If you want to maintain consistency of service, having a business phone number is essential. It enables your business to never miss a beat in transacting with your customers or other stakeholders. Many businesses consider increasing the budget allocated to a business phone number, because there are premium numbers available at a price. Did you know that there are plenty of other reasons why a business needs a dedicated number.
Here are some of the top reasons why businesses consider getting a phone number:
- Privacy – dedicating a specific phone number for your business saves you the hassle of providing your private number to the public. This also gives you, as an owner, a sense of privacy for your personal life. Not mixing business and pleasure, or business with private life is a luxury, as well as a necessity. People need to switch off at times.
- Business Hours – having a business number helps you stay in control of your work and life balance. Having strict business operating hours will also help your business to monitor the amount of traffic you get. This also sets structure to your day. It can create a professional image. It is better than giving out your person number or your mobile number.
- Personalised Greetings to Customers – it is good to have a greeting message for your customers when they connect to your line. Having a separate number solely for a business can help you set up a greeting message when you are both open and closed for operations.
- Call Routing and filtering – having a dedicated line can filter customers to where they want to be. This saves time and energy both for you, and for your customers.
A business phone number also helps you with your branding. The more consistent your branding is, the more customers you will recognise and remember you. Having one designated number for all your transactions saves you the stress of identifying clients calling your personal phone number.
If you are ready to dig deeper into this concept for your business, then keep scrolling down to make the most of buying a phone number for your business.
We all want what’s best for our business, however there is no guarantee that everything will be perfect and right the first time. You can make sure that everything goes according to plan when choosing a phone number.
How is that possible? First, make sure that it is a good phone number.
Identifying the ideal phone number for your business is challenging as there are many factors to consider. To save you from getting frustrated over it, here are some guidelines to save you time.
- Less is more – find the simplest number possible. If you want to get people to remember it then opt for an easy number combination. Patterns of numbers are easy to remember. Sequences of numbers can jog memories. Having a number that Rhymes to your marketing activities can also link the number to your business better.
- Associate it with words or images – when choosing a phone number, try to think of an element of your company or your marketing strategy that you can link with your phone number to help people remember it. Why? Because we tend to remember things by associating them with things that we already know.
- Spell a word – your mobile phone has letters for numbers. 2 is a, b, c. 3 is d, e, f. Can you make a word out of your phone number? Or vise-versa, having a phone number that spells a word makes it easy to remember. 01 motorbike or 01 6686 72453. Which is easier to remember?
Lucky numbers and bad numbers
If you hope that your business will expand outside the borders of your country then it is recommended that you embrace “GLOCAL” for your local consumers. “Glocal” is a term derived from local and global which means that you have a global mindset and reach, but you also accommodate the cultures, ideals, and needs of your local audiences. Using this to choose a good phone number for your business will help you thrive.
In certain countries in the West, you may notice that there is no 13th floor in many buildings. Why? Because superstitions exist in many countries and the number 13 is considered to be unlucky. Numbers associated with bad or good luck vary from one place to another, so itis important to know where your customers are and what they might consider to be lucky.
666 – some would consider this the number of the beast however that is not the case for everyone. In China for example, a number with 666 means that “things are going smoothly” and would be considered to be very lucky.
9 – In Japan, this number is bad luck because it sounds like word suffering in their country.
17 – In Italy, this is also considered unlucky because when rearranged in the Roman numeral XVII can create the word “VIXI”—translated from Latin to mean “my life is over.“
The bottomline here is to not overlook the meaning of the numbers so you choose, when deciding on a phone number because it could mean something different for different people.
In Numerology, every number leaves an impact. Living in a digitally dedicated world, mobile phones are considered a necessity and having a phone number is too. Thus, the phone number you have is directly linked to us and influences our life. Choosing the right number can be the start of a successful journey or the end of an idea.
Check the history of the phone number
For many businesses, phones are the first point of contact. Having a phone that makes a business look and feel professional, providing quality customer service is the first step to success. If you are buying a phone number, that phone number needs to look and feel professional too. Before purchasing the phone number you must complete the due diligence on it. Numbers have a history.
The Phone Number Recycling Dilemma is real and can cause some huge problems for businesses. It is the term that refers to the recycling of deactivated or disconnected numbers. These numbers often get reassigned when they are deactivated.
Making sure that a number is new and secure is a basic process everyone should go through before purchasing as it could have integrity risks for the business. As almost all social media applications require a phone number to retrieve an old account, it is also prudent to keep in mind that your new number could be linked to someone’s old social media account. To reduce the problems associated with getting an unwanted phone number, do a background check on social media, through search engines and spam filters on the number you have chosen.
If your new number was used by a spamming call centre, it could be blocked by thousands of people. If your new number used to be the phone number for an extremist group, you could receive hate calls as soon as you activate it.
The number, if it is a recycled number, needs to have been deactivated for long enough for all the negativity associated with it to have passed. It is best to avoid recycled numbers if you can.
