Misconceptions About Phone Systems

5 Misconceptions About Phone Systems, Debunked

Business phone systems are becoming increasingly advanced and complex thanks to constantly evolving communication technology. These new systems provide excellent alternatives to the traditional phone systems that have been in place for decades. As with most new technologies, however, misconceptions, myths, and legends have cropped up around these new communication systems, and consequently, some companies are growing wary of investing in the latest phone system technology. Many professionals seem to think that their old phone system worked just fine. They think the company should call in the repair team one more time to keep it alive instead of buying something new for the office. Is this the right approach to corporate communication technology, though? Can virtual phone systems really stand up to the old-school, traditional systems that we know? The answer is not as easy as saying “yes” to every new technological innovation that a major telecom brings to market. …

Office Phone System Should Go Virtual

10 Reasons Your Office Phone System Should Go Virtual

  1. Trim the Fat & Lower Your Cost Have you considered switching from a traditional phone company to a virtual phone system? A virtual phone service like Talkroute is most likely going to be much less expensive than using one of the main phone carriers that you may be using right now. Many of these suggestions are of course for businesses that run out of a separate office, but you can use most of the same principles by applying them to your home business, too. Business phone systems can get pricey very quickly, but thankfully the traditional providers are not the only option you have at your disposal. Switching to a virtual phone service provider can save a business a lot of money by eliminating the need for additional phone hardware and network equipment because you can simply use the phones you already have. Traditional providers also tend to …

How Business Can Benefit from Virtual Phone Number

How Your Business Can Benefit from a Virtual Phone Number

  As virtual phone numbers were basically created for businesses, it’s a given that they carry with them a lot of benefits for businesses. Those benefits are not always spelled out for businesses by the virtual service providers, though, so we thought it fitting to show exactly what you can do with a virtual phone number as a small business owner. In their function, they function pretty much the same exact way as a normal number, but in addition to the standard service that you would get with any other number that you’re used to, virtual numbers are actually quite a bit more versatile. It’s kind of like when you switch from using CDs for your music to using mp3s. You’ll be able to do a lot more with mp3s than CDs, and you’ll be able to do it quicker, more cheaply, and more easily. Your business has more options …

Google Voice Alternative: Talkroute

Google Voice Alternative: Talkroute is Better for Business

  Google Voice is one of those services that was created by a very large company who found and employed an elite team of very smart people, who then took a great idea built by GrandCentral, put the power and resources of Google behind it, and made it even better. What they really did was to design Google Voice in such a way that it was appealing and useful for a much bigger market. GrandCentral, the phone management service which Google bought out for themselves back in 2007, really wasn’t much more than a basic carrier with a lot of infrastructure and massive inventory of phone numbers. Google took that to use as the backbone of their new Voice app, but what they created with it was much more than what GrandCentral had. One of the problems with the Google Voice app, though, is that it only has basic features …

800 Number History

The History of 800 Numbers and Why We Want Them

Toll-free phone numbers have been around for quite a long time now, and their value to businesses remains even until today. There are a few benefits to having a toll-free number, most notably the fact that anyone can call it without assuming any charges, but it’s also a simple way to give your business a national presence. On top of that, it works great to turn it into a vanity number to make it easier for customers to remember and identify your business, especially when it has the original (800) area code. 800 numbers have come a long way to become what they are today. All the way from collect calling, to expensive, regional-based numbers offered during the time when AT&T still monopolized the telecom industry, to the affordable, nationwide toll-free service with which we are familiar today. In this article, we’ll explore that extensive history, its gradual development over …

High-Quality Phone System

8 Ways to Tell If You Have a High-Quality Phone System

Every business needs some kind of phone system. Well, nearly every business needs it. There are some businesses today who actually manage customer support entirely through email and other messaging platforms, but even for those who have the ability to do that, it’s questionable whether it’s a good idea to completely eliminate phones. Back in the old days, there was only one type of phone system which consisted of landlines and nothing else, but then alternative types of systems were introduced, such as VoIP lines, virtual phone systems, and even personal cell phones. It can be pretty tough these days to choose one and to be sure that you’re getting everything you need to properly manage calls for your business. That’s why we’re providing some points here to give you a basic barometer that will tell you whether or not your phone system has exceptional quality and performance. If your …

What to Do When Your Business Line Gets Excessive Unwanted Calls

Your first instinct when you start getting a lot of unwanted calls to your business number will be to become panicked and angry. That is natural and totally understandable, but try not to freak out because you do have some pretty effective options to stop it from happening. It can be extremely frustrating when this happens to you, as it can make you feel completely powerless. In addition to feeling like there’s nothing you can do to stop it, you might also have a hard time getting anyone to help, including your own phone service provider. Even if you can’t get the help you expect from your provider, there are definitely measures you can take to handle it yourself, sometimes pretty quickly. Try out these options, and by the time you get through all of them, you’ll probably have eliminated most of the unwanted calls, if not all of them. …

Reasons Need Vanity Phone Number

10 Reasons Why You Probably Need a Vanity Number

    No one wants to be just a number. People have been trying to come up with ways to add meanings to phone numbers and to memorize them for a really long time. To pull just one example from history, way back, in the 1960s, a Boston-area carpet cleaning company struck marketing gold when telephone numbers still had exchange names. While the Marvelettes were singing about BEechwood 4-5789, Adams & Swett Rug Cleaning Company asked the Boston area one simple question: “How many cookies did Andrew eat?” The answer … was their phone number. ANdrew 8-8000, or Andrew ate 8,000. Although exchange names are long gone, Adams & Swett still posts the jingle to their site, proof positive that their marketing not only worked, but that it’s still working some 50 years later. Why a Vanity Phone Number May Be Right For You Today Ok, it’s not 1965 anymore, …

which do you need

Toll Free or Local Number: Which One Does Your Business Need?

  Something as simple as a phone number isn’t often on the minds of entrepreneurs starting a business for the first time. With most business tools found in the cloud or on your computer, you probably won’t need to worry about your phones until you have at least a few customers. As your company grows and evolves, the number of phone calls you have to handle will increase, and having a professional phone number will prove to be invaluable. This leaves you with an important choice to make; should you go with a local or toll-free phone number? These different types of phone numbers provide a similar user experience, but offer a diverse range of opportunities along the way, making it critical that you consider them carefully. Before diving into the differences between these number options, it’s a good idea to take a look at what they are.   What …

How You Should React to Missed or Lost Business Calls

Although you can take measures to ensure that you just about never miss a call, ever, it’s inevitable that it will happen from time to time when a caller slips through the cracks for some reason. A proper phone system and call log can almost completely eliminate the possibility of missed or lost calls, but you should nonetheless have procedures and standards in place for those times when it does happen. Customers who are calling you expect to be taken care of, and quickly, which is why the tips in this post are helpful to you as a business owner. Make Sure a Record of All Calls is Saved When you miss a call, there’s going to be a record of it in your system’s log or in the actual device where it came in, but that’s not always the case. When a call is missed and you don’t have …