What should a service business do about missed calls?

Why calls get missed

You are on a roof, under a sink, driving, or already on the phone with somebody else. That is normal for any business where the owner does the work. The question is what the caller experiences next.

Somebody with an urgent problem who reaches voicemail often hangs up and tries the next business in the list. Somebody planning a bigger job may leave a message. The more urgent your trade, the more a missed call tends to cost.

Measure it first

Open your call log and look at the last two weeks. Count the missed calls from numbers that are not in your contacts and did not leave a voicemail. Note what time of day they came in. Many carriers and business phone apps will give you the same thing as a report.

That number tells you what a fix is worth. A few a month is a habit problem. Several a day is worth paying to solve.

The four options

From cheapest to most involved.

• Voicemail and a call-back routine. Free. Works if your greeting is specific and you call back the same hour. Many callers will not leave a message.
• Missed-call text back. An automatic text goes to the caller saying you missed them and asking what they need. Low cost. Works on mobiles, not landlines, and has to follow the texting rules where you operate.
• A human answering service. People answer in your business name and take a message. Good with upset callers. Usually priced by the minute or by the call, and quality depends on how well they know your business.
• An automated receptionist. Software answers, says it is automated, asks what the caller needs, and sends you the details in writing. Available at any hour at a flat rate. It can mishear, and some callers will hang up on a machine.

How forwarding works

Every option except plain voicemail relies on conditional call forwarding. That is a setting with your phone company that sends a call somewhere else only when you do not answer or the line is busy. Calls you pick up are untouched, and your customers keep dialing the number they know.

Your carrier can turn it on, often with a short code dialed from your phone. Ask them for "call forwarding on no answer" and "call forwarding on busy". Test it by calling yourself from another phone and letting it ring.

What to check before you buy

The differences between providers show up in the details.

• Does the caller know right away whether it is a person or a machine?
• How does the message reach me, and how long after the call ends?
• What happens with a real emergency? Can it reach an on-call number?
• Is the call recorded? If so, recording laws where you operate may require telling the caller.
• Are spam and sales calls filtered out, and do they still count toward my bill?
• What is the limit on minutes or calls, and what happens above it?

Which option fits which business

A one-person electrician who misses a few calls a week, mostly from people planning work, can start with a clear voicemail greeting and a rule: every missed call is returned before the next job starts. That costs nothing, and it is worth trying for a month before buying anything.

A drain or HVAC company that takes emergency calls in the evening is in a different spot. Those callers will not wait for a call-back. Something has to respond while the phone is still in their hand, which means a text back, a person or an automated receptionist.

A company with an office that is staffed all day mostly loses calls at lunch, when two lines ring at once and after closing. Forwarding on busy and on no answer covers those gaps without changing how the office works.

Set it up and test it in an afternoon

Whichever service you pick, the setup follows the same steps. Do the test calls yourself. Do not take the provider's word for it.

• Give the service your hours, your services, your area and what counts as an emergency.
• Ask your carrier to turn on forwarding for no answer and for busy, pointed at the number the service gives you.
• Call your own number from another phone and let it ring out. Time how long it takes to be answered.
• Call again while your line is busy.
• Play a real customer: describe a job, give a name and a number.
• Check how long the message takes to reach you and whether it has the details right.
• Learn how to turn forwarding off, and write the code down. You will want it the day something goes wrong.

Common mistakes

These are the ones that cost real calls.

• Forwarding every call when you meant only the unanswered ones. Regulars who expect you to pick up get a stranger.
• Setting the ring time so short that the service answers before you can reach the phone.
• Sending messages to an email address you do not check on a job.
• Never testing after the first day. Carriers change settings, and a phone upgrade can reset forwarding.
• Treating the message as the end of the job. It is the start of a call-back.

Whatever you choose, fix the call-back

None of these wins the job for you. They buy you a short window in which the customer knows they were heard. What happens next is a person calling back, quickly, already knowing what the problem is.

Fix your voicemail greeting too, as a backstop. Say the business name, that you are on a job, and when you return calls. It costs nothing and it is better than the default robot voice.

The one I offer

Missed-call receptionist from Novyx is the fourth option: $199 a month with up to 300 minutes of answered calls a month. It answers only the calls you miss, says it is automated, and sends you what the caller said with their number. It does not book jobs or record audio.

Questions people ask