As the world continues to fight its way out of the global pandemic, one of the fastest emerging trends that many people are willing to venture into is that of freelancing. Freelancing offers people a much greater level of flexibility and comfort as they get to work from wherever they like, whenever they like.

According to Upwork, about 36% of the US’s entire workforce chose freelancing amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Web developers, interior designers, content creators can all work on a freelance basis as long as their ideas, ethics and work quality distinguish them from others of their kind in the market.

A proper freelance work base, however, requires the same tools and resources that any small business would, for setting up. One of the areas that demand effective tools for communication in order to ascertain the professionalism of a freelancer is that of call management.

This is where a virtual phone system acts as the ultimate game-changer. A virtual phone system, also known as a hosted or a cloud-based phone system, runs over the Internet. And all one needs for it is a stable Internet connection and a smart device.

So, whether a freelancer works out of a traditional office space or even their bedroom, a virtual or hosted phone system can be of immense help to ensure that they’re able to maintain efficient, professional communication.

Additionally, a virtual phone system demands minimum financial commitment apart from the expenditure on basic tools and equipment.

Explained below are four ways in which freelancers can step ahead in their game by using a hosted phone system while tackling some of the most common issues:

1. Missing out on important calls, voicemails and texts

Modern-day small businesses and freelancers use only their personal cell phones to respond to potential customers and clients reaching out to them. Failing to have a system that efficiently tracks all incoming calls, voicemails and texts can lead to them missing out on some meaningful leads.

It may seem like the approach of simply sticking to personal communication devices is working; however, once a freelancer’s clientele gets bigger, the need for a virtual phone system also will.

Using a personal contact system in professional settings can lead to different problems such as:

• Multiple people trying to reach you at the same time and none of them are able to get through. A hosted phone system can prevent this situation by playing hold music or professional messages to stacked-up calls until you can receive them.
• The capacity of a personal voice mailbox is not designed to accommodate business messages. Personal voice mailboxes have limited capacity and are insufficient for someone trying to run their own business.
• Personal smartphone voice mailboxes can auto-delete messages once they hit their storage level. If you are careless, this can lead to you losing some important messages permanently, thus, leading to the loss of some potential clients.

In the case of a hosted business phone systems, the storage space is extensive, and you do not have to worry about losing any messages. These phone systems offer multiple business-oriented features like call menus, business voicemails, on-hold music, extended hours of operation, etc.

2. Offering a professional call menu to callers

No matter how big or small, every business is a business at the end of the day. And so, equal energy investment should go into carrying it out.

No matter what kind of freelancer you are, your enterprise qualifies as a business if you offer your services on a transactional basis.

There is an excellent chance that it is not that difficult for a small business to respond to calls right away with effective call management. But, enabling a greeting message on a hosted phone system gives you an edge of professionalism and tells the client that you are putting in the extra effort.

The primary purpose of a call menu is to make you appear as professional as possible. But for this, you must set up a hosted phone system.

A call menu also offers multiple additional benefits for you as a professional:

• It helps you offer a list of options to your callers that they can choose from. Clients can be given a choice to either get directly on the call with you or simply leave you a message in your voice mailbox.
• Cloud-based phone systems that offer call menus also bring in other features. You can direct callers to your personal phone, record a message that explains your services and have it play each time a new caller dials you, set your hours of availability, and much more.

3. Setting up a unified system connected to multiple phones

If you are not a solo freelancer and usually have a team of co-workers taking up projects with you, a way to stay in touch with them during work hours is highly necessary.

Combining the team’s phones into a unified virtual phone system, you can also seamlessly collaborate with other small businesses. This helps increase the overall productivity of a business and does not even require any additional equipment or expenditure.

A unified cloud phone system also enables equal access to client calls and messages to all members of the freelancing team. This means, no team member is required to spend extra time ensuring everyone is on the same page.

A unified system helps simplify everything while also giving clients a very professional impression. Voicemails, text messages, and call history can also be accessed remotely, thus allowing freelancers to handle work from anywhere even when they’re on the move.

With advanced features such as live call transferring, one person of the team can transfer an ongoing call with a client to another, more suitable member of the team without having to disconnect the call.

Specific phone numbers can also be left out in case certain team members are not needed to handle clients directly.

