or the yellow pages trying sell me a spot!

 

[GMES]

Surely if any tradesman is getting too much work then it's time to take on staff.
I never understand people who limit themselves to doing just enough work that they can handle, as a sole trader you can only really earn your hourly rate for every hour you graft.
It's each to their own I suppose but I've never got my head round it. It's like people who do everything in their power to keep just under the vat threshold, all you're doing is stunting the growth of your business. JMO

 

[HandySparks]

Surely if any tradesman is getting too much work then it's time to take on staff.
I never understand people who limit themselves to doing just enough work that they can handle, as a sole trader you can only really earn your hourly rate for every hour you graft.
It's each to their own I suppose but I've never got my head round it. It's like people who do everything in their power to keep just under the vat threshold, all you're doing is stunting the growth of your business. JMO

OK, fair enough if you're really striving for growth and times are good. I've never employed anyone but, as I see it, there are some downsides:
1) If work drops off a bit you still have to pay your staff, whether they're doing useful work or not. Or make them redundant.
2) The admin involved jumps up a big step when you take on your first employee. Payroll, employer's NI, employer's insurance, workplace pensions, sick pay, holiday pay, training, etc, etc.
3) Your personal flexibility goes out of the window. If I need/want to disappear off for a few hours or a day on some personal business/hobby/whatever, then provided I'm not messing customers about I can. With an employee you're much more limited.

 

[GMES]

All valid points but if everyone thought like that then the industry would never grow.
I have 3 lads and yes of course they create more office work for me but they also earn me more money than if I was on my own.

 

[Pat H]

Why not push enquiries via email rather than phone?
Much easier to have a standard response to work you can't take on.

 

[dawsirn]

Thanks for the responses. I think I'll alter the answer phone message to encourage email enquiries. I generally tend to respond to all the emails received within a day or two.

As for taking on staff and growing the business...that's the other thing that I'm really wrestling with at the moment! All the reasons HandySparks has said have been putting me off until now. Some days I wake up thinking I'm ready to take on the world and grow the business and other days I think is all the extra aggro going to be worth it. I'm not obsessed by money, just wan't to live comfortably without too much stress. but on the other hand not sure I wan't to be one man banding up until retirement!! big decision really.

 

[dansk]

during a recent growth spurt at my company we used Telephone Answering Service For Small Businesses | Moneypenny - https://www.moneypenny.com/uk/telephone-answering-service/ which proved invaluable at the time, not only do they answer the calls but they also screen them to for sales calls and only put through genuine callers. You can choose to have the message emailed or text, its also perfect for holiday periods (if your lucky enough to get one ;-)

We dont use it as much now as we have office based staff, but we relied on it for a good couple of years.

If you can let go and handle someone else answering your phones this is a good choice.

some of the drawbacks are not been able to strike while the iron is hot sort of speak, in my game sometimes it was best to be the first person on the phone. But you can instruct them to patch the call through if you was expecting a call etc.