Many businesses neglect a marketing tool that is sitting on the desk right in front of them. The humble telephone is a device that is under valued by many businesses as a way to turn inquires into sales. The telephone is often the first port of call for a new client, which is why it’s so important to leave potential clients and customers with a professional image.

Voicemail systems are an efficient way to stay connected to your customers and other callers. The answer phone facility can be used for some or all of your team’s internal office phone and is the most professional and effective way of maintaining good customer service when you’re unable to answer calls.

Over the year’s voicemail notification has evolved, making it possible now to receive email notifications with a wav file whenever a voicemail message is left. In particular, if you use mobile email devices such as iPhone or Blackberry it’s now even possible to have your office telephone messages delivered automatically to your mobile via the e-mail client.

In addition to helping you receive messages, voicemail systems also enable you to route your calls to the right extension, individual or department.  This is not only efficient for your own business but more importantly it means you can assist the needs of customers who may need to speak with someone immediately.

Other benefits of the voicemail messaging system include:

• Customers who ring during business hours are answered promptly and greeted by a personal recording giving it a personal touch
• Always receive the correct information from the caller.  It can release you and your employees of the task of taking messages and relaying them while improving accuracy and your ability to respond to all your callers.
• Have your voicemail system automatically call you when you have a new message waiting in your mailbox.
• You can use your business phone message to promote your company and brand in a positive light, putting your customers at ease that they will be dealt with professionally.

It is possible to put a system in place to ensure callers have the option to speak to another member of the team as opposed to being forced to leave a message. Remember to consider the total number of voicemail users on your system so that you have adequate system resource in place.  We would also recommend using voicemail if you have a direct dial number.

Call Queuing Announcements

Call queuing announcements ensure all calls are answered automatically with an initial announcement greeting.  This sophisticated queuing system means you can receive more calls into your telephone system than you have extensions or employees capable of answering them. Instead of getting an engaged tone your customers are answered automatically and held in a queue. This is useful as people start to wonder if a call will be answered after six ring cycles, which is approximately 28 seconds.  It is a very effective way of answering a caller who may have been thinking of “hanging up”. You do need to ensure you have enough staff to handle all calls at peak times as you do not want to leave customers listening to rolling announcements over and over.

Automated Attendant

An automated attendant system answers all calls on your chosen number of rings and plays a pre-recorded announcement giving the caller the option to dial for a specific department or hold for reception.  These systems are an ideal way of reducing call volumes to your main reception and improving your service level – callers are able to contact the department they need or speak to reception much quicker.

There are many flexible options for call routing using automated attendant, for example, the ability to route callers to staff members’ mobile telephones for an “out of hours” service.  Just make sure you don’t setup an over complicated system.  Most callers are happy to make one or two key presses but then they expect to be answered quickly by the relevant team member.

Tech IP offer professionally recorded telephone announcements free of charge with every new telephone system, If you would like to learn more then please give us a call on 0800 505 3350 or read our blog post which explains all about this.  Alternatively you can visit our products page here with information about Music On Hold & On Hold Messages and how they can benefit your business.