I can't be available during business hours - help!

[bacterozoid]

I'm trying to make my startup work, but in order to do that I have to work full time away from my business so I can pay the bills. All of my clients will be businesses, and I can't be available to them during the day when the calls and emails would be flowing in.

I'm in the process of developing business cards and putting together all of my marketing materials, and I'm trying to decide what to do. I want to put my phone number on my business card, but the best I can do right now is either "I'll call you outside of business hours" or "Please email me and I'll get back with you by the next day". I'm married, but my wife also works full time, so she's not available. My goal is to keep as much communication over email as possible, but I know some people just like to pick up the phone and talk to someone.

What do you guys think? I'm going to be targeting businesses with under 25 employees to start. Do you think people will be forgiving of my availability as long as I get back to them within 24 hours?

[Spider]

If you want to deal with businesses who work during business hours (which is why they are called 'business hours') and you do not want to work during business hours, don't give them your phone number. Just put your e-mail address on your business card.

There is no need to discuss your working hours - certainly not on your business card. Your business card is for two purposes only - to tell people who you are and how they can contact you. They can contact you by e-mail. Period.

[huggytree]

never discuss your working hours or your ability to contact them during normal business hours..

when i started out i was working full time for someone else....i worked for MY company Fri,Sat,Sun

i use my cell phone for my main business line (and still do)....i would answer those messages at lunch and then again at 4pm when i was done with work....you cant answer calls at 6pm at night.....its unprofessional

take a break for lunch and punch out...then pick up your cell phone and work for 1/2 an hour on YOUR business....find a way!

you need to hide the fact that your not a full time (REAL) business....fake it....

Fredericks E-mail idea may work...depends on what the type of business is

people always ask for advice and never explain what the business is...it makes a big difference in what your doing

WHAT IS YOUR BUSINESS????

[Paul Elliott]

I agree with Frederick and HT.

What is your business?

Paul

[bacterozoid]

Thanks for the advice, guys. I'm a software company, and my first product is web-based time tracking software. It's a subscription-based service ($x / employee / month). I have 0 clients right now, but will be walking into businesses starting November 1 (I still have several things to get in order) trying to sell my product.

I'm confident in my software and prices, but the first couple months will move slow. My goal was to get something out there that I can sell, not to make it perfect or have a million features. I'll be spending the first couple months working in those features and hopefully getting feedback from clients.

As far as my job goes, I can take 1/2 hour for lunch. I also start at 7:30 so I can get off reasonably early. Should I still stick to just my email on my business card, but use those few hours to handle any necessary phone conversation, then tackle emails after 5?

[greenoak]

im old fashiopned but i like a phone number and being able to talk to the business at MY convenience not theirs... within normal business hours...

[Steve B]

Even if they send an e-mail - you still won't be able to get back to them during most of the business hours. It's really no different than them leaving you a voice mail message. So, put your phone number on the card and handle the voice mails just like you would an e-mail.

Good luck - it's rough when you can't be available when your potential customers are available. Is your product any good for retail places? If so, many of them are still open after 5pm - maybe you can get lucky and catch the decision makers in the early evening.

[huggytree]

sounds like returning calls from 12:00-12:30 and 4pm-5pm will work for you....you'll most likely get away with those hours for a while....i did

somehow i got away with only working fri,sat,sun on projects worked too...i had to make up reason why i wasnt available m-thurs.....it worked for a few months...

if you dont get a hold of them at noon or 4pm leave a message that its alright for them to call 'after hours'.....your situation may actually be a plus....it may be easier for your customer to contact you 6pm-9pm.....there's always a way to make something work and typically a way to turn a neg. into a pos.

[bacterozoid]

Ok, I'll stick with the phone number on the business card, then. I'll do my best to avoid saying anything negative about my availability and put a positive spin on it. Steve, in answer: My clients are primarily going to be the 8-5 type for now. I'll move on the retail market once I have some additional value for them.

Thanks, everyone! I'm glad to get your thoughts on the matter.

[huggytree]

when you start out you probably wont get many calls anyways.....when you return their calls you can mention your preference towards e-mails for future contacts....when i started i was only dealing with 1-5 calls a day...it was easy to manage...hopefully you can keep the call time down to less than 5 mins per call to fit into your lunch 1/2 hour

[KristineS]

With cells phones and wireless networks and PDAs and all that stuff, people are getting more and more used to having messages returned at odd hours. It's not considered as weird as it once would have been. I wouldn't worry about it. I answer messages on weekends and at night and so do people I do business with, and no one has ever said it was odd or questioned it.

