Toll Free Number Service

How a Toll Free Number Service Will Fulfill Your Communications Needs

Business owners—particularly those who are new to the notion of owning a business—are often confused when it comes to choosing the communications system that will work best for them. A toll free number service is almost always the best option because it is designed around creating a system that is custom-tailored for any business.

Better Customer Service
Consumers will call a business for many reasons; they may want to purchase a product or service, schedule an appointment or simply ask questions about billing. In order for a business to boast excellent customer service, they must be available to provide these services during normal business hours—sometimes even afterward. Calls that frequently go unanswered or that must be placed on hold for extended periods of time can be detrimental to the overall view of the business, and a toll free number service will change these things. Auto attendant features, seamless transfers and the ability to leave a voicemail when a particular individual or department is out of the office are all incredibly helpful.

Increase Employee Productivity
When calls are being answered by an auto attendant instead of a designated employee—or perhaps even by the employee who happens to be nearest the telephone—this will undoubtedly boost these employees’ productivity levels. Instead of being concerned with answering each and every telephone call and manually transferring callers to the intended recipient, they can allow the auto attendant to do the answering and transferring, only answering the calls that ring through to their desks specifically. Other features that may boost productivity include voicemail-to-email capabilities and the ability to send fax online instead of via a community fax machine.

Simple Interface
Landline telephone services require each employee to have their own designated telephone line and complicated desk phone in order for them to work as they should. While this may not seem complicated, it can certainly become very expensive, and many employees never completely master the complicated telephones that must be used in conjunction with landline services. Thankfully, the interface associated with a toll free number service is extremely simple to use and is presented to employees with a simple desktop application. Each employee can be assigned a username and password to protect their privacy, but this is not always necessary.

Save Money
A toll free number service will save businesses money in several different ways. First of all, the cost of setting up a virtual phone system is much less than the cost associated with purchasing the same products from a landline telephone company. All of the features a business needs to succeed are included in the monthly fee, meaning that there are no ‘extras’ to purchase or manage separately. Finally, when it is considered that an auto attendant is a phenomenal substitute for a physical receptionist, the savings can truly be realized.

Businesses that are interested in boosting their overall image via communications should seriously consider the use of a toll free number service. Packed with features and plenty of ways to boost productivity and customer service, this affordable option only takes a few hours to set up and enjoy.

Knock Their Socks Off with Vanity 800 Numbers

Vanity 800 numbers are an effective and inexpensive way to get the name of a business out into the public. Making an impression that will last beyond the first few minutes after an advertisement is the best way to gain credibility and expand a customer base.

The Impact of Vanity Numbers
In blind challenges in which consumers were asked to recite telephone numbers from memory without the use of a telephone directory, at least 40% of the numbers they remembered were vanity 800 numbers—or, these days, 855, 866, 877 and 888 numbers— that are associated with some of the country’s most well-known businesses. This is simple to understand; the human brain is more apt to remember phrases and words that are associated with an industry than a random string of numbers that hold absolutely no meaning to them. Vanity 800 numbers make forming memories easier, thereby increasing the consumer response that businesses can expect.

From Drab to Fab
Sometimes, even the simplest vanity numbers can have a huge impact on the way a business is viewed by the public. Back in the 1980s, what is now one of the country’s leading florists was on the verge of bankruptcy due to the fact that they were drowning in competition and lacked anything to set them apart. A single man purchased this failing company and associated it with one of the country’s most well-known vanity 1800 numbers—1-800-FLOWERS—and turned it into a billion dollar business. With a simple vanity number that describes the industry itself, the company continues to flourish and increase its revenue annually.

Make it Catchy
The best way for businesses to use vanity 800 numbers to their advantage is to associate them with catchy jingles that will be heard on television and radio ads. There are plenty of services available that can take the information provided and record a short musical production that is guaranteed to remain lodged in consumers’ memories. After being exposed to this catchy number and jingle for a short period of time, consumers are more likely to remember it when they are in need of the product or service that was advertised. This is the entire purpose behind vanity numbers, so business owners should be sure to write their advertisements and choose their numbers very carefully.

Get Them Talking
Another way that vanity 800 numbers can have an impact on the public is by giving them something to talk about. A humorous television or radio ad will likely gain plenty of attention—at least for a few weeks—so business owners should make the most of this and incorporate a vanity number. Of course, these advertisements should never detract from the professional image of the company; it is important to find the proper balance between humor and professionalism in order for these ads to truly be effective.

Businesses must compete with other companies in their industries in order to be successful. With the help of smart advertising and vanity 800 numbers, any business owner will have all of the right tools to make an impression on the public and really knock their socks off.

