[Nebraska]

My office is in the basement of my house. We have a specially built room with a door off in the corner that houses all my files, business computer, telephone (separate business line) etc. I am not at the point where I need to hire office help so as such it will remain there until we do reach that point. I employ an answering service to pick up the calls when I can not get them i.e. out on job site.

My business has evolved into 30% mowing, 30% lawn care applications, and 25% landscape maintenance and 15% landscape installation and if the trends hold true thus far mowing will become less and less of our operation. As it stands right now mowing consists of 90% of my headaches.

I am finding it rather frustrating to deal with the old ladies and others that call up at 7pm at night or on Saturday or even Sundays and leave messages on my office number. Last Sunday a customer even went so far as to find my home number and leave a message about an area that was not trimmed (by mistake) by the mowing crew. The home number is not listed and the business line is separate from the home number and down in the basement by design. Other calls have included why is my grass brown (answer is always you need to water), why do I have one weed in my yard (answer should be "weeds happen"), can you come look at the corner of my yard by the driveway because it's brown..... I try to keep a good attitude about all these calls and am usually able to up-sell a weed spraying, sprinkler system audit, or even a sprinkler system..... Have the attitude that when ever there is a problem to always turn that problem into a sale and it has been successful in the past and continues to be now...

My problem is that these calls after hours are driving me absolutely insane....These people will suck every ounce of life out of you if you give them the opportunity to do so.... I don't know about anyone else but I need other avenues of enjoyment outside of lawn care and landscapes and I find that they are impeding upon my time (especially on Sundays on my home number; for that guy that called me on the home number I called him back on Monday morning and politely told him that he is not welcome to call my home number regarding business...how did he handle it? I frankly did not give a damn.) When I put in 6:00 AM to 5-6 PM M-F I do not think it's too much to ask to not be bothered by the business outside of those parameters.

I know I'm not the only one that struggles with these issues but what do you do to keep from even looking to see if there are any calls after hours and even checking messages? I am to the point of installing a lock on the office door in the basement and giving the key to my wife telling her not to give it back till the hours we've agreed upon... What do you do to maintain your sanity, clear you mind of the million things occurring during the day after the day is over (or do you have an end to your work day?)

Feels like I might be getting close to needing an office manager / assistant??????

[Stonehenge]

Over the course of a 365 day year, the ringer on the phone for the biz line is turned off for more than 300 days. I check messages often during the day, and am always returning calls (though some of my clients may disagree). They get the level of phone service needed to keep them satisfied.

As for after hours calls to the biz line (and pager) - if it's after 7 or 8, I just don't return the pages, just don't return the calls until the next morning. We aren't doing brain surgery here - nobody is going to die if we don't return a late night call.

I had a customer that tracked my home phone down as well. I told her that my home phone is not for business calls, and that I don't want her calling that line.

If I'm not answering my business line, there is a reason for it.

But I think there may be another issue here - I still struggle with it on many occasions. You need to value your time more than the time of your clients. You can give great service, do great work, etc, but don't let them own you. I agree with you, that these clients can sometimes have the expectation that 24/7 you are there for just them. They won't draw the line for you, or be reasonable with you. You have to take that time.

As for clearing your head - I guess it depends. I think that trying to look at the big picture all the time helps. A customer might tick you off this afternoon, or a crew may screw up a project. Will it hurt your bottom line on that project? Probably, but it won't affect your long-term profitability. It won't affect where your company is headed in 10 years. Even if that client turns out hating your guts - aren't there already a couple of those? You've lived to tell about those problem clients, why should this one be any different?

[Just Turned Pro]

Our home number is non-pub and is just for family and close friends. I use a cell for my business number and we also have another cell that we use as our "home" number for other stuff that we don't want to be bothered with (not so close friends, the video store account, auto service, etc). We started doing this so that it was safe to answer our home line at any time.

Well, imagine my surprise when I started getting calls for my business on my home number, mostly from solicitors. I was dumbfounded and finally asked a rep from the local yellowpages how she got that number for my business. She told me that she pulled it from the online state contractor listings.

So I go to the L & I website to find my listing and sure enough, there was my home number in the listing. It turns out that my insurance and bond company had listed my home number on my policy paperwork that was sent to the state as proof of bond and ins.

Once I figured that out, it was an easy fix. I just had to go to the office and have them update my file. The calls to the home line have stopped since then.

[BJR]

The problem with Lawn mowing is that you would have many more clients than someone like me who has only a couple at a time. You would have, at a guess, say 100 or more lawns to mow over a 2 week period. On the other hand I would only have one client over the same 2 weeks. Therefore you would get 100 time the calls I would.

I also get app 30 calls per week to price jobs. But I screen these very carefully and if the job is not one that I want to do I say I am booked up for 4 months. This is usually too long for most of them to wait.

I can only sympathise with the amount of calls you get.

But, you have to have a set knock off time.

Let the answering service get it. Like Jeff said, they ain't going to die from waiting.

You and your family come first. If you are happy within yourself, you will be a happier person to your clients. It's no use letting them drag you down.