Secretary

Wesley Teston

New member
After 15 years of business, I'm thinking of hiring some office help. My wife does the books but I would like to have some help dealing with the day to day stuff.

Benefits of secretary:
- All calls answered (no VM)
- Buffer between myself (owner) and customer. Customers that I have had for years, we have developed a good working relationship. Downside to that for me is, they do not hesitate to ask for me to "throw this in" or "while your guys are here" can they get this. Obviously if it takes less than 10 or 15 minutes we are going to do it at no additional charge. On jobs that may take slightly longer and customer is talking to secretary they are less likely to ask for a freebie or if they do my secretary will let them know the additional cost without the personal relationship affecting price. ***Please understand I love my customers but this is just a peeve that I have that has always bothered me.
- Less Burnout for me! This would be a huge benefit!!

Give me your feedback on pros/cons that I may not be aware of. Thanks.
 
Pros:
- You get more time to sell
- Your clients are always taken care of whether you are on a job or not
- Makes you look like a larger organization
- Phone never goes to VM
- Women like dealing with women
- Spend more time focusing on growing and operations of your business

Cons:
- More employees to manage
- Training takes time
- More expenses

I think the Pros out weigh the cons... DO IT!! Every time I hire someone my company grows and benefits from the hire. And then I find myself thinking, why didn't I do that a long time ago??
 
I hired an answering service a few months back because I am bad about answering my phone. It is a great filter and saves me tons of time and aggravation answering time wasting questions from people who aren't and never will be customers. If they aren't willing to leave a message- chances are they aren't serious anyway....Costs about $125 permonth.

Daniel Simmons
House Washing Specialists
http://www.pressurewashingamerica.com/house-power-washing/

https://plus.google.com/+PressureWashingAmericaLLCHouston
 
I hired an answering service a few months back because I am bad about answering my phone. It is a great filter and saves me tons of time and aggravation answering time wasting questions from people who aren't and never will be customers. If they aren't willing to leave a message- chances are they aren't serious anyway....Costs about $125 permonth.

Daniel Simmons
House Washing Specialists
http://www.pressurewashingamerica.com/house-power-washing/

https://plus.google.com/+PressureWashingAmericaLLCHouston

Hey Daniel. Is that a local answering service? or is it national? I am considering this also. Down here if you don't answer the phone, the potential customer just goes down a list until they get someone. I work by myself and can't always answer. I always call people back even if they don't leave a message. There have been multiple times when I call back and the customer says they already hired someone else. This can be in the span of twenty minutes. What exactly does $125 get you?
 
The answer within 20 seconds they say with whatever greeting you tell them. Then they take a message and email it to you. I request name, phone, email, address, and message. Each email costs me $.50 and the number of calls coming in is on a sliding scale. I think 300 calls per month would be like $125 and then like $.25 after that. Not perfect but it saves me a lot of time answering "going nowhere" calls and it is better than not answering! Telesec or something like that is the name f the company

Daniel Simmons
Pressure Washing in Houston

Houston pressure washing

 
Thanks for posting this. I don't feel so alone now. Seems like you're exactly where I am. I'm currently paying $600 per month for an answering service. I need more help than just simply answering the call and taking basic info. But again, like the rest of my employees, I have to prepare myself that I may go through I handful before I find the right one.
 
Pros:
- You get more time to sell
- Your clients are always taken care of whether you are on a job or not
- Makes you look like a larger organization
- Phone never goes to VM
- Women like dealing with women
- Spend more time focusing on growing and operations of your business

Cons:
- More employees to manage
- Training takes time
- More expenses

I think the Pros out weigh the cons... DO IT!! Every time I hire someone my company grows and benefits from the hire. And then I find myself thinking, why didn't I do that a long time ago??

Nice post TY


Ron Musgraves
www.uamcc.org
 
I still answer the phone if you call. 888-Fleetwash

I like the virtual office but they have to talk with a live person in accounting & logistics.

The main conversations with the players have still been text or email. 90%

What ever you use have to embrace


Ron Musgraves
www.uamcc.org
 
In order to grow you need to put levels in place. Hire smarter people and they will not only help you grow but will make the company better and more profitable.
Have a real knowledgable person answer and schedule, it makes a difference.
How many layers can you get. I am looking to hire a director of business development person now to help the company in many ways.
Remember that sales is the most important thing. Nothing happens till after the sale.
 
After 15 years of business, I'm thinking of hiring some office help. My wife does the books but I would like to have some help dealing with the day to day stuff.

Benefits of secretary:
- All calls answered (no VM)
- Buffer between myself (owner) and customer. Customers that I have had for years, we have developed a good working relationship. Downside to that for me is, they do not hesitate to ask for me to "throw this in" or "while your guys are here" can they get this. Obviously if it takes less than 10 or 15 minutes we are going to do it at no additional charge. On jobs that may take slightly longer and customer is talking to secretary they are less likely to ask for a freebie or if they do my secretary will let them know the additional cost without the personal relationship affecting price. ***Please understand I love my customers but this is just a peeve that I have that has always bothered me.
- Less Burnout for me! This would be a huge benefit!!

Give me your feedback on pros/cons that I may not be aware of. Thanks.

Jenelle will be more then happy to field your calls for you Wesley! haha jk. I think this would be a great move for you. Like you said let you be less burnt out and focus on other more important aspects of the business. Not to mention its great to get rid of a peeve every now and again.

Obviously the concern/cons is that they don't have your southern charm, industry knowledge, your customers know you, and another salary to pay.

The pros include what you stated above, as well as the ability to spend more time doing things then just being the All Brite answering service allowing more productivity. I also think your secretary giving your customer access to talking to you when they "truly need to" will alleviate almost all the cons.
 
Thanks guys! I used the wrong job title in what I'm looking for. I should have said office manager.

Starting salary for office manager in the south east $35k, $40k, $???? Guys who have good office managers shoot me some salary numbers. Even if your not from this area shoot me what you started your OM out at. Responses will be greatly appreciated.
 
Thanks guys! I used the wrong job title in what I'm looking for. I should have said office manager.

Starting salary for office manager in the south east $35k, $40k, $???? Guys who have good office managers shoot me some salary numbers. Even if your not from this area shoot me what you started your OM out at. Responses will be greatly appreciated.

We started ours at $650 per week.
 
You should give them a salary plus commission. I made my office manager do that so he could get everyone to work harder for him to make more money.
 
Rsuds


You should give them a salary plus commission. I made my office manager do that so he could get everyone to work harder for him to make more money.


Commission? Does he do your sales also or do you give him some type of weekly goal to turnout? What type salary should I start out at? Thanks for the help Brian.
 
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