Answering Services

Answering services for small businesses are on the rise. I think one of the main reasons for this is that small businesses are the companies that are really powering America right now. While unemployment is holding steady, there is no hiring. That being said, many people are out there trying to build their own small business. It makes a lot of sense, then, for a small business to either answer calls themselves or hire an external firm to answer calls.

I'm a small business with just a handful of employees. I've been a small business owner since the first dotcom meltdown in the early 2000s. I had every imaginable form of "answering" staff and service you can imagine. Initially, I hired a full time receptionist to answer phones, then went to a virtual assistant and am finally using an automated answering service, with sometimes a combination of two.

First of all, answering services for small businesses are really an important function to consider. The reason is that they provide your company with a professional image. I think this is true regardless of whether you have a live person or an automated service.

A full time receptionist is fairly expensive. This is especially true if this person is full time with benefits. In my experience, I was paying anywhere from $1,750 - $2,500 per receptionist per month, plus payroll taxes, paid vacations and holidays. Now, the benefit of a full time receptionist is, of course, he / she can greet clients, perform physical document filing and more in addition to answering the phones.

Virtual assistants can also be answering services for small businesses. The biggest difference between a full time on site receptionist and a virtual assistant is really cost, which is substantial. Now, if you need a physical person to greet clients, make copies, etc., then it makes sense to hire a "on site" receptionist. I have found that having virtual assistants solves all or my needs, including answering calls, for a fraction of the cost of a receptionist.

Other answering services for small businesses include a dedicated answering company. There are tons of them to choose from. Essentially, a client calls into a pre-determined phone number and the answering company answers as if they were your company. Actually, there are many variations of how they can answer the phone. Typically, the prices for answering service companies range anywhere from about $35 up to even several hundred or possibly even in the thousands. This is generally determined by the number of calls that come into your "office."

Automated answering services for small businesses are really a great option to consider. In fact, I use one of them myself, called RingCentral. They can range anywhere from $9.95 per month up to $99.99 or more, depending on the size of your company and your need for extensions, voice mail boxes, etc. I have the $49.99 version, which suits my company very well. I get a dedicated 800 number and fax number, unlimited minutes, 10 extensions, music on hold, custom greetings, and a whole lot more.

I feel that this service suits me very well, since I don't need to have a full time receptionist or answering service pick up my phones. However, I also have virtual assistants who handle my day to day filing, calls and general support, as well. In my case, RingCentral is the hub of our customer service communications. One tip related to RingCentral is the ability to call out from ANY phone with the outbound caller ID as your company phone number. This makes it look like your calling from the "office."

Number to an Address?

If you find yourself in need of the address of a person, but you only know their phone number, the best solution to your problem is called a reverse phone look up. With a phone reverse lookup directory, you will be able to match a phone number to an address easily from home.

What is a phone reverse lookup directory?

A reverse phone lookup directory is a directory or database that lets you find people using their telephone numbers.

So, how do I use these directories to match a phone number to an address?

First, you need to make sure that you have the full ten digit phone number. That means that you need to include the area code. If you do not include the area code, you would get hundreds of different results, since the same seven digit telephone numbers are used in different area codes.

The next thing that you will need is a good directory that is not too expensive to use ( the directories I use charges as little as $14.95 for a single search and $39.95 for unlimited search and they also give you the opportunity of getting a refund if necessary ). There are several directories around the internet that could work for you.

Some frequently asked Questions

Most people want to ask two questions about these services that match a phone number to an address. First, "Is it legal?" Yes, the searches are legal as long as your directory uses legal and public information. The second is "Does it cost money?" Well, the answer to that is yes and no.

There are some free directories. However, these directories are sometimes unreliable and may not provide a name and/or address and they don't usually work for unlisted and mobile phone numbers. The services that charge will provide more accurate information. And the good news is that the fee is very small and by far worth the information that you will be getting. If you need to match a phone number to an address, this small fee will be quite worth it.

Small Businesses?

Answering services for small businesses are pretty plentiful. In fact, they are so plentiful; it's hard to decide what service to choose. There are traditional answering services, automated services, and even virtual services that you manage yourself. If you are a small business, you're not alone. There are some twenty eight million small businesses, the majority of them (22 million) with only one employee.

So, how do you choose from all of the answering services for small businesses? First, you should think about how you plan to use the service. In other words, think about the way in which you want your calls answered. For example, do you mind if the call is answered by a live person or would an automated service work just as well? Or, do you prefer to have a menu try of options or just one direct line to a voice mail for example.

Let's dissect this a bit further. The traditional answering service essentially goes to a call center, whether in the US or abroad. An operator picks up the phone, asks the caller for their information and then either takes a message and contacts the business or individual. Sometimes, these call centers provide you with a voice mail box as well. Of course, an answering service can even be one person working out of their home or office. These types of services range anywhere from about $50 to $250 / month, depending on the number of calls and other factors.

