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.

Simplicity

Have you ever called a company for support and been forced to listen to 10 different menus? Of course you have, we all have! It can be extremely frustrating, and when you are already frustrated it certainly doesn’t endear you to the company you are trying to reach.

With a dedicated line, there’s no sifting through the phone tree. Your customer reaches the right department and can then be directed based on need. Remember the old adage, Keep it Simple Stupid.

Minute Usage

If you’re using a virtual phone system, your plan is most likely based on minute usage. One of the common traits we’ve seen in companies who go over their minutes, is they typically have a sales or support line, which can take up a ton of minutes as your business grows. Having a separate line/account may be just the answer.

To break it down, for a company on the Ramp plan ($24/500 minutes), it may make more sense to upgrade to the Grow plan ($49/2,000 minutes), but for those on the Grow plan, it probably doesn’t make sense to upgrade to the Max plan ($199/10,000 minutes). A better solution may be adding another Ramp plan to use for the support line. You don’t have to worry about minute overage and it won’t cost too much more.

Using a Grasshopper number as a dedicated support line (a Sales line would apply here too) appears to be a pretty good idea and one I’m glad was brought to our attention.

With the recent flooding in the South many companies, including the Small Business Association, are unable to answer their phones.

Grasshopper is offering free service to small businesses in Nashville affected by the flooding. Set up custom greetings to let customers know what is happening or have your calls forwarded to another number.

Contact Grasshopper at 800-820-8210 to get set up.

We’ve gathered a few of our favorite tweets from the past month and are sharing them here on the blog. We also want to send a big thank you to everyone who has helped promote Grasshopper over the course of our six years!

Will Smidlein @nullfear

Stephanie Cedeño @smcedeno

Lou Imbriano @LouImbriano

ELRoman29@elroman29

Greg Hoffmeister@gwhoffmeister

Joe Hobot@joehobot

Feel free to tweet us @grasshopper. Want more information on our virtual phone system? Go see how it works.

Which core values a company adopts (and how consistently they are adhered to) influence the future of that company and how customers, employees and stakeholders come to perceive it. Unfortunately, it is all too common for companies to profess allegiance to their core values while behaving in utter disregard of them. Consequently, many entrepreneurs now regard “core values” as synonymous with TPS reports, synergy and other Dilbert-esque platitudes.

With core values being such an important aspect of Grasshopper, today we examine nine other companies who not only have core values, but also embody them through their business.

Southwest Airlines

Southwest Airlines is the textbook example of a company that takes its core values dead seriously. From day one of operations, co-founder Herb Kelleher let it be known that Southwest was committed first and foremost to the customer experience. To that end, the company took great pains to hire only enthusiastic, outgoing and friendly employees who took pride in theirs job and bought into the corporate culture Kelleher & Co. had established.

Applicants deemed to be lacking in these traits are reflexively turned away, regardless of how impressive their résumés might otherwise be. Of the 100,000 applications that Southwest receive each year, only 2,000-3,000 individuals are hired.

As BusinessWeek explains, Southwest’s corporate culture has been a major driving force behind its continued success. Southwest was the only airline to remain profitable after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, due in large part to its workforce (and its fuel buying strategies.)

Google

Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin expressed Google’s core values early on in the phrase “Don’t Be Evil.” And despite criticism of what some believe to be intrusive advertising in Gmail and other services, Google has largely kept its word. In addition to challenging government requests for user data, Google recently made headlines by refusing to continue censoring its Chinese search results.

Google has also prized raw intelligence throughout its history, preferring to hire PhDs and academic superstars for positions throughout the organization. Innovation, too, is a long-standing priority at Google. All programmers, for example, are permitted to use up to 20% of their work time on projects they believe the company would benefit form. Instead of merely encouraging innovation, Google took the rare step of making it a mandated part of every workday.

Men’s Wearhouse

The Men’s Wearhouse defines its corporate values in its signature slogan “You’re gonna like the way you look. – I guarantee” To that end, Men’s Wearhouse stores do not simply hang out their merchandise and advertise sale prices on the radio. Rather, customers are immediately greeted and helped by “suit consultants” who assess what occasion(s) you need a suit for. Then, customers are asked a series of questions about which colors and styles they like.

After gathering information, the suit consultant proceeds to lay out three or more options for each item (tie, shirt, sportcoat, belt, etc.), each in a different price range and all of which will look good in combination with one another. Only after customers try on their suits and admit to liking the way they look will the consultant close the sale. In this way, buying a suit at the Men’s Wearhouse is an actively guided experience in which customers are steered toward the best suit for them.

