For a start-up Business, using your personal contact Number may seem like a great idea. Start-ups are known for not having a lot of capital, so it can sound like a good way to save costs. Let’s face it, it’s economically effective, and missed calls wouldn’t be a worry because all your calls are coming in on the same line. Why would you need to switch to a different phone system? It’s a no-brainer.
Or is it?

Personal Phone Numbers Provide Limited Capabilities

Although using your personal number can be tempting, using it can also give your customers the wrong impression. Without call management, you would struggle to identify between potential client calls and personal calls – without knowing this type of information, you don’t know how to greet your caller and may accidentally give a bad first impression.

When your small business expands, you may end up feeling bound to your personal number for longer than you wish. Many businesses don’t like switching numbers, and for good reason too. Changing your advertised business number can cause a lot of disruption, not to mention the cost involved too.

Think of it this way, you are starting out and want to cut costs, so you advertise your personal number. You market and advertise this to your customers on your website, business cards, and marketing campaigns. Everyone knows how to reach you. But then your business outgrows the capabilities of your personal phone system.

You decide that you need a new business number and a phone system with much more flexibility, like a virtual landline number. So, you spend money updating this across your website, social media, and more. Even after all this work, you are not guaranteed that this will reach all your customers. You then start missing calls, which isn’t great for business.

A common solution to combat this is to get a virtual phone number. When you purchase a virtual phone number, you select the business number of your choice, and you can even redirect your calls to your personal mobile.

Two numbers under the one phone – personal and business. The perfect solution if you only want one phone!

Here are a few reasons why a virtual landline number is a better alternative to your personal phone number:

Your Business Presence with a Virtual Phone Number

A virtual landline number will give your business a much bigger presence. You can choose your new business number based on the impression you wish to give to your customers. Here are a few options you have to choose from when purchasing a virtual landline number and business VoIP phone system.

Local Numbers – increase interest in your local area
0800 Numbers – allow your customers to call for free
02 London Numbers – give your business a London presence without the expense of renting a London office
0333 Numbers – get a national presence with an 0333 virtual landline number

A great feature of virtual telephone numbers is Multiple Departments (auto attendant), which will instantly make your business feel bigger than it is. A huge benefit of having an auto attendant with your business VoIP phone system is that even though your customers are selecting an option, the calls can still all route through to your personal phone systems. Additionally, you can opt for calls to divert to any mobile of your choice.

For example, “Press 1 for Sales” can divert straight through to your sales team, your personal mobile, or both.

Tracking Customers

If you answer your business calls on your mobile, you may already know how difficult it is to keep track of your calls. With a business VoIP phone service, it allows you to keep track of all incoming and outgoing calls. You will have instant access to your call logs, a list of voicemails, call recordings, missed calls, and much more. These are all easily accessed at any time of the day through your online portal and phone app

Improve Your Customer Experience with a VoIP Phone System

With mobile phone systems, it is impossible to improve or control your customer’s experience during calls, as you are very limited. With business VoIP, you have endless options of customising and enhancing their experience and their overall satisfaction.
Here is an overview of some of the great features you can get with a SwitchboardFREE VoIP package to improve your customer satisfaction

• Fully customise your call introduction, out of hours message, and voicemail
• Turn on A.I. Greeting so you can welcome your callers by name, giving a much more personalised experience
• Call recording to refer to when it matters most
• Time of Day Routing so you can manage your calls during busy periods, lunch breaks, and meetings
• Customisable opening hours with a quick close option if you ever need to close your lines immediately
• Receive your voicemail audio clips directly to your email inbox, with full transcription available
• Missed call alerts so you can return their call at your earliest convenience
• Set your music-on hold to reflect your business image
• Redirect your calls to your personal phone, other staff members’ phones, with the option to ring everyone at the same time or in a sequence

SwitchboardFREE Phone App

With our VoIP system, you can download our SwitchboardFREE Phone App directly onto your personal mobile, allowing you to answer all your calls from the same device. The SwitchboardFREE Phone app will pop open when you have an incoming call, so you are aware that it’s a business call.

The Final Word

Virtual phone numbers couldn’t be simpler to get started, all you need is 10 minutes of your time and a good internet connection to receive and make calls.

Cloud-based VoIP systems are praised for their scalability and flexibility. You can start with a low-cost package and scale it up as your business grows, only paying for what you need and use. Using a personal phone may sound like a cost-saving initiative for start-ups but it could lead to customer dissatisfaction and cost more in the long run.

A better alternative is to present with a business number, by purchasing a virtual phone number, and redirect these calls to your personal phone. This is a cost-effective solution that can help your business growth, without affecting your customer’s experience.

The post Why You Shouldn’t Use Your Personal Number for Business Calls appeared first on SwitchboardFREE.