Clean It Up
UK Floor Cleaning Forum => Carpet Cleaning Forum => Topic started by: neil 47 on October 15, 2013, 07:39:51 am
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How Many calls do you miss when you are out working ?
I have noticed if i leave a message saying i finish at three and will get back to them before 5 about i think half leave a message .
if there is no message then they don't .
is there any cost effective Method that stops you from missing calls.
Neil
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Divert all calls to your mobile.
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And leave message saying will call back in 10 mins
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Divert all calls to your mobile.
Snap - but I still miss calls, e.g. when I'm chatting with the customer, or the extraction machine is running close by.
I've thought about call handling companies, but as a one-man-band I just have to accept I can't answer them all. If I miss a call I do try to call them back, if it was a recent miss. Some withhold their phone number though.
Don't get me started on answering cold sales callers when I'm working!
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I ring carpet cleaners everyday. I get through to about half. Of the ones I don't some even just have the generic answerphone message such as "welcome to orange answerphone". If I'd been a customer then that is a job lost. A lot have answering services which to a customer sounds very professional. Good morning such and suchs office, he's busy at the moment but give me your details and I'll get him to call you straight back. At least you have a chance with this even though a percentage will just ring the next carpet cleaner.
This applies to new customers as regulars will usually wait.
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Call divert
BT charge £1.70pm.
Landline calls forwarded to my mobile.
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£2.50 per month on sky, divert to mobile.
It's funny because on Sunday I got an email at around 1pm about some hard floor cleaning, it was my only day off last week and I was relaxing and doing bits in the house that needed doing so I said to myself I'll ring them Monday morning. I rung once Monday morning and once at dinner, no answer. I then got a voicemail at about 4.45pm saying that they sent me an email but no response, I was on the phone when they rang so didn't see it. Anyway I rung him at 5.15pm when I'd finished on the phone and got the biggest lecture off the guy about not getting back to people, that he had been given one quote now so he will just accept that. I tried explaining but obviously I was the irresponsible business owner. Idiot!
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Call divert......let it ring off then ring back straight away and cost is peanuts.
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Call divert. loudest ring tone possible. Vibrate :D. do catch majority of calls. had an issue of late wi this EE thing with t mobile. custys maling me saying phone line was dead. Hate returning a missed call to find custy has being sorted elswhere.
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Call divert is not the answer,
In answer to the question, yes there are cost effective ways to capture all calls, which can either be relayed to you by text or email, there are a whole bunch of companies that will do this for you in one form or another, I think one even advertises on here, just get the service that suits you and your pocket..
The question should be can you afford NOT to have such a service, the answer is obvious.
I am astounded with all the modern technology available to people today that calls are still missed,
If you fail to implement services to capture all your calls good and bad then you have no to blame but yourself.
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Call divert is not the answer,
In answer to the question, yes there are cost effective ways to capture all calls, which can either be relayed to you by text or email, there are a whole bunch of companies that will do this for you in one form or another, I think one even advertises on here, just get the service that suits you and your pocket..
The question should be can you afford NOT to have such a service, the answer is obvious.
I am astounded with all the modern technology available to people today that calls are still missed,
If you fail to implement services to capture all your calls good and bad then you have no to blame but yourself.
How much, and what service level? I looked into this a year ago (start-up).
I'm really glad I didn't go for it at the time... but maybe now is the time for me to review that decision.
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The question is, do your customers want to speak to you or an answering service ?
Most probably you !
Carpet cleaning is a quick turnaround business, I dont think most will be wanting to leave details and wait for a ring back or whatever.
We've had call divert for about 10 years and try and answer most calls, when I do the I book most jobs straight away.
Plus the fact most customers want advice & help with carpet problems stains / emergencies which cant be dealt by an answering service.
In the past I've phoned electricians and their wife answers, knows nothing about the business and says will get him to call me when he gets home ? - No thanks, i want answers straight away, I phone around for someone I can talk to properly.
Thats the culture we live in now !
I think If you value your customers & business you need to answer the calls yourself, or have a knowledgeable employee who can deal properly with the enquiries.
Regards
Steve
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Call divert is not the answer,
In answer to the question, yes there are cost effective ways to capture all calls, which can either be relayed to you by text or email, there are a whole bunch of companies that will do this for you in one form or another, I think one even advertises on here, just get the service that suits you and your pocket..
