Someone called up for gutter cleaning the other day and it took 2 days to return the call with how busy we are. Even though I called him to tell him we can’t do the job, the guy thanked me because I was the only person who called him back out of the half-dozen places he tried. He will keep us in mind for next year.
Then just this morning I was talking to a landscaper who refers us a lot of business. He says we are the only reliable place for calling people back. He knows if he tells a customer to try us we will get back to them.
I think if someone took the time to call you then you should call them. If you want to provide good service then here is a really easy thing to do. I am dumbfounded how simple this is to do but many companies do it poorly.
yes i call people back. i am sure i have missed some altogether but i try. when i get too busy and fall behind some get missed but when i get a chance i go back thru my phone voicemail, quoteflare and search for missed enquiries. then i call and apologize for taking so long, even though most have usually been serviced i get some deals and the response is always really good.
I always call people back, I have an old answering machine on my land line. a few weeks ago i had a message on it so I called back, the lady starts abusing me telling me she left that message 5 hours prior and she is disgusted how long it took me to return a phone call.
I then asked her how she got my details, she proceeded to tell me and the only number on my ads in my mobile number but she didn’t want to pay the extra so tracked down my landline number, this is where i inform here that I don’t sit around at home waiting for the phone to ring and I was out working and am booked until after chrissy and would not be able to help you with you cleaning of your windows you expect me to do for you on Friday in 3 days time… when my earliest available date is Jan 13.
We make sure we answer the phone or call back within 15mins.
We constantly here the complaints that no one answers the phone in the service industry.
We land many jobs a year by answering the phone or on an quick call back.
In normal times, we jump for the phones, and call back people who don’t leave voicemails as well.
This time of year, different story. My gutter cleaning co. number goes straight to voicemail, explaining that we are sold out for the year and that existing customers should call (972) xxx xxxx.
Next Monday, all phones go to voicemail in the same manner.
I return every call when there is a voice-mail. Usually by the end of the day, unless I get it in the evening when I’m with my wife. Then I call back the next day. It is shocking to hear how frequently service people just do not return calls. I guess they don’t need the business or care about their reputation.
I never answer a phone number I don’t recognize because I get quite a few telemarketing calls(at least 2 a day). They even started using local numbers to call me. After a few times of this, I decided if it is important enough they will leave a message.
So to answer your question…If they leave a voice mail, I always call them back.
It has become so annoying with all the business loan telemarketers on a daily basis. Now that they are using local numbers it’s bs we can’t answer the phone when real customers call. What happened to the Do Not Call listing?
I agree 100% that a true professional needs to call back…
or do what the above dude does with the answering message explaining he is busy until a certain date… man must be nice raking in all that coin to not fit in any extra jobs… ;))
I know. Very frustrating! I leave my phone in my tool bucket while working. Sometimes when I hear my phone ring I don’t even look to see who is calling. I just let it ring (98% of the time it is a telemarketer).
When we do an email blast or mail out, I do everything I can to answer the phone. But I always call back at the end of day or first thing in the morning. My message tells people I’ll return their call in 24 hours.
I probably had 15-20 people this year tell me that no one calls them back. I’ll even call back people if they want something I can’t do.
If I get a telemarketer, they have about 30 seconds to CLEARLY state who they are and what they want. If they aren’t upfront with me, I’m hanging up.
We can relate to that. The moment we registered our business with the state, homeadvisor were the first to call with their “many clients looking for window cleaning”. If not for this site, I’d likely fallen for that gimmick and almost did. People selling us hats, websites, etc etc began to call so I didn’t want to pick up.
Fortunately, 14 months later, most of our calls are people interested in our services. We always call back if they leave a message.
I’m constantly surprised by how many businesses don’t respond to emails.
If I’ve a complex query - maybe something that involves a part number - I prefer to email knowing that if its in black & white in front of them its harder to get it wrong,… but in my experience well over half of companies don’t respond & my custom goes to their competition by default.
Its a “Brought to you by” DBA company which is attached to my office address. I put a website up as an experiment a few months ago, no SEO, no real power to the website, just a social experiment.