You need to remember your number, in case you lose it, or someone tries to steal it. There is often personal and business information tied to your phone number. If you lose it, forget it, or if someone tries to steal it, there will be a detailed verification process just to retrieve the important details linked to your phone number.
Good news is, if you have an existing number switching to another carrier would not be as difficult as you imagine it could be. Today, it is simple.
Porting numbers over networks
Porting phone numbers is a process that gives telephone users the right to retain their phone number even if they are switching to another network service provider. You won’t need to notify your customers about the change, you simply retain what is yours. Now phone numbers can be for life.
The process of porting numbers is relatively easy:
- Find a new provider – since you will be switching, you need to find a replacement.
- Secure Important Account Information – details needed vary depending on carriers but common information like government-issued ID, proof of address, a copy of your bill from your current provider and money to pay the fees needed for the processing.
- Sign up to the new carrier – after processing the data and connecting to a new carrier, you are now ready to sign a new plan with the network provider of your choice. Do not forget to reiterate that you want to keep your old number when you start your new plan.
Although porting a phone number can be such an easy process, you still need to be responsible for your contract agreement with your old carrier, until it is closed and fully settled. You can check contract requirements and obligations before opting to port your number to avoid future problems. If you check your bank balance, and see missed transactions or high early termination fees, have been deducted, that would not be a pleasant surprise.
There are also other ways to ensure the information associated with your phone number is stored for back-up purposes. Applications like Google Drive offer this kind of service on clouding data.
Easy to remember numbers
If you buy a phone number for your business, simple is best since it is easier to remember. If your business is operating in a saturated market then get a phone number that people would not forget.
Here are some of the tips for phone numbers that can be easy to keep in mind:
1.Number Order
- Single repeats- 8888,5555
- Repeated pairs- 8855,6677
- Double repeated pairs- 5656,7878
- Consecutive numbers- 5678,1234
- Mirrored digits- 2332,6776
- Make it catchy
- Just like in advertising, you need to have something in your phone number that when people read it, they will associate something with it. A phone number that fits a tune can be your guide to help it be catchy.
- Can it rhyme with your marketing message? Call us on 855 44 22 – we are here for you. To remove that nuisance tree, call 855 44 33. When you need to look fine, dial 855 44 99
- Alphanumeric Number
- You can also boost your brand recognition and help increase your sales enquiries by using the alphanumeric number technique with your chosen phone number. To make it easier for callers to remember, using the alpha numeric numbers, to spell a word. Letters on a phone keyboard are associated with the numbers you press to read them.
As an example, a business named HYDROSE could have the number 0800 493 7673 which could be advertised alphanumerically as 0800 HYDROSE which will stick in the mind of customers over the standard number.
Spelling your company name out in numbers?
The third tip of setting your business phone number is a good idea to establish your brand in the market. If your business has still not built a strong presence in the market, incorporating your company name into your phone number is one way to boost your connections and create a relationship with your customers. Also, numbers are one of the things that are difficult for some people to remember since they are intangible yet they play a big role in people’s lives. They can be seen in IDs, postcodes, addresses, bank details and much more. Making sure that people remember your number is the start of a successful marketing journey.
Now before you buy a phone number make sure that you have an intelligent and creative strategy to make the phone number easy to remember for your customers. Fortunately, a challenger Telco like ConXHub gives you the ability to create multiple phone numbers all while using one mobile phone. You can also embrace your local clients GLOCALLY since your business can still appear locally even if you are making calls from abroad. You can even have a new number for your business in just minutes! ConXHub offers more than that so make sure before you buy a new phone number, you get to check their website and book a free demo.
Once you are done setting up a new phone number for your business, it would be easier for your customers and potential clients to find and buy your products or services. This is where the real challenge begins…
How will you market your business’ phone number? Should you print out business cards, brochures and leaflets? Should you have it play on the radio, TV and online adverts? Now that our life revolves around our mobile phones, it is best to have your number work to your business’ advantage.
Online platforms you can market your business’ phone number:
- Website – the first on the list is including it on your company’s website. You can insert it at the top or bottom of the page and always keep in mind that it should be visible on all the pages.
- Social Media – more and more people are searching organisations online, now, more than ever. Understanding how your target market consumes social media would be beneficial for your business. Make sure you have an active social media page where netizens can read your business’ information and learn your services. Famous social media outlets are Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn. Set up a business page account on each.
- Google My Business – when people look for businesses online,Google My Business can help your company in publicity by appearing in their search results. This is a free tool that can help you manage how the world views your company. For sure, you have tried to search stores near your location and get frustrated when contact numbers are not available? That is how GMB works. So, imagine if you have a phone number and someone tries to search for services or products related to what your company is offering. People can search your number, and your business will appear.
There is so much more to a business number that you first thought. To help you navigate the minefield of numbers, contact ConxHub, we can help.
