Many people out there, especially those with their own businesses, have likely wondered where they can get their hands on a toll free number. After all, there are few better ways to get people to call than for them to realize they can do so at no cost no matter where they are and ask questions. But how do you go about getting your hands on one of these precious numbers? We can answer that for your right here.
There is no disputing the considerable benefit a toll free number can offer your small business. Even if it is an illusion, you can communicate the image of being a larger and more national company while encouraging your clients to contact you without hesitation.
A business litigation and IP firm based in downtown San Francisco, the ARI Law Group firm was using a dedicated in-building receptionist and a punch-key PBX system to communicate with clients. In a recent call with an attorney directory service, the rep from the directory informed one of the principals that they routinely received 3 to 5 calls per week from their sponsored listing, something the law firm was unaware of. This prompted a further investigation into the “client experience” as they phoned into the firm.
It appeared that after hours – before 9:00am and post 5:30pm – the receptionist would be absent and calls would go to voicemail after an average of 8 rings (approximately 32 seconds). As the firm had international clients, it was safe to assume that a number of calls throughout the early morning and night went to voicemail, where many callers simply hung up.
While recognizing the need to move to a more sophisticated business phone system, ARI Law faced a number of challenges often seen in professional services firms that occupy office space in a large commercial building downtown.
1) They required the use of their existing punch-key PBX phone system as it was the standard system within the entire building. It had outdated features and was old, but it was fixed throughout.
2) Desiring to answer each client call with the human touch, they required a tie-in service that would allow an answering service that was intimate with their business to be able to offer live call reception 24/7/365.
3) Because the nature of their business was law and that client calls had to have the utmost security, they wanted a system based on a wired business telephone system and not on VoIP.
With the Halloo system the ARI Law firm set up a unique local number for each of the several area codes within the Bay Area and Silicon Valley that they serviced. They then routed these numbers to their traditional office line, while being able to automatically toggle to voicemail after hours.
They were also able to offer their clients the convenience of a single local number so that parties could join a conference call (often used in professional services) by pushing a number on their phone while calling into the normal office line.
Ali Aalaei, principal of ARI Law PC said, “Halloo provides our clients in the Bay Area and in Asia an incredibly accessible way to communicate with our team here in San Francisco and Orange County.”
Chances are, if you do any sort of local advertising, you’re not sure how to quantify how well it’s working. A local DID number from a hosted phone service provider can help you track the effectiveness of your ad campaigns so easily, it’ll be a small wonder how you lived without such visibility before.
These days, many small businesses are inundated with pitches from vendors promising them easy ways to get more customers, mostly from the Web. There’s so many choices it can be confusing and with more choices than ever before, even the local Yellow Pages ad reps are promising “Google Gold.”
But how can you tell if any of it’s working? And, if you feel some of it is – how do you know exactly how much you’re getting from it?
Even if you’re sending as few as 25 e-mails from Microsoft Outlook or your e-mail client, as “news” or a “newsletter” e-mail, you could easily get your IP address blocked, preventing future e-mails from getting delivered to your customers – even if you’re just sending a single e-mail. First, let’s understand three important definitions –
IP Address: An IP address is a series of numbers assigned to a device connected to the internet to obtain host/network identification and location. ISPs will use your IP address to determine where your e-mails are coming from. Here’s how to find your IP address.
ISP: An Internet Service Provider (ISP) is the company that provides your connectivity to the internet. Each ISP can, and usually does, have their own spam filtering systems. See a list of the top ISPs in the US.
Whitelisting: Each ISP’s spam filtering system works in part by asking those who send bulk e-mails (which can be as little as 25 e-mails sent in a short burst of time) to apply for approval to send such mass e-mails in a process known as “whitelisting”.
