What is a Business Phone Number?
A business phone number is simply put: a phone number for your business. While business numbers can come in handy – it can often be difficult to wrap your head around how they actually work.
Nonetheless, business phone numbers come with such a range of benefits that it’s difficult for businesses to NOT get them.
10 Benefits of a Business Phone Number
- Separate Your Business Calls From Personal Calls
If you’re going to be successful, it is instrumental to your progress to know when it is a business call and not a personal call to your phone. Why is this important you might ask? Well for starters it keeps you more organised – you know what calls to answer and when. It gives you the flexibility you need to have a better work-life balance which is an increasing demand for business people on the go. Read what the NHS has to say about a healthy working environment here.
If you are stuck in a meeting or pressured for time, you can forward your calls to multiple people within your team. Alternatively, if you’re a one-person show at the moment you can create personalised business greetings and bespoke business voicemails. That way, you can speak to potential leads without having to actually speak to them, give people information like who they can contact, or letting them know you’ve received the call and that you’ll be in touch.
- Consistent Branding For Your Business
Get this right the first time and you won’t have to worry about reputation or your private number being public and 100 people having your personal number. Consistency is key – you wouldn’t change your logo regularly, would you? Your business number should be no different. Alongside your website, a business number is a hub for a lot of people’s businesses. Remote work is a growing demand in many modern businesses. Gone are the days where you have a landline in the office – you won’t be there! That’s why a virtual landline is what you need. Especially if you’re starting, to build consistency and stay on brand.
Just starting? Make sure to read this blog from HubSpot on branding.
- More Incoming Call Features Than Your Mobile Phone Number
Have everything you need, and then some! With our business call whisper, you get notified that someone has called you on your business number. This is where you can distinguish a business from a personal call. Choose if you want to answer – if you decline, we’ll divert the call to the next destination number. If you don’t have one, we’ll send them to voicemail. We offer welcome greetings. Why? They are more professional and show a real sense of organisation within your business. We use a professional voiceover artist to capture the right message, making the best first impression.
- No Extra Hardware Or Software Required
Go hands-free, you don’t need any additional physical hardware or any software to get your virtual number. The whole process is seamless. Adding no additional headache or any more unwanted clutter on your desk. At home or in the office everything you need on your mobile or desktop. Access the web portal 24/7 and customise your features to suit your business needs.
- Choose Between A Local Or Non-Geographical Virtual Number
For some people, they prefer to do business with local companies. What better way to do that than a geographical number? Appear local to your potential customers. By having a geographical number you’re informing your potential customer that you have dedicated staff that can assist with queries at a local level. People feel more inclined to speak to you if they feel you’re round the corner. It builds trust. A local virtual number is also important for those that have a service offering in a specific location. If you are for example a plumber that just wants to focus on a specific area e.g., London – having a local number will decrease the chances of getting phone calls from people outside of your preferred working area.
- Cost Saving
You don’t need physical hardware or software to be able to use our virtual numbers. We take all the extra cost away because you are automatically redirecting calls to your normal mobile or home phone, you can reduce costs. The only cost you may need to consider is the one to your customers, some non-geographical numbers come with a cost to your caller. This is better to be avoided. We can help with that and as a result, save money for you and your customers.
- Productivity On The Move
Don’t be restricted by physical location. Your business moves when you do. Work from home, in the office, abroad, wherever you want. Your virtual number will join you. Access your portal whenever you need it, if you’re not available, go to the Cleartone online dashboard and instantly divert all calls to your team.
- Professional Appearance
Show to customers that your business is credible and stable. Could you imagine if Google kept changing their number from mobile number to mobile number? You’d think something was wrong and wouldn’t trust it. Make sure your business is not perceived that way. A virtual number gives people the indication that you’re a bigger and more stable company, so if you’re an entrepreneur or small business this one’s important for you!
- Number For Life
Once you’re with Cleartone there’s no going back. Your virtual number is with you for life. You never have to worry about moving, relocating, travelling, or any of that. We go where you go.
- Never Miss a Call Again
We’ll not only notify you of your calls, but we’ll also send you email and SMS alerts so you never miss one again. Have the complete freedom to redirect calls to members of staff that are free. Giving you peace of mind, your clients are kept happy.
How to Buy a Virtual Business Phone Number?
Here are 7 things to consider when buying virtual business phone numbers.
1. Who is my target market?
The first thing you need to consider in this process is who you are advertising your services to. Whether it is people anywhere in the UK, a major conurbation, or somewhere more localized to you, once you’ve decided on this factor, you can then choose what kind of number is best suited to your business.
If you’re interested in targeting customers around the whole of the UK, then it would be best to have a National Number. These will primarily consist of 0333 and 0800 numbers, both of which are recognized for their professionalism. This will immediately give you a national presence and will help get you the results that you want!
2. I’ve picked my number, what’s next?
How do you want your Virtual Number to work? Who do you want to answer your phone? Is there one person who is going to answer your calls, either via a landline or mobile phone, or will it be a group of people in your company that will be managing your calls?
Have these questions answered and clear in your mind. If you have a business partner, then you can have the number and its calls managed from both of your mobile phones – without any extra cost.
