We all have our reasons for using iTeleCenter but some of us rely on certain features on a daily basis to help run a business. So the question is, what is YOUR favorite feature?
Is it Call Forwarding?
Do you love being able to forward calls from your iTeleCenter number directly to your home or mobile phone? Do you treasure the ability to publish just one number for phone calls and faxing and keep your personal numbers private? I know I do! I frequently work from home and prefer not to hand out my home number to everyone I do business with.
Tell us about your favorite feature – we’d love to hear from you!
When you are starting out in your business, you may ask yourself whether you truly need a 1 800 number. After all, in the early days of your entrepreneurship, the last thing you want to do is spend money on things that don’t seem as though they will provide you any advantage over the competition. So you dismiss the idea of 1 800 numbers.
What you may be missing out on, though, is the fact that while most phone service providers no longer charge their customers for long distance calls, so they aren’t concerned whether you live in state or across the country, there is a prestige that is associated with toll free numbers that you simply don’t get with any other exchange.
When customers seek out businesses and find an area code they are not familiar with, there is a sense of distrust. It’s not that the customer immediately assumes that the business is not going to be there for them, or that there will be issues with service. It’s that a business that dissociates itself from their customer base, through something as simple as a phone number, it doesn’t instill the confidence that consumers need to click the ‘buy’ button in their web browser.
However, there is a power and presence associated with 1 800 numbers that tells the consumer that you are a serious business, that customer service matters to you, and that you are professional from top to bottom. When you are working hard and striving to build your business, every advantage is going to make a decided difference. When you are ready to take your business to a higher level, ask yourself again whether you really need a 1 800 number. When your business matters to you, then you should consider a one.
If you think that toll free numbers are a thing of the past, think again. Though some think that toll free numbers are outdated because of the availability of cell phones and low cost home phone service, a toll free number can instill trust from your clients as well as help you appear more professional. Many times, people may not answer a number they do not know, but if the number that appears on their caller ID is toll free, they may decide to answer it. Toll free numbers are those numbers beginning with 800, 888, 877, 866 or 855 and cost nothing to call.
Toll free numbers can also make your business telephone number more appealing and easy to remember. By having what is known as a “vanity” toll free number, your business can find a catchy number such as 1-800-CALLNOW or something to do with your business. This has proven to be very affective for small businesses looking to spread the word about their work. If you are interested in getting a toll free number, you simply have to request one from a provider such as iTeleCenter. Your toll free number will be charged to you in a small fee, but it will allow your clients to contact you at no cost to them.
Once you have a toll free number in place, your calls can be directed to where they need to go. This method will allow your clients to be worry free. Whether the toll free number leads directly to you, or is forwarded to a call center, your caller will appreciate the peace of mind knowing that their phone call is free to them.
There are few things more annoying than waiting on hold to speak with a representative at a company, only to find out you have been transferred to the wrong department. This is where an auto attendant can really make the difference. An auto attendant is that automated voice that directs you to the appropriate extension or department without you having to speak with a live person. These automated voices can cut out the need for a receptionist and free up time for the “real” people in your business to complete more important tasks than directing calls.
The benefits of the auto attendant are numerous. Not only will the auto attendant remove the need for a receptionist but it will also help to cut down on your clients’ frustrations. If your client can easily be directed to the appropriate line, they are more likely to stick with you. Customer service means a lot and by simply adding the auto attendant, you will show that you are going the extra mile to please your customers. There are also times when your business will be a lot heavier and callers may experience a small hold time before speaking to a representative. By using the auto attendant, your callers will be sure they get the best service they can get in a timely manner.
For those customers who prefer to skip the auto attendant, there is usually an option to dial “0” to speak to an actual representative. There are plenty of grandmothers who cringe when they hear that automated voice come on the phone. By making it as simple as pressing “0” to speak to a live person, you are working to please those customers who like the convenience of the auto attendant, as well as those who prefer working with a live person the entire time.
By utilizing the auto attendant, your business will be putting forth a small investment that will cause great benefits. Whether you are trying to get by without a secretary or just trying to simplify your phone system, the auto attendant is a great choice.
Your time is valuable. Because of this, there are going to be times when you simply don’t have the time to talk to someone on the phone, or you may just cringe at the thought of talking to some people. By using call screen, you will be able to speak with the people you want to speak with, and politely avoid those you do not. Call screen announces who is calling without you having to speak to anyone. It is a simple tool that will not only free up more of your time, but also help you avoid those pesky calls you dread.
Call screen can be more beneficial than even a secretary. Your secretary won’t always know that you really don’t want to talk to the person on the other end of the line. Most likely, she will just transfer the call and you will be stuck talking. If you have call screen, you will actually hear the name of the caller so that you can avoid those awkward excuses you are scrambling to come up with in order to get off the phone. If call screen announces a name that you don’t want to hear, simply forward the call to voicemail. You get out of the conversation, and the caller isn’t insulted.