4. Keeping track of all message and call details 

On some rare occasions, personal smart devices may freeze or malfunction in a way that all call and text-based data may get lost. While it is undoubtedly a frustrating ordeal, what makes it worse is that nobody can be held accountable for it.

With cloud-powered phone systems, an easy-to-use control panel helps keep track of all data that is being routinely collected. A cloud phone system stores the entire call, voicemail and message-based information in the account linked to it. This data can be accessed anytime and anywhere.

In addition to the dates and times of every inbound and outbound call, virtual phone systems also provide complete call details for tracking. These include call paths that show which option was selected by a caller on the call menu, whether a call was received or missed, and transfer details if there are any.

Such control panels also let you check storage space taken up by voicemails and how to free it up if need be. You’re also able to listen to existing call greetings and change them if you like, or view mailboxes and the messages that they store.

No business is too small for a cloud phone system

The thought that a cloud phone system is necessary only for big corporations and well-established businesses is way too old-school for today’s advancing times.

You do not have to be a tycoon to benefit from modern-day technologies, and cloud phone system for small business or virtual phone systems are certainly a change every professional needs to embrace.

These numbers promise a brighter, more prosperous future for every business. By deploying a hosted phone system, a freelance business also has greater chances of expanding into a full-fledged service provider.

Additionally, all the benefits of hosted phone systems can be subscribed to through traditional office phone systems as well as on personal cell phone numbers. You won’t even need any expensive tools or resources.

Times are changing faster than ever. The ever-evolving technology of hosted phone systems offers more capabilities and features to freelancers than ever before.

As the e-commerce industry flourishes, e-retail revenues are expected to rise to a figure as steep as 5.4 trillion US dollars in the year 2022.

Although presently Indian businesses use centralized virtual numbers for managing huge volumes of incoming calls, now there are providers that also help businesses procure Indian virtual numbers.

Even today, a phone call continues to be one of the most preferred ways of interaction that customers choose in order to connect with a company.

Virtual numbers provide refined customer service without any geographic bounds. They increase business efficiency and positively impact the overall productivity of every workspace.

In a world where e-commerce looks like the only way forward, there are multiple ways in which a virtual phone number can help an organization with its operations.

Below are some of the explanations of how a virtual phone number system can help businesses today.

1. Trust generation in the customer base

As soon as a potential buyer sees a phone number listed on a company website’s contact section, their faith in the brand deepens. If the process of getting information about a product or a service seems taxing or frustrating, the buyer may change their mind and move on to a different brand.

If reaching out to a company is a cumbersome process, nobody would be expected to have many purchase-related interactions. When a person decides to invest in a new product, the company producing that product should be present for the buyer at every step of their journey.

Today’s customers demand interaction before they invest time and money in a brand. If a company’s communication system is discrepant, it is unfair to expect customers to stay loyal to it.

2. Enhanced user experience

Virtual phone numbers provide a human-support system that buyers seek during their physical shopping experiences right on their phone screens. A virtual number enables a human-driven approach even towards buyers that are shopping online.

According to BigCommerce, 67% of the millennial population and 56% of Gen Xers prefer online shopping as opposed to in-person shopping today.

For securing customer relationships and building better customer loyalty, switching to a virtual phone number is the need of the hour.

 3. Automated greetings & attendants 

Modern-day consumers are more likely to purchase from a seller that remembers them by their personal details and makes recommendations based on their purchase history with the brand.

It is evident that personalization continues to be a game-changer in today’s market for both, the service provider as well as the service recipient.

To offer services that are not time-bound, the e-commerce industry can benefit hugely from a personalized virtual phone number. The induction of an Interactive Voice Response system (IVR) with the use of the cloud technology can help to imitate human support during off-hours of work.

Virtual number systems can also be trained to greet each caller with a customized greeting. Small additions such as playing music during call waiting times, carefully placed promotional messages etc., contribute greatly to the betterment of the customer experience a company provides.

 4. Remote access & access to mobility

As a direct consequence of the coronavirus, alternative work options have triggered trends such as working from home or remote locations. In such scenarios, attending customer calls while physically being present in the office premises is not an option anymore.

Virtual phone numbers allow customers to connect with the company from anywhere by using cloud technology. In order to attain the facilitation of remote sales and have well-functioning support teams, e-commerce requires virtual numbers.

