Can your phone system really save you money and make your organization more productive?
Phone systems are frequently underestimated as one of a small business owner’s most powerful tools for increasing profitability and achieving more in less time.
Here are just 6 ways the right phone system set up can slash expenses, boost revenues and give you more freedom…
1. Hunt Groups
The hottest and most successful brands are now frequently being defined by their focus on customer service. More than that, brands like the Chase Sapphire Card and the elite Founder’s Credit Card for entrepreneurs and others are distinguishing themselves and are able to charge a premium because they offer consumers the ability to get right through to a live phone agent. Utilizing hunt groups means inbound callers connect to your representatives faster and to those best positioned to help them. In turn this means better customer satisfaction, higher conversion ratios and higher customer loyalty as well as more referrals.
2. Call Recording
The importance of call recording is sorely overlooked by most small businesses. Yes, it means protecting you from liability as well as 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 as well as identifying sticking points which are holding prospects back from becoming paying customers.
3. Call Reporting
Call reporting with access to call details over the web helps on the go entrepreneurs ensure that marketing campaigns are rolling out according to plan and results are rolling in. For example; a business owner heading off to Europe for a month to relax and make new connections can still tell via their smartphone whether a direct mail campaign was executed correctly and whether the staff back in the office are working hard enough and are on the phone long enough to close deals. These call details will also reveal potential issues with incorrect numbers calling toll free lines and running up phone bills as well as identifying parts of scripts which need to be tweaked for more sales.
4. Auto Attendants
Auto attendants can be invaluable for reducing the need for a full time local receptionist or secretary and all of the liability which comes along with that. Additionally AA’s can be used for enhanced routing by time of day, day of week, etc. so that small businesses can take advantage of outsourced staff for order taking and customer service 24 hours a day 365 days a year.
5. Voicemail Notifications
Voicemail to email or voicemail to text help streamline the way messages are handled. It means that the right people are receiving the messages on a timely basis. With voicemail to text employees can even read their voicemail without interrupting meetings. With this feature calls can be responded to quickly by the correct person or group instead of having to check the physical phone for messages which might not be accessible at the time the voicemail is received.
6. Disaster Preparedness
Thousands of businesses have needlessly been bankrupted by both natural disasters and terrorist threats in the last few years because they weren’t prepared with a VoIP phone system which could have kept them operational with revenues rolling in. For those on the east coast and gulf there are 9 to 15 storms and 4 to 8 hurricanes expected to hit in 2012, while the rest of the country remains at risk of earthquakes and tornadoes. With a VoIP hosted phone system calls are re-routed automatically your mobile or back up staff offshore during a disaster so that you can stay in business.
