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- 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!
virtual phone number Archive
Why Your Business Should Have an 800 Number
In today’s economy, it’s important to make your business seem like number one. That means as a small 1-5 person business, you need to look and sound as professional as the big guys. An 800 number can not only help you sound bigger but can also make life easier for everyone. Here are seven reasons your small business should have an 800 number:
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An 800 number centralizes your business. Even if your employees are located in five different states, you still only need one number.
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It’s easier for customers to remember your number, especially when you use vanity numbers (think 1-800-Flowers).
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Customers are more likely to call an 800 number simply because it’s free!
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You own your 800 number. Change businesses, locations, etc…the number is still yours.
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They are easily transferable. Your business has grown tenfold and you need a bigger phone system but you don’t want to have to change your number. Good news, you don’t have to! Take it with you.
5 Reasons Not to Use a Virtual Phone System
If you are a small business owner and you don’t have the Grasshopper virtual phone system, there must be a good reason. If you are a small business owner and you don’t want the Grasshopper virtual phone system, well, it’s probably for one of these five reasons:
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You don’t believe in toll free. Customers should pay to call you.
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You enjoy getting business calls to your personal number. So does your wife/husband
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You don’t think a phone system for $10 a month could possibly sound professional.
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Your business isn’t going to grow so you won’t need more extensions.
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You never leave the office so you don’t have to worry about missing an important call or message.
If any of these are true, then the Grasshopper virtual phone system is definitely not for you. If they aren’t, well maybe you should go find out more.
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Why You Should Pick a Virtual Office
Opening and maintaining an office is one of the costliest moves a new business can make. The obvious expense is the monthly rent, but the financial investment in running an office far exceeds the rent. At minimum, you will need desks and chairs. Most companies eventually want filing cabinets and a water cooler (plus scheduled delivery.) Of course, an office also needs its own Internet connection.
All these costs (and others) are why veteran entrepreneurs advise going without an office early on. That said, some businesses objectively need things like a professional mailing address, a business phone system and meeting areas.
Virtual Receptionists & Assistants
Entrepreneurs frequently take on loaded schedules and find themselves shoving repetitive tasks to the back burner. Traditionally, the solution has been hiring assistants whose sole jobs are to complete those tasks. However, it is actually not necessary for an assistant to physically work beside you in an office. A growing number of entrepreneurs are hiring virtual assistants instead.
3 Fun Ways to Use Your Virtual Number
One of the things we talk a lot about is using Grasshopper to help your business sound more professional. Yes, it’s true, a virtual number with custom greetings, on-hold music and voice mail can help your business sound bigger and certainly more professional, but it can also be fun.
Having your own 800 number with unlimited extensions, voicemail greetings, custom music…imagine the possibilities!
Here are three fun ways you can use your virtual phone number:
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Joke of the Day
What if you were put on hold, only to be told a joke? Being on hold wouldn’t be so bad would it? Knock knock jokes, kids jokes, puns, jokes about your industry or profession, etc. Just be sure to keep it tasteful.
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Dating Extension
Single? What if you could know it was a personal call before you even picked up? Just like you can create dedicated extensions for specific clients, you can create dedicated extensions for love interests. No more awkwardness, no more wondering who is calling or what you are going to say. When the caller ID shows your dedicated extension, you can be ready.
Stay Up to Date on March Madness with Grasshopper
As the tournament kicks off today, productivity all over the U.S decreases dramatically. For those of us in the office, we can check the scores online and for some brave souls, watch the games at CBS.com with the “Boss Button“.
But what about those who are in meetings or on sales calls and can’t check the score? What if your favorite team is on?
With Grasshopper, this tragedy can be averted.
While you may not be able to break out your phone to check the score, you can take an important call right?
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Using your Grasshopper 800 or local number, set up a March Madness extension.
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Tell your friends who are not working to call this extension to provide updates (lets just stick with half-time, 12 minutes and final).
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When the call is forwarded to your cell phone, you will see the extension and immediately know it’s a score update.
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Politely excuse yourself, stating you have to take this call, and immediately get the latest news.
Colleagues and associates will be none the wiser and you won’t have to worry about missing any news about your team.
*We don’t actually recommend doing this but hey, do what you have to do.
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.
10 Facts About 800 Numbers You May Not Know
While we have an FAQ section on the site, I thought we could address a few things specifically about 800 numbers right here on the blog.
Here are a few common facts about 800 numbers that you may not know. 
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A “true” 800 number is simply a toll free number with an “800″ prefix.
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You own your 800 number.
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800 numbers are portable. If you change service providers, you can take your 800 number with you.
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800 numbers that spell out a company name, product, etc are called “vanity numbers”.
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800 numbers have been around for over 35 years.
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800 numbers are regulated by the FCC.
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800, 888, 866 & 877 are all toll free numbers. The only difference is the numbers themselves.
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800 numbers can be used for home numbers as well as business numbers.
Top 3 Benefits of a Toll Free Number
Toll free numbers are a great tool for any business and are extremely easy to get these days. You can search and buy an 800 number as easily as you can a t-shirt (Note: A toll free number will probably have a more positive impact on your business than a t-shirt).
But if you are wondering just how a toll free number can help your business, we have listed 3 key benefits to toll free numbers:
1. Professionalism
As anyone familiar with Grasshopper knows, one of our brand promises is to help entrepreneurs sound professional. A toll free number not only helps your small business look big, but it also helps it look (and of course sound) professional.
Would you feel more comfortable buying from a business with a standard voicemail message or a company with a dedicated business number and professional greeting?
Five of the Best 800 Numbers
Being in the business of 800 numbers, we love to see what other people are using, especially when it comes to vanity numbers. Vanity numbers are a great way to market your business and help your customers find, contact and remember you.
Most of us are familiar with big names like 1-800-FLOWERS, 1-800-CONTACTS or 1-800-MATTRESS but there are so many other numbers out there, creative ones. Since it’s Friday we thought we’d have a little fun and show some of the lesser known 800 numbers out there.
Here are 5 of our favorite 800 numbers:
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800-Giant-Men
The Gentle Giant moving company sure knows how to grab our attention.
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800-Virus-No
McAfee makes it known just what their product does. Backwards but you still get the point.
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800-Junk-USA
College Hunks Hauling Junk found just the right 800 number. Unless of course they used 800-Junk-Hunks
