George wrote:
On 10/7/2010 9:34 PM, Dean Hoffman wrote:

Same here. They're much handier than the business band radios of old. We
can leave voice mail for each other with the phone which is a big
advantage over the radios. We can call our farmer customers if we need
to. They can't call us. Our phones don't broadcast our numbers, a very
handy feature.

I simply don't answer if the CID is blocked. That idea is something from
the past when cell phones were a lot more expensive to use and not as
common. Some people thought it was a big deal if they had your cell #
and would sometimes abuse the privilege. Now all you do is annoy someone
if you block CID.

We're pretty fortunate from that standpoint. Only one of our
customers blocks our calls. Most agree with our reasoning if we explain
it. I ask "Do you want to pay my boss XX $/hour for me to talk to
Farmer Blue on the phone about his problems?"
I don't see how guys in welding/repair shops track their time. It
seems like they are always being interrupted. I doubt there is such a
thing as flat rate for most of their work.
Our office can handle most of the questions and the scheduling. We
need to concentrate on our repair work. We're like most farm related
businesses. Things get pretty hectic during the growing season. It's
better organized if farmers call the office to schedule work instead of
trying to track us down.