Business Phone

[ztrguy]

What does everyone use for a business phone?

1. Landline Phone
2. Cell Phone
3. Landline & Cell Phone

I use the Landline Phone only. Here are my thoughts. I'm out in the field most of the day. I get in and check to see if there are any messages. If there are I call them back. Sometimes phone calls can pile up and that's the last thing I want to do when I get home from workin all day long. Should I choose the Cell Phone only option? If I choose Cell Phone only I will be able to return calls between jobs that way they won't pile up. Also, I was thinking I have a better chance of catching the customer while it's fresh on their mind. Many people will just call another LCO if one doesn't get back pretty soon. What are you guys take on this?

[DUSTYCEDAR]

biz phone is a land line with a answering machine always on and working
cell phones get crappy reception and people hate drooped calls makes u look unprofessional 2 some people but i will call them back on it if i have no choice
i will not give out my cell phone # because the people will call that and if i don't get back Wright away they think u are ignoring them

[paponte]

Land & Cell. Primarily use the landline, but it has my cell on it for emergencies. :cool:

[Hawkeye5]

Landline with an answering machine. I check with my cell phone for messages during the day, usually at lunch, but I don't want the cell phone to interrupt my work.

[MudslinginFX4]

I strickly just use a cell phone all the time. I always have it with me no matter what and if I am on a job site working and can't answer it they can leave me a voicemail. I am able to answer the phone a lot of the time because I am getting away from the work aspect of the business as much as possible and am concentrating on the selling part while my employees are doing the work!

[Mustang]

Landline. Cell phone may work for the smaller company but it will get out of hand as you grow. If you work in the field how can you stop, take the call, write down whatever you need to write down, hear with the machines going in the background, answers questions about a particular line item on their bill, etc. This will also mess up your times for your jobs. Keep adminstrative time separate from production times. Also, unless you have two cell phones or turn it off after work do you want customers calling you nights and weekends? I would suggest you get a private number for your cell either way so customers cannot call you whenever they want. I had a customer get my cell number off his caller id. Saved it. Called me at 8:00 pm on a Saturday night during dinner. I was NOT a happy camper. :realmad:

[ztrguy]

Decisions....Decisions...

I can easily see everyone's choice on this subject. I'm seriously considering in '04 just using a Cell Phone and see how it works out. If I ever get big time with a couple of crews I'll definately have the Landline Phone too, but for now I think the Cell Phone would work just fine. Keep those replies coming!

[leadarrows]

I have two things on my home phone that you might want to consider. One is call forwarding. I usually let my answering machine get calls at home but if I am expecting a call I don't want to miss I forward the land line to the cell. I do that when I am on the internet as well. The second is distinctive ring on the home phone. That way when I get a business call I I know to answer with my company name.
I put my cell and land line with the distinctive ring on my card. My feelings about getting calls at odd hours are a little different than most of what I see posted here. Personally I don't care if some one calls me at 3 am. I went into business for myself to make money and If some one wants to call me about a work related topic I'M all ears.
If some one gets to be a pita about it I'M not bashfully I'LL just tell them to knock it off. No problem. :)

[J&R]

I have business phone and forward to Nextel cell phone all incoming calls are free. This is why someone calling to get price and no one there they will call next LCO in the phone book.

[KerryB]

I use a land phone with an answering machine always on.
I also have a cell phone with voice messaging. My customers know that if its something they need to talk with me about urgently to call my cell and leave a message.
I usually check them in between jobs. And return any calls that require immediate attention.

[Fantasy Lawns]

My landline forwards to my cell phone .... our nextel is pretty good in this area .... I can use the walkie talkie bout 3 miles off shore !

[LawnPerfect]

I list both in advertising. But my cell phone is listed first.

[greenngrow]

landline forward to my Nextel. Free in coming calls.

Works well for me. Expect those damn telemarketers.

They are wanting to sell me lawn care services LMAO

[365years]

Landline (wife is home, or answering machine). Wife's cell phone (when they don't want to use answering machine). She can relay messages to me and I can return them when it fits into the schedule. I am covering 2 area codes so landline is one and the cell is the other.

[Avery]

Landline, but I also carry a cell. I give that number to my better customers.

[Metro Lawn]

Land & Cell. Landline goes to answering service which takes call info and then sends me a text message and I can return it when I get a chance. They also have one of my Nextels, so they can 2 way me if it's an emergency.

[DFW Area Landscaper]

Cellular only. I have a velcro patch sewn to my shirt sleeve and I've super-glued velcro to the back of my cell phone. I can hear it barely over a mower. But I think it beats having customers call and get an answering machine.

Can't get listed with directory assistance, though. Sprint and the other cellular phone companies still have their head up their azz on that issue.

Later,
DFW Area Landscaper

[MDMowing]

We use landline phone, but we do have a cell phone they can call as well, but either way they most likely will end up having to leave a message.

[Wells]

Cell phone only.... but sometimes while mowing I can't hear it ring so i'm looking to invest in the hands free adapter.

[alpine692003]

2 cellphones..

Unlimited useage on both of my rates....

I don't use the landline whatsoever.

[walker-talker]

Originally posted by leadarrows
The second is distinctive ring on the home phone. That way when I get a business call I I know to answer with my company name. How does your phone distinguish whether it's personal or business?

[yourlawnguy]

Business phone automatically forwards to my cell. If you only have a cell phone nobody can look you up in the phone book. If you only have the office phone and no receptionist people around here will keep calling around until they find someone who answers. It seems that people are too impatient to leave a message and wait for a return call.:(

[Avery]

Use vibrating alerts guys..then you will know it is ringing even on a mower. :)

[yourlawnguy]

Originally posted by Avery
Use vibrating alerts guys..then you will know it is ringing even on a mower. :)
That hasn't worked for me, I use a handsfree set, it rings right in my ear.

