0845 numbers can benefit you
April 11, 2009 by WebWarrior
Filed under Business and Management
Missing phone calls can mean missing out on business and in an era where every phone call counts, many companies are turning to 0845 numbers to enable them to answer more calls.
0845 numbers are popular with large and small companies from all sectors, including insurance firms like Direct Line, travel companies like Virgin Atlantic, national banks like Lloyds TSB and countless small and medium sized businesses throughout the country.
The 0845 number enables companies to smarten up the way they deal with callers, ensuring that they answer more calls and become more efficient. This means they can take more enquiries – enhancing their customer services, and make more money from their sales calls.
Here are 5 ways 0845 numbers can help you answer more calls.
1. Calls to 0845 numbers can be re-routed to alternative landlines/mobiles instantly. This is particularly useful for out of hours calls or in an emergency, such as landline failure. Some 0845 number suppliers actually enable you to do this online at the touch of a button or over the phone.
2. 0845 numbers can be combined with a Voicemail to Email service. This allows companies to have all their voicemails sent to a nominated email address of their choice. This means that all important messages can be responded to rapidly and they can easily be forwarded to the appropriate person or department to deal with.
3. 0845 numbers are non geographic telephone numbers meaning that the location of a business is not made explicit by the dialling code of their number alone. This can help them to attract more calls as they won’t be judged on their location.
4. Businesses can handpick a highly memorable 0845 number to enable their potential customers to remember their phone number before their competitors. E.g. 0845 111 2222
5. If a business moves premises or relocates, 0845 numbers can easily move it. This avoids the need to change telephone numbers, office stationery, letterheads etc .and avoids confusing customers.
The cost to set-up and run 0845 numbers varies.
Many providers charge businesses for the calls they receive on their 0845 numbers – however, if you’re savvy you’ll be able to find the supplier on the market that offers unlimited inbound calls to 0845 numbers for just a small monthly fee.
The main advantages for UK businesses in having an 0845 number or any non geographical number for that matter have been highlighted well in this article.
Before jumping in and registering an 0845 number for your business, shop around. There are some companies in the UK who supply 0845 numbers for free; they also come with call management packages that provide all the services highlighted above.
These companies are able to do this with no monthly fee, setup charge or annual subscription as they are telecoms networks and not resellers. This allows them to make enough money on the calls to service your number and provide all the services for free of charge.
You should never have to sign a contract for a non geographical number (unless it’s an 0800 number or its being mapped to a mobile) when you do, this is usually the sign of a reseller trying to tie you down.
08 Direct are a telecommunications network that supply non geographical numbers to UK businesses for free. They also provide a call management package which can accommodate for all the services mentioned above.