Last month I talked about delegating things to employees. For some of you that might mean hiring a general manager to oversee things in the field so you can spend more time in the office; for others it’s hiring more help in the office to stay in the field. Wherever you’re spending most of your time, one thing you shouldn’t delegate is control of how incoming calls and reviews are received.

I recently heard from a plumbing company that’s basically too busy to answer the phone. Too much work is a good problem to have, but even if you’re booked 100% of the time by word-of-mouth, it’s a good idea to find a way to field those incoming calls.

One way is an answering service. Another is the outgoing message in your voicemail. Ask callers to leave a message or text you, and return those messages, even if you have to turn down jobs. Saying you’re booked out for weeks makes it clear you’re in demand. Never answering the phone makes you look disorganized at best, unprofessional or no longer in business at worst. If you truly have enough work without answering every call, that’s great. But if you want to grow or add services down the road, at some point that method will hamper your efforts.

If you do have to turn down work, try to suggest another company if you can. When I called a maintenance company a while ago looking for someone to fix my dryer, the first (highly recommended) guy I called was on his way out of town for vacation and gave me the name of someone else to try. I would call either of those companies again.

Try to pay attention to your online reviews as well. Even if you get plenty of good ones that keep your average up, there are so many different platforms to monitor. Maybe on Yelp you only have 10 reviews and half of them are people saying you never responded to a call for service. Even one or two low ratings will bring your average down on sites where you don’t have as many reviews. Customers skim through those quickly and if they see a company with a less-than-stellar rating they will go right on by to someone with a better one.

Personally, as a consumer I like to see companies respond to their reviews on those sites — the good ones and the bad ones. Even if it’s a copy-paste message thanking the customer and hoping they call again, a business that is clearly checking those reviews and on the lookout to make good on any mistake is a reassuring thing to see.

Respond to reviews as often as you can, and keep friendly outgoing messages on your voicemail. Make sure your staff is courteous when answering calls. That’s simple stuff but it can go a long way, especially when a customer has recently dealt with a service company that wasn’t professional.

Keep an eye on how your business is perceived. For a frustrated customer, a helpful voice on the other end of the line is something they’ll remember, even if you have to send them to someone else.

I hope you enjoy this month’s issue.