I get on contractor’s butts all the time for not answering their phones. I spend hours trying to figure out ways to get their phones to ring, and what do they do? They send the call to voicemail. Well guess what, people don’t want your voicemail, they want to talk to you about how you can fix their problem.
I understand you are pretty much useless answering a call while you are in a ditch or working a front-end loader, but when you are cruising from job to job and you just don’t feel like answering a call, you didn’t just avoid a phone call, you threw away a chance at a hundred, or a five hundred or a ten thousand dollar bill.
If you are OK with that, then get off my blog!
If throwing away opportunity is what you consider good business practice, then go in peace. You are destined to live a meager life. But if you want 2012 to be the best year you’ve had in a while, then you have to pick up your phone for Pete’s sake!
But, I understand if you truly can’t take that call
And I have a solution for you. Grasshopper (aff link). Grasshopper is not your typical PBX phone solution alternative, Grasshopper gives your company the ability to setup departments. Say your wife handles the bills, then set up a department for say accounting or sales, or 24-hour emergencies. Make yourself look big! Why?
Because perception is marketing
From the site:
Sound Professional & Stay Connected
The Virtual Phone System Designed for Entrepreneurs
- Toll free or local number – local or national presence
- Unlimited extensions – for departments & employees
- Call forwarding – work from anywhere
- Voicemails via email – play online or on cell phone
- Manage online or by phone – no hardware to purchase
- New Feature! – 855 Toll Free Numbers
Now, I use these guys for client work and they really are good. The cool feature I like the most is that they will have a professional voice over person (male or female, you get to pick) do your entire menu tree, which is great when you have a Philly accent as thick as a cheese steak.
So stop sending people to your cell phone, or worse, that ridiculous answering machine that is still sitting on your desk. If marketing is perception, and your prospects perceive your organization as amateurish, how much new business are you losing because of bad phone habits? I bet you don’t even know!