Same minute, four prices
What that minute costs, depending on what you run
The message is the same. What it costs you is not.
7:42 PM
The clinic
A patient writes after hours because that is when the pain got worse. Your front desk left at six. The message sits there until morning.
You did not lose an appointment. You lost the patient, and the family that would have followed them, for years.
9:04 PM / SUNDAY
The HVAC company
August in Houston. It is 100 degrees and the AC just died. That person is not comparing quotes. They are messaging the first five companies they can find.
The biggest ticket of the week goes to whoever answers first, not to whoever is best. Tonight that was not you.
7:40 PM / FRIDAY
The restaurant
Peak hour. The kitchen is buried, the phone is ringing, and the only person who could pick it up is carrying four plates. It rings out. They order somewhere else.
You lose orders in the exact hour you get the most of them. And hiring one more person will not fix it.
8:20 PM
The salon
Someone wants Saturday. They message you at night, because that is when people think about their weekend. You reply on Thursday.
An empty Saturday chair never comes back. You cannot sell last Saturday on Monday. It is perishable, like an airline seat.