No matter what market your business is in, every legitimate business needs a way to communicate with their customers. When you start out small, you can manage using a local office line but as you expand, add departments and your customer base grows your desk phone may not be enough to handle your needs. This is when you need to get a toll free number and act like one of the big players of the industry.
How It Works
A toll free number is a staple of professionalism. It allows your customers to call you free of charge. Though the name says “free” but it is not entirely free. Most of the service providers offer plans that include free minutes. So you subscribe to a plan with free minutes and pay only for overage minutes. Not charging for the phone call is a way of saying “thanks for your interest.”
New Prefix
Presently a toll free number is available in four formats other than the popular format 1 800: 1 866, 1 877, 1 888 and the newest 1 855. These formats are not different from each other, other than their appearance. Neither one costs any more than the other to acquire or operate.
Vanity Numbers
A vanity phone number is an alphanumeric number that contains a catchy word or phrase that describes the service or product of your business. A vanity number is a special type of a toll free number that can be difficult to find but it definitely adds more value to your business because they are easy for your customers to remember and recall. Few people have a notion, that a good vanity number can be expensive. But this is not true. It is much like finding a good domain name. Registering for a strong vanity number needs a bit of searching and some luck.
Vanity Sequential Number
If in case you could not find the vanity number that best describes your business you can try using sequential vanity numbers. These are also another great way to make your toll free number memorable. It contains catchy or memorable number sequence like, “999”, “888” or simply “1234”. In this case your number will look like 1 800 999 9999. This is quite easy to remember and recall. Isn’t it? It is also a great way to make your numbers memorable to your customers.
Assess Your Needs
Once you have a toll free number, you hope to reduce the amount of time and money necessary for your customer service. Quite often, businesses also use a Private Branch Exchange (PBX) to gauge customer’s reason for calling and route them to the right department or people. Vanity toll free numbers can simultaneously reduce your spending and enhance the efficiency of on your office communication system. But before you go for any kind of switch over, you must make a complete assessment of your needs and requirements like the number of connections you need, departments and people whom you can route calls etc. This can be expensive and this is the reason why most small businesses opt for virtual phone system.
A toll free number is definitely a huge advantage for any business. It enhances your professionalism, credibility and your sales in turn.
