Call answering services.

[AC\DC]

Been swamped last two weeks so phone calls backed (please no one be my wife and tell I should never have a call unanswered.)
Missed two job because I got back to them to late. Do any of you guys use a call service department. They at least answer calls and then text you all there information.
I guess I just need to sit my (T# down and make sure I call back. Regardless of 3rd party or not,
Headaches of being your own boss.
More of a rant I guess. How do you guys make sure you always call back in a timely manner.

 

[readydave8]

Owner of a car wash I was working on told me he wouldn't be available the following day because he was going to a seminar, turned out it was time management class

I saw him a few weeks later and asked how the techniques he learned were working

"Oh, it definitely works, I haven't had a chance to start using them yet, though "

Short answer is I don't know, but if I miss a job because I was too busy to call back right away, I figure I missed a job that I didn't have time for

 

[petersonra]

You have to find time for your regular customers. Casual passersby looking for a deal can be safely avoided if you are really busy. But, if you can, it is best to get back to them even if you won't get any business from them. You never know what might come thru down the road.

 

[kwired]

Owner of a car wash I was working on told me he wouldn't be available the following day because he was going to a seminar, turned out it was time management class

I saw him a few weeks later and asked how the techniques he learned were working

"Oh, it definitely works, I haven't had a chance to start using them yet, though "

Short answer is I don't know, but if I miss a job because I was too busy to call back right away, I figure I missed a job that I didn't have time for

If you answered the call yet told them you couldn't get to them for three weeks, you maybe lost the job anyway.

 

[AC\DC]

If you answered the call yet told them you couldn't get to them for three weeks, you maybe lost the job anyway.

Correct I had that problem for a while. No one wants to wait - month. In this day and age if you can’t do it yesterday there mad.
Another life lesson to learn though, suck it up and return calls every day.

 

[kwired]

Correct I had that problem for a while. No one wants to wait - month. In this day and age if you can’t do it yesterday there mad.
Another life lesson to learn though, suck it up and return calls every day.

I get times where I tell them I think I can get to it next week, but then next week never seems to come and they eventually get someone else to do the work. Happened a few times this past year.

 

[AC\DC]

I get times where I tell them I think I can get to it next week, but then next week never seems to come and they eventually get someone else to do the work. Happened a few times this past year.

Does it eat you alive. I could not sleep last night. Two new ec have moved into town with not a large population growth and I am always worried if next meal will be there

 

[kwired]

Does it eat you alive. I could not sleep last night. Two new ec have moved into town with not a large population growth and I am always worried if next meal will be there

Not as much as it used to. My frequent repeat customers are the ones that get first priority. New construction gets priority, don't want to hold up the other trades, many of who I do frequently work with, though insulators and drywallers often are "outsiders" and I don't care as much about them, but I would still be holding up progress for the GC or owner so new construction already in progress still gets some higher priority.

Many those that got put off long enough to call someone else are people I may only get a call from every few years for some half day project here or there or maybe never will get call from again.

 

[ptonsparky]

I've sat up in bed with an OS moment and I remember about the project I was going to do several weeks earlier. Those hurt. Missed calls not so much, but do need to be returned.

 

[PaulMmn]

As a homeowner, there are projects and there are projects. Some are Right Now, others have been pending, and a month extra isn't an issue. For you, as the contractor, do you include a request for 'urgency' when people contact you? Do you have categories for size of project? "Fill-in" things between new construction?