Once you’ve decided what type of number you want, where you are, and how you’re going to answer your calls, you then need to think about whether you want a professional welcome message as an introduction to your callers.
Do you want to be able to transfer calls between you and your colleagues, or would it be more useful for you to have a switchboard with different departments and extensions?
You could just be a one-man band – and that’s okay! We can take care of all of the fine details for you so that you present a professional, polished feel for your business that will showcase it in the best possible light.
3. What kind of technology should I have for my calls?
With our services, you’ll have the freedom to choose from a wide range of Features. Do you want the ability to record your telephone calls? Perhaps you want a professional voicemail as opposed to a personal one. When a call comes through, you can opt not to be connected to the caller straight away, but instead, you can be alerted to what kind of call you’re receiving e.g., business, or personal.
You’ll also be able to handle the timing of calls. Whether you’re running errands or picking the kids up from school, we want you to be able to answer your calls at a time that is appropriate and convenient for you. Your time on your terms.
4. Do I need a landline?
The answer is no! If you have invested in a second mobile phone, you’ll be able to manage incoming and outgoing calls to your mobile, and toggle between WhatsApp Business. This way, you can still maintain private communication and business calls on your personal phone. Learn to manage your calls from one mobile phone!
We can also accommodate all two-factor authentication to ensure your security and privacy needs and deter any cold callers. More and more people are using WhatsApp as their primary mode of communication. So much so that it’s perfectly possible to ditch your landline and go wireless!
5. Am I out of my depth?
You don’t have to be a huge company or corporation to have your own Virtual Business Number. You’d be surprised how many of our customers are a one-man business! It remains a fantastic and cost-effective investment that will guarantee you don’t lose potential business and make it easier for new customers to do business with you that will ultimately cover the cost of your investment.
6. Is there a minimum contract term for my number?
The moment you say yes, you’ll be live with your new number within an hour or two (barring any unforeseen hiccups). With Cleartone, there’s no minimum contract for your number.
However, if you no longer need the number for whatever reason, we can turn it off with one month’s notice. This is whether it was designed for a short-term campaign or for a trackable number from an advert.
7. Can I have a UK Virtual Number if I live abroad?
If you’re not based in the UK but you’d like to start a business here, we can offer you a Virtual Phone Number. This is in addition to a range of other services including Virtual Landlines and Virtual Geographic Numbers. Accessing Virtual Numbers for your business couldn’t be easier with Cleartone!
How Can Cleartone Help?
Cleartone simplifies your customer’s call experience: from the moment your Cleartone number is dialed – up to the time the call is completed!
Once your customer has phoned your professional business phone number, the call routes through the caller’s network (i.e. Vodafone, O2, etc), onto the Cleartone network and then hits our servers.
Our servers then check what services should apply to the call (for example – call recording, a virtual switchboard, call whisper, the welcome message, etc) and also what phone number or numbers to send the phone call through to.
At this point, our technicians will also check the settings that are applied to the number and activate those settings for the call.
With our super-fast servers, this all happens instantly!
This includes:
Whether the call will be sent through to one or more than one number at the same time.
If the call should ring on one number and then ‘trip’ to the next number and then the next number etc.
The call will then be sent to be answered on your existing landline or mobile – or if for example, you have decided that the call should be sent simultaneously to 3 different numbers, whoever answers the call first will be connected and the phone numbers that don’t answer the call will no longer ring.
Once this information is applied, the call will ring on the number(s) that has been set by you, and the caller will hear a Cleartone ringtone. This sounds the same as a normal ring tone but works differently.
It is really important to note that the ringtone is a Cleartone ringtone, not a network one. What that allows us to do is something very clever:
Once you answer the phone, the caller at this time is still hearing a Cleartone ringtone. They are not aware that the phone has been answered.
Whoever answers the call will get a recorded Cleartone message informing them that a business call is coming through. As a fantastic addition, the person who answers the phone will be offered the option to:
- Answer the call (of course you will know it’s a business call and therefore answer the phone in the correct way), or
- Listen to the caller leaving a message – if it is someone that you want to speak to you can intercept them whilst they leave a message and talk to them, or
- Send the call straight through to voicemail.
If you answer the call:
If you do choose to answer the call, the call is instantly recorded. Once the call has ended, our service checks what email address(es) are associated with the phone number and will send the recording through to that email address for you to listen to at your leisure.
If the call goes through to voicemail, the caller will only ever hear your bespoke and personalised business voicemail message to your company, never your private mobile or home voicemail message.
The instant the call goes through to your business voicemail – and whilst the caller is still leaving a message for you – our service checks what email address(es) are associated with the phone number and we will instantly send an email letting you know that you have missed a call.
Once the call finishes leaving a message, our service checks what email address(es) are associated with the phone number and then forwards the recording of the voicemail on an email to that email address.
Once this email has been sent, the voicemail recording is then sent through and stored on your online Control Panel for you to access whenever you need to.
Want to Know More?
Get in contact with us today or check out our Youtube Channel:
Take a look at our very own COO Nick being interviewed. This video captures his thoughts on start-up businesses, why he got into the telecommunications industry and much more!