Instead of allowing others to waste your time on unwanted phone calls, use call screen to free up your time for those people you actually want to communicate with. Once you use call screen, you will never want to stop.
There are plenty of options that big businesses have at their disposal that set them apart from smaller, independent entrepreneurs. This doesn’t make them better, but wouldn’t it be nice to have even a small sample of those tools at your disposal? Call transfer is one of those options that helps to make an operation of any size run more efficiently and also give it the appearance of a larger operation.
When you contact a major company by calling customer service, they often use call transfer to move you from one representative to another until you are talking with the individual who can assist you in the most efficient manner. When your customers contact your business, how do you move them to the best person that can help them? If you’re like most small business owners, you give the customer a different phone number and thank them for taking the time to contact you. Or you take their number and have your coworker, partner, employee, or other individual call them back at some point. This doesn’t instill the confidence in the customer that you might wish.
Now, call transfer, a feature available through iTeleCenter, will help turn your small business into a smooth running operation, allowing you to place the caller on hold, complete with either music or a specific message you design, and then transfer that call to an extension or other phone number altogether. Seamless and professional from beginning to end and that’s why using call transfer is such a potent business idea.
No, the day and age of faxes hasn’t passed and when you can send a fax online, you make yourself, and your business prospects, more formidable. You may wonder what the big deal is about being able to send a fax online. After all, most modern printers have that faxing feature, don’t they? Or you could always head down to your local Staples or Office Max and have them send it for you, right?
Sure. But at what cost? The more that you are required to send a fax to a company, partner, client, financial investor, or other party, the cost can really add up if you choose the latter option. If you have your own printer, you could certainly have access to this option, but only if you have a dedicated phone line as your fax line. Imagine having to plug in and unplug your printer’s telephone line every time you wanted to send a fax. It would become tedious, at best.
iTeleCenter believes that you deserve a better option. That’s why they offer you the opportunity to send faxes online through their send fax online feature. You can receive faxes from clients, customers, partners, or anyone else through your email. No matter where your busy life takes you during the day, you’re only going to be an email away from pertinent information.
When you need to send a fax online, simply convert the document into a scanned image (which your printer does when faxing anyway) and send it through the iTeleCenter’s online system. Most of the work we do these days is already digital, such as PDFs and Word documents. There’s no need to print anything out just to send. Simply upload the document, enter the fax number of the recipient, and iTeleCenter will keep trying until the document is successfully faxed, and you will receive confirmation of this.
When you need to send a fax, the best solution is to do it online.
Today there are so many different phone plans in existence, it can be difficult to muddle through them all, but for business, a virtual phone system has significant advantages over most other phone plans. In our modern, busy worlds, cell phones are the default option for most individuals. They are not only convenient, but many of these phones allow the users to access the Internet from wherever they are. However, the last thing anyone wants is to rely on the same phone number for their personal lives as well as their business life.
Keep Your Business Life Separate with a Virtual Phone System
When you have a virtual phone system from iTeleCenter, for example, not only will you have access to some powerful features, such as call forwarding, messaging, call screening, and even toll free numbers, but you will also be able to effectively separate your personal life from the one that earns you a living.
With a virtual phone system, it is like having your own personal office phone system regardless of whether you work from out of your home or at a remote location. You can even have calls forwarded to your personal cell phone, and make calls from that phone, without your clients, partners, or customers knowing that personal number.
We are often caught up in the moment of the Internet age and forget how important phone communication is to business. Customers, while enjoying the convenience of finding products and services online, still wish to be connected to the businesses they frequent, and if they can’t do this in person, they prefer the phone.
A virtual phone system turns your direct sales, affiliate marketing, or other online business venture into a formidable enterprise and your competition will take notice.
When you see a call forwarding feature for a phone system, maybe you think to yourself, ‘Big deal.’ Many phone systems have some form of call forwarding. But the iTeleCenter’s call forwarding feature is more powerful than the competition. When you are striving to elevate your business to a new level, then every advantage means good things.
What Makes the iTeleCenter’s Call Forwarding Better?
Call forwarding should be about what it can do for you, not just what it is. When a caller –a prospective customer or existing one- dials your business phone number, with regular call forwarding features from other providers, the number is routed to your cell or house phone and that’s it. You don’t know who’s calling, whether it’s personal or business related, and that can be frustrating.
Yet with iTeleCenter, you can establish up to three different numbers to have calls forwarded to, be able to see that the call is being forwarded, and even set up different times for different forwarding features. Do you want to have a call forwarded to an employee during overnight hours? Done.
You can also set up a quick message to play for your callers, such as a welcome message or brief important message before directing them to dial ‘0’ to have their call forwarded to a live person (you). You can establish a positive relationship with your customers even before they hear your friendly, professional voice.
When you are competing for business, every detail matters to your bottom line. With call forwarding from iTeleCenter, you get one of the most powerful advantages on the market.