Weekend Phone Messages

[XOFMOT]

I'm like a lot of you, My business runs Monday to Friday, a little on a Saturday (if needed) and Sundays off. What about those phone messages that are on your answering machine from the call that came in from Saturday afternoon until Monday morning? I have a seperate room for my business needs, and SHUT the door when I am done working on Saturday. Do you all wait until Monday to return the calls? Do you check your answering machine (those who still use them) throughout the weekend? The reason I ask this is that yesterday (SATURDAY) afternoon a message was left on my machine from about 3 P.M., I got home that night around 10 P.M.---went to bed. Woke up this morning and went into my "OFFICE" and saw the light blinking on the answering machine....I played the message and decided to give that person a call today..so I did. They were very nice, but they said they left a message with another company and they returned thier call yesterday (Sauturday):( They got the job. Well, I guess you win some and you loose some. But they need some snow plowing done as well for this winter, and told them I will look at thier property ASAP. So maybe I'll at least get a SNOW JOB...I MEAN......PLOW JOB out of this anyway. Thanks ALL!

[EROSS17]

I find that I return calls right away in the beginning of the season. Because I'm excited about getting started and everything feels fresh. But this time of year, they're going to have to wait until Monday to get a response. If I have finished all of my work by Friday evening, the biz is shut down for the weekend and I try not to think about work until Monday (all though that's usually impossible)

[Randy Scott]

If they were that desperate for services that urgently, I would tend to think they may not have been a customer you would want. They should plan ahead a little more. I am sure that is not always the case but maybe sometimes. I'm sure opinions will vary. You just aren't going to get every customer every time. I would like to think so, but if you miss a call and are a day late, that's life. Not too much you can do about it.

[geogunn]

I return calls to people asap, regardless. for example, two years ago I did a property for some people that were having an outdoor wedding but their mower crashed that morning.

they called, I returned the call, had the time to do the work and made the service call. I named my price for the cut and they gladly paid it plus included a gratuity. the gratuity paid for a night on the town for me and my lovely spouse and I have since done additional work for the family on an occasional basis.

GEO

[Guido]

let them talk to the machine! If they were serious about YOUR services they could wait more than a day to get a call back, especially on a weekend.


Work to live, don't live to work!! The weekends are for you and your family!

Your doing the right thing as far as I'm concerned.

[lawnboy82]

my customers call my cell phone. i check my mail when i get it. or within a few hours. if the call is not urgent then i sometimes wait. however if it is one of those, matt we need something done right away deals, basically what i would say to you is this. if you get the message at 11 pm on a saturday night, at least check it. because who knows, a tree may have fallen on the person's house, or across the driveway, at which time emergency rates come into play. so just keep that in mind. you may not have to call them back right away, but at least hear the message.

[wallzwallz]

i always check the message but wait until monday to call back. if there a mow n go customer how big an emergency could it be? i only have 2 customers i would call back both over 50K a year accounts. As far as new customers if they can't wait a day or 2 for response you probably don't need them anyhow.

[GreenQuest Lawn]

I leave my cell# on the voice mail message for urgent calls. Most people do not mind waiting till Mon. If not oh well.

[crazygator]

I agree with at least checking the message. But, also remember we have to supply customer service as well. If you were to call them right away, you could have worked out your schedule with them for the mowing at another time, not right then. Most people want someone to at least acknowledge them. By calling you give them the peace of mind that it does matter to you and they would feel better about the whole deal. I always try to put myself in their shoes. If I didn't get the call I would feel my business does not matter to you and go somewhere else also. Never get to proud as to not call. Very bad customer service, and you never know what may come from the call. Its only a phone call, not life or death!

