Answer Your Dang Phone!!!
Had a client mention this to me yesterday - she's a spa owner and lives in a nice $300,000 house- she liked the fact I always answered the phone when she called- i never let it go to voice mail and make her wait for a call back.
I've heard this same thing in an online discussion about contractors in construction.
Answer Your Dang Phone!!
Don't expect people to leave a message and wait around for you to call them back.
Many times customers will have a list of people that they're going to call about a job and they just keep going down the list- and who ever answers first will get the job!
You can get a decent prepaid cell phone for $20-30.
I've seen them at Best Buy (also included $15 in airtime minutes) and at the AT&T stores.
This gives you a phone number dedicated to just your scrapping business- so you can also answer the phone in a professional manner,- even if all you say is 'Joe's Hauling and Scrap- How can we help you'- it's a HUUUGE improvement over answering like you would if it's a friend calling on your personal phone.
(you should record a professional sounding voice mail greeting for those times when you may not hear the phone ring, or for after hours calls.)
I answer my phones up to 8 or 9 o'clock at night.
