Of course, from your point of view, you take customer needs to heart and have pride in your service. It’s just those unscrupulous, money-grabbing companies out there that should be concerned about losing customers, right? Sadly not. The harsh truth is you may not even realise just how many opportunities can slip by you when going about your day-to-day business.
Firstly, there’s your traditional landline, which has always been the cornerstone of business communication. It’s often the first personal touch-point for new clients, from which relationships develop and grow. But what about the calls you miss? You can’t be at your desk all day and simply stepping away from it for a few moments or whenever you have a meeting can lead to an unanswered call and an opportunity missed.
Perhaps you’ve thought about this already and have set up a voicemail system. Good job! But the more missed calls you receive, the more voicemails you’ll have to wade through and the slower your response time will be. There’s little point in getting back to that customer two days after they have moved on to another supplier. But what if there was a simpler way? A system which allows you to access and manage voice messages anytime, anywhere?
Making yourself available to calls even when you are not in the office is key to successful business communication these days. Having a mobile number for people to reach you on is a step in the right direction, but relying on customers to hang up and redial to contact you on a separate mobile number can create a real barrier.
Even if you have an answering system or redirect your calls, there is nothing more frustrating to a customer than being passed from pillar to post, getting left on hold for long periods of time or hearing that infernal busy tone. Ultimately, customers begin to connect the dots of this frustration with your business as a whole and that’s bad reputation that no company needs.
However, with a virtual phone system, you can receive calls on any device, wherever you are. If someone is not available, you can ensure their calls are handled in the most effective way and customers are never left waiting. No more frustrations at missed calls, headaches over slow response times, or confusion over what number to contact the business on. Just simple, well-managed communications.
The phone system is not only the lifeblood of business communications, it also enables your company to strengthen its reputation every time you make it easier for customers to connect to the right person.
Originally published Jun 03, 2016, updated Aug 12, 2020
