How often do you pay attention to phone numbers on advertisements or on the commercials? For most people, phone numbers have become background noise in their life and many businesses end up spending an enormous amount of money on marketing and lose a large percentage of their potential customers because their number is just that … a number.
With most advertisements today, consumers are barely paying attention, but when something catches their eye, when your ad grabs their attention, you want them to be able to remember the phone number easily. That’s where a vanity phone number can make all the difference in the world.
What is a Vanity Phone Number?
Basically, a vanity phone number is similar to a vanity license plate. It is the combination of numbers that, when converted to their alphabetical sequence, create a phrase or word that is easy to remember. For example, most people, when asked, will admit that they have heard of 1-800-FLOWERS or 1-800-MATTRES (leave the last ‘S’ or for savings ring a bell?). Being able to list a vanity phone number with your business means that when people see an ad for your business, whether it’s in passing or while they are doing something else, or are unable to write it down, then they will be more likely to remember it if it’s a vanity number.
There are certainly limits to the combinations that can be used when it comes to vanity numbers, but there are still plenty of them available for just about any business.
A Vanity Number is Marketing Genius
Most businesses will spend a great deal of time and money on their marketing campaigns. They will invest in advertising companies, television commercials, radio spots, print ads in magazines and newspapers, and yet too often they fail to understand the importance of having contact information that is easy to remember. You should assume that your potential customers are going to hear about your business while they are doing any number of activities during their day. How many of those people are going to stop and jot down your phone number?
But if you have a vanity number, you can bet that they are going to take the time to remember it. ‘Hey, that’s easy to remember,’ they’ll think. And it will be. In this modern, fast-paced, hustle-and-bustle world, you’re competing with thousands of other businesses, both local and international, for the same customer base. Ultimately it comes down to which businesses make it easiest to remember and contact.
With a vanity phone number, you put yourself on the leading edge, ahead of the thousands of other businesses that rely on their potential customers remembering 10 random numbers.
Do you know the 80/20 rule? If you’ve been in business for any length of time, then you’ve probably come across this term, but even if you haven’t, then you’re about to. The 80/20 rule basically states that 80% of your revenue will be generated by 20% of your customers. But what is one of the biggest mistakes that businesses make time and time again? They spend 80% of their time trying to please 20% of their clients who prefer to complain, gripe, and be frustrating to deal with.
That means the 20% of your customers who drive your business don’t get the attention they deserve, whether they are asking for it or not. Now, when it comes to your business’s phone calls, you’ll find (or you already know about this) that there are always that one or two people who will call everyday, making a nuisance of themselves and wasting valuable time. The calls could have nothing to do with the products or services that you provide. They could be disgruntled customers who will never be satisfied and want to waste your time. Or they could be politically motivated individuals who are trying to break through and make some kind of point.
Whatever the reason for their repeated calls, the call blocking feature is a life saver. You get full control over who can call you and get through. With caller ID today, we know almost every number that is calling into us and when you have call blocking on your side, they won’t be able to disturb you again.
Of course, that doesn’t mean that they can’t go and use a different phone and begin their assault on your business all over, but then you simply only have to block calls from that number as well. Before long, the person who is harassing your business will tire of the effort you’re forcing him to go through and will find a different company to bother. Hopefully that will be your direct competitor.
Another benefit of the call blocking feature is the ability to limit the number of phone calls you receive during any given day. Are you running a new ad campaign? Maybe you don’t want to receive calls from a particular area code because you don’t ship there, aren’t allowed to do business with that region, or for any number of reasons, and instead of taking up valuable time, you can block that entire area code.
When you have full control over your calling features, you can maximize your business’s efficiency. At the end of the day, that’s what drives business success.
What happens when a complaint is filed against one of your employees for the way he or she treated a customer on the phone? How do you train future employees on the best manners to use on the phone and what to do in the event of a certain circumstance arising during a call? The answer to both of these scenarios is the call recording feature that you will get with iTeleCenter.
When you call most major companies today, you are often instructed that, ‘This call may be monitored or recorded for quality assurance.’ This serves two purposes: to protect the integrity of the call center and the employee from abuse or false allegations, but also to ensure that they treat their callers with the utmost respect and courtesy, and secondly to provide instructional tools for future employees.
Managing Customer Interactions
If you own your company, you likely have more than enough to keep you busy from sun up to sun down. You don’t have time to answer all of the phone calls from your customers. That’s why you rely on your employees to do that. So how do you know that your employees are treating your customers (or callers if they are not customers … yet) the way you want them to?