PayPal

Security has been core value number one at PayPal since its early days, when rampant fraud threatened to bankrupt the company even as it was turning substantial profits. Today, PayPal continues to place supreme importance on providing a safe service for its users and their transactions. Credit card holders, for instance, receive prompt phone calls from PayPal if their cards are charged an abnormally high number of times (or used at a high number of places) within a single day.

Those wishing to transfer more than $500 per month from PayPal to outside bank accounts are subjected to rigorous screening, including mailing photocopies of their driver’s license, Social Security card and pay stubs to PayPal’s fraud division in Nebraska. These and other security measures have their origins in PayPal’s beginnings, which remain an ever-present reminder to prioritize security above all else.

Craigslist

In 2006, ZDNet described how Craigslist CEO Jim Buckmaster, a self-proclaimed “socialist anarchist and communist” runs his company in the image of his personal values. In many ways, Craigslist is as anti-corporate as any startup that comes to mind. Speaking about eBay’s 25% stake in the company, Buckmaster revealed that he only agreed to it on the condition that eBay had no interest in running the business end of things. He also defended Craigslist’s long-standing policy of not running text ads on the grounds that “users haven’t asked for them yet.”

Indeed, Buckmaster went so far as to explicitly declare that Craigslist “is not trying to maximize revenue.” While many would scoff at the notion of a business not committed to growth, there is no denying that Craigslist (at Buckmaster’s behest) has in word and deed embodied the core values set forth at the time of its creation to up to the present day.

Johnson & Johnson

A staple of management and business ethics curriculums, Johnson & Johnson has a long and proud tradition of adhering to its core values. As the brands website states: “We believe our first responsibility is to the doctors, nurses and patients, to mothers and fathers and all others who use our products and services.”

It was an unprecedented act of loyalty to core values when Johnson & Johnson ordered a massive, $100 million recall of Tylenol following reports of cyanide poisonings in 1982. While it would arguably have been easier (and cheaper) to deal with lawsuits from the poisoning deaths on a case-by-case basis, Johnson & Johnson wasted no time pulling its top-selling product off of store shelves across the country – even though the contaminations were later found to have occurred only in Chicago.

Starbucks

Starbucks’ core values include community service, eco-friendliness and Third World aid. As ABC News reported in March 2010, Starbucks has fulfilled its promises in those areas by becoming one of the world’s most ethical companies (according to a Ethisphere Institute ranking.)

For years, Starbucks has committed to only buying coffee beans in countries that practice “fair trade and even became the world’s foremost purchaser of fair-trade coffee in 2009, according to the UK’s Times Online. Starbucks has also been an outspoken advocate for clean water in Third World countries, having poured millions of dollars into the cause.

The company’s Ethos water product, for example, helps fund such initiatives by donating $0.05 of each $1.80 bottle to clean water projects in under-developed areas. Starbucks is also reported to have played a substantial role in the reconstruction of New Orleans following 2005′s Hurricane Katrina.

Volvo

Most car companies are known for something specific – luxury (Mercedes), speed (Ferrari), or reliability (Honda), to name just a few. But throughout its history, Volvo has subjugated each of these things to its primary core value of safety. While Volvo has admittedly not always produced the flashiest vehicles, they have consistently come out on top in safety tests and rankings for decades – which is reflected in the notoriously low cost of insuring a Volvo.

The company’s engineers obsess endlessly about how to reduce the impact of collisions, make brakes more responsive and in innumerable other ways ensure that drivers are protected from threats on the road. And despite Volvo’s recent emphasis on producing better-looking vehicles, safety is and has always been their first priority.

Walmart

Since Sam Walton founded the company in 1962, Walmart has been driven by one core value: everyday low prices. As the eye-opening book The Wal-Mart Effect explains, Walmart has managed to offer a breathtaking variety of products and services for sale at historically low prices through a number of methods, including innovative inventory technology and outsourced labor. And despite frequent criticism from journalists, academics and politicians, Walmart’s low prices appear to be a net benefit to the overall economy.

A 2005 Washington Post article, for instance, cites New York University’s Jason Furman, who calls Walmart a “progressive success story” due to the fact that its low prices “on food alone boosts the welfare of American shoppers by at least $50 billion a year.” While other retailers have strayed from the low-price path, Walmart has remained true to its core values and continues to turn substantial profits, even during the current recession.

