800.com
RingCentral
800 Number for Small Businesses
If you’re looking for a lower-cost alternative to a landline or cell phone, RingCentral has an easy-to-use, cost-effective solution that provides businesses and consumers alike with a quality 800 number service.
With RingCentral, you¢ll have a variety of features including custom reporting, advanced call routing features, fully customizable voicemail, call recording, free call forwarding, affordable international calling and low per minute rates.
RingCentral is ideal for businesses that need a lower-cost alternative to owning a phone line. RingCentral doesn’t require a monthly rental on a phone line, so businesses that struggle to pay their phone bill can avoid the hassle. A business owner who is on a tight budget can rest assured that with RingCentral, their business will have a reliable 800 number for making sales and maintaining customer service.
Technically, a business can have any kind of phone system through RingCentral: the caller can reach directly to a business user or go through call routing to reach multiple business lines and extensions.
Phone.com
How an 800 Number Benefits Small Business
When you are running a business, your customers expect you to be open around the clock. This means that you might be open at odd hours, especially if you are a late night business. Because your customers demand prompt service, you might turn to your telephone as a way to service your clients. Of course, using a standard telephone service to answer your business phone might be impractical and may not fit your particular needs. What you need is an 800 number or a cell phone service to suit your business.
An 800 number is a toll-free number set up by the telephone company that allows your business to offer services that are not available from a standard telephone. These services may include chargeable call forwarding and answering services, highly customizable sales and marketing, and other services that could be unavailable or difficult to provide over a standard telephone.
There are a variety of 800 numbers that are available when you are looking for telephone alternatives. To find an alternative that is ideal for your business, there are several features you want to look for when selecting a service.
How Much Will it Cost?
Who an 800 Number Is Right For
Before deciding if you need an 800 number, start by doing a cost analysis and assessing whether you can really afford one or not. Even though these numbers cost a lot to implement, you can easily recoup the cost by increasing sales, saving costs on customer complaints and service, improving customer service, or simply by helping your business grow.
If potential callers aren’t familiar with your business, an 800 number can help provide them with a greater sense of security. Besides providing numbers that can be dialed for customer service, the 800 number can also act as a direct link to your company’s website. Also, if your website doesn’t have a contact form, you can provide an easy way for customers to contact your business by simply dialing the number.
What an 800 Number Won’t Do for Your Business
Even though an 800 number can provide the contact information to your customers and allow you to provide an easy link to your website, it should not be your only form of contact. Although you are typically cutting out your staff, an 800 number should not be used to dispose of unresponsive customers or to keep them out of your business’s lobby.
How to Get an 800 Number
An 800 number is a special telephone number reserved for paying customers. If you decide to provide your own 800 number, it can help increase your sales and profits. Just be aware that a business that provides an 800 number’s services sometimes attracts more customers than they can handle, so it’s important to carefully assess your market before getting one.
How to Choose a Vanity Number
Vanity numbers are telephone numbers that are determined by the caller’s name. Whether your business is a golf course, hotel or a busy department store, the number or better yet the brand can be selected by the caller.
The vanity system is often mostly used in the retail and hotel industry to identify a property different from the others or to incorporate the hotel’s name. Thus providing a unique customer experience.
When dealing with the deployment of 800 numbers, the first aspect of a vanity number needs to be a check for its features.
Some of the essential features that need to be included in a vanity number are:
Looks:
Every business does it. A call center that markets itself for its customer service will always go for a slick, modern calling box. The 800 vanity number is meant to be personalized, to give a lower cost and above-all, a clean and cool impression.
One of the hardest parts is coming up with the right name for a vanity number. It should be catchy, preferably with a focus on the product/service being offered.
Accuracy:
The implication for this is pretty straightforward: if the 800 vanity number is not accurate, customers will be facing a situation when they call. If the business phone number is not accurate, the caller will be transferred to a staff member who is not at the receiving end.
How to Choose a Non-vanity Number
Thinking about going business with an 800 number? Here are a few thoughts you should consider before your company or organization dispatches that first dial tone.
One of the primary reasons for a company to take on an 800 number is the increase in call volumes. For a variety of reasons, consumers place calls to businesses in higher numbers than ever before. This increase in business with an 800 or a non-vanity toll free number presents ample opportunity for companies that are prepared for it. The key to successfully offering toll free or non-vanity 800 numbers is ensuring that the company is ready.
