Virtual PBX & Toll-Free Number, 800 Number Provider - 800PBX

ComputingPlugged just ran an article on one of our innovative services.

SantaCalls will call children at the designated time and announce the customized parent’s message or one of the prerecorded Santa messages. You no longer require to remember the PINs and your account id. SANTA WILL CALL YOU AT THE DESIGNATED TIME.

The service also captures the child’s wish and deliver them by email to his or her parent. The original recordings are available online and can be optionally shared with the 800PBX community.

For a limited time, the best recording gets a free gift and the first “Happy Christmas” call from Santa himself. Parents must register for the free service and provide the email address to deliver the recorded wish list. Santa will call at the designated time from “North Pole” and talk to your child and ask for his or her wishes.

Yes, the name mentions it all!

Your phone appointments are now easily handled by the automated system. The callers can schedule an appointment by calling your 800 number or local number. The system either prompts them with the next available schedule or provides options for the caller to enter his designated date and time.

An email and SMS is automatically dispatched to you after the self appointment. The system also follows up with the customer 1 day and 1 hr before the scheduled appointment confirming the appointment.

Please visit our toll-free phone appointment page for further details.

The uses of vanity numbers was discussed first here. This is the second part.

Introduction

A vanity number is a type of toll-free number beginning with 1-800, 1-888, 1-877 or 1-866 and ending with a word, acronym or domain which represents the company and/or the goods or services that it markets. Sometimes called word numbers or alphanumeric numbers, vanity numbers have been proven to be a very valuable and effective marketing tool. They have also been shown to be an inexpensive promotional method in contrast to repetitive advertising through print and electronic media.
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Toll-free numbers offer tremendous advantages to any type of business. Below are some of them:

• Improves business overall
• Make your advertising more effecient
• Improves sales
• Larger professional company image
• Receive more prospective calls
• Improved sales revenues
• High response rates to your marketing campaigns
• Able to target national market
• Gain competitive edge
• Track calls and improve quality
• No busy signals to your 1-800 telephone number
• Scalability in business
• Efficient customer support
• Ease of use to your customers
• Number portability

Vanity phone numbers, such as 1-800-HOMELOAN, are proven over time to pull more traffic during advertising periods. Some have even experienced 300% growth with few campaigns. They can be advertised on websites, bill boards, news papers, etc..

For example, if you are an attorney, you could grow your business by advertising 1-800-LAW-HELP as your vanity 800 number.
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Choosing your virtual-pbx provider can become a daunting task if you are new to the concepts.

Below is a list of items you may wish to shop around before you finalize your service provider.

1) Virtual PBX Services: Many of the toll-free providers simply route the calls to a local number without presenting the various virtual pbx options such as call-hunt, follow-me, auto attendant, voicemail, dial-by-name, business hours greeting and non business hours greeting etc. Make sure these services are enabled and are provided free of cost to you.

2) Check for double-billing and cancellation charges: Most of them double bill and you may want to stay away from these providers. This will save you from surprises and hidden charges in future. Be sure to read the terms and conditions for hidden cancellation charges. They go as much as $100.

3) Auto-Attendant with voicemail: An auto attendant with an option to record your own voice as welcome greeting is a must for every business. 800PBX provides free greeting done by a professional artist.

4) Call-forwarding: Many providers forward calls however they are usually sent to your cellphone’s voicemail and not properly screened for a live person. 800PBX prompts for user input to avoid redirection to local voicemails.

5) Call-blocking and custom greetings: Expect lot of spam calls and your provider should be able to give you an option to prevent calls from user-defined numbers.

800PBX allows you to play a recorded message for the calls coming from user-defined numbers. The system hangs up after playing a message. (”XYZ corporation does not entertain calls from this number. Please hangup and call us from a different number if required.”)

6) Call-recording: Your business may require you to record all calls in order to maintain call records and for quality-training purposes. 800PBX offers this feature free of cost.

7) Fax: With an ability to send and receive faxes on internet, you save few dollars in buying and maintaining fax machines.

8 ) Dedicated local number: Your business will expand in future and you should be ready to add more numbers from each state.

9) Once you choose a service provider, look out if he is a reseller or someone who rents or leases the toll-free numbers. It is wise to opt your toll-free number from a direct seller.