By using the call recording feature, you can randomly sample calls from all of your employees. Is Bill in accounting conveying the right message? Is Sharon in human resources answering questions with courtesy and respect? Is Michael from sales being too pushy and losing callers? You can learn a great deal about your employees through the call recording feature. Of course, you could stand over their shoulder and listen in on the call, but they are not going to be their ‘normal’ selves when you’re there; they are going to be performing. This isn’t about spying, though; it’s about maximizing the efficiency of your business and being able to train employees in the most efficient manner possible.
Employee Training
The call recording feature is also great for employee training. By recording the calls, you can highlight the positive as well as the negative aspects of certain calls, including those that are mundane or emergencies. When you hire employees, you will certainly instruct them on the best manner in which to handle calls, but there are going to be plenty of different types of callers. Some will be passive and others more aggressive.
By using the call recording feature, you can help your employees diffuse volatile callers and leave all of your callers with the feeling that they got what they wanted, and if they didn’t, then they will feel as though they were treated with the respect they demanded.
The call recording feature is an invaluable tool for any business in today’s world.
What is the message that you want to convey to your customers? When you have many different people answering phone calls for your business, then are you sure that they are all treating your callers in the same, friendly, courteous, and professional manner? If not, then it’s time for you to consider having an auto attendant.
What is an Auto Attendant?
Imagine having a single person designated to answer all of the incoming calls for your business, and then directing those calls to the appropriate extensions and people. That’s what an auto attendant does, except that you won’t have to pay an entire year’s salary and benefits for that person. The auto attendant is a part of the virtual phone system that you receive through iTeleCenter.
For today’s businesses, the message that you convey to your customers, as well as your partners and potential customers, is vital. When someone calls your business for the first time, the first impression that they receive will be from that initial answer. While you may want to forego the normal expectations of an automated attendant because you believe that the warmth of a live person is invaluable, the auto attendant serves a far more important purpose than you may realize.
Yes, having an actual live person answer calls can be wonderful; it puts a personal touch to your business. But think about the usual scenarios of our modern world for a moment. The phone rings first thing in the morning. Your cheerful attendant greets the caller and obtains information about why they’re calling, and dispatches the call to the appropriate employee. Everyone is happy. A minute later, the phone rings again. While this person is fielding the call, another call comes in, then another. It is, after all, the early morning rush. Now your attendant has to place people on hold.
Now, would you rather have your callers placed on hold while a live attendant gets back to them just to direct their call? Or would you rather have an auto attendant field every single call the same way, in the same time frame, and with the same precise results? No more waiting on hold just to be connected to the right person. Your callers will experience efficiency when they call; they will feel important to your business and not just another person who can be placed on hold.
In a perfect world, every business would have enough people to answer all calls personally. We don’t live in a perfect world; we live in a world where customers want results. With the auto attendant feature, you can bridge the gap and enjoy higher customer satisfaction with every call.
Wishing you a Healthy, Prosperous, Happy New Year from all of us at iTeleCenter!
Review your Phone Service. Are you paying too much for a toll free line? Understand your options. There are several Virtual Phone Systems available at very low monthly fees. They allow you to get toll free and/or local numbers in just about any US city for less than what you are paying your local or long distance provider. iTeleCenter is one Virtual Phone System that allows you to bundle a mix of up to 4 local and toll free numbers into a package with one low monthly fee. For example, you can get a toll free 800 number, a local number in Los Angeles, a local number in New York City, and a fourth number in Miami all for the same low price. All of these numbers can be tied to your local office number or even your personal cell phone so calls forward directly to you. Advertise each number in different areas to present a larger presence.
Were you planning to replace your outdated fax machine? During your Phone Service review, you read about iTeleCenter – you can use any iTeleCenter number to send and receive faxes – you no longer need a dedicated phone line OR a fax machine. Your faxes can easily be viewed online and printed right from your computer. Your customers can even call in and get information faxed directly back to them. This allows you to get information into your customers’ hands quickly and efficiently.
Review your Internet Presence. Most people looking for a new product or service will check out the Internet first. Make sure your website content is up to date. The information about your products as well as pricing must be current. Make sure you make it easy for visitors to contact you. Of course you want to list your company phone number, email address, and street address (when doing business locally). The problem is that most people will jot down the number from a website meaning to call you later – except they forget where they put that piece of paper. They go back and search again – only this time maybe they spot a different website! Imagine if the first time they landed on your website all they had to do was click a button to place a call to you. With iTeleCenter’s Click to Call they can. They simply click this button on your website, enter their phone number, and iTeleCenter will call you and immediately connect you to their number – as simple as that!
Implementing any or all of these suggestions will greatly improve communication with your customers.
