800 Numbers: What does your US 800 number say about you (or your business)?

Posted on by

800 numbers have come a long way since they first hit the scene in the late 1960s, so has voice communication for that matter. As the telephony landscape changes so do perceptions about toll free numbers. But as the years have gone by, the toll free galaxy has grown significantly with 888, 877, 866, and 855 numbers appearing (844 numbers are even rumored to be on the horizon soon). However, the most tried and true – 1-800 – continues to be the most popular, trusted and well regarded.

Here’s a quick look at the toll free numbers out there today and some thoughts on each…

1-800

The classic. The real thing. The granddaddy of toll free numbers. For years, 800 numbers have been seen as the sign of a legitimate business and that trust has translated, and continues to translate, into more sales and more customer contacts. These numbers have certainly aged well but they have aged and with that age may have come a perception problem. Some customers might see 800 numbers as old and, perhaps, somewhat stodgy. So, what about their hipper offspring?

888

The most well-established of the ‘new’ toll free numbers, 888 also benefits from nearly 20 years of use. If someone misdials 1-800, instead of the proper prefix, 888 is typically the next man up. The 888 prefix also has established a bit more credibility due to its longevity but has yet to reach the venerated status of the original 1-800.

877

This prefix is sort of the hip, teenage sibling to 888. 877 is getting enough age that it is slowly being taken more seriously but is still seen as a younger, more edgy alternative to the more established 888 and 800 numbers.

866 and 855

These two are the youngsters. Both prefixes have benefited from the familiarity that 888 and 877 have created among consumers with the release of new toll free prefixes. This has helped to readily establish them as the ‘new’ toll frees. However, both are a bit young and much less trusted (especially 855 numbers) to be respected as much as 877, 888 or 800 numbers.

So which of the toll free numbers is right for your business? A newer prefix or the tried and true 1 800? Or both? Or all?

Call Center: A checklist for setting up a call center

Posted on by

A call center is a big investment and a huge commitment for a business. However, the process has gotten more streamlined as the industry, technology and market has grown. Still, before embarking on this endeavor, you will want to get organized and make sure everyone is on the same page.

What are your business goals and objectives?

Why a call center? Why now? For what purpose? Determining what you want the call center to achieve for your organization is critical. Once you determine the goal – perhaps it is to generate sales – then you will want to see if there are any secondary objectives or business goals. If you have a sales team, do you also need a customer service support team? Establishing business goals and objectives is critical to success and to gauging that success in the future. Without these items in place you wouldn’t know what to measure in order to see if your center is reaching its business goals.

Are there any operational parameters or constraints?

Before you begin to physically set up the call center, you’ll want to examine your existing phone system. Can it be integrated with what you are planning or do you need to upgrade your entire system? It is also important to understand the clientele that will be calling the center as this might influence the call center choices.

How big will the call center be? Will you need one or multiple locations or could you utilize a virtual call center solution? And, finally, it is of critical importance to determine what the budget for the project should be. In the end, this might be affected by the type of telephony system you choose, but it is important to have parameters in place regarding minimum and maximum expenditures.

What kind of system is best for your call center?

Once you have answered some of the critical questions and reviewed your current system, you will need to make a decision as to whether your customer service call center system will be premise-based or hosted, maintained by a third party off site. A hosted PBX solution is easier to maintain and requires less start-up capital, therefore, it is an appealing option. However, a premise-based solution does offer some flexibility and control that a hosted system might not. Investigating both options thoroughly will be essential in how you proceed to evaluate all your options.

Training time

Now that you have a call center solution in mind and know your goals and objectives, you will want to train employees on these specifics as well as how they will interact with the center. This will aid in achieving employee buy-in and satisfaction.

How’s it going?

Be sure to evaluate your progress in the contact center and make adjustments as necessary.

Within a few weeks of deployment you will want to assess how well the center is running and try to correct any initial trouble spots. This is essentially to check and see if the center is functioning as was planned and achieving your business goals.

Another in-depth review should come at roughly the 3-4 month mark. At this point, you can re-examine deployment and review operations. See if successes from one department can be re-created throughout the organization. Survey the entire organization for input from every employee. Take a long hard look at your call center operations and customer service and try to determine the best ways to optimize your performance.

VoIP vs. Traditional Phone Service – Side by Side Comparison

Posted on by

VoIP is rapidly gaining in popularity. Why would it be a good choice over a traditional phone system? Besides the clear-cut and well-document cost benefits, VoIP is steadily making up for any deficiencies in quality of service (QOS) between VoIP and traditional telephony.

Improved Voice Quality

Voice quality was one of the biggest issues for VoIP. Traditional phone lines typically offer excellent sound quality and do not suffer from some of the variety of issues that can come up for VoIP. However, while not always as consistent as traditional, VoIP offers good to excellent voice quality and many providers will guarantee excellent QOS.

Fewer Dropped Calls

Again, with traditional service dropped calls are extremely rare. While rare for VoIP as well, dropped call issues might be experienced during high volume times. As with voice quality, some VoIP providers will guarantee service.

Bandwidth Usage

Here VoIP comes out on top. IP telephony is very efficient in its use of bandwidth, while traditional services are inefficient.

As VoIP is steadily improving QOS and is continuing to maintain a much more appealing cost model (little to no maintenance costs/ much lower long distance rates/ other cost benefits) than traditional telephony solution, there are fewer reasons to stick with a traditional landline system.