Guest Blog
The vast majority of small business owners still use a personal phone number for business and chances are you’re one of them.
Not only is it painful on a personal level, but it’s also very limiting to their businesses.
The good news is that getting a business phone number no longer requires buying extra equipment or signing contracts, you can easily set it up through an app on your existing mobile device. It also comes with benefits that make your business stand out.
Here is why you need a separate phone number for your boutique:
1) Distinguish between personal and business calls
When a call from your kid’s school looks the same as a call from a potential customer, you don’t know how to respond or whether you should respond at all.
Getting a separate phone number for business will stop this guesswork. You’ll be able to have a professional greeting, too:
“Hey, thanks for calling Modern Vintage Boutique. This is Janet, how may I help you?”
When your business sounds great, your customers are more confident about their choice.
2) Be in control of your phone
With a separate business phone number, you get to set boundaries for when you’re available to customers and can manage their expectations much better. Your customers would prefer knowing that your business is closed for the day and that you’ll get back to them in the morning rather than waiting for someone to pick up the phone.
3) Team up on customer communications
When your call volume gets heavy (holiday season, anyone?) or for those times when you’re unavailable, wouldn’t it be great to be able to share responsibility for your business phone with a partner or team member? You might already have a team email inbox, so why shouldn’t your phone be able to support collaboration?
4) Look and sound professional
There’s nothing worse than calling a business with a voicemail inbox that’s full or isn’t configured at all. Wouldn’t it be much better if it said something like this instead:
“Hey, thanks for calling Modern Vintage Boutique. Please leave a message and we’ll get back to you as soon as possible.”
Unless this is going to be your personal voicemail greeting as well, you’ll be losing the opportunity to appear more professional to your customers.
Also, if you’re serving customers across the country, having a toll-free phone number is a great way to make your business look big and more accessible.
5) Keep your personal phone number private
Think of all the places where you list your personal phone number—your website, social media, different business listings, email signature, online profiles and services for your business.
Switching to a business phone is a lot more difficult when you have already given out your personal number to a lot of people and have used it in different places. At that point, your personal phone number is no longer personal. So the sooner you get a separate business number, the easier it’ll be.
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The good news is that getting a business phone number doesn’t have to mean buying a separate device or using a desk phone. Through a simple app, you can get a business phone number right on top of your personal mobile device in seconds.
Learn more and get started here – www.openphone.co
