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.
Posted in News & Updates, Tips & Tricks | Tagged customer service, Local Numbers, tips, Toll Free Numbers | 3 Comments
Aside from the awesome information you get here on the Grasshopper blog, did you know that Grasshopper can help you with your marketing efforts? It’s true! In fact, we’ve outlined how below:
Vanity Numbers Can Increase Calls
Vanity numbers are custom toll free numbers that spell a word or mnemonic that helps customers easily remember your phone number (think 1 800 Flowers or 1 888 Best Buy). How much does it help? Vanity numbers can provide a business with a 25% to 69% increase in caller response rates!
While many of the best vanity numbers are taken, there are still great ones out there and with the eventual release of 855 numbers, even more will be available.
Phone Numbers Help Track ROI
When you are running several different marketing campaigns it can be tough to track ROI. While you can easily send someone to a specific URL, you can’t always send someone to a different phone number.
With a toll free or local number, you can actually create specific numbers for specific campaigns using extensions. Then using your call reports, you’ll know exactly how many people called that number and combined with a CRM, who bought your product. Create specific numbers for print, web or TV and know which are actually working!
Posted in Marketing & Brands | Tagged Local Numbers, Marketing & Brands, Toll Free Numbers | Leave a comment
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.
Posted in Entrepreneurship, Events | Tagged Local Numbers, new feature | Leave a comment
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.
Posted in Small Business, Toll Free & Local Numbers | Tagged Local Numbers, Small Business, virtual phone number | 1 Comment
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.
Posted in Small Business | Tagged 800 number, Local Numbers, Small Business, Toll Free Numbers, vanity numbers, virtual phone number, virtual phone system | 1 Comment ← Older posts Newer posts →
