Start by counting what you miss
Before you buy anything, find out how big the problem is. Open the recent calls list on your work phone and count the missed calls for the last two weeks. Then count how many of those you called back, and how many of those you reached.
Most owners are surprised twice: once by how many calls they missed, and again by how many of the people they called back had already booked someone else. Write down the times as well. If the misses bunch up at lunch, at the end of the day or on Saturdays, that tells you which fix you need.
Why calls get missed on the job
- Your hands are busy: on a ladder, under a sink, inside a panel, holding a customer's door.
- It is loud: saws, compressors, a running unit, a crew talking.
- You are driving between jobs and can't safely pick up.
- You are already on a call with a supplier or another customer.
- You are in a crawlspace, a basement or a metal building with no signal.
- It is after hours, and you have stopped answering for the day.
- You are with a customer and it would be rude to answer.
This quarter, 1 in 3 calls we answered came in outside business hours, and 1 in 5 on a weekend. The rest came in during the working day, when most owners are on a job.
The fixes, from free to fully covered
| Fix | Cost | What it solves | What it leaves |
|---|---|---|---|
| A better voicemail greeting | Free | Tells callers you will call back and when | Most callers with an urgent job hang up and call the next company |
| Text back missed callers | Free to cheap | A fast reply the caller sees | The caller still has to wait for you to call, and many have already moved on |
| Forward missed calls to the office or a family member | Free | A person answers | Only works while that person is free and knows your prices and calendar |
| Hire someone for the phone | A full wage | A person who knows your business | Lunch breaks, sick days, nights and weekends |
| Answering service or AI receptionist | A monthly fee | Every call answered, in your name; with a receptionist, booked into your calendar | Needs your services, prices and rules written down at the start |
Forward only the calls you don't pick up
You don't have to give up your phone to stop missing calls. Most carriers let you forward a call only when you don't answer after a few rings, when you are busy on another call, or when your phone is off or has no signal. Your phone still rings first. If you pick up, nothing changes. If you don't, the call goes to whoever is covering for you, instead of to voicemail.
Look in your phone's call settings, or ask your carrier for "conditional call forwarding" or "forward when unanswered". Set the ring time long enough that you can get to the phone, and short enough that the caller doesn't give up: four or five rings is a common choice.
Test it: call your own number from another phone, let it ring, and check that the call is answered where you expect.
What whoever answers needs to know
- The services you do, and the ones you don't, so they don't book work you turn down
- Your service area
- Your prices, or how you quote (free estimate, trip charge, or a price range)
- How far out you are booked, and which slots are open
- What counts as urgent and who to tell
- What to say about licensing, insurance and warranty
Make returned calls count
If you call back, do it fast. The longer a caller waits, the more likely they have booked someone else. Return missed calls in the order they came in, at your first break, not at the end of the day. When you reach voicemail, leave a short message with a time you can do the job, not only "call me back".
If you use Google Local Services Ads, missed calls matter twice. Google can count a missed call as a lead you pay for, and its help pages list responsiveness among the things that affect how often your ads show.
How B&G Solutions covers your phone while you work
Forward the calls you can't pick up to us, or all of them. We answer in your company's name, 24/7, in English and Spanish, book jobs into your calendar with a text confirmation to the caller, and send the urgent calls straight to you with the address and problem already taken. Plans start from $149 a month, month to month, and setup takes about 48 hours.