Are You a Growing Small Business Looking for a Virtual Office?
You’ve heard the phrase “Fake it until you make it?” It’s doubly true for growing small businesses.
Any PR or marketing expert will tell you that projecting a more professional business image is the first step towards greater success.
For example, think of the first time a potential customer contacts you as less sales pitch and more interview.
Seasoned recruiters know that an interviewee’s success in landing a job is often determined within the first 30 seconds of their interview.
Like it or not, a firm handshake, strong eye contact and a confident manner have a huge impact on whether a potential candidate becomes a trusted employee.
How to Get 79% More Business with an After Hours Answering Service
When your business relies on being available to customers after hours, it’s hard to take time out for the important things in life—like dinner with friends or family, or just recuperating after a busy day’s work.
For tradies, medical professionals, mortgage brokers and real estate agents running a small business, that ringing phone is something you can rarely ignore—it represents concrete leads that are important to your business’ bottom line.
Letting your phone go to voicemail is not an option. According to research by Fortune in 2006, 80% of callers who get your voicemail will hang up without leaving a message. And that means they’re probably calling your competitors.
But being on call 24/7 can wreak havoc on your productivity—to run your business successfully you also need down time to regroup, have a life or focus on getting actual work done.
I’m going to let you in on the one foolproof secret to maintain your sanity while getting more leads and happier repeat customers!
It’s simple. Invest in a professional after hours answering service today.
A Look at Telephone Answering Services Through the Ages
With today’s modern phone technology, there are a lot of things we take for granted.
If you can’t answer a phone call, you can let it go through to a voicemail service. You can even forward your unanswered calls through to a Phone Answering Service, where a professional operator answers calls in your business name and takes a message for you.
Around 75% of callers hang up without leaving a message if their calls are answered by a machine, so Live Answering provides great benefits to businesses (helping them to keep customers happy and capture more sales leads). That has made Live Answering an essential service for many Australian businesses!
In this blog post, we have a look back at what Live Answering was like before the digital age.
Alltel Christmas 2012 Service Update
With Christmas and New Year almost here, it’s time to make sure your business phone services are ready for the holiday period. This service update covers the following topics:
- Making Changes to your Services
- Contacting Alltel Support During the Holiday
- Special Live Answering Offer: FREE $25 Credit
Let Alltel Answer your Phones this Christmas and Get a FREE $25 Credit
The holiday season is approaching fast.
This is the time of year filled with celebrations and vacations. For example, you might want to take the whole office out for a Christmas lunch or maybe shut the office down between Christmas and New Year.
You’re not sure you can do that though, because one of your customers might need you or a lucrative new deal might come your way. Someone needs to be there to answer the phones.
The good news is that with plans that start from less than $1 a day, Alltel can answer your phones for you so you can relax and enjoy the festive season. And if you sign up before December 14, you’ll receive a $25 Christmas bonus!
Virtual Office Services Keep Businesses Moving When Traffic Stops
Were you caught in the gridlock caused by last week’s closure of Melbourne’s CityLink tunnels? Or if you’re based in another city or state, did you have traffic nightmares of your own to deal with?
When experiencing serious congestion on the roads, most of us have the same thought: “There has to be a better way!”
The good news is that modern technology and cloud-based services mean that the better way is available right now (and it’s surprisingly affordable).
Six Tips for Home-based Start-up Businesses
For many of us, running our own business is the ultimate dream. We’ll often start following that dream gradually: working in whatever hours we have available and looking forward to the day when we’ve built a business strong enough that we can quit our day jobs!
To increase your opportunities for success, you need to plan your business properly: do your homework and make sure your business idea is actually going to make money. By doing things properly at the start, you’ll reduce the risk of heartache later on.
For those who are ready to take the step and start their own business, here are a few tips and hints to help you along the way.
Change 1300/1800 Number & Live Answering Plans any Time for FREE
Many providers charge a fee if you want to change your 1300 Number, 1800 Number or Live Answering services to a higher- or lower-cost plan: especially in the case of moving to a lower-cost plan!
At Alltel, we want you to have the service that is the most economical and best fit for your business. That’s why with our 1300, 1800 and Live Answering services you can Upgrade or Downgrade your monthly plans at any time for FREE.
Live Answering Solutions for the Whole Team
The telephone is an essential communications tool for businesses: especially for small and growing businesses. It’s often the primary method your customers use for keeping in touch with you, so it’s important to ensure that you receive every call.
Many small businesses use a Live Answering Service to help with incoming calls. With Live Answering, an Australian-based operator answers calls when you’re not available, and immediately forwards messages to you via SMS, email and web-based portal. This ensures that your customers’ calls are always answered quickly in a professional and friendly manner, and that you never miss an important message.
A basic live answering service, where all messages are forwarded to a single email address and SMS number, is ideally suited to a sole trader. As your business grows, you’ll want to expand to a live answering service that is able to support multiple people and departments (who may be in different physical locations).
Live Answering: Which Service is the Best Fit for Your Business?
There are two steps to choosing the live answering service that is best suited to your business:
- Choosing the right provider
- Choosing the right plan
When it comes to choosing a provider, you should consider the following:
- Who answers the calls? Look for professional operators (not part-timers working from home).
- Where are the calls answered? Look for a service with local (Australian-based) operators.
- What are the hours of operation? Look for a 24/7 service that operates on public holidays.
- What is the quality of the service? Check out testimonials and recommendations.
- What other services are available? You can often save money by bundling other telco services.
After you choose a provider, the next step is to compare their available plans and work out which one is right for you.
1800/1300 NUMBER SPECIALISTS
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