A landmark study from Fix Radio – the UK’s only national radio station for builders and tradespeople – has found that 34% of tradespeople believe they have lost work because they weren’t able to answer their phone. Adding to this, the survey from the builders station showed that more than half (60%) of respondents said they struggled to answer the phone when they were at work, which could result in losing some vital new business.

The vast majority in the study said that the mobile was their main form of client communication, with the research showing that only 22% had a landline advertised on their website and only 4% feeling that a landline was a primary method of client communication.

Regarding the research, CEO of Voipfone Colin Duffy spoke to The Clive Holland Show on Fix Radio to discuss why tradespeople could be missing out on new business opportunities:

“Most tradespeople are small businessmen. If they are halfway up a ladder, or under somebody’s sink and the phone rings, they can’t answer it very easily. So they really, really need a clever way of being able to answer, when they are not able to answer.

Dan Brown from the Job & Knock Podcast also discussed:

“You just can’t take all the calls, even if I do I can’t take them on. The phone needs to be out of the working areas for at least part of the day for efficiency, cost and safety, you are better off riding those people back at the end of the day.”