Companies We Love
GH in the news- @Grasshopper
- Interested in getting an 855 number? We're taking reservations now - http://bit.ly/ailETt
- RT @chrisgeyer: excited i get to talk with more of our @grasshopper customers today as well
- RT @melilitts: I use @grasshopper as the main means of communication within my business, since our team is spread all over the US!
Local Numbers Archive
Local Numbers Have Benefits Too Ya Know
The first thought that comes to your head when you hear the term “virtual phone system” is probably not “local numbers.” You’ve heard us talk all about the benefits 800 numbers offer, but what about local numbers? They can do more for your business than many people realize.
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Local numbers make your customers feel more connected to you.
Clients often prefer to deal with businesses in their own locale. An 800 number may make your business seem too impersonal or large. Customers can have the convenience of making a call to a local number as opposed to an 800 number or an unrecognizable area code.
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More than one number
Depending on your business size and needs, you may need more than one local number. For example if you run a business out of Massachusetts that is partially in Boston and partially in Western Massachusetts, you may want both a 617 and a 508 number for your customers. If you’re doing business in multiple cities across the country, having more than one local number is a good idea too to give your business a multi-city appeal.
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Outside international calls
International callers often cannot dial toll free US 1-800 numbers, but can dial local numbers. This is beneficial for your company if they conduct a lot of international business.
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Same great features!
If you have a local number you would like to keep, Grasshopper can easily port it. And with a local number comes all of the same great features like unlimited extensions and custom greetings.
Our own company is an example of having both a toll free and local number. We have a direct 617 Boston area code for local and international customers and an 800 number for customers who prefer toll free. Search for available local numbers!
Creating a Dedicated Support Line for Your Business
One of the great things about our phone system is that it can be used in different (and creative) ways. While yes, it’s intended to be used as a full-featured, make your company sound big phone system, our customers have made it their own. Some people use it strictly as a voicemail service, some use it as a call forwarding service and one customer uses it to provide clients with personalized extensions.
A new use we came across recently was a customer using their Grasshopper number as a dedicated support line. What a great idea! We certainly have customers who use extensions for support/sales/departments/etc, but I’d never really thought about using an account just for Support.
As it turns out, there are actually quite a few benefits to this:
Professionalism
One of our main priorities here is to “Help entrepreneurs stay connected and sound professional”. Why? Because to customers, perception is reality.
A dedicated support line certainly shows customers that you are professional, successful enough to have a support team & you are there to help them when they need it. Whether this line forwards to a 100-person support team or your home office doesn’t really matter.
Grasshopper Invades Canada (Toronto to be Specific)
Well, the Grasshopper Buzz Team is at it again. We are heading to another city (or country in this case) to meet local entrepreneurs and share some free drinks! Only this time it’s a bit more exciting than usual…
For the first time in Grasshopper History (–> Insert Star Wars Theme Music) we’re going to be able to offer Local Canadian Numbers (currently in beta but available to everyone in the next couple of months)!! We decided in honor of the occasion we needed to do something fun.
So what did we do?
We partnered with a great organization and decided to throw a fun event. We joined forces with the Canadian Youth Business Foundation (CYBF). Not only are the folks over there just as passionate about helping entrepreneurs as we are, but they do some great things to inspire & mentor young Toronto entrepreneurs.
On June 1st at 6pm Grasshopper and CYBF will take over the roof deck of The London Tap House. Read more »
A Virtual Phone System for Non-Profits
One of the great things about Grasshopper is that it can be used by just about any company, in any industry. We have customers who work in construction, law, accounting, transportation, real estate, marketing and many other industries.
One industry that’s really started to pop up on our radar here as of late is the non-profit sector. Several customers have reached out to us and let us know not only how valuable the Grasshopper virtual phone system has been to their non-profit organization but also how they actually use it.
Here are 3 ways Grasshopper can help non-profits:
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Phone # for Volunteers
Volunteers are an integral part of many non-profit organizations. They help man the phones, run events, organize fundraisers and much more. With tight budgets, not all non-profits can afford to provide phones or even walkie talkies to every volunteer and trying to keep track of everyone’s cell phone number can be next to impossible. Read more »
Should You Have a Local Number for Business?
If you are a regular reader of the Grasshopper blog, you know that a main feature of our virtual phone system is the toll free number. What many people may not know is that we also offer local numbers for cities across the United States.
While a toll free number is a great way to give your customers an easy way to communicate with you, a local number can have a positive effect as well.
There are two main advantages to having a local number:
Create a Local Presence
The great thing about having a local number is that you can create a presence in a particular city. As a bigger company, it can be beneficial to have local numbers in cities where large percentages of your customer base live.
Local numbers also allow you to increase your local presence through local business listings, phone books, online search results and more. This could prove to be especially important as search engines like Google continue to show more and more localized results to searchers.
With the New Year, Exciting Changes are Knocking on The Numbers Door!
I am very pleased to announce to everyone that we plan on doing some great things with our number inventory after the New Year. Some of these changes are already in progress and are taking place in our Number Porting Process.
What are these exciting changes?
- Local Number Inventory Expansion including Canadian DIDs
- Automation of Grasshopper Porting Process
We are in the process of finalizing a contract with a carrier that can issue us Canadian local numbers. Our goal is to have Canadian numbers available for the first of 2010. We will be getting in touch with our Canadian customers via email in an attempt to find out how many numbers and what areas they need the most so that we can order them accordingly.
