From the desk
How a one-van shop stops losing the next call.
Star codes, missed vs always-answer, the hold text, and what a dispatcher for the trade actually asks. Written like the shop, not a help center.
Setup
Forward the cell that’s already on the van.
You do not get a second number. You dial a few codes from the cell customers already call. Then the jobs you would have sent to voicemail land as a text.
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Setup
Should the phone still ring in your pocket?
Most one-van shops want the phone to ring. They also want someone to pick up when they can’t. That is missed-call mode. Always-answer is the other switch — and it is easy to turn on by accident on an iPhone.
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Carriers
The codes, by the phone in your hand.
Carriers did not agree on a single code. This is the cheat sheet we put in the app, written out so you can search it from the driveway.
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iPhone
iPhone Settings forwards every call. That is usually the wrong switch.
Apple gave you one toggle. It sends every call away. A one-van shop usually wants the opposite: ring first, then us.
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The hold
The second text is the product.
A burst pipe does not wait for you to finish under the other sink. If the caller gets silence, they dial the next van. We text them that the shop has the job.
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Nights
Nights and weekends are when the expensive jobs ring.
The furnace does not fail at 10 a.m. on a Tuesday. The no-heat, the sparking outlet, the water in the ceiling — those ring when you are home, or still on the last job.
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The leak
Nobody with a burst pipe leaves a good voicemail.
The greeting is fine. The silence after it is the problem. The caller already has two other shops in the search results.
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On the call
Name, number, address, what’s wrong, how bad. Then we hang up.
A generic receptionist asks how they can direct your call. A dispatcher for a one-van shop takes the job. Different questions. Different hang-up.
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Language
If they speak Spanish, we answer in Spanish. No menu.
A lot of these calls mix languages in one sentence. That is normal. A language menu is not how a shop talks.
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Compare
Us vs the usual suspects.
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Rosie is a receptionist. We are a dispatcher for the van.
Rosie is a fine generic receptionist. Booking and transfers are $149. A one-van shop does not need a receptionist. They need someone who takes the job and holds the caller.
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Compare
Voicemail is a polite way to give the job away.
Your greeting is not the problem. The four rings and the beep are. The caller already has the next shop highlighted.
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The $300 receptionist is for a shop with a front desk.
Human answering services are good at being a person. They are priced like a part-time CSR. You do not have a CSR. You have a van.
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Google Voice is a second ringer. It is not a dispatcher.
Free-ish, a new number, a transcript of “uh.” Useful as a spare ringer. Not how you hold a no-heat call at 9 p.m.
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Compare
If you’ve got a CSR, this isn’t it.
A person on the phone is the right move when you have enough trucks to keep them busy. One van does not.
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AnswerVan.com by trade