Companies looking into live answering services expect us to talk about answering calls for medical offices, property management companies, and even attorneys. But what about contractors? What about the local plumber, electrician, and HVAC provider? We offer answering services for them as well.
A question on the minds of many contractors is, why? Contractors are not running large scale operations with hundreds of employees scattered across a large region. At least that is not the case most of the time. Your average contractor is either a sole proprietor or a small business owner with fewer than a dozen employees. So why do they need live answering services? Because contractors have brands, too.
Every Business Has a Brand
We offer an answering service for contractors based on the understanding that every business has a brand. Unfortunately, modern marketing has convinced small business owners that they are without a brand unless they specifically create one. But that is not true.
A brand is whatever distinguishes a business in the minds of customers. An HVAC contractor may work tirelessly to create a brand that says reliability, professionalism, and quality work. Succeeding in that endeavor means customers think of those three characteristics when they think of the contractor.
Now consider an electrician who puts no effort into establishing a brand. He is barely known in the community. Unfortunately, his brand is being anonymous. Potential customers who run across his website by accident are likely to keep surfing until they find a name they recognize. They have no reason to trust an electrician they know very little about.
Phone Calls Affect Brand Perception
At this point you might be wondering what any of this has to do with an answering service for contractors. Step back and think about what happens when a customer calls a contractor’s phone number. The conversation between the customer and whoever answers the phone will impact that customer’s brand perception.
We have been in this business long enough to know that customers expect professionalism from contractors. They also expect to be treated with courtesy. If they get both over the phone, they are more likely to have a positive perception of a contractor’s brand. If they get neither, their brand perception is almost guaranteed to be negative.
Let us go one step further and consider customers who never actually reach a human being. They call a contractor for service and are forwarded to voicemail. It is not the end of the world when a contractor consistently checks voicemail and returns calls promptly. But voicemail exhibits anything but professionalism and courtesy when customers need to wait days for a return call.
Better in the Long Run
It is better for contractors in the long run to make sure phone calls are answered professionally, courteously, and in a timely manner. Taking care of customers over the phone creates a positive brand impression. And in the end, a positive brand impression boosts customer loyalty – especially when coupled with high quality work at reasonable prices.
If you are a contractor, how do you manage customer calls? Here’s hoping you don’t send them to voicemail. If you do, we can help. Apello provides live answering services to HVAC contractors, plumbers, electricians, landscapers, remodeling contractors, and more.
We can customize our service to meet your particular needs. If you only want us to answer calls and take messages, we can do that. We can also schedule appointments, track who is on call, and more. Whatever you need to create a positive impression on the phone can be handled by our skilled and professional team. It is what we do best.
