8 mins read
Dress for the job you want, not the one you have. The rule of thumb does not apply just to you but also your startup. The Indian market is getting increasingly competitive with a glut of new businesses joining the fray. The country has risen to host the highest number of startups after the US and China.
Your up-and-coming firm may be on its way to international funding round or still based out of your friend’s basement, but it needs legitimacy to thrive in a cut-throat market.
This is where a virtual phone number comes in. A virtual business number is automatically programmed to forward incoming calls to any number or device that you choose. Unlike conventional telephone numbers, virtual phone numbers are not linked to any physical telephone line. They can forward incoming national and international call answering service for business to a variety of telephone numbers as selected by you. Indian startups are increasingly adopting virtual phone number services as a centralized tool to boost customer communication.
A third of all potential customers will call a business directly and frequently when they are considering a new product purchase. Most smart entrepreneurs are choosing a virtual phone number service instead of using their personal phone number for their business. No matter the size of the staff, a virtual phone number ensures that the people-facing end of your business is always smooth and streamlined.
You can choose the right number for your startup, which will automatically forward incoming calls to your personal phone, so you never miss a call. This means that you don’t need to share your personal phone number publicly. You also don’t need two SIM cards for separating personal and business calls. You can set up separate ringtones to differentiate professional and personal calls and make life easier for yourself while remaining lean on staff and physical equipment.
How to make a virtual phone number work for you
You can choose a local area number as it builds trust among consumers. They find a business more accessible when the number begins with the STD code of their state. You give your customers the sense that they are dealing with someone just around the corner. Depending upon the type of business you’re looking to build, this could absolutely be to your advantage.
That’s not to say that choosing a national toll-free 800-XXX-XXX number does not build trust. In fact, it gives the impression of a more established firm that is active across the length and breadth of India. It is also ideal for a startup that’s quickly scaling up to more states. A toll-free number also helps people stay assured they won’t be charged for calling in with their queries about your product. If you’re trying to gain a national footprint, having a toll-free virtual business number implies that your company does business from Kashmir to Kanyakumari and everywhere in between.
You can also choose premium numbers that are easy to recall. Business who go for “vanity numbers”, as they are called, swear by their branding advantage.
One number, so many benefits
Not all virtual business numbers are the same. Some are simply what you might call “forwarding addresses”, while others include the auto-attendant feature. With this feature, you can choose to have all calls to your business number—or during specific times of the day—answered with an automatic response that presents the caller with a quick choice based on the nature of their query, streamlining the customer service process and saving your time. After all, customer expectations can be ruthless. If your business phone ever goes unanswered, it could give a very unprofessional message.
Virtual phone numbers also assist in gathering data on the busiest days and hours for customer queries. After the launch of a special product, for instance, a virtual phone number can be a useful tool to track fluctuations in customer reception and concerns.
Virtual phone numbers help business leaders in boosting revenue and improving customer loyalty by efficiently manning every incoming call. Entrepreneurs who don’t have a lot of time on their hands opt for cloud-based virtual number solutions to manage incoming calls proactively without increasing time or resource overheads. The sophisticated virtual number solutions come with call management suites and support interactive voice response (IVR) solution.
Today, you have the option to choose from several virtual number services in India. But no business can manage incoming calls optimally without getting the right virtual phone number. Hence, it is prudent to compare various service providers and opt for a virtual number that comes with robust features like call management suite, IVR integration, real-time reports, and SMS notifications.
In the knowledge economy of the modern world, a physical working space is less valuable than virtual networks and business clusters. Science technology parks and innovation centers, virtual incubators, and business information centers could be a far more convenient way to support startups in scaling up their disruptive and innovative technologies into competitive and profitable businesses that create wealth for investors. A virtual phone number is an excellent example of a “cognition technology” that plays a vital role in the knowledge management process, helping entrepreneurs learn and solve lots of different problems more effectively.
Make sure that you also have a big presence by using a virtual business phone number. Because at least as long as clients and customers are concerned, there is often very little difference between perception and reality.
