I pride myself in responding to my calls and texts in a timenly manner. As a Realtor I am always out and about either showing homes, at a listing appointmet or on the phone. When I get a call, or text  from a client or potential client I  respond back acknowleding them  and  tell them that I will get back to them at a certain time and check if that time will work for them.  

If I am out of town or on a plane my calls get transferred to the agent watching my business..this way my clients are always taken care of. 

Callers to EarlyBird Termite & Pest Control get one of my office staff members live 8am to 5pm Mon-Fri.  They can handle most customer requests on the spot, whether scheduling services, payments, billing etc.   If there is something that needs my personal attention they will forward the call to me immediately and it is usually handled on the spot.  If the urgent thing can't be handled right away, a task is created in PestPac (our cloud based CRM/Pest Control Company Software) and I handle it as soon as possible by the end of the day.  We love our customers and potential customers.  I don't ever want anybody to feel like we are too busy to focus squarely on their need no matter how big or small.

When we are given a request; via email, phone, webportal, or text; a ticket is created which starts a process. 

The ticket is classified based on the requirements and then prioritized based on:

Urgency - as decided by the requesting party.

Contract - Managed or Maintenance customers get priority.

Availability - Whether we need a warm body or parts.

During the Microsoft outage yesterday, I created a ticket for a customer which showed the entired organization was affected, they were a maintenance customer, and it was affecting their business. This made it a high priority. Once research into the issue showed that it was a Microsoft problem causing a large portion of their users to lose access to email worldwide, the ticket was downgraded to "check back in later, waiting on vendor" so that the following morning a follow up occured confirming they were back online and operational.

First I mark the text or email UNREAD - so it stays bold in my feed.
In email I'll star it - different colours allow me to prioritize properly.
Voicemail messages take a bit more bandwidth. I'm eager to see your system for this! Because I can see them (I do visual voicemail) I leave them there until I respond.

I always let the person know when they can expect to hear from me - last week Nancy texted asking for a 6 minute call about something that is going to happen in February.
My response:

• "Hi Nancy - I'm on a final countdown today to set up for Information Monday, then get our petsitters acclimated, then catch a plane. I've got you on my calendar for Tuesday! 
  

That's my final step - I put it on my calendar (colour-coded) as an all day appointment, and delete it when I make the call.

This piece is important for me: I can prioritize when a person tells me why they're calling.
When a message is "Call me" it goes to the bottom of my list.
For me this is a respect issue.
I respect communication.

Our SOPs dictate how we respond - we have team members that own various pieces of our business and their responsibility is to handle "their" parts of the business.

A core value of our business is speed - we see it as a competitive advantage for us.

As for urgent issues, we use four categories as a framework to describe our work:

1. Unimportant/not urgent - delegate to someone else or eliminate the task altogether.

2. Important/not urgent - these are typically our important projects that can be scheduled (time is blocked) and I will use the expertise of team members.

3. Unimportant/urgent - I preferably delegate these items to a team member letting them know the urgency.

4. Important & Urgent - I handle these situations personally and immediately!

And that is how we staisfy our clients!

Precision Physical Therapy is an independent, direct pay, sports Physical Therapy practice. We care about our clients getting better faster and thus offer multiple modes of communication with website, social media, and virtual admin 8-5 M-F, providing means to answer client questions within 24 hours. Once a client is established, they are also given a direct line to their clinician for an additional means to communicate and troubleshoot. We care about each individual we meet and give tailored care and preferred modes of education and communication to each. 

If a client calls me with an urgent matter it is one of two things:

1. Not me, or
2. Not true

A truly urgent business matter would require an attorney, perhaps a CPA, possibly 911. Not a strategist that works on process. 

But of course, many times something can seem urgent even when it is not. Many people learn abotu the Eisenhower Matrux, to split the urgent form the important. But the challenge is knowing what is truly urgent, what is only important, and what is neither of the two. When a business owner is in the weeds, it can be hard to distinguish.

 Part of my job is to make this distinction simple, so that a business owner knows what to give attention to and, probably, has few to no urgent matters. 

Being an MDVIP physician I make it a priority that I truly can be reached at all times. I supplement this with an excellent staff that the patients.also feel comfortable with in regards to their care and expertise so they will often contact them with questions at times to ensure the best educated choices and decisions for their health. 

I have a CRM system yes to tell me or my assistants to get back to the client ASAP , preferably by the end of the day or first thing the next morning. 

Either me or my assistants let them know that we are going to get back to them as soon as is humanly possible.  

our CRM helps us to stay on task and is automated so that nothing gets missed or falls through the cracks.   

Monday we had a client call at 4:45 pm, and needed some money sent out asap, so I assigned a task to my assistant to send out the required money to the client first thing the following morning, and it went out seamlessly because of our use of the CRM system.   