The New Year gives you a chance to review your business goals. Did you put off items from last year that you wanted to accomplish but didn’t get to? Were there changes you meant to implement that didn’t get done? Now is the time to address the items you missed last year and to add new goals for the New Year.
Here are a few steps that you can take – invest a little time and possibly reap huge benefits to increase your bottom line.
Review your Business Plan. A solid business plan will help you make decisions throughout the year and help you achieve your goals. This is a great time to review how things worked out last year and how you can change your goals for the New Year.
Review your Marketing Budget. Make a plan and try to stick with it. If it needs to vary based on your sales, plan to review your budget quarterly.
Contact your Suppliers. Now is a good time to try to negotiate lower pricing. Your suppliers are probably reviewing their annual goals at this time too. Discuss last year’s orders to come up with a plan that’s agreeable to both of you.
Review your Insurance needs. Do you need to increase any of your insurance coverage? Has anything changed that may allow you to decrease your coverage? Are you sure you are getting the best pricing? Do you have several policies that can be bundled for greater discounts? Now may be a good time to get some quotes to make sure you are not overpaying.
The continued growth and success of your business rely on many factors – some are not under your control – but for those that are, take action and make the best business decisions you can for successful New Year in 2011.
The approaching New Year gives you the perfect opportunity to reassess what you accomplished during the past year and what changes or improvements you want to make in the coming year. Don’t overlook the obvious areas that will make the biggest difference.
People are the Number One factor that can make or break your business.
Reach out to your Customers. A New Year gives you a chance to find new business opportunities – but don’t forget about your past and current customers. The old song “Make new friends, but keep the old… One is Silver and the other Gold” comes to mind. Of course you want to cultivate new business, but keep in mind that customers you have already done business with in the past can be cultivated into repeat business. Reach out to them and show that you appreciate their past business by offering them something new to garner their repeat business. Let them know how important they are to your business.
Review your Customer Service efficiency. Do you have callers waiting on hold listening to ‘elevator music’ while they wait to speak to someone? Are their calls being lost in the shuffle waiting for the next available representative to pick up? iTeleCenter has the perfect solution for small call centers with Automatic Call Distribution. Not only will your callers be routed efficiently to the next available representative, but you can use their time on hold to educate them about your products and services by using a professionally recorded message that you create.
Meet with your Employees. Let them know they are valued and an integral part of the business. If you gave them an end of year bonus, that’s great and certainly appreciated in this tough economy! But take it a step further – sit down and talk with each employee – nothing makes an employee feel better than hearing directly from their boss that they are doing a great job and they are appreciated. Ask for their input – make your employees feel that their presence and ideas are valued. Nothing kick starts the year better than an involved employee who is excited to help make this the best year ever!
You can establish a local presence in a large city like Los Angeles and make your business a local call to over 3.8 million people. When people seek products or services, they tend to “go local.” Whether you just need one or several Los Angeles phone numbers, they’re going to put you in front of millions of potential customers in the Los Angeles market.
Your iTeleCenter virtual phone system lets you conduct business transparently as if you’re physically located in LA – but you can actually be anywhere! You can use simple call forwarding to your mobile or land line and your LA telephone number makes it a lot easier for customers to reach you. It gives you instant local credibility.
LA Telephone Numbers are available from iTeleCenter for personal or business use. You can get a number instantly and start publishing and promoting your Los Angeles number today. It’ll help you grab a larger share of leads and business. Plus you can manage your number online. In just minutes you can setup smart features such as call forwarding and instant notifications and more.
Plus you can turn your iPhone into your Mobile LA Office! Apps run in the background and notify you via instant message alerts. You can access your messages with one touch to listen, save, or delete. Place an outbound call with your iTeleCenter Caller ID and protect the privacy of your cell phone number! Accept your calls anonymously from anywhere while enjoying local presence with your Los Angeles phone number.
We’ve all experienced it – that annoying caller who regularly wastes our time. I’m not talking about the occasional wrong number – I’m referring to the repeat callers. Whether they mis-dial or have some issue that we just can’t help them with, it takes our time away from running a business when we stop to answer the phone.
Wouldn’t it be nice to be able to block those calls?
With iTeleCenter, you can! There is a feature that allows you to block calls. You can block ANY number from calling you. Enter a specific number into your call block list and never again receive a call from them.
You can even block calls from entire area codes. If you do business in a specific area of the state or country and do not want to receive calls from certain areas, simply add the area codes you want to block calls from. And if you do have specific callers within those blocked area codes that you want to connect with, simply add them to the blocked area code exclusion list.
iTeleCenter makes it easy to manage the calls you want and block the calls you don’t!