Quote for a new switchboard, Massey. Caller 021 555 0188. Happy with Tuesday.
Saturday morning still rings
The people who ring on a Saturday are not browsing. They have a problem now and a list of numbers.
9:41
Monday, 31 August9:41
Tuesday, 9:00 am. In your diary. Nothing for you to do.
Wants a price on an outdoor socket. Taken down. Waiting for Monday.
Nobody rang you. You found out about all three of them when you picked your phone up, and one of them was already booked.
That is the whole difference. The weekend caller who reaches somebody stops ringing around, and the weekend caller who reaches a voicemail keeps going down the list.
A week, covered
MON
TUE
WED
THU
FRI
SAT
SUN
Answered all day
Answered outside your hours
Forty eight of the one hundred and sixty eight hours in a week are Saturday and Sunday. Most businesses answer none of them. That is why a Saturday enquiry is the cheapest job anyone in your trade will win that week.
The two days do not sound the same
Saturday
Busy from about half past seven. People have the day off and have finally got to the thing they have been putting off since Wednesday.
- Quotes, and they want a time booked before they ring the next one.
- Jobs that were fine on Friday and are not fine now.
- Callers who tried you during the week and got voicemail.
Sunday
Quieter, and more serious. Fewer calls, and a higher share of them are worth getting out of the chair for.
- Real emergencies, where the caller has already tried two other numbers.
- People booking Monday before the week gets away on them.
- Commercial sites that only get looked at when nobody is working in them.
Both get the same treatment. Answered in your business name, sorted into urgent or not by your rule, booked into the real diary and texted to you. The difference is only in what you told it to wake you for.
Public holidays and the Christmas closedown
The New Zealand calendar is already in it. Waitangi Day, Good Friday, Anzac Day, King's Birthday, Matariki, Labour Day and your own regional anniversary all behave as days you are closed, unless you say otherwise.
The closedown is the one worth setting up properly. Three weeks with the office shut is three weeks of people finding out you are shut from a recorded message, or worse, from nothing at all.
Set the dates once, in October
Give it the closedown dates and the date you open again. Callers are told when somebody is back, which is the only thing they actually want to know.
Bookings for January, taken in December
The diary is still open even when you are not. A caller on Boxing Day can be given a real time in the second week of January.
One person still gets the emergencies
Somebody is always nominally around. Only the calls that meet your rule reach them, and there are far fewer of those than people fear.
A tidy list on the day you open
Three weeks of enquiries in order with what each one wanted, instead of a full voicemail box and a bad first morning back.
What it will not do. It will not tell a caller a tradesperson is on the way when nobody is. If the job cannot be done until you are back, it says so plainly and books the first time you can, rather than sending somebody away happy and wrong.
Weekends, questions and answers
Can I have weekends answered but not weekday evenings?
Yes. Each day has its own hours, and a day can be handed over entirely or not at all. Saturday and Sunday covered with Monday to Friday untouched is a common setup, particularly for retail and clinics.
Can I use a call answering service just for the Christmas closedown?
Yes, and a lot of people first try it that way. Set the closedown dates, see what comes through, and decide in January whether you want it for the rest of the year.
Does it cost more on a weekend or a public holiday?
No. There is no penal rate and no surcharge for a Sunday or a statutory holiday, because there is no roster being paid to sit up. A call on Christmas Day is priced the same as a call on a Tuesday.
Will it book a job for the weekend itself?
Only if you have said the weekend is available in your diary. Otherwise it takes the details and books the first slot you do have, so nobody is promised a Saturday visit you were never going to make.
What about a long weekend when I am away?
Add the extra days as closed and it treats them like the holiday. You can do that from your phone the night before if plans change, which they do.
Read next
Get your weekend back
Tell us which days you want covered and what counts as urgent on a Sunday. We will ring you back and set the hours with you.