That phone call could be your next customer

Of course it’s only you and I that believe that. Most calls we make either go to the “press one for…” routine, or we are routed through to Basil or Wendy for assistance – only to find that Basil and Wendy are both answerphones. And the messages never get returned.
 
We can understand that this works for the big telcos, banks and utility companies.  Their business models are based on customer churn. If you decide you don’t like their service or pricing and go elsewhere, then not to worry, they have plenty more customers just waiting to sign up, enticed by their trendy / persistent / annoying (delete one, both or all) marketing.
 
But what really puzzles us is when the tradesman or real estate agent or small business fails to answer or return calls. Why market or advertise in the first place if you are not prepared to follow up with the potential client ?
 
Is it that they have so much business that they are not interested in another customer ? The problem with that approach is knowing which phone call is the time wasting dreamer ( and there are plenty of them) and which is  the million dollar client (and there are some of them) ?
Perhaps there is a case for actually taking / returning the call, and then qualifying the caller.