I don’t think online chat is the best way to communicate. In fact, it’s probably the worst. So it may surprise you to hear that we’ve been considering adding chat support to our lineup of support options at Grasshopper.

Why do I think chat sucks?

For one thing, you never really know if the other person is still there, if they’re AFK (that’s chatspeak for away from keyboard) or if they’ve fallen off the face of the planet (that’d be FOTFOTP).

Still, I’m convinced that there are great uses for it. For example, asking quick pre-sales questions when you’ve got laryngitis. That’s why I go out of my way to try other company’s chat support. I’m looking for the company that’s finally found a way to make it work.

I’m told that chat is great because it’s instantaneous and convenient. Well, if that’s true, why do I always feel like I’m waiting for the service rep on the other end to finish their 15 other chats before they finally get back to me? And why does it seem to take forever to finally get across the nature of my issue? I’m always wondering did they really get what my issue was or are they now just too embarrassed to ask me the 5th time around for further clarification.

But I’m like most people, when I have a problem, I’ll go for chat if I think that I’ll end up on hold for a long time when I call.  Unfortunately, I often find that I’m instantly chatting with a lower tier of service staffed by agents with the least experience. I’ve had more than one chat session end by the agent asking me to call instead because they don’t have the ability to help me. That was a real time saver.

So what’s a good solution for offering chat support that doesn’t suck? As far as I know, It doesn’t exist yet, but here’s my dos and don’ts:

• Do have a click to call button directly on the chat window that allows someone to simply call whoever they are chatting with. Instead of telling me to call in and then start all over explaining myself to a new agent, let us pick up where chat fell short and solve this issue quickly.

• Don’t force service reps to cover multiple chat sessions. It’s okay to take on another client when I’m not responding. It’s only fair. But when you’re chatting with, say, 10 clients simultaneously, you’re making no one happy.

• Don’t use chat as the training ground for support staff. Unlike the phone, you can’t immediately sense a client’s mood or assess their tone of voice. You need knowledgeable people staffing the chat so they can read between the lines.

Do you have any tips on how to make chat support better?

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.

While there are companies out there that help your business handle this process internally, what makes Grasshopper’s virtual phone system so unique is that it actually makes it easier for your customers to communicate with you.

What are the benefits to your customers?

• A personalized number, with personalized greetings immediately tells the client they are important to you. The customer has something that is dedicated to them.
• Imagine if you called up a business and they greeted you by name before you even said who it was. This isn’t something that commonly happens and can go a long way toward transforming a customer into a brand loyalist.
• A customer calls, you see the number and immediately are able to pull up all their information before you even say hello, saving them time.
• With a dedicated extension & voice mail, the client knows even if they have to leave a voice mail, it will not get lost in a sea of others.

Creating personalized extensions and greetings is really a great way to use the unlimited extensions feature and definitely something other small businesses should consider. It is an invaluable way to make your clients feel special and helps both parties be more efficient.

Are there any other creative ways companies are using their phone system to make customers feel important?

You spend your days as maestro of carefully controlled chaos. Conducting conference calls, contacting clients, closing contracts. You email, tweet, blog, post profiles, and tap out text messages. You rehearse your elevator pitch, tune up your marketing plan and attend industry conferences. For relaxation, you consume every classic business book and must-read relevant weblog just to keep current.

Now, do it all with your eyes closed.

What makes me an unlikely entrepreneur is that I am a business owner who is blind. My success as an entrepreneur with a disability has less to do with how I feel about it, and more to do with how well I manage it.

One of the ways I’ve learned to manage the demands of my work day is to become meticulously well-organized. Another is to rely on the ingenious assistive technologies that enable me to accomplish daily tasks.

Genuine accessibility, whether it is attained through the use of technology or realized by way of excellent customer service, is what makes the difference between achievement and aggravation.

Assistive Technology

You may not have ever heard the term “assistive technology” before.

Wikipedia defines assistive technology (AT) as “A generic term that includes assistive, adaptive, and rehabilitative devices for people with disabilities and includes the process used in selecting, locating, and using them.”

Assistive technology makes what I do over the course of a work day possible. I use many of the same tools that you use — computer, cell phone, digital voice recorder — but my tools talk to me.

Without a doubt, the single most important AT product I use is a screen reader. Simply put, a screen reader is a software program that speaks aloud everything that happens on the computer screen that a sighted person would see. Menus, documents, dialogue boxes, error messages, tool tips, email, icons and web site content is all read aloud by the software.

