Miss Fewer Customers

A 10-point checklist for the calls and messages that slip through while you're up a ladder, under a sink or in the middle of service. Most of these take ten minutes to set up and cost nothing.

1. Make your voicemail do some work

   Say your business name, when you'll call back, and one thing the caller can do right now ("text this number with your address and what you need"). A caller who knows what happens next is far less likely to ring the next name on Google.

2. Use one number everywhere

   The same number on Google, Facebook, your van, your invoices and your website. Every extra number is another place a customer can get lost.

3. Keep your Google hours honest

   If you don't answer after 5, say so, and add what to do instead ("message us on WhatsApp and we'll reply first thing"). Customers forgive closed; they don't forgive silence.

4. Call back missed calls first

   Make it a rule: every time you put down your tools or take a break from your current task, check missed calls before anything else. The first business to call back usually gets the job.

5. Save a "can't talk" text

   Set up a quick reply on your phone: "On a job right now, I'll call you back by 4. [Your name], [Business]." Two taps, and the customer knows they've been heard.

6. Switch on WhatsApp Business messages

   The free WhatsApp Business app has a greeting and an away message. Use them to confirm you got the message and say when you'll reply.

7. Write every enquiry down in one place

   A notebook, a shared note or a simple spreadsheet: name, number, what they need, and when you promised to get back to them. If it lives only in your head, it will slip.

8. Agree who covers the phone

   When you're on a job, on the boat or with a client, who picks up? A partner, a team member, a set time to check? Decide it once, rather than hoping someone does.

9. Check email and social messages at set times

   Twice a day at fixed times beats "when I remember". Facebook and Instagram messages count too: customers see them as just as urgent as a call.

10. Count the misses for one week

    Tally missed calls and messages you answered late. It takes a minute a day, and it tells you whether this is a small leak or the biggest thing holding the business back.