Communications Issues

At this point the biggest challenge I will face in Getting out of the Office is maintaining good communications with customers and field personnel. Our office is typically staffed from 8 AM to 4:30 PM by my wife. This allows us to answer the phones live, schedule appointments and jobs, relay information, etc. is an efficient and timely manner.

If we are no longer manning the office all day long, we will face some significant communications challenges. We are considering several options: forwarding all calls to a cell phone; using voice mail and checking messages remotely; hiring a part-time office assistant; or, using Virtual PBX.

Each has some pros and cons. Forwarding phone calls to a cell phone would mean that we are "on call" all of the time, which partially defeats our purpose. We could of course, allow calls to go to voice mail. Checking phone messages remotely would allow us to do so on our schedule, but it can be slow. Hiring a part-time office assistant will impose additional costs, but would likely be the most effective.

Virtual PBX is a service I have used for several years. This service provides us with several phone numbers that are routed to our office. We use this for the other contractors we sell paint jobs for. When our phone rings, Virtual PBX identifies which company the call is for, so we can answer the call appropriately. During off hours voice mail messages are emailed to a designated recipient, so there is no need to periodically check messages.

While this isn't an earth shattering issue, it demonstrates why it is important to identify and evaluate different options when you are planning to get out of the bucket. There is seldom a perfect solution to a problem, and sometimes the best solution may be a combination of several.

Stay tuned as we work on getting out of the office.