What do you do about those customers that think you work 24/7?
Tonight is a prime example of what seems to be the new norm for customers. I received 4 calls after 8:00pm and let them go to the machine. Having been up since 0 dark thirty and busting butt all day I’m in no mood to discuss the finer points of construction.
The worst I recall is a customer calling at 11:30 PM on a Sunday night. I called them back at 4:45 AM monday morning and said I wasn’t interested in the job.
Please give me some tips for handling this or I think I’m going to have to get a postal job. I know I can pass the shooting part of the test.:-)
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If you were arrested for being a quality builder would there be enough evidence to convict you?
Replies
I have a cell phone that goes on all my cards, etc. Actually a landline would work as well, but the cell actually worked out better for me price-wise (vs. business line). This is the number that is on all my advertising, business cards, etc. When I get home, it stays in the truck, all calls will just go to the voicemail. For that matter, often, it stays in the truck anyway, and the calls go to voicemail.
The cell phone on my belt is the number that I give to suppliers, family, etc. And a few very select clients.
I'm a home owner. My builder had two phone numbers, one for business and one personal. He never picked up the business phone at night, I always got the machine. He'd return the call the next day if it was one that needed returning. I did not mind one bit not getting him, because I knew he had a life after work. I could have called the personal number if I ever really needed him.
So, I think having a separate business phone is a good idea, and listing only that one in your ads and business stationery. You can enforce it, though, by being prompt at returning calls. If you don't then customers will get anxious and need to speak to you right away to calm their fears. If they trust you, they won't bother you so much after a while. You could also train your family to say something like this if a customer calls your personal phone, "can I take a message and have him call you tomorrow. What would be a good time?"
I'm sure some of the contractors in the forum have better ideas.
The worst I recall is a customer calling at 11:30 PM on a Sunday night. I called them back at 4:45 AM monday morning and said I wasn't interested in the job.
Please give me some tips for handling this or I think I'm going to have to get a postal job.
You don' need no stinkin' tips.
SamT
The phone discussion has been gone through before. I am always surprised at how different guys handle it. We have 2 phone lines into the house. One is the business line. It rings into a phone located in the office of our house. It has the phone company voice mail so the only thing I hear is 4 rings. Our house line is a normal house line with 4 different phones all ringing at once, but we have a machine on that and that way I can screen the calls. My wife answers the phone always, I answer the phone almost never without knowing who it is.
I don't give my cell phone out to customers. For that matter I give that number out only to a dozen or so as I use it for business day to day matters and suppliers. I check my business messages 3-4 times a day and return calls as needed. I think the call back at 4:45 was on the money! DanT
I also hate late night incosiderate calls - I get some too. (and some of those are from contractors)
I like the idea of calling them back at 4:30 am................(-:
I've basically quit answering the phone after 9:00 at night, and have told my kids to do the same. If something major is up I can hear the answering machine from my bed and go pick the phone up or call back. I leavemy cell phone where I can't hear it or turn it off.
I think having a separate business line and not answering it is a good idea. But not everybody has a big enough business to make that worthwile.
And honestly - Sometimes I don't know when to call people. One of the guys I have done some worrk for has a Wife who works night/sleeps days. I hate to call his house, since I don't want to wake her up. And I hate to call him at work due to his situation there. So picking out a good time is difficult.
We can't win at home. We can't win on the road. As general manager, I just can't figure out where else to play. [Pat Williams, Orlando Magic general manager, on his team's 7-27 record]
Contrary to what someonelse said, unlist your personal number and be extremely careful of who you give it to, assume they will give it out for work thinking they are doing you a favor.
First of all, you are entitled to a personal line that you can answer 24/7 if you wish. I have three kids, I don't want to have my customers first impression of me yelling at my kids, I'd rather they get a machine. I get the occasional call on my personal line, and I tell them to call back at the office number.
I just had a potential customer who got my personal number from a business associate. First call I gave them my office and cell number. Had a meeting and for some reason they would only give me his cel number. I leave them my card with the office number. I email references to them and tell them to call me after they talk to some past customers. I leave two messages on his cell, and he doesn't reply for two weeks. Then he calls my home number again saying he lost my other numbers.
It would have been a nice project, but the lack of respect will only get worse.
Tom
I'm here to help the humans.
