Voicemail Greetings
Missed Calls = Lost Business?
For small business owners or those who work out of their homes, one of the most difficult problems to find a solution for is what happens when someone is not in the office to pick up the phone… the call goes to voicemail and sometimes you are not able to return that call for hours. You may feel you are losing potential business. Fortunately, today’s technology provides an answer (pun intended) to this sometimes frustrating scenario.
In today’s business environment, you have to be available at all times and returning a call at a later time may mean an important matter goes unresolved for too long or a business prospect looks elsewhere. You cannot always rely on your cell phone (eg. battery, poor reception, etc). It is better to have a phone system that can find you whereever you are and send a call to another member of your company or worst case, to your company voicemail if you are not available.
For example, when your customer or client calls your office (or home office), you may be on the road meeting other clients. Instead of the call going straight to your voicemail, it can be forwarded to your cell phone after a few rings. Instead of the voicemail saying, “I am not in the office right now so please leave a message or call me on my cell phone at 555-555-5555, ” you can set-up your phones to ring in order (office, cell, etc). You can even set your phones to ring based on time of day or who calls you.
According to Ari Rabban, CEO of Phone.com, “by offering such services to small businesses, you can give out one number that will find you on any of your phones (business or personal) and have one voicemail box set up for all your phones so that you will need to remember different passwords and check several voicemail boxes to check for important missed calls.”
A VoIP Phone System can also make your company appear larger and more professional. A custom welcome greeting, a menu of options (eg. Press 1 for Sales or Press 2 for Customer Service), company directory, music on hold and other features that you would expect from an expensive traditional phone system are now available for small businesses and home-based businesses. Click Here for more information.
Virtual Phone System Makes Small Business Sound Big
GO On Hold has fielded numerous inquiries over the years from small and home-based organizations and businesses looking to acquire a professional on hold message and music recording, so the perception of their business would be comparable to that of big corporations.
Most small businesses do not have a conventional phone system, so presenting any on hold audio has been a tough task. For live calls during the business day, GO On Hold has solved this issue with the OHP-6500 On Hold Adapter. This unit works with nearly any phone… even your home phone.
But as the Web becomes the center of business and phone call quality online now rivals traditional analog telephone lines, a virtual phone system allows companies of any size to sound like a corporate giant. And with little or no equipment to purchase, this option works with your existing phones and the cost can be as low as $8 per month.
When you acquire a virtual phone system, there are zero changes to how you run your day-to-day business, except how your telephone calls are answered and distributed. The automated attendant feature available from most providers allows you and your employees to work anywhere, using any phone, and callers won’t perceive your company as anything, but everyone working out of the same office.
Most small and home-based businesses have only 1 or 2 phone lines or maybe just a cell phone. Certainly, you know there are drawbacks to this (can only take one call at a time, calls going to personal voicemail, no music on hold, etc.) Now envision your callers first hearing a professional automated attendant greeting with directions and instructions to push 1 for service, 2 for accounting, or a specific extension for you or an employee. Customize it anyway you wish… the sky is the limit.
Now imagine, a caller presses extension 1, but you are talking on the phone or all lines are in use… many virtual phone systems have a call queuing opportunity that tells callers they have reached ____ and the next available representative will be with them to assist. Your callers will never know you have only 1 or 2 telephone lines!
Further, while callers listen to music on hold with messages, you receive a notification they are waiting. After checking the caller ID, you can then finish the call you are on, place that person on hold and take the other call, or direct the new caller to voicemail.
If you can relate to any of the above, a virtual phone system probably sounds appealing to you.
At GO On Hold, our office has 4 phone lines. A traditional phone system was too expensive, so we signed on with RingCentral in August, 2009 and immediately improved our call management at an affordable montly rate. Feel free to call us anytime at 1-800-963-6968 to hear a live example of how this works and then imagine the possibilities for your business.
To learn more about virtual phone systems, be sure to visit www.virtualphonesystemcentral.com. You can review providers and compare features, and most offer a free-trial to make sure it’s right for you.
Record A Better Voicemail Greeting
Energy is the key to your voicemail greeting, so practice having energy. Put some alternative methods of reaching you, and you’ll ensure people leave you a message with the information you need to make it a great day! Read more