Additionally, all navigation and features of a web site or software program can be accomplished by using keyboard commands. People who are blind generally do not use a mouse. If the web designer or software programmer have done their job well, I have access to every feature and function available to a sighted PC user.

A Good Example is Grasshopper.com

The critical functionality of the web site is screen reader accessible. I am able to easily move around on the web site, checking out the videos, registering for service, choosing my service package. Best of all, it is great customer service that makes for a truly barrier-free experience.

In my view, accessibility means more than high tech gadgets, wheelchair ramps and Braille dots. It is as much about attitude as it is about architecture. After all, what difference does it make to have access to an establishment if we are ignored once we’re there? We may as well conduct our business shouting from the sidewalk.

True accessibility is more than a mandate, it’s a mind set.

So, while you are vigorously conducting your own concerto of chaos, think of ways to add some sweet notes of accessibility to your enterprise. While there are plenty of experts to help you achieve the web usability compliance standards as set forth by the W3C, you can also improve upon customer service standards to allow for new ways to make accommodations for customers with disabilities. This will not only increase customer loyalty, it can also enhance your brand by imparting the rich overtones of trust and goodwill.

That’s why Grasshopper has in me a customer for life!

Laura Legendary is a speaker, author and educator specializing in disability awareness, advocacy, accessibility and assistive technology.. She is the owner of Legendary Insights, which consists of several sites devoted to different aspects of disability and in-home health care. Contact Laura at Eloquent Insights, In-Home Insights or Accessible Insights. She is also on Twitter @Insightsempire.

I wanted to share with you a new initiative we are trying here at Grasshopper. It is called “Grasshopper Customers & Friends Dinner” (pretty straight forward right?). If you haven’t realized it yet we here at Grasshopper love interacting with our customers. Not only do we enjoy meeting new entrepreneurs, but some of our best business ideas have come directly from our customers.

If you have seen our “Friday Flix” you also know Grasshopper employees love good food and the occasional beer (coming soon – view of the office from Beer-Scooter Cam). So we thought, “What could we do to combine all of these things?” Hence, we arrived at “Grasshopper Sponsored Dinner”…because oh ya, everyone loves free things!

As we travel across America going to various conferences/business meetings, we are going to make an effort to have “Grasshopper Customers & Friends Dinners” along the way. Having said that, I leave you with 2 action items:

1. If you live in the Greater Boston Area we have our first dinner this Thursday (Nov. 12th), 7:30 pm at Skipjacks Seafood in Newton, MA (on 55 Needham St.)
2. RSVP here: http://ghdinner.eventbrite.com
3. If you are not in the Boston Area but are interested in this sort of thing please note in the comments section what city you are near and we will try and reach out next time we are there!

Thanks so much, and hope to see you as SkipJack’s on Thursday.

Jonathan

** jkay@grasshopper.com with any questions comments, or concerns **

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. Often times the end of the week comes around before I know it and I start stressing out because I have so much left to do – and I still need to make my customer calls. This stress sort of bums me out because I know that the best calls I have with customers are the ones where my full attention can be devoted to them. The last thing I want to do is to haphazardly rush through these calls at the end of the week just so I can get my other work done and also put a checkmark next to my name stating that I made my calls that week.

One day recently, as I was about to leave the office and begin my 75 minute trek home in rush-hour traffic, I again realized that it was Thursday evening and still had not made my customer calls. I then had an interesting thought:

Could I make these calls in my car while sitting in traffic?

At first I told myself that this would not be good for the customers I talked to because I would not be at my computer to assist them. I then challenged that thought with the fact that I was pretty sure I could answer any questions people had off the cuff as I do have a decent amount of product knowledge. I also knew chatting with customers in traffic would allow me to really engage with them in dialogue and not be rushed – like it or not, I was not leaving my car for a good, long time.

I decided I’d conduct this little experiment and see the results. If it went well I’d continue and if not, I wouldn’t. Pretty simple. The results of the experiment were actually quite good. Minus the struggling to dial the phone numbers (I’ll pre-program them next time), the calls were some of the best I have had with customers. I was able to help out a couple of customers with basic setup questions as well as have a nice conversation with someone who has a couple of accounts and really loves our service.

So…if you hate traffic as I do and want to use this time in a more meaningful way than cursing at the people in front of you, try talking to customers and making personal connections with them!