Partner Offers
GH in the news- @Grasshopper
- Find some of the GH Labs crew & @Chargify at #SXSW http://bit.ly/aGLNUC
- @picobits - We have no immediate plans to implement a softphone feature.
- RT @OPENForum: 4 Employee Benefits at Little (or Zero) Cost. http://www.bit.ly/a42ABx
Small Business Archive
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.
Choosing the Best Phone System for Your Small Business
When you start a business there are obviously a number of things you need to think about. One of these things is your phone system. While it may seem fine to start with your cell phone, eventually you will want to expand, have a dedicated number, hire employees and so on. Using your personal cell phone probably isn’t going to work for long.
What is it you will really need though? A big expensive PBX system? An extra phone line? A virtual phone system is a low cost solution that may be exactly what you need.
Here are a few things to consider when choosing your phone system & plan:
Phone Numbers
Your phone number is the first thing to consider and hopefully will stay with you as your business grows. Your phone number will be how your customers communicate with you.
Featured Entrepreneur: Allan Branch of LessAccounting
This week we are featuring Allan Branch. He’s the co-founder of LessAccounting and also a Grasshopper customer.
Could you explain the philosophy of Less?
We believe business software should easy. It should get out of your way, allowing you to get back to work and make money. Being a business owner is hard enough without having your software make it harder.
I’d love to hear more about your path to entrepreneurship. What were you guys doing before you started Less?
I was a freelance designer and Steve was a contractor doing software engineering. We both were looking for each other we just didn’t realize it at the time.
I’d like to focus on LessAccounting for a second. In college, I had to take this awful accounting class where we learned Peachtree accounting software. After this experience, I vowed to stay as far away from accounting as I could. How does LessAccounting help a guy like me (who can barely add)?
We like to say all bookkeeping software sucks we just suck the least. Bookkeeping should be easy, after all it’s really just adding and subtracting. LessAccounting keeps things simple, organizing your data, showing you where you’re at, who owes you money, who you owe money to, and then having a variety of reports that make it easy to understand your business. We also have bookkeepers on staff ready to help you if you have questions and even help balance your books for you. Ask Intuit or Peachtree to help you do a bank reconciliation.
Unlimited Extensions Create Personal Touch with Customers
It recently came to my attention that one of our customers, The KARS Consulting Group, is using our Unlimited Extensions feature in a brilliant way.
As a small consulting company or freelancer with a handful of clients, your relationship with each client is imperative to the success of you and your business. Any extra effort or personal touch goes a long way. So what is this entrepreneur doing that is so great?
Creating personalized extensions for each client.
Each client has their own extension with a personalized name greeting and voicemail. When the client calls in, they’re addressed with a greeting specifically for their company, the business knows who is calling so the call can be routed to the right person, and even when no one can take the call, there is a personalized voicemail message. What a great concept!
By creating these personal extensions, your business is able to accurately track call time through online call reports, save time by automatically directing calls to the right people and eliminate miscommunication issues. All without any extra costs.
Create a Good First Impression with Custom Greetings
Remember the Seinfeld episode where George decides to create a catchy jingle for his answering machine?
Aside from a website, your phone greeting could be the first impression customers or potential customers have of your business. While it doesn’t have to be as clever as George’s, it’s important that it sounds professional and helps the caller with what they are looking for.
Here are a few tips for creating a main greeting:
-
Make sure there is no distracting background noise i.e. ambulances racing by, phones ringing, tv commercials.
-
When using background music, make sure you choose music that fits your business. Pop music for a spa probably isn’t the best strategy.
-
Enunciate your words clearly to ensure the caller can understand your greeting. Avoid strong accents.
Grasshopper & Web 2.0 Show Partner to Help Entrepreneurs
Grasshopper and the Web 2.0 Show have teamed up to help entrepreneurs like you promote your business.
“Pitch the Show” is a new element to the Web 2.0 Show that gives ANY person the chance to be featured on the show! You will have the opportunity to talk about your business in front of a large audience as well as a monthly special guest who has left their mark in the entrepreneurial world. It’s a great opportunity to gain exposure and extremely simple:
“Call 1-888-WEB20SHOW and give your best 90 second pitch about your business.”
Two pitches will be selected each month and along with exposure on the Web 2.0 Podcast, you will be featured on the Grasshopper blog.
It’s important to remember that Twitter is a big part of this contest as well. By engaging @grasshopper and @web20show on Twitter you can actually influence your chances of getting featured. Here at Grasshopper, listening is a really big part of what we do, and that is why we will be tracking hashtag #pitchtheshow, so make sure to tag your tweets!
For more information check out Web 2.0 Pitch the Show and start pitching your business!
Using Phone Numbers to Track Marketing ROI
As a small business it is often hard to track exactly where your customers are coming from; Television, radio, web, partners, etc, etc. While analytics have certainly made it easier to track web traffic, offline efforts aren’t as clear cut.
A great way to track offline marketing efforts and determine ROI is to use multiple phone numbers. Using separate phone numbers for separate campaigns can help you track where your visitor came from and give you insight into which campaign is working the best.
Using Multiple Phone Numbers to Track ROI:
-
Place a phone number on your website that is found no where else. This will allow you to track conversions from people visiting the site and then picking up the phone and buying. You can even create use separate numbers for your pay-per-click ads.
Featured Entrepreneur: Jared Taylor of RevitalArts
This week we are featuring Jared Taylor. Jared is the founder of RevitalArts, Sparklight Studios and is also a Grasshopper customer.
First off, you are a great example of a “Young Entrepreneur”. You’ve already been involved in founding how many companies? And are how old?
I’ve founded 2 companies. I started my first, Sparklight Studios, when I was 18 years old. Sparklight is a small creative company specializing in website development, video production and theatrical design. We’ve served nearly 20 clients since we started only 2 years ago, which has been quite an undertaking considering we’re college students. We just launched our new website – http://www.sparklight-studios.com. I also founded RevitalArts (formerly Youth in the Arts) in 2008 with a few friends.
Tell us a little bit about RevitalArts and what makes it so unique.
RevitalArts is an entirely student-run non-profit organization and we received our 501(c)(3) designation by the Federal government in mid-2009. Our mission is to provide young adults with positive, engaging and educational experiences in the arts and to revitalize the participation in and appreciation of the arts. Read more »
Hate Traffic? Try Talking to Customers.
In an effort to engage our customers and help them get the most use of our service, we at Grasshopper make sure that every new customer gets a personal phone call within the first week or so, asking them if they need any help, have any questions, etc.
As a manager, I make a handful of these calls each week and I always end up learning something new from talking to customers – seeing how they use our service to run their business and the types of questions that they have.
I really enjoy making these calls but one of the challenges I face each week is finding the time to make them. Read more »
3 Tips for Building a Behemoth Small Business Brand
You’re an entrepreneur or small business owner kicking the tires every day in an effort to build your company’s reputation.
You are already involved in marketing, sales, billing, human resources, and customer support.
With all those responsibilities to juggle, you’ve got to be looking for cost-effective tools that make your life easier. How can you build a blockbuster brand that will enhance your reputation and get your customers talking?
Here are 3 tips and some resources to help you get going:
