Holiday light installers: the calls start after Halloween

The pumpkins come off the porch, and the next thing a lot of DFW homeowners think about is getting the lights up before Thanksgiving. For a small holiday lighting crew, that means the phone starts ringing at the exact moment you're busiest on ladders.

The calls you miss in early November are the ones that fill your December calendar. Here's how to keep them from going to the next company on the list.

A note from Logan

I live in Prosper, and every year around this time I watch the trucks and ladders show up on rooftops all over Collin County. A lot of the crews doing that work are small: an owner, a couple of helpers, and a phone in someone's back pocket.

When I talk to owners like that, the problem is almost never a lack of interest. People want lights. The problem is that the people who want them call while you're up on a roofline in Frisco with both hands full, and by the time you climb down and check, there are three voicemails and one of them already booked somebody else.

That's not a sales problem. It's a phone problem, and it's one of the easier ones to fix.

What the November phone looks like

If you install holiday lights, you know the pattern. Here's what tends to come in once Halloween is over:

• New homeowners who just moved into one of the neighborhoods going up along 380 and want their first house lit
• Last year's customers asking when you can get them back on the schedule
• HOA and small business calls wanting a quote for an entrance, a storefront, or a tree out front
• "Can you come this week?" calls from people who waited and now want it done before family visits
• Take-down questions in January, which is a whole second season of calls

Most of those come in the evening and on weekends. That's when people are home, looking at their dark roofline, and comparing their house to the neighbor's. It's also when you're finishing installs, loading the trailer, or finally sitting down.

Why the first one to answer gets the job

Somebody who wants lights up before Thanksgiving isn't going to wait two days for a callback. They search, find a few companies, and call down the list. The first company that picks up and takes their details is usually the one that gets out to measure.

That's the hard part for a small crew. You can't answer the phone from a ladder, and you shouldn't try. But a voicemail greeting doesn't hold anybody's place in line. Most people hang up on it, or they leave a message and keep calling.

We wrote about this same moment for roofers in When a storm hits DFW, every roofer's phone rings. Your rush is quieter than a hailstorm, but it works the same way.

What covering the overflow looks like

Here's what we set up for crews like this. When you don't pick up, the call forwards to a line that answers in your company's name. It asks for the caller's name, number, address, and what they want lit, and texts all of it to you in about a minute.

So instead of a voicemail you'll get to tonight, you get a text you can read at the top of the ladder: "Jane, new house off Prosper Trail, roofline and two front trees, wants it up before Thanksgiving." You call her back when you're on the ground, and she already knows who you are.

A few things it doesn't do:

• It won't quote a price. Pricing stays with you.
• It won't promise an install date. Your schedule is yours.
• It won't pretend to be you. It answers for your company and takes the details.

Your number stays the same. Calls you answer work exactly like they do now. It only picks up the ones you can't.

When to set it up

The easy time to set this up is before the rush, not in the middle of it. Turning on forwarding takes a phone call and a short code. That's a lot easier on a slow afternoon at the end of October than in the second week of November with a full trailer.

It's also worth thinking past December. The same line catches take-down calls in January, and if you do landscape lighting or other work the rest of the year, it keeps catching calls then too.

If you want a quick way to see where your calls go, try the check in Call your own number tonight. It takes two minutes and tells you exactly what a new customer hears.

Why Logan sets it up himself

Logan sets up every line himself, and owners reach him on his cell, not a help desk. He's local to Prosper and Collin County, and he tests every tool himself before he recommends it to anyone.

Missed-call and after-hours answering is $250 a month, and the first 14 days are free. No contract. If it isn't worth it, cancel and turn forwarding off with one code.

Get it running before the lights go up. Start your 14 free days and Logan will call you to set it up.