Of course it is not always the case. Many companies can be run incredibly successfully by one person out of the spare room in their flat – but like it or not, image is everything.
There are many reasons to have a virtual telephone number, many of which depend on the type and size of your business. Sole-trader? Make your business look bigger! Multi-national company? Get cheaper calls!
We’ve already spoken about the person who does not want to advertise their mobile number and this is quite a popular reason to get a virtual number. You may also think that it looks unprofessional to advertise a mobile number. But why else?
Give a big-business impression: there’s nothing wrong with being a small business. But some companies want to look bigger perhaps to appear longer established, more experienced and able to deal with customers more effectively. Having a virtual telephone number gives a better impression of a ‘professional business’.
Have more than one number: perhaps you’re a tradesperson based in one area but you’re able to cover other areas. You might like to have a series of trusted local telephone numbers. For instance, if you’re based in Leeds but can cover York, Sheffield and Bradford you might like to have a virtual telephone number for each area.
Portability: a virtual telephone number is hosted on the internet. This means that you can move around and travel freely as you’re not tied to one location. Your customers will have your business number to call and the call will reach you wherever you are.
Location: run your UK business from anywhere in the world. Have a long-established business but want to move to Spain? Go for it – your business can run as normal, all you need is the right tech and a virtual telephone number.
Expand your business: you can have offices all over the UK but your caller only calls one number. Alternatively, you can expand your business regionally and/or nationally and have as many virtual numbers as you need to suit you and your customers. Even if you are just adding departments to your business a virtual telephone number can help with this too.
When it comes to running a successful business, communication is absolutely critical. As the owner of a company, you’ve got to maintain a flawless line of communication with your employees, your customers, suppliers, stakeholders and just about everybody else under the sun.
You need to make your business as open and accessible as possible – and even today, one of the best ways to achieve this, is to make sure anyone and everyone can reach your business by telephone. If you’re running a fairly small business, that can sometimes be a problem.
Privacy -But not only is it important for your new company’s reputation to obtain a business landline telephone number – it’s also important for your privacy. If you own a small business and do some or most of the work yourself, you may often find yourself in a situation in which you haven’t got any choice but to give your personal mobile number out to customers. That’s fine in certain scenarios, but if too many people have your direct line, you’ll see the inevitable erosion of that all-important barrier dividing your business and personal life. When you start a company and give it your all, you need to be prepared to make business your life, sure. But for your own sanity, you’ve got to preserve some form of private life. That’s why you need to keep your personal mobile as far away from your business dealings as possible.
Local – Finally… it’s plain to see that every company needs a business landline telephone number. But one aspect of business phones that you may not have considered is this – your telephone number should be directly tied to a geographical location that is connected to your company location and trading activity.
