Home Office Telephony

Feature Of The Week: Virtual PBX Extension

As you shop around the internet trying to find the best phone system for your small business you may come across Virtual PBX's (VPBX) and decide to try this type of service out. When comparing several providers you may notice that they all offer a certain amount of extensions with each of their plans.

What is a Virtual PBX extension?

Before the era of virtual phone systems, an extension was typically a physical phone wired to a phone system and assigned its own extension number. Callers who dialed that specific extension number would get ring that particular extension.

These days an extension is best thought of as a routing path. In other words, when a caller dials a number what path does that call take and where does that path lead? If a VPBX service provider offers you 5 extensions that means there are 5 paths a call can be routed.

For example, my virtual pbx for Your Telecom Advisor has 5 extensions. My main extension (Extension 0) is the auto-attendant, the traffic cop of my system. It gives people options according to who they want to reach.

If they dial my extension 1, the system is set up to find me. It rings my home office number and my cell phone simultaneously. If I'm not available to take the call it goes to my personal voicemail.

If they dial my extension 2, the caller goes to a recorded message explaining my Phone Image Makeover service and giving the caller instructions on how to sign up for the service.

People who dial extension 3 do so because they are interested in hiring me as an Associate Virtual Assistant, the other side of my company. The caller goes to a message explaining the virtual assistance services I specialize in and gives them the option to leave me a message – a separate voicemail from my personal voicemail box.

Another way to use extensions is to assign a separate phone number to each extension. For example, many entrepreneurs have multiple businesses each with its own separate identity, target market and branding. A separate phone number and extension can be assigned to each one of those businesses. You can answer with the appropriate greeting and each can have its own voicemail. Multiple business entities – One phone system.

There are other ways to use extensions in businesses. Leave me a comment if you are using extensions in a way I have not mentioned.

Feature of the Week: Virtual Phone Number

Wikipedia defines Virtual Phone Number as "a telephone number without an associated phone line. Usually these numbers are programmed to be forwarded to either a Voice over IP service, or to a different phone line, fixed or mobile."

Let's put that into context. Let's say you have a Virtual Assistant business in Florida, USA and you've discovered that your particular services are in high demand in London, U.K. You want to make it as easy as possible for prospects in London to be able to reach you and for them to get the feel that you have a presence in their neighborhood.

How do you accomplish that? By purchasing a London virtual number that people in that area can dial for free and point it to your local business number or voip service.

The service is billed much like a toll free number. You pay a monthly fee for the number and termination charges depending on where your number is pointed to. If it's pointed to a local land line or mobile phone line you will pay a certain amount per minute. If it's pointed to a SIP phone or other VOIP type service there are usually no per minute termination charges.

Most Virtual PBX's and VOIP service providers offer virtual numbers. There are also companies such as Virtual Phone Line whose main offering is virtual numbers.

Feature of the Week: Fax On Demand

One of the most important skills every solo-preneur must master in order to be successful is the ability to leverage his/her time to the max. After all, there are only so many working hours in each day and there's only so much you can physically do yourself. This is where automation can be extremely helpful.

This week's feature of the week – Fax on Demand – is an automated system which allows you to upload documents to a server and make them available to prospects by fax.

For example, let's say you are a Realtor and you've acquired a listing for a $1 million dollar home. You will likely place a lawn sign on the property with your phone number and a message saying "For more information call xxx-xxx-xxxx ext 103." When the potential client dials that number they will be given the option to listen to details about the property and to have a listing sheet faxed to them. They can then enter their fax number and the system will fax them the appropriate listing sheet.

Notice how this whole process has required no work on your part aside from installing the lawn sign and uploading the listing sheet. However, you will be able to look at the call detail and see who has requested listing sheets by their caller id and allowing you to follow up with them at a time that's convenient for you.

There are many possible applications for this system. You could upload your company brochure, service list, sale flyer, spec sheet, white papers or even articles. Anything that you believe will be of interest to your prospects and that will make them more likely to buy from you when they are ready.

Feature of the Week: Dynamic Call Forwarding

It's the holidays and although many brick and mortar businesses take time off and close their offices for at least a few days, some of us solopreneurs are still hard at work. We may be out of town visiting family or indeed taking a deserved break from our computer but one thing is for sure, if money calls we sure don't want to miss it. This is where Call Forwarding comes in real handy.

There are several types of Call Forwarding:

Find Me Call Forwarding - This type of call forwarding (common in most Virtual PBX systems) can be set up to ring several numbers sequentially or simultaneously to try to find you. For example, you may have your system set up to ring your home office line, then your cell phone and if neither of those pick up you may have it ring your Virtual Assistants phone number. If the system can't find you (or your assistant) it will then forward the call to voicemail.

Follow Me Call Forwarding – This feature is great if you only have one alternate number where you want to receive calls. So If you are stepping out of your office momentarily you can set up the calls to follow you to your cell phone, for example.

