Yet another call came in last night from someone who thought I'm supposed to go out to their house, aces their problem and remove the offending ground hogs for free!

They get my number from Animal Control and think that I'm a service provided by the county. Or when they get my number from the states website, then I'm a service of the state.

That's irritating!

They are ready for me to get out there, right now and do something! Then when they find out it's gonna cost money, they back up and say, "Uh.... We'll call you."

What's the deal? You've either got a problem or you don't! Does the problem magically disappear when money is involved? If I WERE a service of the state or county, I think it would cheese me off to have someone waste my time like that!

Do any of y'all have this problem?

I feel your pain. It happens to us all the time.

I especially like when people call on the weekend, or late at night (because animal control is closed) to report a stray dog in the yard that's "menacing the kids", or a deer that's been hit by a car.

It's particularly gratifying to know that they just clicked on one of my ads, costing me $$, and didn't read the "Call For a Free Quote!" part.

Yeah, I love it when they call and say something like "Oh! Mister Wildlife Man. I just saw a fox walk across the corner of my back yard in the daylight!

And I'm like "Uh.... Okay?"

It amazes me at times how little people actually know about some of these things. I mean people who should know. People who have lived in the country all their lives and freak out when they see a fox?

I actually had a guy call me once about squirrels in his pecan tree. First he thought I was a free service. After he found out I charge for services, then he wants to know what he can do himself to take care of the problem.

In questioning him, I learned that he lives out in the country and owns a shotgun... And this was the middle of squirrel season. What does he need me for?

John You will have less problems if you remove the word FREE from your web site.

The words "animal control, dog or cat " are like two edged swords .If you don't want that this type of call do not use these words on a web site even if you just say we do not do any dogs or cats ever Substitute that you offer no domesticated animal services you will get less by not suggesting your company in google, bing or yahoo searches by omitting these words. When you use these words you are actually optimizing your web site for those words and get traffic you expect not expecting ; like free animal control because search engines pair up combinations of words you use on your page and compare them to searches.

There is a mind set when it comes to the two verbs "control" and "remove" . We call animal control thinking its FREE but folks are more willing to pay to have something removed. My point is control=free and remove=pay .

As far as odd calls I get plenty of them. I even get the distress calls from boaters having trouble on the water because the game wardens handle that too and human error is pretty regular on the part of the Local 911 Call Center.

The worst one was a cardiac arrest and all I could offer was call the operator again. I have had three calls in the middle of the night to see If I can come over and deliver some cows and goats.

I moved from a population of 750,000 to all the joys of Rural America !

As far as people calling about using our services I always work in very quickly how they plan on paying for our services today!
It is very rare that I start up the truck without some pre-arrangement for the anticipated services and payment expected.

Good point Robb.

I ran a squirrel call once. The house was in foul shape. Leaks in the roof had promoted wood rot in an outside wall right where two roof lines joined at the valley. The wall had deteriorated to the point that one of the roof lines had dropped a good 8 inches opening a hole nearly a foot in diameter. The decking underneath the shingles was gone completely in an area of about a foot in diameter and the decking that was left was rotted for another 5 feet up.

I decided that there was little I could do for them until they got their roof fixed. When explaining to the lady that she had more serious problems than a squirrel she suggested that I should start repairing the roof right away.

"Sorry, Mam. But I can't fix your roof."

"Yes, you is! I pays my taxes!"

Wait a minute.... Taxes? Oh, great! I can see where this is going. No... I did NOT get paid for that call.

When I get calls that say they got my number from the police or sheriff Dept. I usually say. Yes, I do that type of work, but I am a private contractor who gets referals from the departments and I charge a fee to remove animals. It is part of the job and I don't sweat it. And I do get a lot of work from such calls. Because they will say, if the police dept. reccomends me that is a good referal.

This thread seems to be about salemanship

If you want to Get Paid for every service call pre qualify your customer on the first phone call.

You are never gonna stop these odd calls but you can think about a strategy to increase sales conversions from dead calls when you get them.

Do they have the ability to pay?

I have had plenty of friends, neighbors and family members pay for a customer's services. If they really need the service you will be helping them find a way to hire you and solve a problem. Don't be afraid to suggest if other people can help them right now.

Are they on the mind set it ought to be free ! If this person really has a problem and nothing free exists they will need to decide to hire someone and that someone could be you or they simply decide to see if it goes away.

Be nice. Be polite . Tell them you will be fair and not overcharge them and mean it!

Show interest and concern. Follow up with a call to see if they solved their problem.

I had a lady call wanting me to remove a family of raccoons from a wall in her house. It was bad enough that the urine was soaked through the sheet rock into the living area of the house. when I told her that I charged for my services she said that she would just leave the coon there.

I love the people usually a women that says so
Your not going to help this poor bird your just going
To let it suffer! I say no you are the one letting it
Suffer bc you won't pay me to take care of the problem

Lady called last week said theres a dove that got hit by car that needs help . I ok I will help and it's 110.00 to have me come out . She said this is no joke mister . This bird really needs help . I know lady but I need money to drive out . I asked where it was , told her my gas is not cheap . She got all mad and said I will never call you again and hung up . And there called animal lovers . That's the joke

I love the ones that go to the farm supply store, buy a trap, catch the animal and then wan't me to come "get it" for free because after all, thats what I do. Those people usually end up relocating the animal a mile away, unless it's a skunk.

It's like telling a plumber if you come get this hairball out of my drain I'll let you keep it.

If you're lucky, she won't.
My personal fave is the one where they get all cute and friendly because they want to pick your brain so they can do it themselves.

I am gonna have to remember that line Andy!

Awesome thread!

Never use the word free in any ads or you will run into alot of calls such as that.We dont do free anything.

We charge $75.00 for all inspections or on site consultations, then all subsequent bids are free.As soon as the caller starts asking advice I ask for a credit card number and quote them a per min. fee of $1.50. Most of the calls are quick and only the serious callers will give their credit card info.Information is valuable and not for free.Do you call a doctor for self medication and treatment without a fee?

Edith says hi. She is mad at me for all the time I spend on the phone giving out advice. I mean she is really mad. Did you ever think about a 900 number?

Most Doctors are on an automated system here - can't get them live on the phone, unless he has a groundhog problem.

Some of my calls come via a reference through the local police department.
They think I am an employee of the city and SHOULD remove the animals (or birds) for free because they pay taxes.
When I tell them there is a fee, there is silence on the other end with I'll get back to you.
BUT I did have an elderly lady insist I take more money than I quoted her because she was so happy to get rid of mom raccoon and her young ones.

Tips are always welcome my record is 100 bucks . My kids get tips like daily

I once had a guy call me wanting to know how much I charged to hook up a mobile home.(plumbing)

When I told him what it would cost he got quiet, then started asking a bunch of specific questions about the hook up. I finally got mad and told him that if he wanted me to do it, fine. But if I gave him any more answers, I would charge him a service call.

He said, "Thank you." and hung up.

As far as my ADC business, I don't have a web site. I wouldn't have a clue as to how to create one.