give customers your cell #?

[bobbygedd]

i've always valued my privacy, and my option, to talk to someone, or not. last year, it was standard to never give out my cell number. this year, however, i'm carrying more clients, and part of my selling point, is availability. of course, the ole caller i.d helps. do u give your clients your cell #?

[mcwlandscaping]

my cell number is my biz number, i don't need my family talking to potiential customers....might scare em away!

[olderthandirt]

i've always valued my privacy, and my option, to talk to someone, or not. last year, it was standard to never give out my cell number. this year, however, i'm carrying more clients, and part of my selling point, is availability. of course, the ole caller i.d helps. do u give your clients your cell #?

Yeah to a phone that been gone for yrs :laugh: :laugh:

If its a valuable customer then I give it out, if its a 1 time job or the people are an azz they get the old #

[MysticLandscape]

Hell no, last thing I want on friday night when i am out with my friends is Ms. smith calling me to see if i was comming tomorow when i already told her 10 times that I was. I have a business line and thats what its for business, my cell is my personsal phone.

[Lux Lawn]

do u give your clients your cell #?

I have 2 cell phones.1 for personal use the second is for business use.There is NO way my customers would get my personal cell phone #.

[Idealtim]

I use 2000 minutes a month, mostly telling the same thing over and over again. Thank god I got nextels free incoming!!!

[lasher66]

I use the call forwarding feature on my home phone so calls are forwarded to my cell when someone calls my home. During the day no one is home at my house so I dont want to miss any potential customers. My cell number is on my business card but customers seem to call my house more though.

Jason

[Jnamo]

My cell is my biz phone. I just look at the I.D. and decide if I want to take it or not. All of the customers are in there and they have their own ring tone. I know as soon as the phone rings if it is a customer who is already signed up or a possible new customer. If I am busy and it is someone already on board, I let the voice mail get it.
Owner/Secretary, Jeff

[grassmanvt]

Yes, I do. Especially important for snow work. Not uncommon to have it ringing at 3 or 4 am in a storm or ice event.

[mike lane lawn care]

my cell phone number is my biz number. my mom works at night so i don't need customers calling when she's sleeping.

[hillndale]

My cell phone is my business # too. It's on my business cards & my truck. I try to discourage phoning my home #. No one bothers me, so I'm fine with my set up. Free incoming via US Cellular doesn't use up my minutes. I like being able to respond to new customers immediately, and not miss the call, should it go to my home # and I'm not there. Once customer is onboard for service, they don't bother me.

hillndale:headphones:

[HOOLIE]

I just dropped the ol' business landline to use my cellphone. It's really quite simple...

If it's during "business hours" I answer it...

If it's NOT during "business hours" and I don't recognize the number, I don't answer.

I can turn the ringer off too if I want...

It's not that...hard...to use...the cellphone for business if you use some common sense...

[JJLandscapes]

cell phone is business number but voicemail is "you have reached the office of JJ....." most people probably dont realize its a cell phone but just cause the phone rings at random hours doesnt mean you have to pick it up if its a random number

[Lynden-Jeff]

Anyone use 1800 numbers? I'm thinking about using a 1800 number and then route it to either my cell or my home phone or a dedicated land line when at home. Say I'm out on the field I route it to my cell and if I'm at home or after hours I route it to my cell.

Cheers
Jeff

[Sharp Services]

my cell number is my biz number, i don't need my family talking to potential customers....might scare em away!

It is the same for me. With six kids I would never get the message and after the customer talked to some of the little kids I would probably never get any work.

With caller ID it is easy to decide if I need to answer it or not. All my family and friends have a special ring so if it after hours I know if I need to get the phone or let voice mail do it for me.

Works great for me. Also the cell phone number is on my truck and cards.

