Originally posted by
petersonra View Post
my brother makes a lot more money than me as a consultant. he does not answer his phone for clients at all. at first I thought this was a bad idea but he pointed out that otherwise they think he is chasing them. if they have to wait for a call back, then obviously he is busy and will get to them when he can.
Bob that may work for your brother however I have missed many emergency calls and just reg. calls because I answered then a hour or 2 later. People get on the phone and call till they get someone. I have a way for them to leave a message, which they do, but when I call back they already got someone else.
This is true for small jobs, if that is not your concern then I would not worry about calling right away. My builders know how to get hold of me
I agree, especially when it comes to service work and your commercial/industrial clients if you have those. Something breaks down that stops the clients production or other operations, they are losing money/business when they are down. You may think you are their number one contact for your kind of services, but if a process/assembly line is down and especially if there is nothing else to do or that product they are making needs to be finished ASAP (for various reasons) they are getting whoever can respond the quickest. They may be patient with you because you are their main contact, but may still only have a certain time they will wait for at least a return call before calling others. Ignore them too often in those situation and you are no longer at the top of their priority list and may become the last one they call.
If they are a deadbeat client that doesn't pay bills in timely manner, then you may have some justification to play games with them, if they are a good client, make them happy and they will continue to be a good client.
Bob's brother being a consultant - I guess he is riding in a different boat and may be able to do that easier than a service guy. Consultant work isn't something that is needed right now.
Imagine calling 911 and they ignore your call to make you think they are too busy right now- maybe does happen in some places if they are actually understaffed I suppose, but they probably still do what they can to get with you ASAP.