Toll Free Number Service

There are many things that small business owners must maintain in order to be successful. A great product or service, top-notch customer service and an excellent communications system are all very important. A toll free number service is a great way to ensure that communications are seamless and of the highest quality.

Auto Attendants
Running a business is very time-consuming, and most business owners do not have the time or the overhead to answer the telephone as a primary job. Even if there are only three employees within a small business and each one has his or her particular role in the company, ensuring that telephone calls are properly routed can be a daunting task. When a business owner chooses a toll free number service instead of a typical landline, they are given the auto attendant feature as an extra bonus. This feature answers telephone calls automatically, provides the caller with options and even allows calls to be transferred—all without the need for actual human interaction.

Portability    
Another reason why a toll free number service is a great solution for a small business is that the telephone numbers themselves are incredibly portable. As an example, a direct sales business owner may not always be able to stay in the same physical location, but it is important that they always have access to their business telephone number. Of course, providing their personal mobile number is an option, but this can turn out to be a serious invasion of privacy and actually hinder the owner’s ability to do a job to the best of their ability. A toll free service allows this same business owner to forward business calls to any phone with a few clicks of the mouse.

Improving Productivity
While most telephone service providers offer a myriad of features with their packages, none are as custom-tailored to small businesses as those offered by a toll free number service. Features like information hotlines, easy management of multiple extensions, customizable hold music, call forwarding, call screening and more are all included in the monthly purchase price of toll free services— there are never any huge surprises on the telephone bill. Each feature included in these packages is designed to help small business owners and employees increase their overall productivity levels and get more out of their time.

Cost Effective
Considering a business with three employees who serve three different roles in a business, the purchase and install of a standard landline telephone system can be incredibly expensive. Each line requires a strategically placed telephone jack and a specially designed telephone, and each telephone line will be billed separately each month. With a toll free number service, this is not the case. There is no hardware to install, no expensive equipment to purchase and the individual lines are included in the monthly package price.

It is easy to see why small businesses could truly benefit from toll free number service, but it is up to the individual business owner to make the decision to convert. These services are affordable, effective and completely tailored for small businesses in any type of industry.

How to Pick the Best 800 Vanity Numbers for Your Business

To make your customers actually buy your product, you have to create an impact on the minds of your customers. This is what is called “mindshare” in marketing.  It is an important concept in marketing. It is essential that your targeted customers understand your brand, especially in this age when your customers are bombarded by advertisements from every nook and corner.  One of the best ways to complete your branding effort is to choose 800 vanity numbers for your business. People usually recognize and identify vanity numbers and also remember them easily.

Following are a few steps that can help you choose vanity numbers for your business:

How to Choose a Vanity Number

The best and the easiest way to choose your 800 vanity numbers is to either pick your business name or the product/service that you offer as your vanity number. But it is always better to use your product/service name rather than your company name unless your company name is synonymous with the industry you serve.

Stay Close to Your Product/Service

It can be difficult to find vanity 800 numbers of your choice because of its mounting demand. So in this case, you can either shorten your vanity number or even better try to be innovative. For example, if you have a store for veterinary medicine and foods and the vanity number of your choice is not available, you can shorten it to something like this: 1 800 PETS MED. Now this also carries the same meaning but this is obviously a new vanity number.  One of the important things that you should remember while deciding your vanity number is the fact that your number should be as close to your business as possible.

Using Sequential Vanity Numbers

Using 1800 numbers is just not enough. Your number should be such that people remembers it easily. A vanity number is obviously easy to remember but if you fail to find the right vanity number for your business, there’s another way that can help you make your number easily memorable to your customers – using sequential 800 vanity numbers. A vanity sequential number consists of either a catchy repetition of a number or is a linear sequence of numbers, like “777”, “999” or “1234”. In this case your number will look either like 1 800 123 1234 or 1 800 777 7777. This is also quite easy to remember. Isn’t it?

Using the New Toll Free Prefixes

Trying to find the right 800 vanity numbers for your business could be difficult. You could not find it simply because your competitors might have already used it. But that of course does not mean that you will give up your thought of using this number for your business. Try to be creative. Brainstorm for a number that closely represents your product or service. You should also try using vanity numbers with the newer set of toll free prefixes: 888, 877, 866 and 855. Though 800 is the most popular toll free prefixes, others are also getting recognized as toll free prefixes. After all, it’s been quite some time that these new prefixes (other than 855, this is introduced in 2010) are used and your business needs a vanity number rather than a well known toll free prefix.