[1MajorTom]

i've always valued my privacy, and my option, to talk to someone, or not. last year, it was standard to never give out my cell number. this year, however, i'm carrying more clients, and part of my selling point, is availability. of course, the ole caller i.d helps. do u give your clients your cell #?
Never, what exactly is the purpose of it? In your case, you want customers calling you to complain while you are at another jobsite?
Our customers call our business line at home, there is nothing that is that pressing that can't wait. We check the messages sporadically throughout the day anyhow. Besides Gedd, you have limited amount of minutes, i'm surprised you'd waste them on your customers. ;)

[METRO 36]

Im with hoolie and sharp services on this one i got 3 kids and they love to answer the phone, and i hate driveing home on a day that its early or fairly early evening checking my message's and finding that i need to drive right back where i came from to do a estimate(or remove a tree,branch,etc during a snow storm) Also one time i had a message from a women that i had talked to a few days before abought doing her lawn. Se was mad at her current LCO because they never called back and they wouldnt show when they where suppossed. Any way 8 message's later she called back and said dont worry abought the bid i got some one else to do it. first call 8:00 second call 2:00 most of the people in are area hire the first person to show there face on the jobsite.

[topsites]

my cell number is my biz number, i don't need my family talking to potiential customers....might scare em away!

LOL me too, so yeah all my customers have my cell because that's the main number.

As for when I don't want to receive calls (like if I'm at dinner or whatever), just leave it someplace else, no need to take it with me everywhere I go or also if I do take the cell with me (like for emergency if I need it), sometimes I just turn it off.

[grassmanvt]

LOL me too, so yeah all my customers have my cell because that's the main number.

As for when I don't want to receive calls (like if I'm at dinner or whatever), just leave it someplace else, no need to take it with me everywhere I go or also if I do take the cell with me (like for emergency if I need it), sometimes I just turn it off.

I wish I felt like I could leave it. Mine stays on 24/7/365, it even stays with me at night, about three feet from my ears when I sleep. Not quite as important in the summer but, in the winter, its an absolute must. I'm just as likely to be on it at 1-4am as 1-4pm. I will however check the caller id and weed out a call or two now and then. In summer time, since I am often in the field and don't hear it, I feel its good to answer early am calls or late evening calls as it gives people a chance to get ahold of me and not a recording.

[K.Carothers]

I never use to but that changed this year. I gave out my cell number. I regret it totally.

It's easy to say not to answer but just knowing that a particular customer has called Friday at 10:30pm bothers me.


kc

[NNJLandman]

Yea my cell number is my busines number, if your my friend your name comes up on the screen, if your a customer or potential customer, i just let you leave a message and ill return it as soon as possible. This way I always have it with me can answer urgent and non-urgent calls etc. Also this way i dont havta worry about my parents being woken up or having to deal with anyone/messing anything up. ha

Jeff

[General Landscaping]

Cell is the biz #

Around here, if you go home to get your messages at the end of the day; the job is done or sold and signed by someone else when you call back.

[PMG]

There is a big difference between cell phones and office phones, I have both. I believe it is more professional to use an office phone to give to customers.

Here is what I do....I have Vonage, which is voice over IP, this is the only number I give out. It costs me 15.00/month and comes with all the features, you can even add another line for fax or whatever, it is cheap. I will check my voice-mail through out the day and return calls from my cell if absolutely necessary, but I block the number so it doesn't show up on their caller ID. During the summer months, there are not that many emergencies that require my immediate attention. My crews all have my number so if they need to contact me they can, but there is very little if any reason that my customers would have to call me.

I also provide my customers with a schedule, much like Poland Spring does for me. If they are a maintenance customer, they will get a monthly schedule with their bill to tell them when I will be there, weather permitting.

I have learned that conditioning and training is not only for our employees, but is for our customers as well. This way there is no abuse of calls with questions that have already been addressed.


Peter

[Gene $immons]

I will give it out, but I don't have it printed on any of my coorespondance.

I want people to be able to reach me easily. If I'm busy or if its late, they can leave a message.