Call Forward Busy / No Answer – This kind is most commonly used with voicemail systems. When a call comes in if the line is busy or there is no answer the call is then forwarded to voicemail.

Time of Day Forwarding –You can configure your system to behave differently depending on the time of day. For example, you can tell the system that between the hours of 8:00 AM and 5:00 PM you want the system to find you (using Find Me / Follow Me ) and afterhours you want the system to forward all your calls to your voicemail. Most systems also have a "Do Not Disturb" option which can be easily activated. This will supersede any other rules and forward your calls straight to voicemail.

Smart Forwarding – This is probably one of the coolest features I've seen. It allows you to pre-configure your system to forward based on the caller ID of the incoming call. For example, you have a multi-dollar client who you want to give VIP treatment to. When this client calls the system will recognize his/her caller ID, skip the automated attendant recording and send the call directly to you. Likewise is you have people who are… well, less of a priority, the system can send them directly to voicemail. This allows you to prioritize your time and your clients.

Disaster Recovery Forwarding – You can set up specific rules that can be activated easily and remotely in the case of a disaster. For more detail on this read my previous post: When Disaster Strikes.

With all these great forwarding features available to you there should be no reason you would ever miss an important call. The hardest part will be to use it wisely so that you don't become a slave to your phone. After all, it is the holidays and work will still be there after you spend some time with your loved ones.

Ok… Time to follow my own advice.

Feature Of The Week: Auto-Attendant

Starting this week I will dedicate one post a week to discussing a particular feature of virtual phone systems. I will not only define the feature and list what it does but I will give you examples of how the feature can help your home based or small businesse be more productive and sound more professional.

This week I have picked the feature that I believe best accomplishes the goal of making your business sound as polished as a large, established company: the Automated Attendant.

According to Webster's New World Telecom Dictionary an Automated Attendant (or Auto Attendant) is "An application in which an interactive voice processor automates many of the functions of a human attendant, answering an incoming call and prompting the caller through a series of spoken menu options to directly access a department or station through touchtone or speech input."

In plain English, an auto-attendant is your very own personal secretary, who works seven days a week, 24 hours a day, never calls in sick or needs a vacation and always answers your calls exactly the way you want them to be answered every single time. Most people who call a business expect a receptionist of some sort to answer the call. Just because you work out of your home office doesn't mean you can't have one too.

Here are a few additional benefits that an auto-attendant can provide your small business:

• It screens your calls and whispers the caller's name so that you know whether it's that huge client you've been trying to land for the last month or just a pesky telemarketer wanting you to take a survey. Some systems go as far as automatically recognizing your current clients from your Outlook address book by their caller ID and giving them priority handling.
• It forwards your calls to the right place every time. Some of you may use your cell phone number as your only business number and are paying the mobile companies dearly for all those minutes. Have the auto-attendant forward your calls to your home line when at home and save yourself some precious cell minutes.
• It greets your callers and forward your calls in a certain way during your established business hours and only take messages for you afterhours. This really helps in setting boundaries with your clients and prevents your business from taking over your whole life.
• It acts as your VP of Business Development by automatically handling some of your lead's inquiries for you. See my previous post: Get More Clients Using Your Telephone.

Unfortunately, my automated attendant will not bring me my coffee in the morning (actually my caffeine of choice is Diet Coke) but since I no longer need to answer my phone every time it rings anymore I have the time to get my own.

Is Your Phone Image Consistent With Your Branding?

Most entrepreneurs and small business owners today know the importance of developing a brand for their business. Countless books have been written about the topic. Marketing gurus talk about it incessantly. They tell us to invest in a "corporate identity", get a memorable logo, a professional business card and a sharp looking website. But they seem stop there. To me something very important is being overlooked.

Does your sound match your branding? Once someone sees your website and is impressed enough to call your number - and hopefully hire you - will they hear something as professional and polished as the rest of your business image?

If I call your number right now would I be inspired to hire you or to hang up as quickly as possible? If it's the latter, take a look at some of the technologies we discuss in this blog and make use of them.

Here are some things you can do to spruce up your "phone image":

1. If you use an auto-attendant make sure the recording is of an actual human being – preferably you. However, if you don't care for your own voice, have a friend record the message for you or hire a professional to do it. Companies like Holdcom or Amazing Voice will do the recording for you. Whatever you do don't leave the computer generated prompts no matter how smooth it sounds. Nothing says generic like a robotic voice in your ear.
2. Offer lots of information – a description of your services, information about your business process, your business hours. Have enough information to build trust with your caller but not so much that it would require 4 menus and 15 sub-menus to deliver it. No one will sit through 25 prompts.
3. Always give callers the option to go straight to voicemail and bypass additional prompts. This will be especially appreciated by people who call you frequently. 

What about you? Have you thought about how your brand sounds lately?

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.