How do you handle clients/customers who want to side step your office?

[CareyJo]

This is a HUGE frustration for us...

I'm sure that there are plenty of businesses out there who experience this or something similar.

You get a phone call or a text message that goes something like this... 

"Hey, my name is John and Suzie told me to call you.  She says you're the best in the business and I need you to come look at my _______ today.  It will only take a couple of minutes, I just need you to stop by."  Or...

"Hey, you've been to my house before and I have a simple fix, I don't need an appointment, just stop by."

For those of you who're not in the service industry - do you get something similar?  Does it drive you nuts???

Let me preface this with a few things before you read further.... we've been in this industry for over 25 years.  My husband is extremely well known for his skills, by many technicians and customers alike.  We've lived in the same area for all of that time as well.  This is our second HVAC company and we've been open for 7 1/2 years.  This is not a new problem.

We get that first person referrals are the best and we want to continue to receive them, but not at the expense of our personal time and space.  My husband is so well known in our area that he's changed his phone number three times because people won't stop calling him or texting him like this.  Now, we just have it permanently forwarded to the work phone and if he doesn't know you, he doesn't answer, so it goes straight to the office.  Unfortunately, that doesn't educate people that that's not the office phone number, but there's no way around it.  We've tried changing his voicemail.  We've used my voice instead.  We've said that you're calling the wrong number.  We've changed it to Spanish.  We've tried everything.  People do not respect the fact that there is a protocol and they're calling his personal phone.  We have physically spoken to hundreds of people and told them to stop giving out that number and to call our office.  No change.

We've gotten to the point that no matter who they are, how well we know or don't know them, if they text us or the work phone and don't make a phone call, they get ignored.  100%.

I used to respond to texts on the office line by saying that we don't text because it's unprofessional, you must call the office for an appointment and they continue to text anyway.  I used to get messages on IM through FB asking questions, wanting service, demanding help on my personal account.  I would answer every single one with you must call the office for an appointment.  I answered all of the ones on the business page with the same thing.  No one ever calls.  So I turned it off.  Now, if I get a personal one, I don't even open it or respond.

I get that in today's day and age, a lot of things are digital and people don't want to talk anymore.  But that's not how we run our business and we refuse to allow the masses to dictate that.  And this is genuinely not about being digital.  It's about thinking that they know the owner or "the guy" and therefore deserve gold standard service with complete exception and don't have to go through the office like everyone else.

I don't have a problem with giving gold standard service.  I don't think of a client who pays us $100 as being less important than a client who pays $ 10,000.  But I do think that what they're doing is uncouth and disrespectful and as polite as I've been about it, I'm ready to find a new response that stops people dead in their tracks and wakes them up!  I need something creative to say to these people when they do finally call the office and complain that they didn't get an answer on his phone or to a text message.

How do you/your business handle these issues?  Looking for suggestions!!

[bonny]

A more proactive approach would be best. I would let those folks know you are happy to oblige their request to "stop by", but given the randomness of when we are available, we can't guarantee when that will be.  Please know that unscheduled stops are billed at double the hourly rate in one hour increments and I'll need to take your payment information in advance so the bill is ready when we "stop by".  People usually bend over backward to not pay anything extra.  

Regarding the phone, I have a couple of suggestions.  You should have a business phone and a personal phone.  If they are the same number, you really need separate ones.  Set up office hours.  Boundaries.  Only answer the office phone during office hours.  The rest goes to messages.  If you need a way to handle emergencies or what folks think are urgencies, hire an answering service for after hour calls.  Nothing slows folks roll like an answering service. 

And about the text messages: don't respond.  People have no idea if you are or aren't getting their messages so treat them like you aren't. They will learn they have to call the business number for service.