We support our customers by equipping our team with full access to help our customer even after hours.  If I am available I will address and resolve the urgent matter. If I am not available or in a position to handle my team is available.  For that and for any other business related critically urgent matters, I have an Operations Manager that has the same authority as I do to address any situation that may arise; and I am always kept informed at the same time.  Customer and business related emails directly to me also are routed to our Operations Mgr for reply and for redundancy so we can avoid anything from being overlooked.

We track thru our CRM system and phone system any and all activities as well.  If the matter is customer related, we leverage our CRM system to keep a process or status of a process on track with the customer.

For urgent matters when I am unavailable, responsibility seamlessly transitions to my assistant, who also has a designated backup. In addition, I have management support available for direct client interaction when needed. This structure has proven highly effective over the past 20 years.

Our services are guaranteed, and we operate with clearly defined transaction processes and contingencies to ensure deadlines are met. For example, there have been occasions when loan structures needed to be adjusted to maintain the closing schedule. In those instances, my support team executed the necessary changes, communicated directly with the client, and implemented solutions without disruption.

In the unlikely event an issue were to occur, I would personally resolve it and credit our fees accordingly. I take pride in consistently closing on time, with no surprises.

Paul McCalla--Roofing Done Wright

All my calls and texts are responded to within one hour. If I am out on vacation or otherwise not avaiable, I'll leave a message on my voicemail to call a co-worker who will help them. Urgent calls are responded to right away, with an appointment set to go to their location at a time suitable for them. There is no set formal  system in place. We just cover for each other in the best manner possible.   We call it teamwork, and it works great!

When something urgent comes up and I can’t respond immediately, I don’t rely on memory or heroics. I rely on agreements.

Clients know exactly what to expect because priorities are already named. What matters most is explicit. What can wait is explicit.

When I communicate, I don’t reassure, I orient. I tell them what is happening, what is not happening, and when they will hear next.

If I’m unavailable, the system steps in. The work doesn’t pause because the commitments are visible and the next conversations are already defined.

That’s the difference systems make.

We rely on our hub & spoke business model that allows us to deploy either in-house employeees or subcontractors most of whom have been with the company for over 7 years.  The office is the command center and has visibility of all project activities, text, email, and necessary correspondence in order to organize, prioritize and deploy resources according to need.  Information is made available to the necessary team members via a detailed Schedule of Values which includes the scope of work, itemized pricing and payment information, streams of work flow, sequencing of events, and any pending or unknown variables that require further information or clarity, as well as via the Dropbox pictoral files and pertinent customer correspondence.  All of this is in play with all projects and at all times, so that if I am not available, the office can communicate with the customer, assign another team member as the interim project manager, and convey that Christopher Marosy is the owner, but Integrity Construction Services is a team.  Armed with all of the necessary information, the interim project manager can speak with intelligence and honesty to guide the customer and the team to make well-informed and confident decisions moving forward.  And upon my return, I am easily able to review the information on hand in our systems and get up to speed right away.

I attempt to do things in the order of need, whether that need is time, price or customer attitude.  To keep clients satisfied I communicate deadlines with them so they know when we do and don't have to be in a rush.  Some clients expect things to be done "right now" even when there is no rush from a business case.  In those examples I try to sooth their anxiousness over time and remind them we have plenty of time to accomplish.  Still.... some want to get it off their plate and I work things around to be able to do that. 

My clients can always reach out to me through email, text, or a phone call.  If I can't answer them right away, I make it a point to answer them by the end of the day or first thing in the morning.

If it's something we need to work through between a scheduled session, we can either get on the phone or schedule a Zoom call to talk about it.

In the meantime, my resource page can give them guidance on all sorts of things that they may have problems with.

When working with a client related to a tax debt issue that has been contacted by the IRS and an immediate response is needed, I am able to bring in one of my partners from the American Society of Tax Problem Solvers.  This ensures that client issues are being addressed while I focus on other cases.  This partnership helps maintain client confidence that their issues are being addressed by a competent individual as well as me being kept in the loop.  I would first reach out to the client to explain to them that this person is a member of my team and has all of the qualifications needed to address their issues.  This prevents the client from thinking that they are working with a completely different company or being outsourced.  

As a one person operator, I rely on my voicemail and text system to make sure no client is missed. When I’m on a job and can’t answer, all messages are saved and I return urgent calls first, then same-day requests, and then future bookings. I let clients know, “If I miss your call, I’m working on a job but I will call you back as soon as I’m done,” which helps keep them confident in the process. For example, I once missed a call while on a job, returned it within 30 minutes, and successfully booked the service.

Depending on the situation, I tend to do one of two things.

1. Non emergencies yet urgent: I usually contact the client and let them know I'm out of pocket for a couole hours and will get back to them ASAP. If they need immediate attention, I have one of my team members take the lead.

