Your Phone is Ringing…. Now What? Handling Business Calls on a Shoestring Budget

When I first started my journey as a self-employed professional (Ok… when I was forced into self-employment by a company layoff) one of the biggest questions I had was: "How will I handle my business calls when I work from home?" It didn't matter that I made my living in the telecommunications field for the previous 10 years, this question still dumbfounded me. Since I had little monetary resources (read: I was broke) I wondered if I could get away with just using my home phone line or even my cell phone.

What to do?.... What to do?.... If you are just starting out and the state of your bank account leaves much to be desired, here are some things to consider:

• Using your Cell Phone for all your business calls:

  Pros: Typically, you will be the only one answering your cell phone so there is little danger of your partner or one of your children picking up the phone and potentially turning off your prospects. A cell phone, being highly portable, will allow you to always be available when money calls (as I like to say).

  Cons: Depending on what kind of service plan you have, receiving all your business calls on your cell phone could get expensive since you are typically charged by the minute. Mobiles can be unpredictable as far as voice quality (good reception) and call connection (dropped calls). The last thing you want as you are trying to close that profitable deal is a bunch of static on the line or for the call to drop at that crucial "Yes, I will buy from you" moment.

• Purchasing a "Distinctive Ring" service from your phone company:

  Distinctive Ring (as is known by most companies) is an add-on service for your home phone that you can order from local phone company. It allows you to have an additional telephone number – which you can promote as your business number – that has a different ring tone than your regular phone number. 

  Pros: It lets you know that the incoming call is for your business before you pick up the phone and tells everyone else in your family to keep their hands off. No additional equipment is required and it costs between $5.00 and $10.00 USD a month.

  Cons: If the line is being used by a member of your family (for example your chatty teenager) the call may be lost. If you have Call Waiting your teenager may hear the tone indicating there's a call waiting but decide not to switch over (that story about the football player having a crush on her is just too good to interrupt) and if you don't have Call Waiting the caller would hear a busy signal.

• Purchasing Voicemail with multiple boxes:

  Some local service phone companies sell a voicemail system for your home that will have multiple extensions. If you choose, you could tell all the members of your family that no one is to touch the phone when it is ringing and to let all calls go to voicemail. That way the caller will hear a message such as this: "Thank you for Calling. To speak with Victoria Santiago from Clarity Transactions press 1. To speak with Kenneth press 2. To speak with Ryan press 3." After the caller chooses the right number they can leave a message for that person.

  Pros: Inexpensive solution. You can get a voicemail system that handles multiple boxes for about $5.00 and $7.00 USD a month. Every member of your family manages their own mailbox which gives each their privacy. You don't have to listen to your partner's messages while retrieving your own. And it's definitely a better option than having one voicemail message saying "You've reached the Smith family. Please leave a message". Your prospect is not calling your family he is calling your business.

  Cons: This option will only work if all calls are answered by the voicemail system. If you have teenagers at home… good luck with that. Having this type of set up is also not as professional as you might want. The fact that you work from is basically advertised on your message and some prospects may not be comfortable with that and hang up. It is much better if the prospects learn that you have a home office AFTER you've been able to fully impress them withal the wonderful things you can do for them.

The list above is my favorite least expensive tactics to start handling your business calls. Feel free to share your own.

I should mention that, in my opinion, none of the strategies above portray the best "phone impression" of you and your business. I bit the bullet from the beginning and purchased a virtual phone system with an automated attendant and it is the solution I recommend to most independent professionals. Stay tuned for future posts on this subject.