8 mins read
When you run a business, you should expect phone lines to keep buzzing throughout the day. A ringing phone is often the sign of a prospective customer, but that’s not always the case.
At times, you may get swarmed with spam calls—the last thing any agent would want to encounter.
In fact, spam calls are more common than you’d imagine. According to TechCrunch, spam calls witnessed an 18% growth in 2020 despite the global pandemic. You can well imagine the chances of getting them on your virtual phone number, thereby disrupting an agent’s work and productivity. It makes sense to have a preventive strategy in place so that agents can focus on genuine prospects and stay on top of their tasks.
Fortunately, some easy measures can help you keep your business virtual assistants spam-free. Even if you cannot prevent spammers altogether, it is still possible to curb them and let your agents focus on critical work. Let’s explore how:
Dealing with Spam Calls on your Virtual Phone Number
A spam call refers to any type of unwanted call that your system receives. While they may seem insignificant at first, they can build up to become a real nuisance or even harmful. Your agents will end up attending to them for a good part of the day and struggle to deal with the stress they add on. Here are the tactics you can implement to keep them at bay.
Consider Using an Auto-attendant
The first line of defense against solicitation bots is an auto-attendant. The best approach is to look for virtual number services that bundle up this feature within their offerings. When your auto-attendant receives a spam call, it will automatically disconnect since the bot won’t be able to navigate the call menu. Therefore, your agents don’t have to inconvenience themselves with such callers and can rely on the system to filter them out.
Leverage DNC Registry
An obvious way to steer away from spam calls is by leveraging the ‘Do Not Call’ list. You simply need to register with the NDNC, and voila—there won’t be calls from pesky solicitors and telemarketers disturbing your agents anymore. While the DNC registry may not completely stop the calls, it can reduce them to a minimum. Alternatively, you can use a service like ‘Do Not Disturb’, which will stop the notifications for incoming calls from specific numbers. You only have to add the unwanted numbers to the list once and you’re all set.
Block Spam Numbers
While using the ‘Do Not Disturb’ feature has you covered to a considerable extent, blocking spam numbers takes you a step ahead and safeguards your phone system entirely. Just block suspicious numbers when you first come in contact with them, and your system takes care of the rest. Alternatively, you may have to invest time—go through the call history and manually block each number from where you got unwanted calls. This step may take some effort, but it is a full-proof damage control measure that you can rely on.
Switch Numbers if Possible
Perhaps the most effective measure to eliminate the possibility of spam to your virtual number is by getting a new number. But this isn’t feasible for businesses that have established phone numbers in use, since this would alienate or confuse their long-standing customers. You cannot risk losing prospects and existing customers just because they don’t recall your new contact. However, switching phone numbers may be a viable option for new businesses or businesses with numbers that haven’t been in use for pretty long.
Contact your Virtual Number Provider
A more drastic measure to deal with spam calls is to connect with your virtual number provider and escalate the issue. This can act as a last resort if you have tried everything else but are still struggling with a growing number of unwanted calls. Your provider can help you block calls from specific numbers that you do not want to connect with. Besides blocking specific phone numbers, you can even blacklist calls from specific area codes, which give you broader protection against spamming.
Go the Extra Mile with Tracking
Making conscious efforts to safeguard your business phone number against spam calls is worthwhile, with many benefits in store. You can go the extra mile by integrating call tracking with spam control measures. Beyond enhancing agents’ productivity, it can also protect your call tracking data from being skewed. It is easy to fall prey to advertising companies that guarantee a specific number of calls or leads by collaborating with them. However, you’ll often end up getting fake calls that can mess up your data. Utilizing a call tracking feature lets you understand the actual performance of the ads as well as identify spam calls and provide insights on quality leads.
Conclusion
Spam calls on your virtual phone number can be a real pain in the neck, so it is vital to deal with them with stringent measures. The best approach is to collaborate with a virtual number provider that can help you handle the issue with the right features and add-on assistance.
Acefone is a name you can trust as it offers dependable services and high-end features, including call blocking and blacklisting. You can rely on top-notch service to ensure seamless connectivity with genuine callers and avoid spammers effectively.
