Being a contractor often means tough, dusty and debilitating work that requires great skill and long hours.
You’re great on the jobsite and your reputation in the construction field is stellar, but as more people begin to hear about you, the calls have really increased. Even though your family has been willing to pitch in when they can, you really need to hire someone to handle the many calls that you have to let go to voicemail.
Growing Your Business with a Virtual Receptionist
Believe it or not, you don’t need a bigger office, or to have an office at all, to get the talent you deserve.
A high quality answering service can provide your construction or service contracting business with a small team of people who will act as your virtual receptionists, doing most of the things an in-house receptionist can do.
These services only charge you for the calls they take, which can also make them a highly affordable alternative to losing more callers who refuse to leave a message on your voicemail.
These are just a few services answering services can provide:
- Customer service. Whether you install toilets or frame houses for a living, you have to take calls and sell your services to someone. When people have questions, your virtual receptionist can give them the answers they seek, based on the information you provide. You can spend a lot of your work day answering common inquiries. That’s time you should spend making a living.
- Emergency call routing. If you opt for a 24-hour answering service team, your calls will be answered no matter what time it is. Sometimes this means that customers who are in a panic call for help.When the problem is small, your answering service can reassure the caller that you’ll return their call first thing in the morning, but when it’s life- or property-threatening, they’ll be forwarded straight to you for immediate service. Not having to answer the phone all night is a luxury that helps prevent burnout.
- Appointment setting. Most of your customers are interested in seeing you at a certain time or on a certain day. If you work with homeowners, they’ll want to schedule a time for you to provide them with a job estimate and then schedule a day for you to do the work; other contractors may simply have you come on a particular day to get started.Either way, your appointment setters can keep your schedule book for you, using software that’s compatible with what you’re already using, virtually eliminating scheduling errors.
- Disaster recovery. It’s highly likely that you’ll be called upon to help were a disaster to strike your area, but if your phone is log-jammed with calls, how will customers who depend on you know your status? Your answering service can handle that, too.Give them regular updates to pass along to individual clients, as well as general ones to keep new callers interested and you’ll find that recovery for your business will happen at lightning speed.
Being a contractor is a hard job, but a construction answering service can make it a lot easier. They have the tools and the training to take your pile of office tasks and turn it into a manageable, actionable list of things to do. It’ll save you time, money and preserve your free time. There’s no way to lose!
