By Brandi Cummings
Technology, some people fear it, some resist it, and othersembrace it. As a small business owner, it could be the bestthing that ever happened to your company. With the technologyavailable today, small businesses are increasingly leveling theplaying field between themselves and big companies. With tollfree virtual PBX (Private Branch Exchange) telephone systems,small businesses are combining today's technology withtraditional customer service to take their business to the nextlevel.
It used to be that only Fortune 500 companies with thousands ofemployees and 10- story office buildings could afford andmaintain a traditional PBX telephone system. Now, with toll freevirtual PBX services, anyone with a telephone can reap thebenefits of this powerful communications tool. A virtual PBX hasall the advantages of a traditional PBX and more without thehassle, hardware, and expense.
A virtual PBX allows small businesses to:
(1) Project a professional, more established company image (2)Have one unified number for office phone, cell phone, fax, andpager (3) Make information available to their customers 24/7 (4)Automate order taking and pre-qualifying processes (5) Haveweb-based, real time access to their system
Small and home-based businesses are using all of these featuresof their toll free virtual PBX systems to sound and operate likea Fortune 500 company everyday.
Project a Professional, More Established Company Image Right orwrong, consumers assume a company with a toll free number is amore established and secure company. When a toll free number isattached to a virtual PBX with an automated attendant, thatpowerful image is perpetuated. An automated attendant willanswer all incoming calls with the same professional andcourteous message every time, day or night. Professionalgreetings can be recorded by the business owner themselves, oreven by a voice talent, and customized for the needs of thebusiness. It doesn't matter if the business is operated out of ahome office or the Oval Office. The caller hears a professionalgreeting each and every time they call.
Unified Voice and Messaging System With a toll free virtual PBXsystem, small businesses only need one telephone number. Thisnumber can be an office phone, cell phone, fax, and pager all inone. Gone are the days of having to put 3 or 4 different numberson business cards. Now the virtual PBX toll free number replacesthem all. When a call comes in to the toll free number, it canbe routed to any local number. It can even be programmed toroute to different numbers at different times of the day or evendifferent days of the week. A call never has to be missed again.That kind of flexibility is unheard of with a traditional tollfree number or a hardwired PBX. If the call is not answered, oris sent to voicemail, the virtual PBX system can even send out apage to let the user know that there is a message waiting forthem. The toll free number also acts as the fax number. When afax is sent, the system recognizes it as a fax and can store itin the fax mailbox for later retrieval, forward the faxeddocument to a local fax machine, or even send the fax to anemail address as an attachment. The unified messaging featureunchains small business owners from the home or small office andallows them the flexibility to get out and build their businesswhile still being available to their customers.
Powerful Automation No matter how efficient a small orhome-based business is, they simply cannot be available to theircustomers all the time - unless they have a toll free virtualPBX system. If a caller has questions they want the answers now.If they don't get those answers when they call, chances arethey'll look some place else. Making sure information isavailable, even when a live person isn't, can be the differencebetween someone becoming a customer or moving on to thecompetition. A toll free virtual PBX allows the storage of anunlimited amount of information for callers to retrieve 24 hoursa day, 7 days a week. Menus broken down into what kinds ofinformation a caller might need, make it easy for them tonavigate the system and get what they are looking for. Faxes caneven be attached so the caller can request an automated faxback. For a business that needs to pre-qualify their callers, orwould just like to get some information about them, can takeadvantage of question and answer voice mailboxes. A set ofpre-recorded questions can be asked of the caller and the voiceresponses then saved in the system and emailed as a sound file.These automated processes not only save time, but they also makesure callers can get the information they need when no one isavailable.
Web Based System Access A toll free virtual PBX is just that,virtual. What that means for a small business owner is that one,there is no hardware to maintain or software to buy, and two,that they can access their system from anywhere they can getonline. Online system access is one of the most popular featuresof a virtual PBX system. Web-based system access allows users tocheck their voice and fax messages over the internet or have themessages delivered directly to an email address. Of course,messages can still be checked from any touch-tone phone,anywhere.
A small business owner has administrative access to check thecall logs of all incoming calls to their toll free number anduse the call capture feature to not only capture the phonenumber of the person calling, but also their name and address.It also allows a user to run reports based on different criteriachosen. For example, reports could be run to show when thebusiest time of the week is for customer service or if the callvolume increased after a specific ad campaign was released. Theapplications are endless.
With all these powerful features, and most times more, it'samazing that toll free virtual PBX systems can be found at areasonable price. Most systems offered are between $9.95 and$29.95 depending on the capabilities and size of the system.Many will offer a varying number of voice mail boxes, features,and minute plans. A good toll free virtual PBX service providercan also customize systems if needed.
Technology is ever changing in today's fast paced world. Smallbusiness owners will either have to embrace it or risk beingleft behind
Article Source: www.ArticlesBase.com
