The first freezing night doubles your calls by 8am
Seasonal businesses cannot hire for one week in November. GreetKeeper takes the surge, then costs you almost nothing in the quiet months.
Caller
“Our heating didn't come on last night and the kids were freezing. How soon can somebody look at it?”
What happened next
- One of forty-odd calls that arrived before nine
- Booked into the first afternoon slot your rota still had
- Owner saw the morning's spike as a list, not a blur
Demand triples in a day and staffing cannot follow
Every seasonal trade knows the date is coming and never knows which date it is. The first hard frost, the first hot week, the start of tax season.
Hiring for it does not work. A temp needs training you have no time to give in the week you need them, and by the time they are useful the surge is over.
So the phone rings out and your regulars get told to wait. Those are the people who kept you going through the flat months, and they remember the week you could not answer.
GreetKeeper takes whatever arrives on the busy morning without being trained again, then drops back to the quiet weeks without you letting anyone go.
What a surge morning looks like
Nothing about the setup changes when the volume jumps. That is the point.
Answer everything that arrives at once
The fortieth caller of the morning hears the same greeting as the first, with no tiredness in it. Bring your busiest hour to a demo and watch what happens to it.
Book into the rota you actually have
Your calendar is already full on a surge day. It offers the slots that remain, including the ones later in the week, rather than promising same-day work you cannot do.
Sort urgent from annoying
No heat with a baby in the house is not the same as a service overdue by a month. Your urgent rules apply on the busy day exactly as they do on a slow one.
Show you the shape of the morning
Summaries stack up as a list of who rang and what for. You can see by ten o'clock whether this is a two-day surge or a two-week one.
What a spiky year costs
Included calls reset monthly, so a heavy month and a quiet month price differently.
| Plan | Monthly | Calls included | After that |
|---|---|---|---|
| StarterFor a single location taking calls one line at a time. | $49 | 200 | $0.45 per call |
| ProfessionalBooking, routing and transfers included, not an add-on. | $149 | 750 | $0.35 per call |
| ScaleFor busy phones and longer opening hours. | $349 | 2,000 | $0.25 per call |
Starter is $49 a month for 200 answered calls at $0.45 over. Professional is $149 for 750 at $0.35. Scale is $349 for 2,000 at $0.25.
For a seasonal business the overage rate matters more than the plan price. Blowing through Starter by 300 calls in November costs $135 on top, which is still less than a temp for a week.
You can move up a plan for the season and back down after. Look at last year's phone bill for the peak month and price the plan against that, not the average.
Getting ready for the busy season
Review slot lengths and buffers before the season starts. Rules that suit March may need room in the first cold week.
When your vans are full, GreetKeeper keeps capturing callers as waiting work, so no job is lost.
Try it on one busy morning before the rush, and read every transcript that afternoon.
Questions people ask
Can I change plans when the season starts?
Yes. Move up for the busy months and back down after, and look at your peak month rather than your average when you pick. The overage rate is published so you can do the sum yourself.
What happens when lots of calls arrive at once?
GreetKeeper answers calls that arrive together at the same time, so nobody queues. Try it on your own line before the season to hear it for yourself.
What happens when my calendar is genuinely full?
It offers the next real availability, even if that is next week. Callers who will not wait are captured with their detail so you can call them if something cancels.
Get set up before the season
The week it starts is the wrong week to configure.