[Premo Services]

I will answer my calls, even on weekends. The only time I wait until monday is when we go to the lake, or if we have company. All of my customers know that they will get called back, and when I get referals, they are told this by my customers, but are suprised that I called back the same day. Most of them tell me that they called other companies, and the companies never caled back. Also by calling them as soon as possible, When I tell them that it will be a few weeks before I can get to their work, they don`t ever have a problem with that,
This is what our bisiness is about, customer service. When you need a part for equiptment on a saturday, at noon, and the dealer is closed, didn`t you think that they should have been there, because this is a customer service business also,( even though some dealers wouldn`t know what customer service was if it came up and slapped them in the head):mad: .
Answering calls that I get on weekends has not been a problem for me, and in a few minutes of talking to them I arrange a time during the week to meet them, and get the job :D

[Rooster]

Why not settle the situation before it arises.

Change you outgoing message to include all calls received on Saturday or Sunday will be returned on Monday morning.

Or something similar, depending on your particular business operation.

[Twotoros]

Yeah just include biz hours on the machine and that calls recieved after those hours will be returned asap during those hours. Some folks think the lawn guy is available 24/7. This will help get it in their heads that you are running a real business.

[bobbygedd]

i work at 2 jobs monday thru friday. i do my lawn work 8 till about 2, then do my "other job" 4 till midnight. i sometimes also work saturdays if needed. sunday is a big no no. i too have a separate"office" for my lawn service, with an answering machine. any calls that come in on sat or sunday are not even listened to until monday morning, as a matter of fact i put a towel over the machine so i cant even see if the light is blinking. i dont want to even know if anyone called till mon morning at 7:30

[Remsen1]

Has anybody ever looked into an answering service or hired somebody to check the messages from saturday night and answer the phone on sunday? Maybe the same person could be a housekeeper for your office, vacuum, clean windows?

By having a person there to answer your customer gets the assurance of speaking with a real person. You could direct the answering person to call you if it were a real opportunity for you to make some good money and to ask how urgent it is to see if you could call them on monday.

I think there would be many benefits to this vs. a machine, but much more expensive. My business is not big enough to consider this yet.

[Mike (MLC)]

For some unknown reason we always receive the most calls on Sunday. I guess this is the only free day for some people and I suppose they think we answer the phone 7 days a week. We do check our machine and try and return their call later on in the day. And depending on if I am busy or not I might give them an estimate on the weekend. But most of the time I just wait until Mon. I think calling them back as soon as possible is good, even if it is on the weekend. We get many new customers that way. If I am full up then I just call them and let them know that we aren't taking any new customers. I think it helps them out because they are not waiting on your phone call forever. And if you can't do it, then they have the time to move on to the next lawn man on the list.

[mrclean]

I always answer my calls whenever I get them, or at least listen to the messages. I try to return calls asap, even if it is just to let them know that I cant get to it until another day. After you let them know that you are off weekends they may understand. Or, if you don't want the job you can let them know. But, not answering just looses customers in my book. Personally, I appreciate it when someone takes a little time to return MY calls on a timely manner, even if it is just to let me know they can't do something I want. If I don't hear anything from someone within a day or so I figure they don't want my business, and I go on to someone else. I think it is that way with most people. Treat them the way you want to be treated. If you had picked up the phone, or at least listened to the message you wouldn't have lost the business.

[eslawns]

My wife handles that end of the biz. We have a pager number on the outgoing message so people who have a more urgent need can still contact us. I've had people make it worth my time, so I try to return calls ASAP, but handle the other things according to the specific situation.

[Island Lawn]

It seems like having bus hrs in the mssg would educate the caller and sound more professional.

BTW, I return my calls ASAP.

[Loosestrife]

At the end of the day on Friday, our MEssage reads like this. We are out of the office until Monday. Please leave your message, and we will get back to you on MOnday. If this is a chemical emergency, please hang up and dial the Poison Conrtol Center at XXX-XXX-XXXX. Have a great weekend.

We do not do emergency storm clean up, and are not agressivly seeking new clients, so this works for us. If we did either of these, immedate return calls are a must.

There are a few people that know how to get in touch with a manager on the weekend. Employees, neighbors, neighbors of the wharehouse, business assiocates, and only a very select few clients.