Calls are our business and we listen to hundreds of calls each week. It should come as little surprise that more than 50% of our calls occur on nights or weekends. If you are a partner in our lead generation network and are routinely pausing your account during these high-volume times, you are guaranteed to miss out on some great jobs.

5 Reasons Not To Pause Your Account on Nights and Weekends:

• 30% of our total leads come weekdays between 5 pm and 7 am
• 26% of our total leads come over the weekend
• Customers are 50% more likely to need immediate restoration services
• Leads are 45% more likely to convert than other times
• Spam calls are 40% lower than other times

Not taking calls on nights and weekends will result in few jobs and lower revenue. Our marketing campaigns also see a 45% higher conversion rate and a 40% lower instance of spam calls on nights and over weekends, with customers 50% more likely to need immediate restoration services.

These Alternatives Will Prevent You From Needing to Pause and Miss Out on Lucrative Jobs:

• Change the Destination Number to Another Employee
• Train More Employees to Answer Calls
• Borrow, Rent, or Buy More Equipment
• Partner With Another Restoration Company

The key to success for any restoration or mitigation business is being there for your customers and the first step is answering the phone when they call. While we want you to use the pause feature when you truly need it, it’s important to use it strategically so you don’t miss out on quality, conversion-ready calls.

Even if you generate your own leads, you can’t grow your business if you don’t answer the phone. While these tips are targeted are out current lead generation partners, you can easily adapt these methods to grow your own restoration business.

Why Nights and Weekends Have a Higher Volume of Calls

While water damage or fire damage can happen at any time, 56% of our calls come either weekdays between 5 pm and 7 am or over the weekend. It makes perfect sense that more than half of our calls come during these times – your customers are at home.

Thirty Percent of Calls Come Between 5 PM and 7 AM

The average person is at work weekdays from 8 am until 5 pm. If something happens, they won’t find out until they get home in the evening. Even if one spouse is home during the day, they are likely to consult their partner before calling a restoration contractor.

Another surprisingly high volume time is early mornings, between 4 and 6 am. While some people are from naturally early risers, the majority come from commercial or industrial property managers who arrived at work only to discover a water or fire incident.

Twenty-Six Percent of Calls Come Over the Weekend

Weekends have a higher volume of calls for the same reason. Your customers are more likely to be at home over the weekend than during weekdays, making it easier for them to pick up the phone if they have a water or fire-related emergency.

Why Calls on Nights and Weekends are Higher Quality

In addition to a higher call volume, your customers are more likely to have an emergency if they are calling at night or over the weekend. Based on our call statistics, you are 50% more likely to get the job just by answering the phone at night and over the weekend.

These customers are less likely to go price shopping, opting to rely on reviews and referrals. More often than not, they hire the first company that can get to their house. For that reason, it’s important to answer every call quickly, validate the lead, and get moving.

Using the Pause Feature to Your Advantage

We offer a pause feature in our lead generation network that allows you to temporarily stop receiving leads from us. While you should pause your account if you can’t answer the phone to avoid missing a call, you will miss out on valuable jobs if you pause too frequently. For that reason, it’s important you know how to use the pause feature to your advantage.

If you are pausing your account because of your workload, we recommend that you only pause your account when you’re at 100 percent capacity. This is especially true when pausing at nights or on the weekends. If you still have equipment and manpower available, you’d be foolish to turn away calls. And remember, emergency calls are more likely to turn into jobs because most customers want someone to fix their problem immediately.

While it also allows you to take a night off for an anniversary dinner or special event, consider this alternative before hitting the pause button. You can always log into your account and temporarily change the destination number to one of your technicians. This ensures you still get the job, but you don’t miss an important life event.

If you plan on going on vacation, we ask that you give your account manager a call. This allows us to reach out to partners in surrounding areas to pick up the slack. We can also make adjustments to our marketing to better serve both you and customers in need of restoration services. Once you get back, just give us a call and we’ll return everything to normal.

Alternatives to Pausing Your Account

As mentioned above, you can easily make a temporary change to the destination number on your account if you need a night off. This keeps your crews working, but gives you the time off you need. Here are a few other alternatives to pausing your account.

Train Your Crew to Answer Calls

The best alternative is to work with your existing crew on how to answer calls. Choose the best of candidates based on their customer service track record and practice with them individually to see who is best suited for filling in on phone duty. It may also help to start them on daytime calls so you can sit with them through some actual customer calls.

While this does take a commitment, it will benefit you in the long run. Not only will you need to pause less, but you’ll also be able to delegate more often. This allows you to focus more on developing your business and less on the day to day operations.

Borrow, Rent, or Buy Equipment

You never know when you will get a call for a huge job. While you could pause, do you really want to pass up on a hotel water supply line break or a sewage backup in a condo development just because you are short on gear?

Whether you borrow equipment from another restoration contractor or rent it from an equipment rental company, the value of a large loss will cover your expenses. It may even be the right to invest in some new gear so you can expand your business.

Partner With Another Restoration Company

While hiring or training another crew takes time, you might consider setting up an agreement with another restoration company. This takes some legwork and networking in advance, but it will keep you from pausing your account or turning away jobs.

Even if you have to split the revenue, your customer will remember your name and refer you to friends and family. Plus, it also means that the other restoration company will call you in on jobs that are too big for them as well.

While you could partner with another company in town, we recommend working with someone with a slightly different service area. This keeps you from working with a direct competitor while allowing you to stay active.

Call Centers or Phone Systems Are Not Good Alternatives to Pausing

You may be tempted to use an automated phone system or a call center instead of pausing your account, but those alternatives aren’t very effective in our experience. Customers calling on night or weekends are almost always looking for an immediate response. They are likely to hang up on a push button system or an uninformed operator.

If you choose to use a call center, they should specialize in restoration services. Make sure the call center records their calls and review them regularly to ensure they are being properly handled. If necessary, work with them on their call handling skills and train them in relevant terminology.

We also don’t recommend having customer’s leave voicemails. If they are calling at night or on the weekend, they likely have an emergency that needs immediate attention. While they might leave you a voicemail, they are guaranteed to keep calling other companies until they reach someone that can assist them immediately.

Not a Partner? Answering Your Phone on Nights and Weekends Will Still Grow Your Business

If you aren’t getting our leads, answering calls on nights and weekends is an effective way to grow your business. The tips above apply the same to your business as they do to our lead partners.

If you are still looking for more calls even after developing a strategy for answering calls on nights and weekends, our lead generation network can help. We generate live and exclusive water damage, fire restoration, plumbing, mold remediation, biohazard cleanup, and carpet cleaning leads.

Our high quality, conversion-ready leads are sent exclusively to just one partner and we only bill for valid leads. Use our Revenue Calculator to see how much you could make with our restoration leads.