Did you know that consumers prefer a personal relationship with small business owners? Well, recent reports indicate that 60% of customers communicate with small entrepreneurs over the phone.
For entrepreneurs, knowing how your customers love to communicate with you is an insightful revelation. It helps you provide a communication system that offers them the best experience.
Are you unable to decide on the best business phone system for your new establishment? You need to keep in mind the phone systems today are not merely tools for making and receiving calls.
Customers will want a unified system that permits an array of communication options. That way, your employees can also connect to clients in whichever way they choose.
The market has countless phone systems options, and you could easily fall into confusion. But you could turn that to your advantage by knowing the killer selection tips. Be my guest to learn how!
What Features Should You Consider as a Solo Entrepreneur?
You probably don’t wish to incur a whole new expenditure installing a new system. As such, you need to adopt a phone system that will sustain the establishment in the future.
You likely have expansion goals in the future, and you will not run the business alone forever. You can envision the number of staff you are likely to have soon. Check out some key phone system features for a sole proprietor.
1. Scalability
Scalability is a crucial feature for your sole enterprise if you have expansion goals. You can easily add phones to the system each time you hire new staff. The VoIP system could be a good option for adding your new team.
2. Call Logs
If you run the business all alone, the information coming your way could be overwhelming. If you choose a phone system with call logs, you’ll never miss a beat. With call logs you can view all incoming, outgoing, fax and missed calls to your business phone number(s).
You can even filter logs to view only calls made to a specific queue, extension or calls made to/from an individual number.
3. Call Handling Rules
Although your business is small (for now), with the right business phone system, you can give callers the type of experience that has only been available to large enterprises that can afford to spend a fortune. Fortunately, modern systems make features like call handling rules available for everyone.
Using call handling rules, you can route incoming calls to a single destination, or different destinations based on the day and time or the Caller ID of the call received. You can send calls to voicemail, menus, custom greetings, or even your computer.
Does Your Business Have More Than Five Employees?
If you’ve got a small team handling your business, efficiency is the name of the game. You’ll want to look for a solution that covers all of these bases.
1. Is It User-Friendly?
Some aspects of the system could seem simple to you but remember you won’t be handling calls alone. You need a system that your team can comfortably handle and serve customers in the best way.
Look for a solution that is intuitive and be sure that the provider offers technical support.
2. Mobile Applications
A part of your team could be sales and marketing individuals, and I bet they spend most of their time out. So, how do they keep in touch with clients?
Your VoIP phone service should support extensions for each team member. 78% of adults own a mobile phone, and you could take advantage of the fact. Your team can receive calls away from the office using a mobile app or softphones.
3. Call Recording
Call recording is an excellent way to support your training and quality assurance efforts. Look for a system that lets you choose to record all calls, all incoming calls, all outbound calls, or a custom setup that you choose.
You may have to pay a bit extra for call recording, but it can be a big productivity booster, so it’s worth it.
What If Your Business Has More Than 10 Employees?
Well, congratulations! Your business is taking the right path. However, you have to upgrade your business phone service.
You are probably wondering what features would work best for your big team. Here are some of the features to inquire about as you talk to your phone service providers.
1. Conference Calls
Your team is big, and you don’t want to limit their productivity. They will probably need to communicate with different clients at the same time using your network.
Choose a service that gives each employee an easy-to-configure conference bridge that has a dedicated number and is password protected. This allows your team to easily set up a conference call without having to plan ahead or use a third-party conferencing provider.
2. Call Routing
Everyone seems busy at their desks, and it could be challenging to know who among the team members is available to respond to a call. Your system could solve the puzzle for you!
Make sure the VoIP phone system can route calls to whoever is available.
3. Emergency Management
Some emergencies could cut off communication in your business, and you shouldn’t take chances. Your business needs to keep moving despite the weather — thus, your system ought to eliminate possible downtime.
The recovery infrastructure needs to be topnotch and ensure communication keeps flowing after the disaster, power failure, or weather emergency.
4. Call Data Records
Call data records give you insight into your business activities. Are there certain times of day, days of the week, or parts of the year that require additional staffing? Is every employee who is expected to be engaged on the phones pulling their weight?Â
Your system can do more than help you make calls, it can help you manage your business.
What’s the Pricing for the Best Business Phone System?
By now, you must be ready to incorporate a phone system into your business. All you have to do is get in touch with the best business phone system providers and talk about the pricing for the features that you need.Â
We have different packages, and you are the best person to choose what’s best for your business. Request a quote today to assess which phone system best suits your budget and business needs.