[DFW Area Landscaper]

++++Use vibrating alerts guys..then you will know it is ringing even on a mower.++++

Same for me. I don't feel a thing over the vibrations of my Ferris. But with the phone attached to my shoulder via velcro, I hear it ring 95%+ of the time.

Later,
DFW Area Landscaper

[Avery]

You guys need to get some smoother mowers....like Toro's! :)


Can't feel a vibrating phone? Man I would not wanna ride that beast all day!!

[KerryB]

Wells maybe you should patent that hands free device. lol

[wojo23323]

Originally posted by yourlawnguy
Business phone automatically forwards to my cell. If you only have a cell phone nobody can look you up in the phone book. If you only have the office phone and no receptionist people around here will keep calling around until they find someone who answers. It seems that people are too impatient to leave a message and wait for a return call.:(

I only use a cell phone. I use that number in the yellow pages ad.

[Rich's Lawn Care]

We use cell phones. (Nextel)

[mtdman]

I have a voicemail for the primary number for my business. It doesn't ring anywhere, it goes right to voicemail. I can call and get the messages at any time, and then call the people back. I carry a cell with me while I'm out, but only for calling to people. Never give that number out. And when I do call people, I always block the # so people can't id me. I don't want folks calling me at home or on my cell.

I've done this since the start, and it's served me well.

:D

[wojo23323]

Originally posted by mtdmaster
I have a voicemail for the primary number for my business. It doesn't ring anywhere, it goes right to voicemail. I can call and get the messages at any time, and then call the people back. I carry a cell with me while I'm out, but only for calling to people. Never give that number out. And when I do call people, I always block the # so people can't id me. I don't want folks calling me at home or on my cell.

I've done this since the start, and it's served me well.

:D

I don't agree with how you get your calls. But if it works for you, thats what matters. How many people have hung up without leaving a message on your voicemail? What is so bad about people calling you on your cell phone? I just don't get it. But if it works for you, keep doing it.

[gogetter]

Seperate phone line for biz in my office. When I'm running an ad and don't want to miss calls, I forward it to my cell.

When not running an ad, I turn off the forwarding and let the voicemail in the office get it. Any calls then are usually current customers, so I'm not worried about missing potential new customers.

[rodfather]

Landline only. But I will forward it when I am out snow plowing.

[mtdman]

Originally posted by wojo23323
I don't agree with how you get your calls. But if it works for you, thats what matters. How many people have hung up without leaving a message on your voicemail? What is so bad about people calling you on your cell phone? I just don't get it. But if it works for you, keep doing it.

I don't know how many people have hung up, but at the same time I'm not hurting for them. If anything, as I posted last week, I get more calls for work than I can handle. If people want to hang up and not leave a message, that's fine. I get pleny of people that call and do leave messages. I'm not an on call service, I'm not sitting by the phone all day desperate for people to call, and if they can't wait for me a few hours to return a call I'm not interested.

I started with this method because when I started I lived in apartments, and had no set office or place I could have a consistant number if I moved. Which doesn't work if you want to establish a phone number for a business. Or have a listing in the phone book. And back then, cell phones weren't very common and certainly not inexpensive. By now I've had that number for 8 years and I'm not about to switch it.

I didn't say it was bad for people to call through to me, but as far as that goes, why do I need them to? I wouldn't give out my home phone to have people calling at all times of the day, why would I give out the cell #? I've had people leave messages at 1 AM, I'm certainly not going to answer the phone then. I keep the cell in the truck, don't take it with me while mowing. I use it to call people back, and that's it. I don't think there's ever an emergency so great pertaining to lawn care that a person can't wait a few hours for me to call them back.

Chances are if they were to call my cell, I'd be working and not answer the phone anyway. Then they'd get the cell phone's voicemail, which is no different. It's far too unproductive to stop the mowers every few minutes to answer the phone. In my opinion, I'd rather wait until I'm taking a break later in the day and get all my messages at once and return the calls then. It's not like I have a secretary or dedicate customer service person. I'm a solo op and I've got to maximize my time as efficiently as possible.

[newmanfan]

Use a landline- forward to an answering service. Answering service can send a text page, or call you on cell phone if it is urgent. Then you can call back the urgent ones, and touch base with others later.

Keeps you from having to answer calls and allows customer to get right through.

[ztrguy]

The main reason I want to use a cell phone only is so that I can return calls between jobs. While I'm wasting windshield time I can make up some time by returning phone calls. Also, I don't know how many times last year this happened: I would get home after work to find messages on my answering machine. I would check the messages and most were wanting an estimate. If I would have had a cell phone and checked my messages I could have dropped by and gave them an estimate while I was in town. Now I have to wait until tomorrow for the estimate. Most people would just call someone else and get an estimate. There goes my chance with another account.

[NYRookie]

I have a landline that is for business only. I do not have cell service everywhere I work. I do have call forwarding on my land line to my cell so I can keep up with calls during the day. I had lost jobs because people would not wait till the end of the day for a call back.

[Equipguy]

Cell phone with voice mail. Always return calls in the same day.

[ProMo]

i use http://talkingcallerid.com/ you can leave a seperate message for existing customers,freinds,family and new callers I have a text message forwarded to my cell from any calls that are in my area code. With existing customers a notepad will pop up with notes from previous calls from that person, and can block calls not wanted.

[jajwrigh]

I use my cell phone as well....

[proenterprises]

what wells said.