10) Online panel and extension login: Be sure to enquire about the online panel features and check if each extension user can create his or her own rules.

11) If you have a website, make sure your provider gives your online customers to call you directly using web dial feature. If you use email for your business, an option to contact you from your outlook signature would help.

800PBX provides all the above features free of cost along with free minutes for each plan. Please evaluate the services for two weeks.

Good luck with your new provider and 800PBX looks forward to serving you. Click here to know why 800PBX is the best toll-free virtual pbx provider.

Why Toll-free number?

Toll free numbers impress customers and are more successful than normal telephone numbers in generating new sales. They boost up the image of your business and sound more professional and organized. Furthermore as they are easier to remember, they increase the probability for your customers to call your business again.

Vanity Number or not?

It becomes important to choose your toll free number very carefully. Make sure you opt for a toll-free vanity number as people tend to remember words more easily than numbers. Your vanity number should be easy to spell and should exemplify your business. For eg: 1-800-CAR-WASH is easily remembered rather than 1-800-346-7834.

800, 877, 866 or 888?

As of today, 800 number pool is exhausted which means that your chances are very very slim to get a toll-free number starting with 800. However, do not lose hope. Many of our clients have found that the other series (866, 877 and 888) have similar advantage in brand exposure. You may find your keyword or combination with these numbers.

I didn’t get my number. What next?

Well, we understand. Many of our clients approach us and we always suggest that they look for their keyword (job activity) while choosing the number. While your company name may sound cool to you, the customers will soon forget it. Remember someone who knows your company by name will not mind calling your business looking it up in the yellow pages. However, someone who has forgotten (everyone does, including your customer) will easily correlate your business with the job activity. How many times did you remember (1-800-LOCKSMITH as opposed to 1-800-BARRON-LOCKSMITH)?

Finally

Remember to integrate your toll free number actively in all phases of your business activity including brochures, letterheads, visiting cards and promotional marketing campaigns.

Make your toll free number is visible at every possible place where your target audience sees or hears about you.

Charges

Please note that providers charge at least $69 for searching and another $49 for assigning the number on your name. Few of them (we do) provide free of cost. Why? Because, we are confident that your business will help us compensate the associated number costs in long term.

Conclusion

Please sure to ask your toll-free provider with the questions here before making a decision to subscribe to their services.

Toll free vanity numbers are unique combination of alphanumeric characters that help your toll free number to stand out in the crowd. They speak about your trade and act as independent advertising tool for your business. Vanity numbers are combination of words and numbers which are easy to remember for your customers. They are provided from the series of toll free numbers like 888, 800, 877, etc. The alphabets can be the words that define your business for example 1-800-FLOWERS or 1-800-CARLOAN.

It is important to ask yourself if your business really needs vanity number. How important are vanity numbers and why should you spend more time on getting a vanity number when a toll free number can satisfy all your business needs?

Having a toll free vanity number means adding more sales avenues. Toll free vanity numbers act as an additional channel to reach more customers and boost your sales. Although a toll free number in itself can help your customers to reach you, an alphanumeric number will make it easier. 1-800-FLOWERS is easier to remember than 18003569377.

Many companies rely heavily on strong brand recognition of their product or services. Toll free vanity numbers attached with a product or the company endorses the professional image of the company as a brick and mortar business. It adds to the credibility and prestige of the company to own an alphanumeric number rather than a simple numeric toll free number. This strong presence in the market results in larger response rates from the customers.

“Toll free vanity numbers act as a strong marketing and advertising tools. They tend to leave a longer impact on customer’s mind and can be recollected easily. It would be a good idea to opt for a toll free vanity number if you wish to create a strong brand image in customer’s mind.”

Are you a small entrepreneur? Do you have a small business and look forward to adding more customers while keeping your existing customers satisfied? Have you been wondering if your business needs a toll-free number? Its about time you consider a few aspects of these magic numbers.

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A toll-free number is a special telephone number that can be called at no cost to the caller, as the call recipient pays for the call cost. Toll-free numbers are also called 800 numbers as they have the area code as 800. But now, they start with 888, 877, 800, 866, etc.

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