Are You Losing Potential Customers Because You're Not Answering Their Call?

Are you turning away business unnecessarily?

You could be. Let me explain.

He's Losing Several Potential Customers From This One Mistake

This weekend I was at a friend's house and she had a beautiful new pool installed. I asked her why she didn't pick so and so (a mutual friend of ours) and she said,

"Because he didn't respond to my text ...so I was done."

Sadly, this same person did this to me as well. That means that he not only lost 2 business opportunities but numerous referrals from us as well. At the same time, he is actively looking for more business!

They Gained Several Potential Customers By Doing This Right

In contrast, a few months back, my husband and I had a late-night plumbing issue with an exterior faucet.

I called multiple "24-hour" plumbers only to be met with automated answering services or voicemails.

I finally got a hold of a company that had a LIVE and very professional person answer.

Needless to say, they were my final choice. In fact, their service was so good that I joined their "membership plan" and will call them again for future incidents. Additionally, I voluntarily gave them a raving review and will recommend them to friends and family.

All this happened because they answered their phone.

Your Potential Customer Will Go Elsewhere For Business

Here's my point - if you are not responsive - your potential customer moves on to someone else, or they may even see that as a red flag.

They question how dependable you will be when the service starts if you can't even answer or get back to them in a timely manner.

As a rule of thumb, always respond to your customer by the end of the workday.

Ideally, however, always respond when they call.

"But What If I'm Too Busy To Answer the Call?"

I have a few ideas to help you be a responsive business owner and minimize losing a client unnecessarily:

1) Use An Answering Service to Avoid Missing Customer Calls

If you can't answer calls, hire a low-cost answering service or an overseas VA for pennies on the dollar and never miss a call. This is an important one. 80% of callers hang up when they receive a voicemail. This is an alarmingly high statistic. This small investment each month can make you thousands of dollars of income.

3) Use AI Chat to Respond to a Missed Call

If hiring an answering service won't work, consider using an auto-chat response system like Grasshopper, which automatically sends custom text responses to missed calls. At least your customers are getting an immediate response and feeling acknowledged. This can save you from losing some prospects.

3) Use Google Voice to Answer Customer Calls Professionally

You can create your own business number on Google Voice for free and answer your call as a business instead of the unprofessional, "Hello?" Additionally, you can create multiple custom, personalized voicemails (for vacation and for just being busy) and set working hours for customers trying to reach you. This protects you from being bothered at the wrong times, but it also helps you professionally speak to your customer when you answer and on your voicemail, offering a sincere, professional apology for missing their "much valued" call. Additionally, you can keep your personal and business calls separate, which makes them easy to filter and track.

4) Set Reminders for Follow Up Missed Calls

Finally, be sure to set reminders with numbers to call back or track conversation details in an easy app like Google Keep to follow up by the end of the day.

Set a time of day to follow up with your clients and never make them wait until the next day.

How you prioritize and treat potential customers can make a significant difference in your revenue. You may not realize it, but you may be losing a good deal of business from being a slow responder.

Remember, they will go somewhere else if you don't!

By the way, if you need help creating a responsive system for your business, I'm available to help you! Schedule a quick call here!