Phasing out phone calls

[rydods]

Since our customers can contact us from so many ways (in person, work phone, personal cell phone, email, social media, Texts), how are some of you navigating through it all and staying sane?

I'm strongly considering using our work phone as more of an answering service to direct customers to a communication that all of my employees monitor more often and that won't distract us from actual work. Like email or some sort of web portal.

I'm not going to pay someone to answer the phone just so I will end up having to return all of these calls at some other point. Phone calls are always more lengthy than any other method of communication. I don't want to hear your whole life story, just tell me what you want! Not to mention the miscommunications of "I know I said I needed it installed on Tuesday morning at 4 AM".

Work is work but this it's all getting out of hand. I don't want to punish people for using the one tried and true method of communication but something has to give.

 

[WildWestDesigns]

I personally wouldn't have personal cell and text in that contact pool myself. Those just bring up more issues compared to solving when customers have that info. Now, I had gotten lucky, even though I had a business number listed, most preferred to deal with me via email. Especially considering there is almost always a digital file involved.

All forms though have their pros and cons, but I would just stick with work, email and in person. On social media, just have those listed somewhere that customers can easily find with regard to work phone and email, outside of that, social media is more of a modern day portfolio.

 

[bigben]

We have an IP phone service with a virtual assistant. Every calls are recorded and could be sent by email to save it in the customer folder and CRM. Each person in the shop have their extension and the call is send on their office phone + the cell phone at the same time. So I don't give my cell number to the customers. They compose my extension and if I'm on the road, my cell phone ring. Our lines also close and go directly in the general voicemail outside our business hours. So no more calls on my cell at 9pm.

 

[Solventinkjet]

I don't know why anyone calls anymore. It's such a time suck. We also just switched to an IP phone service that uses voice to text and emails us. Sounds like it should save us a bunch of time!

 

[gnubler]

I don't know why anyone calls anymore.

I've noticed my customers all have a preferred method of communication and I do my best to accommodate it. I try to direct all inquiries to email so I can keep track of things, and as much as I hate phone calls I'm not going to cease that. Some people just want to talk to a human and I fully understand that. When I can't answer the phone I've noticed a fair number of people just hang up without leaving a voice mail, sometimes I call back missed calls if I'm not busy. I will never have an automated menu system on the business phone, that's a quick way to repel a potential customer. There's a small business in my area that uses something like that...I hate it and just go there in person instead.

I use a Smartphone for the business because a lot of customers want to text. I have it set to take calls from 8am-6pm weekdays, it's on Do Not Disturb all other times. People were calling/texting at 10pm or on a Sunday, so no more of that.

 

[Solventinkjet]

I've noticed my customers all have a preferred method of communication and I do my best to accommodate it. I try to direct all inquiries to email so I can keep track of things, and as much as I hate phone calls I'm not going to cease that. Some people just want to talk to a human and I fully understand that. When I can't answer the phone I've noticed a fair number of people just hang up without leaving a voice mail, sometimes I call back missed calls if I'm not busy. I will never have an automated menu system on the business phone, that's a quick way to repel a potential customer. There's a small business in my area that uses something like that...I hate it and just go there in person instead.

I use a Smartphone for the business because a lot of customers want to text. I have it set to take calls from 8am-6pm weekdays, it's on Do Not Disturb all other times. People were calling/texting at 10pm or on a Sunday, so no more of that.

We still take calls but it's very inefficient. When all of our lines are busy, we have multiple customers who just call over and over and over again without leaving a message. Send me an email! I'm sure one day I'll be old enough where I'll be emailing someone and they'll say, send me a tic tok! Or something like that. To each their own.

 

[gnubler]

we have multiple customers who just call over and over and over again without leaving a message.

I've been seeing more and more of that. They look like psychotic maniacs on my call log and if I don't know who it is I do not call them back. Not interested in dealing with someone who is so 'important' they can't leave a message. Sometimes people will send a text if I don't answer the phone, and that's okay.

 

[gnubler]

^^Jinxed myself with that last post. Right after I posted I was out of the shop for all of 30 minutes when some moronic psycho called, called again, called a third time leaving a cryptic voicemail, then called a fourth time when I finally answered and said he didn't know if he'd called us already but 'do you print such and such'. I said no and he hung up. A healthy person would just wait for a call back, or maybe try again the next day. I always seem to get these wackos on Fridays, when it's time to tone down for the weekend.

Zero attention span. I'm not interested in dealing with people like this, they strike me as mentally ill.

 

[unclebun]

If your customers are young Gen Z-ers maybe you can do things without verbal communication, but I find that I get a lot more out of a few minutes of conversation to determine the actual needs and budget of the person who is calling, and can then guide them towards the best solution for their needs. That's the whole reason for being a sign professional rather than a vinyl salesman. The vast majority of customers do not actually know what they need, so relying on them to text or email you with their order and not having to ever talk to them risks you becoming a shop that makes only cheap banners and crappy signs because you are making only what the customer asks for without ever talking to them. I find trying to determine all the needs by email takes far longer than being able to get it all in a three or five minute phone conversation. I can get a confirmation and have a sold job in one phone call instead of two or three days of emails and waiting for responses that never come until I call them and ask if they've seen the email to find they haven't looked.

 

[CanuckSigns]

Story time

I never give out my cell number, but one time I messed up and gave it to a client, he was really good, but then he put his wife in charge of ordering signs, we'll she will call and text me anytime a thought pops into her head, I'll get a phone call from her at 4pm on a Sunday asking if we are still on track to have her signs done by the following Friday.

Anyway a few years ago I had gotten a vasectomy and was in the middle of my "follow up test" so to speak, and guess who calls in the middle of the act... I was tempted to answer to teach her a lesson but I let it go to voicemail.

