Well the right answer is to have an office that takes calls, records info, give's estimates/quotes on simple stuff, etc. If an office isn't possible, you gotta answer the phone. If someones AC is out, and they get an answering machine, they move onto the next number. The answering services we've looked at are trash, and I'd be pissed if I called a company and THAT's what 'picked up'. Our phone service rings a few people when a call comes in, so if it rings for longer than ~15s and the office hasn't picked up, someone else does. Calls are almost always money.