It is 100% not possible for me to call everyone back that contacts us. It simply can not be done. There are waaaaay too many. I have discussed this with other contractors also. Same thing. Many/most only call back if they are available or are on a sales blitz to book work for the next few months of work. It is a matter of getting run over by your own success while wanting to remain smaller scale instead of getting big and having headaches and severe lifestyle changes due to more management and less production of a running large company.
This thread will develop into another difference between commercial and residential and single trade versus multi-trade contractors. Like all discussions, it depends on the nature, focus and size of the business and the priorities of the contractor.
When I started out and ran jobs that averaged less than a day I had this problem too. At first I tried using an answering service with a text pager so I knew if the call was urgent. Evententually I simply couldn't keep up to evening return calls & had no interest in hiring more staff to meet the workload. What I ended up doing is leaving a message on my voice mail indicating 2 points 1) If they are an existing, booked client leave a message & I will return the call by next business day 2) I also left a message indicating the time it would take for me to look at & do the job ( often 4-6 months) & if they were still interested leave a message. This way I wasn't wasting time calling people I wasn't going to work for anyway. It worked well for the time. I've since grown to jobs that are 4-8 months long so the amount of calls are manageable & I return the initial call at coffee& lunch time.
When I started out and ran jobs that averaged less than a day I had this problem too. At first I tried using an answering service with a text pager so I knew if the call was urgent. Evententually I simply couldn't keep up to evening return calls & had no interest in hiring more staff to meet the workload. What I ended up doing is leaving a message on my voice mail indicating 2 points 1) If they are an existing, booked client leave a message & I will return the call by next business day 2) I also left a message indicating the time it would take for me to look at & do the job ( often 4-6 months) & if they were still interested leave a message. This way I wasn't wasting time calling people I wasn't going to work for anyway. It worked well for the time. I've since grown to jobs that are 4-8 months long so the amount of calls are manageable & I return the initial call at coffee& lunch time.