You cannot answer the phone with a soldering iron in one hand. Customers know that. They just do not wait. Here is what a missed call costs, and the realistic ways of dealing with it.
ON THIS PAGE
Why a missed call is usually a lost repair
First, find out how many you miss
Four ways to deal with it
How forwarding on no answer works
Which one to pick
Whatever you choose, close the loop
Someone with a broken phone or laptop wants it fixed now. They ring the first shop on the map. If it rings out, they ring the second. A few will leave a voicemail or call back later. Most will not. The call you missed is not a call you will return, it is a customer who booked somewhere else.
It is also the least visible loss in the business. A missed call leaves no record. You never learn what you did not get.
Look at your phone's call log for a normal week. Count the calls you did not pick up, then the ones you rang back, then the ones that turned into a job. Do it for a couple of weeks and you will know what the problem is worth. Multiply the number of missed calls that were new customers by what an average repair brings in.
1. A voicemail greeting that does some work. Say who you are, say that you are at the bench, ask for name, device and fault, and promise a call back within a time you will keep. It is free and better than nothing. Expect most callers to hang up anyway.
2. Divert to your mobile when you are busy. Fine if you are in the shop and can step away. It does not help when you are mid-repair, which is when the calls arrive.
3. Someone to answer. A part-time receptionist, or a call-answering service that takes messages. Both work. Both cost money every month and have hours. Check whether the service can book a repair or only take a message.
4. An AI receptionist. It answers every call you miss, takes name, device, fault and a time, and puts the job on your board. It works at night and when you are on another call. It is not a person, and it should tell callers that, which is why you should look for one that says so at the start of every call. See what ours does and does not do.
Whichever you choose, options 2 to 4 all rely on the same thing: a setting on your phone line that sends a call somewhere else when you do not pick up. You can set it up yourself.
On most UK mobiles, dial **61* then the number you want calls sent to, then #, then call. That sets "forward when not answered".
Dial **67* then the number then # to forward when your line is busy.
Dial ##002# to switch all forwarding off again.
These are the standard codes and they work on most UK mobile networks, but not all providers support them, and landlines and business lines often do it from a menu or an online account instead. Try it, then ring your shop from another phone and let it ring out to make sure it goes where you meant.
One thing to know: if you forward when the line is unanswered, calls that would have gone to voicemail go to the new number instead. If you want to keep voicemail for some calls, decide that before you switch it on.
If you miss a handful of calls a week, a good voicemail greeting and a habit of ringing back within the hour is enough. If you miss that many a day, something has to answer. The question is whether you want a person, a message service or an AI, and what each costs against the repairs it brings in. Work it out with your own numbers from the count above.
Ring back every missed call you can, quickly, even if the person left no message. Many will pick up.
Put the call in the same place you put every job, so it is not left on a sticky note.
Check once a week whether the system you chose is working, by ringing it.
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