The question should be can you afford NOT to have such a service, the answer is obvious.
I am astounded with all the modern technology available to people today that calls are still missed,
If you fail to implement services to capture all your calls good and bad then you have no to blame but yourself.
So why is call divert not the answer?Someone calls your landline and it diverts to your mobile and you answer it.
Am I missing something here? ???
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I thoroughly agree, in our advertising we say speak to a real person not a machine, this gets us a lot of work because nobody wants to talk to a machine, we divert all calls to our mobile, this is with BT which use Vodafone, all diverts our free as long as you are a BT customer.
Unfortunately Vodafone have not the best coverage in our area, so if we are going somewhere where we know we are going to be there for some time and the signal is not good we will divert to a different network (orange) so although these calls will cost us more we don't actually miss any.
I have run this business for 33 years before the advent of the mobile phone, for the last 20 years I have been diverting all calls to my mobile, yes I suppose I have missed a few but then again so what I'm still here ;D
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I don't mind missing calls, they're a blo*dy nuisance anyway, ringing me with their blo*dy problems.
;D
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Thinking back when I first set up my fire & flood company I needed an electrician.I think I phoned 3 before I eventually managed to speak to someone. He did the job, is a great bloke and made thousands over the following years working for us and others in the industry. Just shows how important a phone call can be.
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True John but the opposite can be true as well, many call wanting a 20min chat about their cat wee on the 4th floor with no lift.
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my wife answers most of our calls and is good at selling, if shes out then we divert to mobile and i use bluetooth so never miss a call, plantronics is the best, get one, job done.
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As we all know call diversion has its limitations as some calls end up in the ether you still can't beat a land line to land line discussion but sat at home waiting for the phone to ring means you aren't working.
I'm at a job now where I have a turbo drying finishing off a carpet and I'm calling people back who have left messages unsuccessfully as theyre out and on the t'interweb but I would be home having my tea if I'd have no phone calls to handle especially bloody telesales!
Shaun
Ps I'm looking forward to my bread and jam we always get a posh tea on Tuesdays.
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I got one of these in the van, bluetooth stereo, comes over the van speakers, answers automatically after two rings, cuts in over the music, saves getting caught using the mobile, highly recommend it;
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/ALPINE-Bluetooth-CD-Tuner-CDE-114BTI-/261195815312?_trksid=p2054897.l4275
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little earpiece,dont miss a call,HELLO!!!!!!!!!! ;D
gary
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I had this issue and I do Call Answering Service.
Costs me 77p per call and well worth it! If you want more info I can email you the company details.
Plus customers also think I got a REAL physical office somewhere and which I now started to make business look like that as I rent a industry estate address for £5 month.
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Couldn't pay 77p per call as get so many sales calls, people 'from Google' local community mags etc
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Couldn't pay 77p per call as get so many sales calls, people 'from Google' local community mags etc
Yea they don't charge you for calls which are sales calls. As long as you mark it as Sales and you mark it as 'Sales Call and Block Number' they are quite good as I get email saying 'Caller called XXX (We have this number marked as a sales call).
I get on average 4-5 calls a day of sales calls.
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I like J and s Idea which im going to use . call divert wait till it rings off and call back soves sales calls as well.
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I like J and s Idea which im going to use . call divert wait till it rings off and call back soves sales calls as well.
I find a few customers who call my mobile will always leave a message as I changed it from the standard one.
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Call divert is not the answer,
In answer to the question, yes there are cost effective ways to capture all calls, which can either be relayed to you by text or email, there are a whole bunch of companies that will do this for you in one form or another, I think one even advertises on here, just get the service that suits you and your pocket..
The question should be can you afford NOT to have such a service, the answer is obvious.
I am astounded with all the modern technology available to people today that calls are still missed,
If you fail to implement services to capture all your calls good and bad then you have no to blame but yourself.
So why is call divert not the answer?Someone calls your landline and it diverts to your mobile and you answer it.
Am I missing something here? ???
yes probably lots of business.
;D
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Call divert is not the answer,
In answer to the question, yes there are cost effective ways to capture all calls, which can either be relayed to you by text or email, there are a whole bunch of companies that will do this for you in one form or another, I think one even advertises on here, just get the service that suits you and your pocket..
The question should be can you afford NOT to have such a service, the answer is obvious.
