When you are about to say you will call back
I can get you on the schedule right now. Does Thursday morning or Friday afternoon work better?
Let me grab your number and someone will call you back.
I need to check one thing with the tech. I will call you back by two o'clock today with a time.
We will get back to you.
If I miss you at two, I will text you the options so you can pick one without waiting on me.
Call us back if you do not hear anything.
What a callback needs, when you really need one
- A time, not 'later'. 'By two o'clock' is a promise; 'this afternoon' is a hope.
- A reason, so the wait sounds like work being done: checking a part, checking the tech's route.
- The one question you still need answered, asked now, so the callback can end in a booking.
- Who will be calling, so they pick up a number they do not recognise.
- A fallback: a text with the options if the call does not connect.
When the caller asks you to call them back
Of course. What time is best, and is this the right number?
Sure, someone will reach out.
Before you go, what is going on with it? Then I will have the answer ready when I call.
Okay, talk soon.
The three ways this goes wrong
- Taking a number when you could have taken a booking. The easiest job to lose is the one that already called you.
- Promising a callback with no time. The caller cannot plan around 'soon', so they plan around someone else.
- Calling back after they have booked elsewhere. Every hour between the promise and the call is when that happens.
'I will call you back' sounds polite and quietly costs jobs. Book it now when you can, and when you cannot, name the time and keep it.
I answer the phones for contractors and book the job on the first call, so nobody is left waiting to hear back. callbobai.com