Will your phone system help you save money and increase productivity in your organization?
Many small business owners overlook the potential of phone systems as a powerful tool to enhance profitability and efficiency.
With the right phone system setup, you can reduce costs, drive revenue growth, and gain greater flexibility.
1. Hunt Groups
Brands focusing on customer service now frequently define themselves as the hottest and most successful. Moreover, brands like the Chase Sapphire Card and the elite Founder’s Credit Card for entrepreneurs and others distinguish themselves by allowing consumers to get through to a live phone agent. They can charge a premium because utilizing hunt groups allows inbound callers to connect to representatives faster and those best positioned to help them. This results in better customer satisfaction, higher conversion ratios, customer loyalty, and more referrals.
2. Call Recording
Most small businesses sorely overlook the importance of call recording. Yes, it means protecting you from liability and reducing chargebacks, but more importantly, it is one of the best tools for improving employee performance and increasing conversion rates. Recorded calls can be used for training and identifying sticking points holding prospects back from becoming paying customers.
3. Call Reporting
On-the-go entrepreneurs can ensure that marketing campaigns are rolling out according to plan and results are rolling in by using call reporting with access to call details over the web. For example, even if a business owner heads off to Europe for a month to relax and make new connections, they can still use their smartphone to determine whether a direct mail campaign was executed correctly and whether the staff back in the office are working hard enough and spending enough time on the phone to close deals. These call details will also uncover potential issues with incorrect numbers, calling toll-free lines, running up phone bills, and identifying parts of scripts that need to be adjusted for more sales.
4. Auto Attendants
Using auto attendants can greatly reduce the need for a full-time local receptionist or secretary and eliminate all liability. Furthermore, it allows for enhanced routing based on time of day, day of the week, and other factors, enabling small businesses to leverage outsourced staff for order-taking and customer service around the clock every day of the year.
5. Voicemail Notifications
Using voicemail to email or voicemail to text helps streamline the handling of messages. This ensures that the appropriate individuals receive the messages promptly. Employees can read voicemail messages without interrupting meetings by using voicemail to text. This feature enables prompt responses to calls by the appropriate person or group, eliminating the need to physically check the phone for messages that may not be accessible when the voicemail is received.
6. Disaster Preparedness
Businesses without a prepared VoIP phone system have needlessly gone bankrupt due to natural disasters and terrorist threats. The East Coast and Gulf are expected to experience 9 to 15 storms and 4 to 8 hurricanes in 2012, with other areas also vulnerable to earthquakes and tornadoes. A VoIP-hosted phone system automatically reroutes calls to your mobile or backup staff offshore during disasters, enabling business continuity.
In conclusion
With a VoIP-hosted PBX, you get the features you need to compete. Switching to VoIP offers advantages, including substantial savings, and features that you wouldn’t get with an analog phone system. So, if you want to improve your bottom line, switch to a VoIP phone system.
Tamara graduated from Southern Methodist University with a degree in Computer Science and Old Dominion University with an MBA. She started Apollo Hosting, Inc. in 1999 and sold it to Endurance International 10 years later. She also started and sold two other companies before starting Press8 Telecom in 2006. She lives with her husband and two children in Austin, TX.
