I have recently had to request referrals for someone to handle some repairs in my home. One of my long time clients referred me to the person she uses. Calling this person I didn’t think twice because of who referred him to me… well first call instead of just scheduling a time to come by to look over what I need done and give me an estimate, he says he needs me to call another number and leave my address and times the following week that would work for me. So… although that seemed odd, I did so – call the number he asked me to, left my address, and said anytime EXCEPT Wednesday afternoon and Friday works for me next week. So… an entire week goes by before I hear from him again… and then when he does call me, he calls me at 9 pm at night after I already have the phone turned off for the night. On his voice mail, he says he’d like to come by at 8:30 am on Friday and NOT to call him back after 9:30 pm ever….. so…. now we are at red flag number two. I would have been fine if he just said he didn’t have time for any new clients or wasn’t interested in taking on the type of project I needed done…. Whatever…. But now I feel like my time is being wasted – and I am not going to run around in circles for someone I will be paying. So today I left a return voice mail saying I am not available on Friday mornings like I originally said, left him availability for next week, and told him I do not answer calls past 6 pm so it is best to call during business hours to get me live. Now… let’s see where things go from here. At this point, I will probably just ask a couple other people for referrals. But it got me to really thinking about how I address inquiry calls about my own business. I often do not have room in my schedule for new contracted clients and really try to be upfront about that. And I do try to get back to people within 24 hours if they call or email me. I think I handle the inquiry calls well, but to be honest I am now going to be conscious over the next week to see if there are any ways I might be able to improve those communications.
Wishing you a wonderful Memorial Day weekend!
Jennifer
Speaker / Author Management
www.life-enlightenment.com