Calling back to his home phone at 4:45 am. was a inconsiderate thing to do. He called your work number. How was he to know that your work number bothers you after hours? You should turn your ringer off and let your answering machine get the calls when you don't want them. He was probably just planning on leaving you a message Sun. night so you would phone him back.
Ace
I have to agree it was an inconsiderate thing to do (but funny and I don't really believe you did that but I get your point).
My wife in her real estate is more connected than the president between cell, beepers, voice mail at work that beeps her beeper,etc etc,,she just turns everything off at night and checks em ASAP in the AM..as for me...I just use my lowly answering machine from 1990..seems to have worked all this time so.....
BE well
andyMy life is my practice!
http://CLIFFORDRENOVATIONS.COM
Sometimes the evening is the only time a husband and wife can be on the phone at the same time to talk over plans. I play fast and loose with my daytime hours so that I can do stuff with my dau or whatever, so I don't begrudge evening work. If I can make the process easier for clients, I try.
10 years ago, when I was running my computer biz, I was working late one night. Phone rings at 3 am, so I answer it. It was a guy from Australia who expected to leave a message w/ a tech support question. Blew him away to get a real person. Think I made some sales off that call! Had another similar thing that in many ways had a domino effect that lead to where I am now. Got a late-night call from "Becky." Answered it and helped her with her questions. A couple months later, our product is reviewed in the biggest Mac magazine, and the reviewer is....Becky! She notes that phone call as being an example of our excellent cust serv, we get a great product score, win a big award, get distributorships we didn't have before, attract attention of a big company, sell out to them, which allows me to seek out my daughter and build my house and here I am. Completely serious. Ya just never can tell who's on the other end of that line and where it might lead...
I establish right away as a fine line item on my proposal (assuming we have come to some accord) the # of my walkie talkie and they can call whenever they want - sometimes you get live and more often than knot voice mail I get back soon or by morning or later depending
but your post reminds me of my most infamous phone scenario
about three yrs ago doing a new carriage house / garage ( olde one flattened by two doug fir trees 3 1/2' dia. toppled in a windstorm ) for a couple and in meantime befriended a neighbor lady who was my client's tennis partner they would visit often and were very interested in the project
a couple months after finishing project I receive a call from her husband interested in my giving him a price on reroofing his house and putting in about 7 velux skylights - app. 41 square cedar shingles maybe sheathing etc have a nice easygoing looksee of app 2 hrs last of which was w/ her "designer" about location of skylights etc from there went to designers house which segued into a big kitchen remodel
six weeks later a Monday morning the tennis partner calls me up at a few minutes before 7am and says "John your men are beginning to cut out for the skylight in my bathroom and it's not where we decided upon"
baffled I told her I had never heard a word from her husband and some other concern had to be on her roof
ran into her husband a couple months later w/ a few more furrows on his brow and he said I really should have had you do the job
apologies for the length of that be more hidden cloud Ciao
I also agree that calling a customer at 4:45am is inconsiderate.
We answer our business/personal phone when ever we are in. Clients from several time zones away sometimes call at poor times.
(We often work late and sleep in so 9:00am calls often find us in bed, but we answer them. happily)
But then our clients must be a cut above the average client.
Those clients phoning at all times happen to any business.
We had a horse training stable. Most clients were nice but a few would call, mostly Saturdays around 1-2-3AM, sounding a little tipsy and say things like: "Here, tell my buddy how fast my colt is." That about a unbroke colt they dropped a few days ago, barely under saddle a day or two.
On top of that we had people staying to eat most meals and some even to sleep over when they missed their plane (we didn't have any restaurant or motel close by).
At least you don't have clients trying to live with you.
that 4:45 am thing is a classic!
Very simple solution.
It will cost you less than $35/month
Get a business line in addition to your home phone
Get call forwarding
If you choose---you can then call forward your business calls to your cell phone during the day.
simply refuse to answer the phone after 5:00 or 6:00 or 7:00----whatever YOU choose.
Because of !@#$%^& Verminous telemarketers I haven't used the call forwarding feature in a long time----I should cancel it.On top of that---I doubt I have intentionally answered a phone in 9-12 months.
If a business can't afford $35/month for a seperate phone line----it probably ain't doing enough volume that early or late home phone calls are much of a problem.
I agree with all of you on both sides.
