Hi Folks Dave Waring here at Fitsmallbusiness.com with today’s lesson of the day. In our last presentation we continued our series Where to Hire Freelancers for Any Type of Business. In today’s presentation we are going to continue that series with a look on what phone number should your business use? So let’s get started!
2. Local Business Phone Number
Is the one that was assigned when
you originally purchased your
phone number. The 3 digit area
code that starts that phone
number with is associated with
the owner being located in a
specific location.
3. 800 Phone Number
Besides 800, it can be 877,866 and
others. The number indicates that
the caller will not be charged for
the phone call. The number is not
associated with the geography.
4. Vanity Phone Number
For example, 1-800-TELEPHONE.
T h e a c t u a l n u m b e r i s
1-800-835-3746, and is not very
memorable. They are meant to be
easy to remember.
6. The Pros Of A Vanity 800
Business Number
•Free is always good.
•Easy to remember and recall.
•You appear large.
(See our articles on radio and TV advertising here.
Here is good article by Scott Richards )
7. The Cons Of An 800 Number
•The business will pay for the
calls. For example, Ring Central
charges 3.9 cents per minute.
8. The Cons Of An 800 Number
• It may limit your search engine
traffic. Since google looks for your
location with the phone number,
those whose local number is listed
on their website have an
advantage over the ones with 800
numbers.
(Learn more here.)
9. The Cons Of An 800 Number
• People associate 800
numbers with being on hold
and bad customer service.
(Learn more about 800 numbers here.)
10. Whick is likely to generate more sales calls,
an 800 number or a local phone number?
11. Ads with local phone numbers
printed in yellow page ads,
received twice as many calls
as those same ads with 800
numbers.
12. For internet yellow pages
(IYP), ads with local numbers
generated around 33% more
phone calls than those with
800 numbers.
13. The reason why ads with 800 numbers fail to receive high
call volumes in both print and online media is because of
the general negative reaction of customers to an 800
number. Such a number suggests the following: “not a local
business”, “call center”, “long waiting queues”, “less
personal service”, “automated voice systems”
Doctor Dennis Fromholzer, CRM Associates