I think Tom should just retire and move into this utopian community he speaks of.

Short of bar/nightclub owners, who the heck starts the day at 10am? And then wanting quitting time at 4pm on top of that? This is just crazy to me.

Frankly, this come off as you not really being into this career and are just going through the motions with as little effort as possible. May sound harsh but that’s how it comes off. I’ve never met a business owner who doesn’t put in 10 hour days, minimum. The whole excuse about the lifestyle of the community makes no sense either.

At the very least, hire someone to sit in the office, during NORMAL business hours, handling all the mundane things that you’re not capable of keeping up with.

OK, you've berated him enough, he gets it. Just because you guys work 10 and 12 hour days, doesn't mean everybody has to. Probably more constructive are the posts about getting the crew going so he can step back and answer phone calls for a couple hours.

Lol, The day doesn't start @ 10am, Installations start at 10. Plenty to do in the morning (inventory, ordering, restocking the trucks, phone calls, etc) and it doesn't end at 4. We try to be out of customers homes by then but is doesn't happen half the time. And when that's done it's phone calls, phone calls, phone calls.

I'm very comfortable in the middle market. Our average ticket is 5-15k. In and out in 1 day with great gear the customers love. We don't sell products, we sell packages. A, b, c, d. It's fairly cookie cutter and it works in my market. I also do a fair bit of high end audiophile 2 channel stuff. Those are the phone calls that take time. Closing a 14k pair of loudspeakers and a 12k amp/preamp isn't the same call as a 4 room HEOS system, but thats the reason I'm in the business.

Oh, TweeterGuy, I do live in The Villages. I'm 48 and financially independent. I moved to Florida to play golf. I started this company after moving here because there was a need and audio has always been my passion. For the 1st year I was a 1 man shop working 2 days a week. Life was good. 5 years later it's bigger than I anticipated. I'm not complaining, I love my job and my customers plus it keeps gas in the boat.

Thanks for the advice, there's some good nuggets in here. I'm going to hire a gal to answer phones and teach her how to sell DirectTV and Xfinity products. That way she'll be an asset and add to the bottom line.

This is going to sound obvious or be a revelation, but each of the shirts you wear at work should have a pocket. I mean one pocket per shirt.

When it was time to get a smart phone, the Galaxy S4 was out. I got one. Didn't get the larger ones because they didn't fit in my jeans pocket. Now I know they fit in a shirt pocket, too.

Every day I wear a polo shirt -- have about ten in different colors -- with a pocket. The phone goes in the pocket when I must converse with a client while working. Earbuds with a mic make this even better, though sometimes the wire can get caught.

I got the same shi* man I just drink whiskey.

...

My Plantronics Bluetooth is the best I have ever owned. I can barely tell it's there, plus it's good for streaming audiobooks and baseball games while I work. For me, wires get caught and either yank the buds out of my ears or the phone out of my pocket. Forget that.

Previous company I worked for had someone to answer the phone (we went through many of these people, but that was more of an owner employee issue)
One thing I always tried to make sure was that whomever sat in that chair had a common list of questions and answers.
Simple stuff like make and model of TV and is it going over a fireplace? Is there power already in place? Plus some service related answers like did you unplug the cable box and plug it back in to reset it?
This way we would have at least some details to work from when booking an appointment, or based on answers they could book a time for us to do a quick site visit or service call.
If they get good at their job, and based on your location and business model, they could eventually be able to make the sale and schedule the install right there on the phone for you.
You have a very unique community you sell into, put the right people in place and train them to do things your way and you should be able to fit a little more golfing and boating into your week.

If you're smart, you're going to take any new person on few small installations.

You'd be amazed what 15min on the jobsite can do for newb's understanding of issues, challenges with simple things like over fireplace installations where there are no wires, or fireblock at 8' in the wall that's 10+ feet tall.

Phone lady doesn't need to be an expert on all products and installation techniques, but having basic understanding can help the initial phone call when someone asks why 'simple' hang and bang costs more than the price of Costco purchased Vizio.