Looking for info if anyone runs their own business with regard telephone contact. My wife started up her own wee business, been doing as well as expected for a start up however her time is split between working her own business 3 days a week and the other two she works for someone else. The dilema is that the two days she is not in her own place telephone contact is or can be an issue. She could potentialy lose customers due to not answering a phone. Looking online there are some places who offer a receptionist service, whom will take calls for you. Anyone in a similar position with a small business but not always available to answer a mobile/landline etc ?
Small business phone conundrum
- Thread starter MrGrumpy
- Start date
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Supersuperleeds
Legendary Member
- Location
- Leicester
Can't she forward the calls to a mobile? Also if her business is doing well ,maybe it is time to bite the bullet and do it full time?
phil_hg_uk
I am not a member, I am a free man !!!!!!
I just give both my landline and mobile number in my adverts and on my business card and leave a message on the mobile to call the landline if I don't answer. The only reason I give my landline number at all is because all of my work is local and people like to see a local number even if they don't call it, you will always get the awkward buggers who just leave a message and dont call the mobile.
This has worked for me ok for the last 20 years.
Hugh Manatee
Veteran
Sorry, I've been sitting here pondering on what a wee business might entail. I have just noticed you're north of the border so it was nothing like what I was thinking!
Landline i think is going to have to be a goer now anyway, may encourage more folk to phone and be more professional IMO. Currently it answer phone job on the mobile if phone not picked up. Unfortunately folk she has phoned back we reckon have gone elsewhere for business. The chiropractor that works in the same building pays £150 a month for someone to answer her calls, mind you her clients number a 100 a week!
Most of them seem to work on volume of calls per month, with an average price of £1+VAT per call for the small business service.
Would your wife be looking to have the answering service take all of the calls throughout the week or just divert the calls for the two days she's working for someone else?
This service, just as an example, offers 20 calls per month for £20+VAT - would that be enough volume and would it be cost effective at that price?
I'm guessing they work similarly to other such services - you can either have a new number that you advertise which goes directly to the service who then pass on messages or email / text you the caller's details and enquiry; port your existing business number to them so they handle existing enquiries as well as future ones; or you can keep your own number and just divert your business phone to the service for the time/days you need to.
They'll email you the details (and in the above example a copy of the recording), so presumably she could set-up a Google account that she could check periodically from her regular job during break times.
Would it reveal too much personal info to tell us the nature of the work she's doing? Is taking the calls an important factor in customer relations (it's not a virtual service of any kind)?
Cheers,
Shaun
Would your wife be looking to have the answering service take all of the calls throughout the week or just divert the calls for the two days she's working for someone else?
This service, just as an example, offers 20 calls per month for £20+VAT - would that be enough volume and would it be cost effective at that price?
I'm guessing they work similarly to other such services - you can either have a new number that you advertise which goes directly to the service who then pass on messages or email / text you the caller's details and enquiry; port your existing business number to them so they handle existing enquiries as well as future ones; or you can keep your own number and just divert your business phone to the service for the time/days you need to.
They'll email you the details (and in the above example a copy of the recording), so presumably she could set-up a Google account that she could check periodically from her regular job during break times.
Would it reveal too much personal info to tell us the nature of the work she's doing? Is taking the calls an important factor in customer relations (it's not a virtual service of any kind)?
Cheers,
Shaun
Most of them seem to work on volume of calls per month, with an average price of £1+VAT per call for the small business service.
Would your wife be looking to have the answering service take all of the calls throughout the week or just divert the calls for the two days she's working for someone else?
This service, just as an example, offers 20 calls per month for £20+VAT - would that be enough volume and would it be cost effective at that price?
I'm guessing they work similarly to other such services - you can either have a new number that you advertise which goes directly to the service who then pass on messages or email / text you the caller's details and enquiry; port your existing business number to them so they handle existing enquiries as well as future ones; or you can keep your own number and just divert your business phone to the service for the time/days you need to.
They'll email you the details (and in the above example a copy of the recording), so presumably she could set-up a Google account that she could check periodically from her regular job during break times.
Would it reveal too much personal info to tell us the nature of the work she's doing? Is taking the calls an important factor in customer relations (it's not a virtual service of any kind)?
Cheers,
Shaun
two days a week really would be all she would need. her small business is a Podiatry business, however she has missed calls and thus missed out on new customers. Just feels a wee bit unproffessional if phone answered by answering machine.
- Location
- Somewhere wet & hilly in NW England.
I think that's just your mis-perception.
If was phoning a big company I'd expect to talk to someone more or less straight away (or go through a dozen routing options) but a small business- nah. i'd be happy to leave a message.
I have a small business and apart from my mobile I have a landline (that alerts my mobile if a message ie left) and a website - the contact form on the website promises 'with 24 hours' response (usually much faster) and customers seem happy with that.
Years ago when I first set out on my own I had no customer base to rely on for recommendations and referrals etc so I needed to spend more on advertising and also had to spread the word wider than just my local area.
I advertised for someone to take calls for me in a couple of areas outside of my locality. The advantage being that they would have a local number for the area and there would be a real person who answered the phone. I think I paid them 50p/call and a small commission on enquiries that turned into orders. It worked very well for a number of years. Once I got to speak to the customer I never pretended I was local to them and I think in only one instance did it put them off.
After a few years trading I was busier and also had begun to get repeat business and recommendations so I stopped advertising outside of just my locality.
I advertised for someone to take calls for me in a couple of areas outside of my locality. The advantage being that they would have a local number for the area and there would be a real person who answered the phone. I think I paid them 50p/call and a small commission on enquiries that turned into orders. It worked very well for a number of years. Once I got to speak to the customer I never pretended I was local to them and I think in only one instance did it put them off.
After a few years trading I was busier and also had begun to get repeat business and recommendations so I stopped advertising outside of just my locality.
Andrew_P
In between here and there
I would have thought with this kind of service someone would want to confirm they can get something booked there and then, personally I would not leave a message and carry on ringing around to get one booked. I would look in to a call answering service as long as they are able to hold her booking information. If not it is just an expensive live answerphone, and the client will merely do as before and call around other businesses.
Andrew_P
In between here and there
Also at some point your wife needs to make that leap of faith and give up the two days a week, unless they are particularly well paid I would have thought it would be easier to get another part time job should it not work out for her, it sounds like she already has the overheads of a full time business renting a room.
that will be the next move, however it does pay well and she is doing the exact same work but in someone else's clinic. That job came around before the reality of running her own business. If she can fill the three other days in her own clinic most or every week then she will bin the other job.
