0800 Numbers: Helping to get over January’s Business slow up
The first month of the year can be a quiet month for the UK business community and the present economic slow down is likely to impact upon this further.
Many organisations are now looking at various cost effective means that they can focus the amount of questions they receive and which then, generate greater sales.
A highly well-liked way of companies reaching this objective is to offer their customers a totally free telephone experience.
0800 numbers are free to contact from a normal landline and lots of organisations that use them get a vast increase in the amount of calls they receive. In fact, research by the Institute of Direct Marketing has surmised that a company that uses an 0800 number can increase their amount of enquiries by up to 185%.
Just one benefit that many United Kingdom organisations are experiencing by using 0800 numbers.
Below are 7 more:
1. 0800 numbers are non-geographic - meaning they are not area specific like normal landline numbers. Thus, businesses can draw in a greater amount of business outside of their physical vicinity as they won't be judged on their location.
2. Given the option, 63% of the public say that they would always call a freephone number first (Teleculture 2000).
3. The Henley Research Centre concluded that 68% of people get the impression that businesses which provide 0800 numbers are thinking more about their callers.
4. 0800 numbers, similar to all non-geographic telephone numbers, enable businesses to immediately smarten up their telephone systems with online call handling features - for example welcome messages and call divert.
5. Online call statistics systems enable company owners/managers/marketers to evaluate the location of callers to their 0800 number, number of missed calls and hectic times in order to help with marketing/customer services and organising staffing more efficiently.
6. Companies can control where they need to get their incoming enquiries (e.g. out of hours and in the case of a disaster). Their 0800 number can be rerouted to any United Kingdom landline or mobile with Call divert features
7. All calls to 0800 numbers can be queued when used with internet call queuing systems. This enables businesses to answer more calls and not miss out on potential business.
It seems evident that simply by using a freephone telephone number, businesses can maximise the amount of enquiries they receive, deal with their callers more efficiently, organise staff efficiently and stand out from their competitors - all factors that are crucial in business and vital for businesses to thrive in this time of economic uncertainty.
For business owners, a simple change of telephone number could be the most important resolution that they make in 2009.