Setting up call support apparatus can prove to be a big hassle, leading to a cluttered workspace. It requires physical infrastructure like servers, hard drives, computer systems, cables, call routers etc. that may take up a lot of time and money to assemble.

A virtual phone number system, on the other hand, is completely based on the cloud. There is no need for any physical setup but only a device of your preference. It can have all employee contact details mapped onto its portal within a few minutes.

Once phone numbers are mapped, the virtual number distributes all incoming calls according to which employees can deal with what set of problems, thereby, performing efficient call routing.

 5. No time constraints

Missing important phone calls from customers may be a deal-breaker for an organization’s progress in the longer run. Agents cannot be expected to work 24×7 and infrastructural issues can lead to downtown as well.

A virtual phone number provides for call logging and call recording. It also gives you the feature to receive all your voicemails as emails. This helps a company trace back all the important calls that it may have missed. Recorded calls can also be used to dig out and analyze useful customer data.

 6. Improved CRM integration & call management solutions

The simplest definition of Customer Relationship Management (CRM) is that it is a process through which a business administers its interactions with the customers base by using data collected over time for analysis.

Today, with how quickly and consistently technology is evolving, the data stored and recorded on a CRM can be integrated with any virtual phone system. So, when a customer reaches out for enquiry and better service, their information can be displayed on the CRM portal right on the agents’ screen.

This not only garnishes the interaction with a layer of personalization but also cuts down on the time that a support agent may spend skimming through multiple screens trying to find appropriate information.

7. Toll free calling

When your customers are located in a different country, they might hesitate to call your business because of how expensive international calling is. In fact, many might also prefer to connect with a local business rather than an international one.

Virtual phone numbers allow you to get a local number in multiple countries and help you create a local presence. You can even get a toll-free number in other countries to encourage customers to call you more often.

 8. Call routing & call forwarding

Virtual phone numbers can also facilitate call routing and call forwarding.

Call Routing on virtual numbers, directs calls from customers specifically to agents or departments who can best address their queries. This helps with the first call resolution rates as calls are redirected only to agents who are capable of solving a particular kind of problem.

They can even play a pre-defined message in times of holidays and special occasions when agents are not available.

It also helps in employees not having to engage in repetitive calls that can be a threat to their daily productivity.

As far as missing out on calls that could have proven to be important and beneficial is concerned, virtual phone numbers are capable of call forwarding. This means that calls made to the company’s virtual number will automatically be forwarded to agents on their personal numbers for immediate assistance without any delays.

This helps in strengthening the company’s relationship with its customers due to round-the-clock assistance, thereby also paving the way for seamless customer engagement.

 9. Order management with virtual numbers

Virtual phone numbers can maintain an inventory of all customer orders when integrated with CRM software which can be accessed by employees to provide real-time updates to customers about the status of the purchases that they are making.

 10. Simple setup

In cases of traditional systems as compared to cloud telephony, a technician is needed to help layout wires and make other physical arrangements to set up and run an on-premises phone system.

Unlike traditional setups with difficult configurations and a lot of physical hardware, a virtual phone number doesn’t require any hardware and can work on your preferred device. All you need is a reliable internet connection, and you are good to go.

 11. Increased room for teamwork

Without remote teams in place, organizations might struggle to keep up with customer expectations during tough times, say, like a global pandemic. If remote teams fail to maintain consistency and a unified approach simply due to communication breakdowns within the organization, customers cannot be expected to stick to a brand.

Business call answering service and other virtual workspace solutions help in remote training and endorse a collective approach to seamless business communication

Narrowing down multiple different communication channels and applications to just one platform helps with promptness in customer solutions.

With virtual numbers, conferencing with other members of the teams also becomes a very simple process. Conference lines are not limited only to employees but can also be enabled for clients in order to assure they receive the kind of hands-on engagement that they seek.

Conclusion

It is essential to understand that to have customers choose a company for making purchases, a very high level of trust is necessary. A customer will never pick a brand they cannot completely rely upon. With the incorporation of virtual phone numbers, customers can reach out to the brand of their choice 24×7.

Not just this, they can also be reached out to in innovative ways and offered personalized services in turn for placing their faith in a particular company. To sum up, it is important to remember that virtual phone systems are not only beneficial for the customers, but also extremely cost-effective for the business and healthy for its support agents.

Given how dynamically today’s market situations are transforming, virtual number systems certainly are meant to be a big part of tomorrow’s markets!