Free checklist for trades
Call-handling checklist for home-service shops
Written for the owner of a small shop: every call to your shop either reaches someone who can help or it does not. Work down this list with a pen. It takes about half an hour, it costs nothing, and it works whether or not you ever use our service.
Who picks up
- Write down who answers the main business number from open to close.Name a person, not "the office". If the answer is "whoever is free", that is the gap.
- Decide who covers the phone when everyone is on a job.Lunch, drive time, a long install and a day off all count.
- Call your own number from a different phone during a busy hour.Count the rings and listen to what a caller hears. Do not rely on memory.
- Call it again after hours, once on a weekday evening and once on a Saturday.Write down exactly what happens. You are looking for the experience, not a score.
- Check that the number on Google, your truck, your site and your cards is the same one.A caller who finds three numbers may try the wrong one.
Voicemail
- Re-record your voicemail greeting this week.Say your company name, your hours and what to leave: name, number, address, problem.
- Make sure the voicemail box is not full and the greeting is not a default robot voice.A full box turns a call into a dead end.
- Pick a time each day when someone listens to voicemail and calls back.Write it on the checklist so it does not depend on remembering.
- Set a callback rule for new customers: how fast, and who does it.Faster is better, but the rule only works if one person owns it.
Emergencies
- Write down what counts as an emergency for your trade.Examples: no heat in winter, a burst pipe, a power outage, a stuck garage door with a car inside.
- Decide who gets the call, in order, and how long before the next person is tried.Names and numbers, written down.
- Decide what a caller is told when nobody picks up an emergency.Include the safety line your trade needs, for example calling 911 for a gas smell or carbon monoxide.
- Test the emergency path once a quarter.A plan nobody has tried is a guess.
Booking
- List the services you book and the ones you do not.Callers ask for things you do not do. A short "we don't do that, try this" saves everyone time.
- Write your service area as a list of towns or ZIP codes.So whoever answers can say yes or no in one breath.
- Write your hours, including emergency hours, in one place.Use the same words everywhere you list them.
- Decide what information you need from every new caller before a visit.Name, number, address, what is wrong, how urgent, best time.
- Decide who confirms the booking and how the customer is told.A booking nobody confirms is a no-show waiting to happen.
Tracking what happens
- Keep a tally for one week: calls in, calls answered, calls missed, jobs booked.A tally sheet by the phone is enough. Use the calculator page to turn it into a figure.
- Look at where new callers say they found you.Ask once: "How did you hear about us?" and write it down.
- Review the tally every Friday and pick one fix for next week.One fix, not ten.
If you add help
- Write down the three questions callers ask most, with your real answers.Whoever or whatever answers your phone needs these in writing.
- List what it must never say.Prices you have not agreed, promises of arrival times, repair advice, anything about a competitor.
- Decide how you want to be told about each call, and how fast.Email, a phone alert, a daily summary: pick one you will actually read.
- Test it yourself before a real customer does.Call it, try to trip it up, and read what it wrote down.
Next step, your call: if the after-hours test showed a gap, you can hear how Call Kettle handles a call at (571) 556-3587 (press 1 for heating and air), or read the public plans. Free is a plan, not a trial, and it is reviewed by hand.
General guidance for small service businesses. It is not legal, safety or business advice for your situation. Use the emergency rules your own trade and local authority require.