Brad runs his service business on a mobile phone. His employees pass a shared mobile phone back and forth in the office. They clearly need a business class solution.
Should Brad continue to run his business on mobile phones? Or would he be better off with new stationary phones on each employee’s desk?
You might expect me to make the case for desk phones, since I sell them, right? Not so fast. Let’s take a look at Brad’s setup.
Brad’s business is located in a house which was not wired for business back when it was built as a residential home. They have electrical outlets in all the usual places for a house, but no computer jacks, no network infrastructure, no fax lines. In order to install phones on desks, the whole first floor would have to be rewired.
We could do that, if it was cost effective. But it’s not.
Here’s what we recommend:
Run the business on mobile phones – no need to buy new equipment or upgrade the house. They can use their existing cell phones so employees have only one phone to carry each. We can use the personal cell phones for business and customers will never know the difference. In fact, customers would be impressed if they learned Brad was using modern technology to stay connected with them.
Imagine a customer calling for service. They dial Brad’s business and are greeted with a friendly recording like this: “Thank you for calling Brad’s Service Company. For service, press one. To order parts, press 2. Or to speak to our friendly staff, please press 3.”
Doesn’t that sound professional?
When the caller makes a selection, our system routes the call to the appropriate cell phone or group of cell phones. Since the caller has already been greeted by the professional recording, Brad’s people can answer simply, “This is Joan. How may I help you?”
Call Que
If everybody is already on the phone, callers go into a que until someone becomes available. There, you can play messages and music to educate your callers about your products and services while they wait their turn.
After hours
Brad’s employees don’t want to be bothered with work calls after hours. We program the greeting to change automatically when the office closes for the day. Instead of “press 1 for service”, they hear “you’ve reached us after hours. Please leave a message. Or if this is an emergency” (rare, but it happens) “then dial 9 to reach our on call person.” If they dial 9, then the call is routed to Brad’s cell phone or one of his employees, whatever he decides.
Caller ID
When you call out you want your business number to show on the caller ID so the other person doesn’t accidentally get your employee’s mobile number and save it in their contacts. Just use our app to make your outbound calls and your business phone number will display to the other party. They won’t know, or care, that you’re calling from a cell phone.
Live Demo
We’ve set up a demonstration of the program described in this article. You can experience it for yourself by dialing 865-888-6200. When you hear the greeting dial 7 to enter the super-secret demo.
Dial 865-888-6200. Then 7.