2.Emergency and urgent: I have a team member immediately contact the client to assass the situation. From there, I give them the flexibility to determine whether to handle it themselves or call me to handle it.

-Chris Tschantz, Test Pilot Creative

For Customer Communication, I keep prompts in my note section for various situations with friendly professional wording.

Situation: ARRIVAL DELAY

Recently I had a customer who I had a set arrival time for the project start time, however during the initial travel I realized I left my wallet at the house and had to return. I used a specific template and also communicated separately with the customer about the delay. 

The value was that I communicated to him that this was not part of the normal customer experience and I strove for higher standards in the rest of the cleaning.  

I strove to correct it and make the rest of the experience better

My tools are my: situational, templates, initial bonding and rapport belt with customers, and also my open communication methods.

First, I prioritize by impact. If it’s something that affects a client’s health, progress, or confidence,like energy crashes, food reactions or weight-loss plateaus, that goes to the top immediately. Those messages are flagged and acknowledged same day.

What I say to the client is really important. I always lead with reassurance.

"I’ve got you. Your progress matters, and we’re already working the plan."

That alone keeps people calm and confident.

I had a client in the middle of our reset who suddenly hit major fatigue and wanted to quit. I was teaching all day, but because of our system, she already had access to her plan, hydration support and supplements. I sent a quick reassurance message, reviewed her data that evening, adjusted protein timing and electrolytes and by the next check-in she said, "I didn’t feel alone for a second and that’s why I stayed."

When something urgent comes up and I cannot be onsite right away, I tell the client exactly what to expect. A member of my team will be there at the first available appointment, and I let them know I am still very involved behind the scenes. I encourage them to reach out to me directly with any questions and reassure them they are in great hands.

I am added to the job file and copied on every update through our CRM, so I can see progress, review photos from the site, and stay on top of communication. From the client’s perspective, service stays steady and nothing feels dropped, even if I am not the one walking through the door first.

I am able to be truely reached at all times. i have my work phone on at all times. If I can not answer a call at that moment and it will be more then 15 minutes I will let Mike my manager know and I will let him call them. E-mails come to my work phoe and once again if I cant I will have mike contact them and then text me what they want.if it is a change in order I call my team and let them know if it is a change in the delivery I call my drivers and let them know.

In my coaching world, responsiveness isn’t a “nice to have.” It’s part of the container. When a client reaches out in a moment that feels urgent, I want them to feel held, even if I’m not immediately available.

My system has three layers:

1) direct access for active clients

They have my personal email and cell. If I can’t respond right away, I send a short text or email within a reasonable window:

“Got your message. I’m with clients right now. I’ll reply by 3:30 pm.”

That one sentence keeps them grounded and keeps trust intact.

2) one shared inbox for new inquiries

If someone contacts me through my website form or my business number, those emails and texts land in one place—an app my assistant and I both see. That means nothing sits unseen.

3) voicemail protection

When someone leaves a voicemail, we receive an automatic email with the transcription. No one has to “check voicemail” to catch something important. It’s already in our workflow.

How we prioritize

My assistant reviews messages daily and responds to general scheduling and logistics. I read everything myself. If I feel a message needs my voice—emotionally charged, time-sensitive, or connected to an active client—I step in, reply personally, and let her know I’ve handled it.

A real example

A client texted me on a morning I was booked back-to-back: “I’m not okay. I feel like I’m spiraling.” I couldn’t stop and do a full response in that moment, but I texted back within minutes:

“I’m here. I’m in session until 1:00. I will call you at 1:15. Until then, put one hand on your chest, one on your belly, and stay with one slow exhale at a time.”

She replied, “Thank you. I can do that.”

By the time we spoke, she was steadier—and she told me later that what helped most was knowing I had her message and that there was a clear next step.

When something urgent comes up and I can’t handle it immediately, I rely on clear prioritization and documented systems. Anything impacting food safety, timing, or a live event is addressed first.

I communicate quickly and confidently with the client — explaining what’s being handled, what to expect next, and when they’ll hear from me — so they feel assured the process is under control.

I also have backup resources in place, including trusted team members, vendors, and standardized recipes and timelines that allow someone else to step in without disruption.

Example: During a large catering order, a last-minute supplier issue came up while I was already on another event. Because I had alternate vendors and prep plans documented, the issue was resolved without delay. I updated the client immediately, and the event was delivered on time without any impact to service.

It is hard to take time away in business as we are always On for the most part. However, we do have a system / team in place to take care of items while I am not available. 

My asst, Samantha, typcially handles the front end intro calls and direclty to website for application / quick updates for files in early stages. 

Our processor, Taylor or Pamela, would be the main point of contact for any files in process (contract in hand and working towards closing.) 

I always have my manager or diff loan officer in our offfice available for calls and dsicuss rates/ market as you need to be licensed for this. 

Thanks,