I have benefited by allowing my number to be called late at night and I have regretted at other times of giving it out.
I have a question- Does anyone use pagers anymore? Do you limit some or all of clients to your pager?
Years ago that was all I could afford and dropped it when I could afford a cell phone.
I'm thinking to get a pager and use that number exclusively with clients and the cell for family and suppliers.
My personal horror story tho was- After a personal house fire on a early Saturday morning, after spending several hours that day in the hospital and going back to the rubble of my home,I noticed my pager survived there on my dresser . Amazingly I had over 20 pages from the same number starting at 3am Saturday morning,( almost the time of the fire).
I remembered I was to meet this customer at 9:00 that sat. morning. When I called to apologies for not being there, and before I could explain, I was told I was the most inconsiderate contractor she ever met. When I explained, she said," that just proves my point since I was doing nothing at the hospital I could have at least called earlier!" She hung up on me.
I was going through a divorce at the time, two of my subs had quit(my fault), my ex was a day late bringing the kids back(thank God), and my mortgage was threatening to foreclose....
I have always been glad I didn't own firearms!
Don't know where you are, but here our business lines cost about $70 per month including the various taxes. We see more and more people going to cell service for additional lines and other uses.Any jackass can kick down a barn, but it takes a carpenter to build one.
Hasbeen,
I am in Akron ,Ohio.
I am looking at my SBC bill ( formerly Ameritech,Formerly Ohio Bell !)
Including a long list of taxes----the bill my business line costs $39.27
Even at $70 /month I would consider it dirt cheap.
I am really not trying to be snotty----but if a home based business can't come up with money for a second phone line dedicated to business----they probably aren't doing a volume of business which generates a lot of annoying calls.
BTW---RE: Cel phone service------based on the absolutely wretched and un-dependable cel phone service I have been recieving here for the last few months-----I would hate to depend on my celphone for incoming calls.
BTW----in response to SkipJ and CAG,
your attitude is appropriate and understandable if you are young,hungry,and starting out to build up a business.
But-----eventually you will probably see that a lot of that answering phones at all hours,working saturdays,sundays,nights etc. is largely unproductive wheel spinning.
and you won't be concerned as much about getting ENOUGH business---as you will be concerned with filtering out the ever increasing amounts of business that you DON'T want.
And you will learn how to make more and more money-----by doing less and less actual work.
Being busy isn't a sign of success
Plenty of people busily worked themselves into bankruptcy
Profits are a better indication of "success"
Remember----that phone is a tool that exists to serve YOU and your interests. Use it to YOUR best advantage. It is not there for the convenience of cretinous telemarketers or price shopping,tire kicking skinflints.
would you let one of your customers----stop by your house at 10:00 PM to use your saw to cut a board?---of Course not.why let them disturb you with a telephone at 10:00PM ?
I'm in CO also but because of my location I have to pay an additional up charge of $12.50 area service charge. With taxes it comes to almost 16$. Further down the road can be double that. These charges are because they can.
Business line is about 35$ + taxes more still.
I would like a second line. (Long, long waiting list for a number to become available.) 2 lines = 250$ a month. Serious ouch. Cells, pagers and the Nextel system don't work here. They (phone company) have you by the short hairs.
The phone rings - I answer. Any time.
Who ever invented work didn't know how to fish....
Well, I guess it depends on how bad you want to succeed, and how you personally define that. If you are comfortable with where you are, boundaries make sense. I have always given (valued) clients my cell phone #, and told them "The only time you can't reach me is when I'm asleep". Same with suppliers, subs, employees, bankers, etc..
David Ogilvy, founder of Ogilvy and Mather, a monolithic advertising agency, wrote: "If you are the kind of guy that attends every PTA meeting, spends weekends gardening, and plays a great game of golf, my guess is that I would like you very much. However, don't complain to me when the guy that worked every Saturday, burned the midnight oil, and was in the office at 10 PM or 5AM to take an important clients call, gets promoted by me, and you don't. Don't complain when he is fast tracked to vice president, and you get little or no raise. Complain to your wife".*
*From memory, not an exact quote.
Thats a good quote/passage.
Neil, how many people ya think had their last words be, "I wish I'd spent more time at the office."?
Ok I see where you're going, but give me a minute here...
How many people out there sit back and wish they had "more" you can put what ever you want after the word.
