Stop losing leads on missed calls (simple text-back workflow)

You cannot pick up with your hands full, and you should not try. But the caller does not know you are under a sink. All they know is that nobody answered.

Most will not leave a voicemail. They ring the next name on the list.

A text within a few minutes changes that. It tells them you are real, you are working, and exactly when they will hear from you.

• Send a text to every missed call within a few minutes.
• Give a callback time, and keep it.
• Record a voicemail greeting that says your area and when you return calls.
• Ring back in two set slots a day.
• Write every missed call down the same day.

Three things go in it: who you are, why you did not answer, and when you will ring.

Add one question so the conversation starts without you: what the job is, and the postcode.

By the time you call back you know whether it is your kind of work and whether it is in your area.

Some phones and booking tools will send this for you whenever a call is missed. If yours does not, save the message as a keyboard shortcut and paste it. It takes ten seconds between jobs.

Most greetings say "leave a message". A useful one answers the caller's two questions: do you cover my area, and when will I hear back?

Keep it under 15 seconds. Name, trade, the towns you cover, when you return calls, and the fact that a text gets a faster answer.

Returning calls one at a time through the day breaks up every job you are on.

Pick two slots, such as 12.30 and 4.30, and return everything then. Put those times in the text and the greeting.

A customer told "I will ring you at 12.30" will wait. A customer told nothing will not.

A missed call that is not written down is gone by Friday.

Name or number, what they wanted, postcode and what happened next. A notes app is enough.

At the end of the week, count them. If ten people rang and four booked, you know what the other six were worth.

Say you miss 8 calls a week and half of those callers never try again.

That is 4 enquiries a week gone. If one in two would have booked at an average of £150, that is £300 a week, or about £1,200 a month.

A text back that saves even one of those a week pays for the ten seconds many times over.

• Write your text back and save it as a keyboard shortcut.
• Re-record your voicemail greeting.
• Choose your two callback slots and set alarms for them.
• Start the missed-call list today.

Text back:

Hi, it is [name] from [business]. Sorry I missed you, I am on a job. I will ring you back at [time]. If it is easier, text me what the job is and your postcode and I can come back to you sooner.

Voicemail greeting:

You have reached [name], [trade], covering [towns]. I am on a job and return calls at 12.30 and 4.30. For a faster reply, text this number with the job and your postcode.