Here are a few of the most basic items to consider for readiness of service to consumers:
- Company name address and phone number are known by the public
- Website is developed, but the domain name is reserved
- Call Center software is prepared for new incoming calls
- Customer Service representatives are trained and ready
- Detailers are ready to accept information
- All shipping methods available are listed on the website
Pros & Cons of an 800 Number
Call centers have been around for decades. When you think of your favorite companies, the first thing that may pop into your head is a toll-free number. In fact, 56% of executives in the U.S. have the same number on speed dial, according to Telesales Quarterly Magazine.
With so many businesses turning to call centers as their first choice for customer or client service, one might wonder why they would choose to franchise these operations instead of creating their own.
Besides the price, the first thing to consider when selecting a franchise is the customer support offered by the franchise. For an 800 number service, the franchise will usually offer an 800 number or toll-free number service to its customers. Unless you have prior experience working in staffing call centers, you may not know how these numbers are run. If so, your decision to franchise may be as easy as picking up some research off the SeattleLink Directory.
Since the 800 number service is going to be the main selling point for your franchise, a brief look at the pros and cons will help you make an informed decision.
Pros of an 800 Number
For businesses, having an 800 number and a local phone number is a great thing. Having that local phone number could be confusing for potential clients, thus creating a potential branding problem. Having an 800 number could solve this issue.
Sometimes having the option to write to businesses instead of talk to them affords more privacy and frees the phone lines.
Free calling to local numbers is a perk for many people, as is free long distance if they are calling from an 800 number to a local number.
For advertising, 800 numbers are great because they allow for quick and easy dial-by-dots, as well as a cheaper rate per call than local phone numbers.
Cons of an 800 Number
Now that you’re an experienced 800er you’re probably going to ask what the 800 number is good for. I’ll go over the pros of having an 800 number at the end of this article.
However, in the beginning you may want to use an 800 number as your feedback loop. I’ve never had any issue going back to a prospect and upselling them using the 800 number. This benefits your primarily because you know the phone numbers for your account. This will be an added bonus …
{1}. They give you an immediate body of work. An 800 number is an immediate work-out, so the phone is going to start ringing immediately, and in some extreme cases, may ring off the hook for the first month.
{2}. They give you an idea of their buying habits. Obviously, if I call you on your 800 number and you provide me with great service however, you want my business your behavior is going to be a good indicator of how they respond to my business. If you are a great 800er, I’m going to give you my business.
{3}. They give you a "proof of concept." You may say… I can get your business from a conventional call center.
Alternatives to an 800 Number
If you are willing to change your current business model, you may not even need an 800-number, and that's okay. As technology advances, many businesses choose a different phone line or website as their main method of contact. In fact, having a physical business location is no longer the rule for modern companies – they are more than willing to have their customers connect with them online instead. For the right type of business, finding a consumer-friendly alternative to an 800 number is the way to go. The examples below may help you make a decision about needing an 800 number or not.
Professional Services
The reason why many business owners get an 800 number is to reach those customers that are not easily reached using the traditional methods of marketing. However, these types of companies are usually happy to work with customers over the phone and through email. Furthermore, as technology advances, the Internet is providing many companies with the chance to fully incorporate a phone call and a web meeting into a single conversation over the phone and online. These sites offer useful features to telemarketing businesses, such as scheduling meetings and free online storage of phone and email conversations.
Local Phone Number
You wouldn’t call somebody’s local phone number if you were trying to reach them, but it’s usually the best number to get you through to your customer support department. Most businesses get promoted via a local number, because they know that when somebody calls it, they already have a good idea of where they live.
If you’re wondering what the local phone number should be for your business, you can check out our post on phone numbers to help you find one to fit your business.
Vanity Number
Want an amazing phone number? There is a easy way of tracking the Vanity Number movement but there is a down side. It is very expensive and an unlikely choice for the do it yourselfer.
The statistic about Vanity Numbers being used by Do it yourselfers is TRUE but they are not easy or practical to do yourself.
Vanity Numbers are unavailable to most people because they are too adult orientated. This does not fit into this age group.
There are plenty of businesses and agencies that are willing to rent you a number for a fee and the best news is that now there are plenty of sites that are selling Vanity Numbers from the USA, the UK, the beautiful Australia and overseas sites from all over the world.
These Vanity Numbers are a way to get a number without actually doing anything. The rent the number site simply supplies you with an 800 number and all you have to do is pick a number that suits you and your business. And then use ring the number that they supply you. After that just sit back and enjoy the phone calls and profits that will flood in. You can also broadcast the number from your website. All you need is a laptop and a few minutes to setup a simple website.