I'm not saying I want to bust my hump my entire life, but I do want to make something out myself, and it's not going to happen if I find reasons not to work. I have fairly high hopes and dreams to achieve them I won't be able to work 40/hrs a week, it's just not practical.
There's a lot of truth in that phrase, being, those who get ahead generally speaking, put in more then those that don't.
I've had this conversation a hundred times with G/F. She wants to move up the corporate ladder, yet she shows up at 8 and leaves at 5 almost everyday with an hour or so lunch. She does good work and gets good reviews, but who's going to get noticed her doing, an all be it good, but average job, or the person working at the same "skill level" but putting in the extra effort, extra time etc?
It's not going to be the person putting in a 9 to 5 day, that's just life.
she can't understand why I put in extra time at work, why I go back to work after class even though "I'm off for the day" why darn near every Saturday and a lot of Sundays I'm at the shop getting things done, why I was at my boss's personal house digging a trench through heavy, wet stone and clay last Saturday night until 8pm until we found the leak in water line after putting in almost a full day at the shop staining up some windows when everyone else he called said no thanks. Why I volunteer for the crappy jobs when they come up and everyone else puts there head down and turns away. Or even why I sit here and read or read books on construction techniques, why I take my "work" home in a sense.
I do it partly because I truly love what I do, but also so when the time comes for me to ask for a raise My boss can look back and see I'm giving it my all. I also get nice little bonus's from time to time for my efforts so I know they are being noticed.
I'm not trying to toot my own horn with what I just said, it's just a sore spot. It seems to me too many people think they can get ahead by putting in an average effort. That's just not the way life works. The more successful a person wants to be the more effort they must put forth. So if that means for me to realize my goals, I have to get up early, go to bed late, and work extra that's what I'm going to do.
For some people it's not that important to make a lot of money or advance highly in their field and that's perfectly fine, I just don't like people that have super high ambitions in life but fail to put forth the effort to achieve it, and then complain. I know that's not what's going on here and I managed to get on one hell of a rant so I digress ;) I spoke a lot in the first person here, but I think it applies to everyone.
That attitude will serve you well grasshopper.
The key is to focus on spending time as you wish to spend it, and then you won't have regrets. I averaged 15 hrs/day every day for 12 years with my computer business (kept a journal). A total of 20 days off in that time. It was a blast! And I often thought that if it all ended that day--beer truck hits me, bankrupt, whatever--the experience was worth the effort. It's the journey, not the destination. The payoff was a pleasant little occurrence, and has afforded me a bit more flexibility than I had before, but the experience is what I did it for. So, I agree with what you said. Where I take exception to Ogilvy is the implicit notion that the title or the pay are the big reasons to put in the time and forego the other stuff. By themselves, they don't mean a whole lot. What means a whole lot to me is spending my time in the way I choose to, and not having that dictated by other people--for me that's the ultimate freedom.
think how much you'd get done if you weren't screwing off here so much... ;-)
sorry, couldn't resist. actually, i applaud your attitude and wish a helluva lot more people thought and acted that way- and not just young people, either. be prepared for the backlash from co-workers, etc.
my $0.02? try to remember life is a journey, not a destination and that while success may be getting what you want, happiness depends more on wanting what you actually end up getting. in a world (custom homebuilding) that necessarily involves being around wealthy people and all that goes with it, try not to make too much of your happiness hinge on having more and bigger and better stuff. i'd be the last person to say having a comfortable lifestyle in beautiful surrounding isn't important, but it's not the most important.
m
Back on the original topic, my theory is that I sometimes call a business number at odd times, figuring that I'll leave a message. Last Sunday afternoon, I called a customer's office to leave him a voicemail because a thought had just occurred to me; he answered, and threw me off completely. I wouldn't be surprised if people called mine at odd times, but it's my decision to answer or not.
I have a cell phone for work. People know that it's either on or off, depending on things, they can leave a message. As I've told people, if I don't answer, I could be in the john, or at a meeting, or sleeping, or reading a story to my kids. I'm not interrupting my kids lives for a phone call. Sometimes I check my messages late at night, sometimes not.
I wish I spent more time at the office! Mine's at HOME!!!!!!!!! :)
Brudoggie
:) Mine too! I love being able to be here when Meili gets home from school.