Answering Service Saved My Marriage

When my husband decided he was better off opening his own remodeling business, instead of filling out endless applications for limited openings, I was a bit leery, but on board with the idea. A skilled carpenter of 20 years, my husband was slowly taking a beating of his self-esteem that I could no longer watch.

I was happy to see that his business immediately took off. We had invested all of our limited savings in advertising, tools, permits, and licenses. From almost the beginning the phone was ringing off the hook with calls for service. As the business grew enough to keep him and his few employees busy, the phone calls increased. Since we were trying to do this on a tight budget and pay employees fairly, we had no desire to rent an office or hire a secretary. Because of this, the more his business grew, the farther apart we drifted, with our every conversation being interrupted by phone calls at all hours. They ranged from serious inquiries about potential estimates, to lengthy chats about why an employee could not come in to work the next day. Some were as trivial as a midnight call from a client who could not reach high enough to change her light bulb.

We had to do something. After some research, we decided to try a small business answering service. Once we understood all the benefits of a small business answering service, we got a firm grasp on set hours and priority levels. Now my husband gets a call in the middle of the night if a roof collapses, but the light bulb changes come with the rest of the list of messages. Since we can now have a conversation without interruption, our marriage and the business are both thriving, and the clients consider ours more of a professional service.

-Sarah V.