I'm a one woman show here...help!

[purplegirl31671]

O.k. So as some of you may know I just opened my own business, and what I noticed is I have been missing a lot of phone calls while I'm working. I use my cell phone as my business line. But I want to be accessible to new clients! I noticed that a good majority don't leave a message, they probably just call the next available massage therapist or something. So anyway, I was thinking of fowarding my cell phone to my boyfriends phone so he can help me with scheduling appointments, he's very good with customer service and is more then willing to help. Does anyone else do this? Also, do you think it would scare a lot of potential male clients off if another male answered the phone when they're expecting a female therapist? Although I wish this wasn't the case, a lot of men don't like male therapists....unless they are truly experienced with recieveing massage therapy. My office is in a gym and hotel and I have a lot of males inquiring about massage, and quite a few are newbies to massage. I don't know if it would really be a big deal, but sometimes I just over analyze things. Either way, I have to figure out this phone issue.. Give me your input, please!

 

[lil_bit_spoiled]

Another option is to personalize your voicemail, to let new clients know you have immediate openings in your schedule. Here's a link to a thread of sample voicemail greetings:
http://www.massageplanet.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=10032

One possibility is this:

"Thank you for calling ______. Today is August 8th, 2007. We are open today, and we still have appointment times available at _:__ pm, _:__pm, and _:__pm. If you would like to be scheduled for one of these times, or to be scheduled for another day, please leave your name, number, and the time and day you prefer. We will return your call within the hour. Thank you and have a great day."

 

[Casey B]

Of course then you have to be updating your message!

Forwarding calls to someone would work as long as he can answer the questions..... mostly as to what is massage and the types you do.

I don't think it would scare anyone away. He would be taking calls like a receptionist, so he can say this is "Mike" on behalf of Rydia. I have had my daughter make calls for me and she will say, "This is ---- calling on behalf of softy."

 

[Pompal 09.]

One thing to consider if you forward calls to your boyfriend: Is he willing to change his voicemail greeting? Sometimes he's going to be on the phone himself, or otherwise unavailable, which means sometimes your clients are going to get his voicemail. They'd be pretty surprised if they thought they were calling you and got a man's voicemail instead.

Also, will he always answer his phone as if it's a massage call? How will he know if people are calling him or you? I'm a cellphone newbie, so maybe there's an alert that lets him know it's a forwarded call?

So much to consider! :

 

[justmeh1987]

I use a landline AND my cellphone for business. I dont hesitate to call back a missed call with "this is Karla from Bodymovers, Im returning a missed call". I have done this with both of my phones, and 9 times out of 10, Im able to book an appointment. Alot of people just dont like talking to machines. Fwding calls is a good idea, as long as your BF is able to answer massage related questions, because he WILL be asked. The only time I have my hubby on phone duty is @ Christmas time. Lots of folks want GC, & they dont wanna talk to my answering machine!

 

[Cheesman]

I dont hesitate to call back a missed call with "this is Karla from Bodymovers, Im returning a missed call". I have done this with both of my phones, and 9 times out of 10, Im able to book an appointment. Alot of people just dont like talking to machines.

What a great idea!

 

[BB8 Fan For Life!]

yeah what Bodymovers said. I do that too and have booked appointments from it. Of course sometimes they just had the wrong #. I used to do the forwarding thing in another life with another biz and its kind of a hassle with making sure the number forwared to gets answered right and so on. My biggest problem was I kept forgetting to forward it back to me! duh. Maybe you would do better with a system on that then I did.

 

[Dazaa]

I have never worried about missing possible appointments because the caller won't leave a message.

I recently changed my voicemail to say something like "appointments are available M, T, Th 9:30-4:00" and so if someone doesn't leave a message I just assume my hours don't work for them. Or perhaps saying on your voicemail "I'm in session right now, please leave a message and I'll call you at my next available moment."

It's great that calling back missed calls could lead to appointments. For my practice, I just deal with the people who can leave messages for me and I let the rest go without a second thought.

 

[arslan_018]

Thanks everyone for the replies. So he is willing to change his voicemail, but I am actually going to update mine and try this on my own because right now it's just a regualr message so I'm sure if I change it that will make a difference. Thank you for the sample voicemails. Also, I'm going to try calling back the missed calls and see how that goes. I would rather call people and talk personally because I'm not sure how well he can answer the massage related questions, you know?