Over the course of the last four weeks or so have I been busy with windshield repair. While some days I’ve gotten a break when the weather has been too bad to work, the phone has rung off the hook.  Many choose a day with bad weather to be the time to call and get their windshield repaired. As far as I’m concerned you just can’t do a windshield repair when you have freezing fog or rain going on. It has been refreshing to hear lately from customers that chose to wait until the weather was better to get their windshield repaired.

By waiting though the result has been an extremely heavy phone volume this last week. It started Monday with the phone ringing almost non-stop the first two hours we were open. Leading in the number of calls were those wanting to schedule an appointment; followed by those that had questions about what needed or could be repaired.

One problem I’ve encountered over the last few weeks has been individuals scheduling an appointment several days in advance and not being there for the appointment. At a time when I’ve had to turn away work due to a full schedule this has hurt. Filling these holes in the schedule due to missed appointments has become a priority.

One way to fill the holes has been to use the time  to cover my fleet accounts and another has been to post the opening on our Twitter page, Twitter.com/GlassAid. A number have used our Twitter page to get DEALS that have added extra value or discounts to their windshield repair. Others have expressed issues and concerns over this policy.

To begin with Twitter offers us the fastest, easiest most cost effective way to quickly announce and fill holes in our schedule. It enables us to communicate to the point, information with potential customers on a massive scale. Since it is public by using it to answer one person’s question others with the same question can get the information simply by taking a seconds to view our Twitter page; saving them time over calling us. This is particularly true at times such as when weather conditions are bad and I get many phone calls asking if it’s too cold, hot, wet, etc. to perform a windshield repair.

We are not the only company using Twitter. Two of the big names I’ve seen that are using Twitter effectively are Dell Computers and Best Buy. They use it not only to sell items but also to publicly communicate with customers.

For the group that won’t use our Twitter page to get their information they have stated a number of reasons why they won’t so I’m addressing these issues here now.

Using Twitter will cost me money. Twitter is a free service; I have two Twitter accounts myself with one being over a year old and to date have paid nothing, zip, zero, nada.

I won’t use it because I don’t want a Twitter account. You don’t need an account to view Twitter.com/GlassAid, it’s a standard webpage with information written in 140 characters and spaces (text message). So by typing the address into your browser you can view the page. You can also use the RSS feed and subscribe to the page on your favorite feed reader. I use Page Flakes and have it for my home page the result is everything I want to follow is right in front of me. This is a great way to find a deal or being able to get a repair when we are busy by filling a hole in our schedule due to a cancellation. This page and information can be updated instantly so the minute something changes I can update it from anywhere.

I don’t know how to use Twitter and I have no interest in learning. As mentioned above the page can be viewed the same as any webpage.

For those that can’t figure out a domain with a forward slash I’ve purchased the domain GlassAid.net, and pointed it at our Twitter page. So using the shorter more traditional url will take you to our Twitter page.

Finally by not having and using Twitter you are missing out on many things. The other day I knew long before it hit the news that Taiwan had been hit with a 6.4 earthquake. By not having an account you can’t communicate with us on Twitter and must use a phone, limiting when you can get an answer. With an account you can quickly send us a question or comment. Just start the reply or Tweet as it’s known with @glassaid and then your comment.

If you don’t know if something needs to be repaired take a picture of it. I’m sorry but I can’t fulfill requests to drive across town to view windshield damage at no charge. Please use something as a reference like a quarter taped next to it and a piece of white paper placed behind it will help. Downloaded the photo to your online photo album or TwitPic.com and send us a link via Twitter.

Example: @glassaid Please check this out and tell me if it needs to be repaired. http://twitpic.com/x2lc2

The idea behind this is to be able to provide you the information you need 24/7, while making Glass Aid more efficient so prices can be kept low. So check us out on Twitter at Twitter.com/GlassAid or the shortened url GlassAid.net and remember windshield repair saves you money, is safer than replacement, prevents the risk of leaks and is earth friendly.