- This topic has 5 replies, 5 voices, and was last updated 18 years, 2 months ago by
.
-
Posts
-
i am considering closing my shop as landlord is pushing for a long lease and costs are always on the up and i seem to be rushing around to pay my bills and not much else. i currently am the only engineer with 2 part time office girls answering phones etc. the main problem is holidays as how do you other guys manage as my missus would not be happy if i took my phone on holiday.also with phone diversion are you constantly getting interupted and image of a office girl answering phone as compared to a hairy arsed engineer!. currently just considering it but all input appreciated.
cheers chris
Re: a bit of advice
hi i closed my shop over 5 years ago and just worked from home, i have a reasonable income from rentals and i sell new and recon machines ( off the van) plus do selective repairs, any work i dont want i pass on to other engineers, also the rental side seems to be expanding, if you close your shop i would recommend you pay for an advert on the old premises to let your customers know how to find you, i relied on the new owners to leave a sign up but they took it down after a few months, all told though its worked out quite well, i us call divert on the phone for when we are both out, and one of the engineers i pass work on to will cover when i am on holiday , hope this has helped your descision
john
Re: a bit of advice
keep your part time office girls and let them work from home, just divert your phone to whoever is working at any particular time. Holidays are a problem, but then I know of many bosses of larger service organisations who havnt taked a holiday in years either. Generally, in the summer school holidays I find customers quite understanding about being closed for a week-10 days or so, But would advise to keep them as short as possible.
Re: a bit of advice
It seems to be the norm around here that for small operations you can leave a message on the answerphone stating your holiday period and when you will be back.
Now an element of trust arises, if you have a friendly working relationship with another trustworthy competent engineer talk to them about offering holdiay cover for each other. When he’s away you cover for him and vice versa. This way your answerphone message can let your customer know that although your away you have not forgoten to take care of them should their need arise !
You just have to make sure that whoever you choose to do this does not coerce all your customers away.
Re: a bit of advice
thanks for replies lads i am still weighing up my options on this one and now the landlord is pushing for a long lease.the main problem i am coming up against is answering phone on holiday as i do work for insurance companies who like it answered 5 days 9-5 so an a/phone message they may not like.the option of the girls answering from home is a non starter as i am trying to cut costs as everything else keeps going up!.
i have been reading with interest re smart phones etc as a lot of my work is e-mailed thru.its just a scary step as there is no going back once closed.also trusting another company with your business is a scary thought.my brain is hurting with the decision so any other advice welcome.
thanks again chris.Re: a bit of advice
robinsonrobbo wrote:i have been reading with interest re smart phones etc as a lot of my work is e-mailed thru.its just a scary step as there is no going back once closed.also trusting another company with your business is a scary thought.
This is something I’ve been looking into for what seems decades now, but really only a couple of years and there is some hope for the idea. Let me put it this way, I reckon that if I can get all calls emailed/data transferred and returned the same way with electronic invoicing that I can save at least 60{e5d1b7155a01ef1f3b9c9968eaba33524ee81600d00d4be2b4d93ac2e58cec2d} of the admin time and that, is a very, very attractive saving to say nothing of the hassle reduction and faster turnround on invoicing.
K.
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.