International Number
With all the great services and features that are available on the new VoIP phones and softphones, it’s becoming even easier to connect with customers and business partners from a phone. But while your phone acts as the front-end for you to make these connections, it doesn’t offer the versatility of using voicemail to hold your calls. And that’s where CallCentric’ toll-free 800- number services come in.
Countless companies use our services to connect with their customers. From advertising services to mortgage companies looking for ways to cut costs, we’re able to offer our services at significant savings to our clients. Our mission is to find low-cost resources to help service your phones and lower your costs so you can focus on your business, not managing those phones.
Our telephone numbers come in a variety of options intended to fit with just about any need. Whether you are a small or large business, you can use our toll-free 800 number to lower the costs to manage and maintain your phone system…saving you time and money.
A few of the different available telephone number options include:
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
There are hundreds, if not thousands of ways to use our free plans. Here we’ll talk about some of the most commonly asked questions in relation to our kits and plans.
Q: Does it matter what kind of tool I use to cut the lumber?
A: The most important thing is to make sure you have a sharp tool. The types of tools you use really don’t matter. Here’s what the experts say: ‘
I’ve seen people use chainsaws, circular saws, hand saws, sabers, and even a pizza cutter to cut vinyl siding. I’ve used a handsaw, circular saw, saber saw, and chisel to cut vinyl. The only two tools I would consistently recommend are a table saw OR a saber saw. There are two reasons I would choose a saber saw over a compressed air or gasoline powered saw. One is that it is less costly and you can use the same saw to cut pipe, vinyl, and metal. The other reason is that it’s much easier to cut thin material with a saber saw. Since you’re cutting it at a very low angle, it’s much easier to cut it.
Are 800 numbers still necessary?
As we all know, the Internet has made it very easy for small and medium organizations to recruit and keep clients and service providers in simple ways.It has also made it possible for organisations to offer clients support 24/7, which makes it even more challenging for organisations to differentiate themselves and to do things differently. We also know that the traditional face-to-face sales interactions often yield inferior results and customer satisfaction, than online portals. The fact is(a small number) businesses have made the online-offline transition successfully. However, we all know that to materially compete, these businesses can achieve only mediocre results. They are not able to compete with the big boys.
The fact is that no matter how good you are in the marketing business, there will be many people out there who will leave you completely.
Even if you make big improvements in the service sector, companies will be able to do them as well and will always be better than yours.
So, besides providing an extra value to your clients, 800 numbers can also help:
- Solve a marketing problem.
- Save your clients from the expensive loss of sales efforts.
- They help you to reach your target audience easily.
Is there a difference between 800 & 888 numbers?
Yes, there is a difference between a premium rate number featuring the number 888, and a normal phone number that starts with the number 800.
In the United States, there are several different 800 numbers that offer a variety of services and options. These range from the ability to drink problems away, order pizza, whisper sweet nothings, and more.
If you want to get into any of those services, you’ll need to sign up for a premium rate number, and the 888 is typically the best one to go with.
In terms of the pricing, standard rates for the US are 8.9146 cents per minute under local and 8.9148 cents per minute under long distance. These rates go up as you purchase more minutes, so it’s best to sign up for the minimum amount of time you’ll need.
Even though you can play games on 800 numbers, you don’t want to call too many of them because it will rack up additional charges that might be higher than the standard rate.
That’s mostly true if you’re calling from a cell phone (since you’d be charged per minute on cell phone bills) or you’re on a (mostly) flat rate long distance plan.
Can international customers call a U.S.-based toll-free number?
Yes, anyone in the world can call an 800 number in the United States. The toll-free does not change the dialing format or the way that international phone numbers work. Dial all one's local country numbers, then the U.S.-based toll-free number.
Keeping in mind of the costs of calling someone on another continent is something that should be considered. Even though the call will be at a flat-rate price, you may still end up paying more than a local would because of the increased cost of your calling card.
In any case, you should always check with your local phone company about calling cards before you purchase any. If you're calling from a cell phone, the cost per minute also varies greatly depending on what network you're on and what calling card you are using. And some phone providers offer a better rate for calling someone on a landline than a cell phone.
Bottom Line
If you can’t think of anyone you want to call the 800 number out of your own collection of friends, family, and acquaintances, you might want to consider getting some referrals from other sources.
If you’re making a call on behalf of a friend, consider going to them for referrals – after all, they probably won’t mind hearing if the 800 number is any good. You can also enlist the help of your local Chamber’s Business Development Director. Offer to help arrange meetings so that he or she can train the new recruits about the services and help them get started.
The same should go for referrals you get on behalf of a friend or family member. Ask them for referrals and keep those cards and letters as references for when you need one.