How to reduce caller wait time

A customer with a problem wants help now. If they sit on hold or hear a ring that never ends, many will hang up and call the next company on the list.

For a home service business, that hang-up is a lost job. The customer was ready to book. They just could not reach you in time.

Look at when your phone rings the most. It is often Monday morning, lunch time, right after work, and any night with bad weather.

Check your call log or phone reports for missed and dropped calls. Write down the hours they pile up. Those are the hours to fix first. You don't need more people all day, just at the right times.

Long menus make people wait before they even reach the line. Press one, press two, press three. Many callers give up.

Keep it short, or skip it. A customer with a flooded kitchen just wants a person. If you need a menu, give one or two choices, and put the urgent option first.

Not every call is the same. A family locked out at night can't wait behind someone asking about next month.

Decide what counts as urgent for your trade, like no heat, a burst pipe or a garage door stuck with the car inside. Make sure those calls get answered first, and that your tech hears about them right away.

When your office is already on the phone, the next caller should not get a busy signal. Set your line so extra calls go to a backup team.

With DSPro, you forward overflow calls to the number we give you. Our agents pick up, get the details and text the job to your tech. It works well for locksmiths and garage door companies that get many calls at once.

Voicemail is the longest wait of all. The customer has to wait until morning, and many won't.

Have a live person answer after hours. Our team works 24/7, holidays included, and answers calls, Facebook and Instagram messages and website forms. The customer hears a person right away, and you start the day with jobs already booked.

Wait times creep back if nobody checks. Listen to a few calls each week. Look at your reports for missed calls and slow hours.

With DSPro Voice, every call is recorded, you can listen live, and you get weekly, monthly and yearly reports. When you spot a problem, you can fix it before it costs you jobs.