Your Small Business Needs a Toll-Free Number. Here is Why.
Small business startups and entrepreneurs have something in common. A vision of David and Goliath. Both invest a lot of resources into taking down the Big Bad Corporations that enabled them to start their own business. These small businesses and entrepreneurs possess the skills and right approach. They commit themselves (rightly) to the customer. Ultimately, they have all of the tools and attitudes needed to succeed. But then something happens. Either a few slow months or some kind of “spooky” incident drains these folks of their steam. When we ask what happened, we often hear that they just couldn’t compete with the Big Boys (or in some paranoid cases we even get a “they had it out for me” excuse). Come on, who really believes this?
Small businesses have several critical advantages over large corporations. From a financial perspective, they have less layers of management. They can provide a more intimate approach to customer service without having to worry about bureaucracy. And while small businesses competing with larger corporations don’t have the same deep pockets, they also don’t have the extraordinary expenses. Small businesses truly stand to profit from the inefficiencies of larger corporations. So why don’t they?
Often, small businesses emit a small presence and nobody wants to deal with the small guy when the small guy could be gone tomorrow. More often than not, a lot of customers don’t even know that the small business even exists; it becomes easier to remember that jingle on the radio — Call us at 1-800-BUY-FROM-US or whatever it might be. Consequently, prospects choose the bigger competitor because the small business forces them to! Which brings us to how the small business owner or entrepreneur can compete with the big corporation. While we promote a complete model to Build Presence, the one we find gets overlooked time and again is the toll-free number!
A toll-free number plays an instrumental part in setting up the small business or entrepreneur as a serious contender in any arena. Imagine a customer looking for a service or product that you can not only offer, but do a better servicing job than a larger corporation. This customer might look for you in the phone book and suppose this customer finds just two listings. One has a local number and the other has both a local number and a toll-free number. Chances are the toll-free number will stand out. After all, your customers might prefer to buy locally, but they expect service from any corner of the globe!
The great thing about setting up a toll-free number is it doesn’t cost an arm and a leg. With the advantage of technology, these numbers can be set up in a matter of minutes. Better yet, calls can be routed directly to your cell phone so you don’t miss a single call. Any unanswered calls will be answered by your existing voicemail (rather than an off-site service). This allows you to focus on other business development activities or to enjoy your free time. Sure beats sitting around your office waiting for the phone to ring.
The service we recommend costs $39.99 per month. For this fee, you get a no-frills solution with unlimited minutes. Calls received at your toll-free number get routed to any phone of your choosing.
The small business owners and entrepreneurs who aim to take down the Goliath(s) in their markets cannot ignore the importance of a toll-free number. Such a simple and cost-effective tool gives the small business an edge against similarly sized companies and brings them to the same level as their biggest competitors. The advantage for the small business? Customers that call their toll-free number know exactly who they will reach.
Tags: Business, Business, Management, Small Business
