What would you do?

[CLC]

What would you do if you have a account and every time they contact you your not home and they get all bent out of shape if your a day late calling them?
What would you do?

[Runner]

It depends on how you define late. They should understand, that as a business, you have hours that you work. Right now, as we're seeing less daylight, it really shouldn't be a problem as like I, for instance, get in no later than 6 or 7. Even in the summer, however, I would never call back past 10 pm. Although, I do recieve calls that late and later. The main thing is, as a business, if the call came in after a certain time, then it should just be returned the next morning. That's usually the best way to handle it.

[SprinklerGuy]

Cell phone with vibrating battery for when you are on your mower. Get calling party pays that way if they really want to call you they will pay for it.

[Craig Turf Management]

My wife runs the administrative side of our business. More often than not, she is in the office during business hours. When a client or potential client calls, she will do her best to handle their needs. If it's something that requires my attention, she will ask them a good time for me to return their call. If it's a need that needs to be handled right away, She will page or call me on Nextel. If she is not in the office, our voice mail will pick up offering the caller the option to leave a message. Our voice mail greeting offers my pager number if the caller has a message of an urgent nature. This works well for us. I don't give out my cell number to any of my clients though.
Please whatever you do, return all calls promptly. Be a reliable lawn care service provider and break the stereotype.
Bill!

[rixtag]

I agree Bill, call back ASAP change their perception:)

Rick

[GrassMaster]

Hello:

About the only calls I received from my customers is if they were having a Special Occasion & they wanted me to come by a Little bit earlier or a Little Later!

There is no way in this World a Customer would have my cell phone number, why would this be neccessary in the Lawn Service Business? Yes, they can call my office number & Leave a Message, Like Everybody else in America does & in most cases I would contact them the next day. :)

I do not know of anykind of Emergency in this Business besides Unknown Property Damage, Death in family - Wanting Lawn Cleaned up next day or if their Lawn was missing & they thought I might have Borrowed it or loaned it to Someone? LOL

If it's to the Point where your getting Numerous Phone calls from same customer, figure it in the Cost of doing Business with them.

[Randy Scott]

Grassmaster-exactly.My business is not large by any means but the only real customer phone contact is them calling to have me do other things. I see them on occasion at their homes and that's about it. I call them promptly the next morning or even the same day when they leave a message. Not a big deal as far as this being a problem.
Lately after I read a post the first thing I do is check out the thread starters profile and that sometimes gives me an understanding of the situation. Sorry, but it's true.

[LoneStarLawn]

<b>GrassMaster</b> some small business owners have a cell number as their business line. We are one of those companies that do that at this time.

We also have specials advertised on our invoices so we do have regular customers calling with questions about those specials.

We have office hours where we will be in the office each each day. Our voicemail explains our hours of operation and office hours so if anyone needs us they can call during those office hours.

[GrassMaster]

Hello LoneStarLawn:

In that case there's not much you can do. :)

What I was basically getting at is I want as Little Interaction as Possible with the Customer. There's not enough extra to be to the point where you have Continual Conversations with them. About 2 or 3 times a year is enough! :)

I've had some that about drove me Crazy Calling on Sundays (The Older Cat Ladies). I don't see the need in Customer Communication in this Business that much.

I always notified them in advance about different Seasonal Services at Billing Time. Asked them to just check the service they needed & if they had any questions, I would be glad to discuss it with them?

The Less Communication the Less problems. That's Just My Thoughts?

[kutnkru]

I would think that if our clients know that when we cannot be reached that we are in the field. Then if they didnt hear from us the next morning they know there would be a message acknowledging receipt of their call and we will contact them later that evening.

This way they will either call you back and relay what they wanted or they will wait for your call late in the evening when you should be home.

I too agree that many smaller outfits should use the cell numbers this way they can keep in touch with clients during lunch and dinner breaks.

We offer a service and need to have an open line of communication with clients. I cannot see any reason why people should not have a courtesy call/message from us within at least 8 hrs - hopefully sooner.

Just my .02
Kris

[paul]

Office hours are 8 am to 5 pm, some clients have my cell # and some have my nextel direct connect #, most time they need to meet with me because there is a problem or they need advice on a problem. Some need me for extrea work on a job, or an OK for them to do something.

[Lawn Dog2001]

Heres how we do it. I have several lines of communication to my company. A customer service forum on my website, email, a business line in my home office, and a voice mail system on my pager.

I explain to all my customers when they sign on, that if they need to get in contact with me about your basic "When are you comming to cut my lawn?", they need to email me or leave me a voice mail. Instead of calling back, I just get those people on the list as soon as possible.

If it is a question reguarding something not grass cutting related, then they may call my office #. In most cases they get my wife. Most of the calls on my office line are new customers who found us in the phone book.

I never call people back after 9pm. Messages I get while Im on the job, I return when I get home. Once I get home I let the machine answer the phone the rest of the night. Those calls I get to the next day.

You have to draw the line somewhere. Answering the phone is work too. NEVER EVER, give your customers your cell # unless that is the only way they can reach you. If you give that # out customers will use that # because they know they can reach you on it. Having to answer the phone twenty times on the job will slow down your productivity.