I am astounded with all the modern technology available to people today that calls are still missed,
If you fail to implement services to capture all your calls good and bad then you have no to blame but yourself.
So why is call divert not the answer?Someone calls your landline and it diverts to your mobile and you answer it.
Am I missing something here? ???
yes probably lots of business.
;D
I find many customers think I am bigger scale than I am as they always say 'I called your office and got a women or bloke' or 'I spoke to the women' which was me!!!
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I like J and s Idea which im going to use . call divert wait till it rings off and call back soves sales calls as well.
Big hole in that logic:
Not all 'private numbers' are sales calls. You'll miss some opportunities as you're unable to call back private numbers.
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I like J and s Idea which im going to use . call divert wait till it rings off and call back soves sales calls as well.
Big hole in that logic:
Not all 'private numbers' are sales calls. You'll miss some opportunities as you're unable to call back private numbers.
Or withheld ::)roll
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I don't accept withheld numbers at all... :o :o
So if they can't get through, I don't know about it anyway.. :P :P
;D
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I don't accept withheld numbers at all... :o :o
So if they can't get through, I don't know about it anyway.. :P :P
;D
That's when they ring me...
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Do you travel to Wiltshire a lot then David?? ;D
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I just leave the wife at home who takes all the details, she then sends me an email with all the details and I call the customer. From custy first point of contact to me contacting them back, 30 mins max. Works a treat.
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I just leave the wife at home who takes all the details, she then sends me an email with all the details and I call the customer. From custy first point of contact to me contacting them back, 30 mins max. Works a treat.
How much do you pay her for this full time job?
I know what my wife would say if I asked her to stay at home to answer my calls - it wouldn't be printable here :-)
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She get's three holidays a year, plus she gets to give me hugs.... what more can one ask for :-) :-*
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She get's three holidays a year, plus she gets to give me hugs.... what more can one ask for :-) :-*
Does she not get the great duty of serving you with your dinner.
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She gives me hugs and passes me work as well I'm always in Leeds cleaning ;D
Shaun
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A lot of work in Leeds. ;D
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Only a few jobs between the hugs.
Shaun
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David
I answer all witheld call numbers as it tells me on the phone they are private.
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I have a local number that i bought from tamar communications diverted straight to my mobile about 3 quid a month for number then a few p per min generally works out about 10 quid a month give or take . My landline at home is never used for business so when it rings you know its not work related gives me that work life balance
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Plus would never get any work if used the landline at home wife has the handset glued to her face half the the time ;D
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It is impossible to generalise, a lot of our commercial customers are calling us from 0845 or withheld numbers as do a lot of our commercial enquiries. You cannot miss any opportunity it might be a customer worth thousands a year or £100 per year. people do not think you are professional unless you are contactable. If you want something doing do you just phone somebody, leave a message then just do nothing else until they phone you back.
Even with all the measures that we have in place we still miss calls for whatever reason and there is nothing worse that calling somebody back 10 minutes later and being told they have found somebody else.
You cannot afford not to have something in place.
If you do not like the idea of paying per call or per minute get a cellular gateway for your landline that will convert the landline calls into mobile call and forward to your mobile. Pocket landlines available from the mobile service providers, there are lots of options.
Peter
www.carpetcleanercardiff.comhttp://
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Most mobile companies will do a local area code number for about a fiver a month. These come straight to your mobile and no extra charge.
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Most mobile companies will do a local area code number for about a fiver a month. These come straight to your mobile and no extra charge.
Just enquired at Vodafone about this. You can even transfer your existing BT number across the same as you can take mobile numbers between providers.
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But the point is being missed;
Its no good diverting your calls if your not answering them, for what ever reason, driving, machine noise what ever.
As mentioned you have to collect every call as and when they come in, if you don't the competition will, 10 mins - 30 mins - 2 hrs later its too late !
Your not running your business properly if your not , in my opinion anyway
Its so frustrating that people actually think that .70p is too much to pay to have your calls answered for you every time and in your company name..........70p :o isn't it obvious that if you get as little as 10 x that on ROI that it makes it a no brainer and as we know no body works for £7 its a few hundreds times that and more.
There is an old saying; You can lead a horse to water....etc ::)roll
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Oh yes I know that one ,
you can lead a horse to water but you cannot teach him how to fish!
Peter