How to take advantage of phone system advancements in an age where the business phone is no longer tied to the desk.
The telephone is still the preferred method of customer service in the United States; however, its role has developed rapidly with mobile and text technology. Sales are now in the palm of your hands, and the ability to respond instantly might make all the difference in today’s Internet-connected world.
If you haven’t updated your phone system to a virtual PBX for small business, you could be losing clients and opportunities to your competitors that have the advanced technology. Here are five ways that new phone system technology ensures you never miss an opportunity.
1. The Cloud Expands the Reach of Your Business Line
Cloud technology has eliminated the need for a phone to be tied to a desk and has leveled the playing field for small businesses when it comes to advanced call routing. Where expensive technology and physical connections were once required, everything now flows through secure cloud software. The cloud software allows you to route your business calls, at an affordable price, through a central number to any phone, anywhere, requiring no new hardware or software.
2. Voice-to-Text: Save Time and Never Listen to a Voicemail Again
Dialing into your voice mailbox or scrolling through the list of voicemails on your phone and listening to each one before deciding to delete it, call back, or write down the information for later is a time consuming task. It’s also needless. Voice-to-text technology transcribes the voice messages and sends them straight to your email, allowing you to read all incoming inquiries in real time. That not only saves time, it also ensures accurate prioritization.
3. Auto-Attendant & Call Forwarding
The auto-attendant is not new, but it’s still a phone system feature small business owners covet. At many companies, a dedicated secretary isn’t an option, yet spreading phone answering responsibility among the rest of the team often means calls are missed or mishandled. In addition, much time is wasted answering cold calls and unsolicited conversations.
An auto-attendant ensures that calls are directed to the right person and that important calls are forwarded as quickly and efficiently as possible. No longer a recorded list of extensions, an auto-attendant has the ability to segment important customers and send them straight to your cell phone. Another feature is to have the auto-attendantforward the call to the entire team in the case of a client emergency.
4. Text, Email, Fax and CRM Integration
The phone has long played a vital role in the sales cycle. Now thanks to advanced APIs and the cloud, it can now be seamlessly integrated with old and new lead generation technologies. Fax messages, transcribed voicemails and emails can all be checked in real time in your inbox, and new APIs allow CRM integration to ensure that your sales team never misses a beat or an important detail.
5. Any Number, Any Device
While many large corporations struggle to control the data shared across personal mobile devices,, one thing is sure for small companies: Your key clients need to be able to reach you on any device, no matter where you are, and they can’t be confused about how to do so. Choose or keep a memorable main line for your business. Then use long-proven techniques like 800 and vanity numbers as well as your experience and customer data to ensure that calls are routed quickly and effectively to the desk phone, mobile or mailbox that will save your team the most time, take care of your best customers, and close new deals.
