With more and more customers contacting companies online, it may seem as if your business phone doesn’t matter much anymore. But if you aren’t taking advantage of the many ways your company’s phone can be used as a marketing tool, you’re selling your business short. Your business phone is a crucial element in conveying your brand, promoting your business and convincing prospects to become customers. The presence of a phone in your business credit file will have a positive impact on most business credit scores. Try these tips for using your phone to market your business.
Get a toll-free phone number
No one wants to spend money calling a business. If you serve (or want to serve) customers outside your local area code, a toll-free number makes these people more likely to call you. Toll-free numbers also create the impression that your business is professional and successful. Even if you only own one location, a toll-free number can make you look like less like a mom-and-pop business and more like a larger chain.
Obtaining a toll-free number that spells out a relevant word is less important than it used to be as a marketing tool, but it still helps by making your business phone number more memorable. Depending on your industry and brand, consider getting an 800# such as junk removal company 1-800-GOT-JUNK, or a landscaping company with the number 1-800-NO-WEEDS.
People who call have an urgent problem
More often than not, people who call in to a business have a problem or question they want answered quickly. Whether it’s a new customer asking about a product, or an existing customer calling about a billing issue, they are calling to get it resolved fast.
Talking directly with customers over the phone not only helps solve their problems more rapidly, but also helps you identify issues that may affect other customers as well. For example, if your website has problems or you have broken links that cause a customer to call in and place their order, this could alert you to a problem that you can address more quickly. Not only have you saved one sale, but potentially thousands more because you were alerted to the problem earlier.