11 Reasons You Need a Separate Work Phone Number for Your Business

 

Forbes estimates that nearly 600,000 people start new businesses every month, yet none of them obviously start out expecting to fail. Many startups unfortunately do not build from a solid foundation when trying to grow their business. They forget about the level of competition that exists today, for customers, investors, and loans.

They fail to realize that effective communication is central to the success of any business. Crucial, really.

Setting up a work phone number shows your customers & clients that you are serious about this venture & it can also open the door to a lot of future opportunities. Which I’m pretty sure none of us want to miss out on, amiright?

 

Here Are 11 More Reasons Why Maintaining a Separate Work Phone Number Is Important:

 

1. Keep your personal calls, well, personal!

Handing out business cards with your private number on them, plastering the same number all over the internet isn’t a great idea. The ability to differentiate professional calls from personal ones is super important & this can only be done with having different phone numbers for each.

2. You can maintain business hours

Keeping a dedicated work phone number will allow you to maintain strict business hours. Anyone who calls outside business hours will be greeted with a message. Having a professional message that indicates to the caller if: they have reached the correct business, we are not available right now, our opening hours are from one time to another, OR please leave a message & we will contact you as soon as possible is a game changer.

3. You can choose to screen incoming calls

When you see an incoming call on a work phone number, you can have your system set up to either: accept the call, or choose the auto attendant option if you have such software installed. While you are doing this- the customer hears a regular ringtone, allowing you more time to decide what to do. You can also set the system up to send you email or text notifications of the customer’s choices should they choose the auto attend option.

4. Forward calls to multiple people

As your business grows the need for calls to be monitored more closely grows with it. Having a work phone number will allow you to forward any calls you cannot take to any number of different phone numbers to ensure the calls are taken. This way any representative of your business who is free can field the customer’s query and reduce the risk of customer upset.

5. Personalized business greetings

If someone calls a work phone number you can ensure that they get a custom greeting. These greetings can contain any message you want to say. Describing your company’s products and services is a popular greeting, Or you can simply use a different message when the business is open or closed.

If you are closed you could always have one employee on standby to field any emergency calls. This could be dealt with under the call menu, as in the message indicates to the caller that they need to press 5 in case of an emergency. This call is then forwarded to the on-call staff member. There are so many ways to configure things.

 

6. Setting up extensions or phone trees

When you set up a work phone number you can choose the option of setting up a conference line or any number of different extensions. While you might not need them now, they will certainly become important as the business grows.

7. Keep your brand consistent

Consistency is important to the future of any company or it’s brand. In this day and age, it is very easy to ensure that every person who has a work phone number in your organization is operating with the same number. You will never have to worry about which staff members’ phone number is listed where you also never have to worry about old phone numbers causing any future loss to your business.

8. The flexibility to work from anywhere

A work phone number will allow you to work from anywhere. Whether you are in your office or on the road, you can take calls or forward them to anywhere you are.

9. You can choose to use a virtual phone number

As technology has improved, having a work phone number offers its users so much more. The use of virtual phone systems allow people to work from anywhere they want. The days of being stuck at your desk waiting for that all-important sales call is long gone. Calls will be instantly routed to your smartphone & voicemails are delivered by text. This means you can field sales calls and meet with vendors all in one day. Calls can be easily redirected to the pertinent employee offering your business a far more professional appearance.

10. Have both a personal & work number on the same phone

You use your phone to handle pretty much everything in your life, right? Well many telephone providers will allow you to add up four phone numbers with unlimited calling and texting to your smartphone and eliminate the hassle of carrying multiple devices. Options you can explore like Talkroute allow you to use numerous phone numbers on one device. All these options negate the need to carry more than one phone.

11. People will trust your business more

You will not find any trusted companies that operate on a personal phone number. Imagine if you were calling your doctor or bank and were greeted by a voicemail that indicated you were calling a personal phone number? How likely are you to call back, or actually trust this business?

Remember that having a work phone number adds credibility to your fledgling business. It also gives the impression that you need a business number to deal with the amount of work you are fielding, whether this is true or not. Fake it until you make it. In the digital age, there is no excuse for not having a work phone number.

 

Summary

 

There is no reason to be worried about losing any existing numbers and any customers attached to it. The vast majority of telecom providers can just port an existing number to their service & you continue on as normal. Especially as people have grown tired of social media & the impersonal chatbot approach to customer service. If you offer people a human touch it will make you stand out from the crowd, you will attract more savvy investors, clients, and shoppers alike.