[LFinkle]

There are a number of services who will take calls for you during business hours. They can have a message that says "Tom is out of the office during business hours and will return calls before or after business hours. What time is best for you and what number might he call?" This isn't an ideal solution but an option. You could provide your cell phone number also. Personally I don't think they will be too forgiving even with 24 hour turn around unless you are a business that doesn't typcially have office hours. People are busy and want instant gratification. If they have to play phone tag with you they are likely to go somewhere else. If you can at least have email access easily that will hellp

[BeSeenLocally]

I would hire a virtual assistant to take your calls and tell him/her that you are meeting with clients and you will get back as soon as possible. Make sure your VA finds out their availability for you to call them back. It would be very cheap to set this up or us an real person answering service. With you not starting until Nov. I do believe you will have time to figure this out. It has been my experience that everyone is shutting down mentally in preparation for the holidays.

I would be interested in seeing your software.

[teerwater]

I would work with a local answering service so your calls never go to voicemail. Like Huggytree said, you won't get many calls when you first start, but if you seem unavailable all the time (i.e. voicemail) , you'll never grow your business.

Dan

[bacterozoid]

I guess I'm a control freak, but using an answering service worries me. Has anyone had experience as a customer or client of one? I've been on the consumer end of a larger one - it was really obvious the reason I was sent to one was because the company I called wasn't normally available, but still nice to have someone answer my call.

I'll look into some local services - it's something I would be willing to try.

[teerwater]

I'm a little of a control freak myself, which is why I went with a local answering service. There are some good people out there who will give your business the "we're a real business feel" just by answreing the phone. I used to get several calls a week where the caller didn't leave a message which breaks down to lost potential revenue. I think you'll do well with an answering service and it will give you peace of mind knowing that your clients have spoken with a real person. It's at least worth a try.

Dan

[Steve B]

I disagree with using an answering service. As a consumer - if I can't speak with a real live person from the company that I'm calling, I'd rather have a machine. Having a person answer the phone is "nice", but if they are completely unable to answer any questions about the product or service - then I'd rather get a machine. At least with a machine, I won't waste my time asking a detailed question only to find out they can't answer it. It's even worse if they don't immediately identify themselves as the "answering service". I've described some embarassing details to a doctor's answering service before I figured out all they can do is take a message.

[huggytree]

i agree with Steve....id rather have a machine

all my customers leave messages....almost no one hangs up....you wont lose anything by having a machine

[Spider]

Perhaps it's a generation thing or a locality thing. I now prefer to get an answering machine most of the time. I even prefer these "smart" answering machines that can answer basic questions. Then one doesn't have to deal with a person, which can be exeedingly timewasting if all one wants is directions to their store, account balance or operating hours, delivery or tracking information.

OTOH, some people - and that is likely to be older people, but not always - like the personal touch of a real person.

Either take a chance or enquire of your customers which they prefer and direct them to one of two numbers - an answering service on one number and an answering machine on the other.

[Steve B]

"If you're really old - dial 1"

"if not really old, dial 2"

:)

[Spider]

"If you're really old - dial 1"

"if not really old, dial 2"

:)
Dial? You mean like rotary phone dialling?

"If young, PRESS 3."

:D

[billbenson]

I disagree with using an answering service. As a consumer - if I can't speak with a real live person from the company that I'm calling, I'd rather have a machine. Having a person answer the phone is "nice", but if they are completely unable to answer any questions about the product or service - then I'd rather get a machine. At least with a machine, I won't waste my time asking a detailed question only to find out they can't answer it. It's even worse if they don't immediately identify themselves as the "answering service". I've described some embarassing details to a doctor's answering service before I figured out all they can do is take a message.

Completely agree!

I get more calls than I can answer. I have a message. If they leave a message I get a transcribed email of the message. I get about 5% hangup's The other messages I can read and see if they are $$ prospects or someone looking for information or a small order frequently. The transcriptions are sporadic in quality. But usually there is enough info to tell me if it is a prospect or not and they are good at phone numbers. I call back prioritizing by $$. I try to call everybody back (even competitors who mistake me for the manufacturer).

So I agree with Steve B and Huggy. An answering service is an obsolete function. They don't help the customer in any way and probably get more hangups or "I'll call back later's" than voice mail or a machine.

This thread does make me consider an answering machine though. I can decide whether to answer the phone depending on the message they are leaving. Since voice mails are transcribed perhaps the best solution is to keep the voice mail for when I'm not in the office and use a machine when I am in the office?

[Steve B]

Good catch Spider - I guess I showed my age on that one!

[Umair]

Hello,

It would have been more helpful if you would have briefed service you pitch to prospect.


Perhaps a tool, which is responsive to your customers query will be greatly helpful. If a customer send you mail, there can be auto-generated reply. But now people understand it and has no value. If you can have a tool, where all customer incoming mails are tracked and converting into ticket. And customers gets a instant response with ticket no. create in your system can be very pleasing to customer. I know such tool and can let you know name if you find it appealing.

Your scenario sort of strikes a vibes with me. Am an individual doing full time job, but wish to have venture.

Thanks and regards,
Umair Sayyed

[greenoak]

i think email is great for amazon or zappos but for anything slightly complicated or needing any feedback before going to the next point its a pretty slow and sloppy way of expecting things to work out right...imho..
i dread the day when an important message comes from a robo call...i would probably never hear it..i just hang up on those too...