 

[rydods]

If your customers are young Gen Z-ers maybe you can do things without verbal communication, but I find that I get a lot more out of a few minutes of conversation to determine the actual needs and budget of the person who is calling, and can then guide them towards the best solution for their needs. That's the whole reason for being a sign professional rather than a vinyl salesman. The vast majority of customers do not actually know what they need, so relying on them to text or email you with their order and not having to ever talk to them risks you becoming a shop that makes only cheap banners and crappy signs because you are making only what the customer asks for without ever talking to them. I find trying to determine all the needs by email takes far longer than being able to get it all in a three or five minute phone conversation. I can get a confirmation and have a sold job in one phone call instead of two or three days of emails and waiting for responses that never come until I call them and ask if they've seen the email to find they haven't looked.

I agree with this but most things aren't really that complicated that an email can't handle. If it's somewhat complex, I would much rather set up a meeting at their location and discuss everything in person. I love the feeling of knowing I made a good first impression too. I'm at the end of gen x (45 yrs old) so I'm caught in the middle of everything. Sometimes a young person who only will text and never answers their phone drives me nuts but the old guy who says, I don't do email also drives me insane!

 

[netsol]

I don't know why anyone calls anymore. It's such a time suck. We also just switched to an IP phone service that uses voice to text and emails us. Sounds like it should save us a bunch of time!

i think people call because it is reassuring to know that, at least for those, few seconds, someone is aware of your request.

we all know companies where you NEVER get response, and, at least this way you have someone to blame

 

[5Ssigns]

I'm old and seems like I always miss something that was said on a call. I like to follow up calls with an email just to recap and make sure I got all the details right. From that point forward the conversation pretty much stays on email. Builds good habits for my clients as well.

 

[Andrew Heiner]

We use podium. Works well & all inclusive. We keep having employees steal all our contact and customer info and this keeps everything in one place. Someone calls out and a customer talked to them about something... I can Pop up the conversation while I am on the phone with them.

 

[ADASignLady]

Since our customers can contact us from so many ways (in person, work phone, personal cell phone, email, social media, Texts), how are some of you navigating through it all and staying sane?

I'm strongly considering using our work phone as more of an answering service to direct customers to a communication that all of my employees monitor more often and that won't distract us from actual work. Like email or some sort of web portal.

I'm not going to pay someone to answer the phone just so I will end up having to return all of these calls at some other point. Phone calls are always more lengthy than any other method of communication. I don't want to hear your whole life story, just tell me what you want! Not to mention the miscommunications of "I know I said I needed it installed on Tuesday morning at 4 AM".

Work is work but this it's all getting out of hand. I don't want to punish people for using the one tried and true method of communication but something has to give.

I have always preferred emails since there is a record, but it has gotten to the point now where we all have literally THOUSANDS of emails since we can't delete them fast enough -- they just pile up. I could easily spend two hours every morning just glancing at and deleting emails. But of course phone calls that are meaningless also constantly distract. If anyone has an answer would love to hear it!

 

[netsol]

I have always preferred emails since there is a record, but it has gotten to the point now where we all have literally THOUSANDS of emails since we can't delete them fast enough -- they just pile up. I could easily spend two hours every morning just glancing at and deleting emails. But of course phone calls that are meaningless also constantly distract. If anyone has an answer would love to hear it!

THE REAL PROBLEM, is that if you email a person who is ACTUALLY BUSY (as opposed to imagining yourself as busy, [but that is another whole thread]) you need to put a "HOOK" in the subject line to attract
their attention.

 

[Texas_Signmaker]

The last major company to automate their customer service was Spirit airlines... that a company you want to compare with? Next, the government will automate theirs, so when Florida calls up and says what do we do with these Russian navy ships sitting off our coast? it will just say send us an email and we'll give you a response in 2-3 business days.

 

[ProSignTN]

A two minute phone call can weed out more bullshit than twenty three text messages and fifteen emails, and I can talk while I drive. Automated answering is why I hate my doctor. You are in the service business. Serve.

 

[AndersHerp]

There is no good way to do it, other than balancing multiple forms based on the customer and their preference. My biggest issue with phone calls, and it has burned me in the past, is when you have a customer that approves things over the phone, but when you get the end result and they object to what the final outcome is. Then you have no proof to show that it was suppose to be the way you have done what ever the job is. I had a jewelry store where this happened, owner/husband would always call me after I had sent out an email, and was a yes man. When everything was completed, his wife through a fit. But I never got any response to my emails, other than the husband calling me and approving things over the phone. Now I make sure to follow phone calls up with, "Can you send me what we discussed and approved in an email, just for documentation purposes." But on the flip side of that coin, I don't know how many different cities that I have permitted in, that emails for some reason can't get things accomplished. Then a 30sec phone call solves the problem. So really, as much as it sucks, it's about them balancing all.

 

[kcollinsdesign]

Most people who contact us don't really know what they need. They need advice. I take their inquiries (whatever the form: phone calls, email, text, social media) and reply back in kind. Often I will ask for a phone number so I can discuss their project with them (much faster than trying to parse their needs with multiple written messages, especially when the customer does not know what solutions we may have available to them).

Once I know what they want and can come up with a solution that fits their needs, I try to get them to use email. I still use the phone if I need timely information or if a discussion is needed.

When a customer calls, they want to talk to a human. They will get frustrated when asked to leave a voice message, and I try to avoid that. When it does happen, I try to call them back as soon as possible. For most of us in the custom sign business the phone is essential. If you are selling standardized widgets, an automated online ordering system works, but there is nothing "standard" in the custom sign business!