Should I use a call-answering service?

If you run a team and the phone rings all day, maybe. For a one-van trade it's an expensive way to get a message you then have to return anyway. A good voicemail, a text back within the hour and the quote form on our £80 plan catch most of what a service would, and the form keeps working at 11pm when no service is answering.

Is it rude not to answer the phone while I'm working?

No, and your current customer would rather you didn't. What reads as rude is silence afterwards. A text within the hour fixes that completely.

Should I give out my WhatsApp?

For photos, it's the easiest thing there is, and most customers have it. The downside is that it never switches off. Many trades use it happily and simply answer the evening messages the next morning, which a text-back message can say.

What should my voicemail say?

Your name and trade, that you're on a job, what the problem is and where they are, a time you'll call back, and the offer to text a photo instead. Twenty seconds. The one thing it should never say is 'leave a message', on its own.

How fast do I need to call back?

The same day, and before the time you promised. People usually ring two or three trades; the first to come back with a straight answer and a time tends to get the job, not the cheapest.

How to stop missing calls as a tradesman, without answering on a ladder

What a missed call actually costs you

Don't take our number for it; work out yours. Look at your phone's call log for last week and count the missed calls from numbers you didn't know. Then count how many of those left a voicemail or texted. The gap is the people who rang someone else.

Say it's six unknown missed calls a week and two left a message. If one in three of the other four would have become a job, and your average job is £250, that's a little over £300 a week walking off. Your numbers will be different, but the shape is the same for most trades: the missed calls that cost you are the silent ones.

Five fixes, side by side

Fix	Cost	Your effort	What it catches	Where it falls down
A voicemail that asks for the job	No money, but every call still has to be returned by you	Ten minutes once, then every call to return	People willing to leave a message	Most under 40 won't leave one; you still have to ring back
Text back within the hour	Your time, every day, or a monthly app subscription	A habit, every day, or an app to set up and check	Nearly everyone; a text feels answered	Needs a habit, or an app that does it for you
A call-answering service	About £1 to £2 a call, or a monthly plan	Brief them, pay monthly, still ring everyone back	Every call, with a human voice	They can't price a job; you still ring back, and it adds up
A second number or a divert to a partner	A few pounds a month	Someone has to be free to answer, every time	Calls while you're on a job	Only if someone's actually free to answer
A quote form on your own site, with photos	Included on our £80 plan	Very low: we build it, it emails you, you reply	People who'd rather send a photo than ring; the 11pm enquiry	Only works if people land on your site, so your Google listing has to point there (we set that up with you)

Most trades need two of these, not all five. The voicemail and the text-back take ten minutes to set up and a habit to keep. The quote form is the one that works when you're asleep, and the only one that needs no habit from you.

A voicemail that gets a message

The standard 'leave a message after the tone' gets nothing, because it asks for nothing. A voicemail that works tells them you're on a job, asks for the one thing you need, and promises a time.

Say your name and trade, so they know they've got the right person and not a wrong number.
Ask for the job and the area, not 'your details'. People answer a question; they ignore a request.
Give a time you'll keep. 'Before six today' beats 'as soon as I can'.
Offer the text route. Half the people who won't leave a voicemail will happily send a photo.

Text back within the hour

A missed call followed by a text inside the hour is, to the customer, an answered call. It also moves the conversation to where photos live. Keep a message saved on your phone so it takes two taps.

If you'd rather not remember, most phones can send an automatic text to missed calls (on Android it's usually under call settings; on iPhone it's the 'Respond with Text' option plus a Focus mode). A few pounds a month buys an app that does it properly. Either way the text goes out while you're still on the ladder.

A quote form that takes the job while you work

The people who cost you most aren't the ones who rang at 2pm. They're the ones who looked you up at 9pm, saw a phone number and nothing else, and sent the job to someone with a form. A short form on your own site, with a photo button, lets them hand you the job written down, and it lands in your email before they've rung anyone else.

Ask the questions you'd ask on the phone: what's the job, where, when, and a photo. Nothing else. Every extra box loses people.
Make sure it emails you the moment someone sends it, and reply the same way you'd return a call: that day, with a time.
Put the form on the page your Google listing links to. A form nobody can find catches nobody.

Our £80 plan is built around exactly this: a quote form with photos that emails you the moment someone asks, on a site your Google listing points to. It's the fix for the calls you'll never be able to take, and it works at 11pm.

What we'd do in your boots

Tonight: re-record your voicemail using the script above. Save the text-back message on your phone.
This week: count last week's silent missed calls, so you know what you're fixing. Set up the automatic text if your phone offers it.
A call-answering service only earns its keep once you're running a team. For a one-van trade it's a monthly bill for a message you still have to return.
This month: the fix that works while you're asleep. Our £80 plan puts the quote form with photos on a page of your own, points your Google listing at it, and keeps the profile in step. Nothing upfront, cancel any time, the web address is yours, and you see it before you pay.

How to stop missing calls as a tradesman