Are YOU TOO BUSY to take your clients call?

Anson Thompson, The Thompson Group

 

​I’m sitting in beautiful Parker City, Indiana.  I’m sitting in the home I where I grew up.  
I think it’s a luxury to be my age and still be able to sit in the home where all my childhood memories were formed.  My father is sitting 10 feet away reading his newspaper.  

My parents live about 2 minutes from our beautiful Parker City, Indiana office.  When I have back-to-back days of appointments in Central Indiana, we now spend the night with my folks. 

As we were sitting on the porch last night chatting, my sister called.  My sister is buying a home in Florida.  A nice home, their get-away crib and eventual winter home. 

She needed insurance assistance, so I offered my service.  She also needed a survey done on their property.  She called 3 survey companies in her new home’s area, left a message for 2 of them and got a hold of the 3rd. 

She explained what she needed, the 3rd company explained their process and agreed to perform the survey. 

The other two never bothered to call her back.  Now “the other two” will probably call her back today, but the survey has been done, she no longer needs their services. 

I’m not sure why people don’t answer their phones.  If you are in business, people that call you are calling for a reason. 

I’m not sure the margin of a survey, but the folks in the survey business need to perform surveys to stay in business.  The folks at the first two survey companies must be too busy for new clients. 

We recently starting using a phone answering company.  Instead of our clients calling our office direct, they call our partner company.   We routed all corporate numbers through their system. 

They use real live human’s beings and so our clients can talk to someone every time they call our office. 

The partner company answers the phone, collects some information and then sends the call to the person that is best suited for the call. 

We now have team members in 4 states, 6 different locations, and so centralizing our incoming calls was a key in keeping our team connected with our clients. 

Our phones are answered from 8:00 am ET to 7:00 pm and then they roll to my cell phone.  If someone calls our company after hours, I’d be more than happy to try and help them.  If they are calling us, they might need us.  

When we opened our Denver offices, we needed a solution to have a real live human answer the phone after our Indiana offices closed.   Our new partner fits that bill and then can forward the Colorado calls to one of our Colorado team members. 

In today’s world of email, online access, and other communication tools, there is still a segment of society that wants to talk to a human.  

I’ve stated many times as long as I own our company we will always have a human being answer the phone.  

If we ever become too busy to answer the phone, we’re too damn busy.  As we grow, we will constantly tweak our process and systems to allow for a real live human to answer the phone.

If you are a solo-entrepreneur, growing business, or fortune 500 company, please consider having a real live person answer your phone every time someone calls your company. 

Having prospects or clients leave messages and returning their calls when you are ready and able will kill your flow of new business and ability to offer amazing customer service. 

Seek out a professional company to answer your phones 24 / 7.  Allow them to talk to the clients and prospects and direct the calls to the appropriate team member. 

The technology is there, the price is affordable and the person that now answers the phone can be repurposed to provide another valuable service to your clients or team. 

If you know a survey company in South Florida, you might want to send them a link to this little blog.  They have no idea they lost a client yesterday and by the time they return the call will have lost out on any chance to gain a new client. 

I seem to be writing about this topic on a regular basis.  Maybe I’m getting old.  I’m like the cranky guy on the porch screaming “get off my lawn.”  But instead, I’m screaming “answer your phone” or at least have a process set up that can connect your prospects and clients with a real live human and not a damn robot. 

"Freethinkers are those who are willing to use their minds without prejudice and without fearing to understand things that clash with their own customs, privileges, or beliefs. This state of mind is not common, but it is essential for right thinking..." 
— Leo Tolstoy