Other answering services for small businesses could be an automated solution which is basically a software service to which you subscribe. You pay a monthly amount for the service; get your own dedicated phone number, voice mail box, fax number and much more. If you don't mind that a "real person" picks up the phone, then this type of solution could be very useful. Why? Because they're inexpensive and full of features. These types of services generally start at under $10 / month.

Even some of the traditional "serviced" office companies are getting into the act. For example, one of the largest executive / serviced office companies, Regus International, is offering answering services for small businesses. But, they're quite pricey. A recent review puts their pricing at about $79 per month.

And, what about fax capability? If you're like a lot of small businesses, you're always on the go. Wouldn't it be nice to have your faxes come directly to your email address, without the need of a dedicated fax machine? Many of the automated services offer you a fax number to go along with your "fries."

Keep in mind that you can combine the automated, software answering services with a live operator. In fact, in my company, we have several operators who answer the phone and one 800 number for customers to call. It's seamless. Customers don't even know that they are not calling a physical office.

There are many more ideas to expand on answering services for small businesses. And, in fact, the virtual office concept is growing quite rapidly around the globe. Visit my site for more tips related to this topic.

Features of Meridian Norstar

If you have a business or company, you will realise the importance of having reliable and efficient phones. You may have, at some point, also suffered the inconvenience of having to replace company wide phones and reset extensions because a phone system has continuously gone down, causing you a heavy money expense and inconvenience. If this has happened to you, then you might be wondering what the next step might be, but whether you're looking to replace existing phone systems within the work place, or simply take the next step to streamlining your communications in the office, the Meridian Norstar Telephone might be the right choice for you.

Meridian Norstar Phones have been one of the most popular Business telephone choices since the 1980s, but few people realise the advantages and benefits that they can still offer you today, especially when you consider the technological advancements that have occurred over recent years, you'd be mad not to take advantage of the improvements.

These types of telephone are perfect for almost all corporate positions, such as secretaries, managers and professionals. Because of this, it eliminates the need for many different, and sometimes costly, telephones, by allowing you to use one type of telephone that works perfectly throughout your business.

Most Meridian Phones also have headphone sockets already present, this can often be a very helpful feature for people who need to type and talk, often people such as Secretaries and Customer Service or Call Centre Agents. This gives Meridian phones incredible ease of use and adaptability.

When it comes to your money, you want to protect your investment, with Meridian Norstar Phones you have a reliable and efficient system that grows with you as your business grows, which means you don't have to spend time and money replacing and updating systems year after year, these Meridian Phones adapt and grow with you. Now you can simply upgrade from one Meridian Norstar system to another as time goes by.

As well as this the Meridian Norstar Telephone is incredibly simple and easy to use, waving goodbye to lengthy staff training meetings, a lot of the features are laid out in plain view, so training doesn't take half as long as it would with other more complicated and awkward telephone systems.

And of course, as I mentioned earlier, if you've suffered in the past from constant system failures, meaning you have to buy new telephones time and time again, you'll know how frustrating it can be, but with the highest reliability rating in the industry, you can wave goodbye to ever encountering such problems so frequently ever again.

Other advantages include LCD displays, heavy duty handsets/telephone body, colour coded keys with easy to read fonts, grey, ash and black colours, a high quality speaker phone, quick reference card located underneath the handset, high clarity handset voice quality, meaning that systems will fit in well in any environment with any user, ensuring a constant efficient and clear performance.

The Meridian Name has always been one of the most sought after and familiar telephone systems in the UK and all over the world, they provide brilliant telephone systems that can suit any corporate need, allowing for easy versatility and adaptability to any situation.

Small Businesses

Small businesses cannot compete with large businesses on an equal footing because they cannot match their resources and funds. Business phone systems can help small businesses bridge this gap to some extent. An effective telephone system uses the right tools and technology to increase the efficiency and productivity of small businesses, and optimize utilization of their resources.

A business phone system is equipped with features that can help a small business in many ways:

24x7 secretarial services

Telephone systems have an auto-attendant feature that is equivalent to a secretary available 24x7 to attend calls. Auto-attendant is a recorded voice that greets callers professionally, and offers them options to direct the call to the right person. Most phone systems have a dial-by-name directory option that allows callers to directly dial the name of the person they want to speak to.

Marketing

The advanced on-hold feature of telephone systems an excellent means of marketing that allows businesses to advertise their products during the short time callers are on hold. Instead of listening to silence or music, callers can be informed about new products and services, recent achievements of the business and sale promotions. Some on-hold messages are answers to the most frequently asked questions. This is a great time saver for the customer as well as the company representative.

Money saver

Small businesses think twice before investing in a business phone system, as it is a costly affair. However, many telephone system providers reuse the existing telephone network to build the new phone system. It is also possible to upgrade the existing system without incurring heavy costs of new equipment and additional lines.

Professional services

Small businesses can emulate the business processes of a larger concern by installing an effective business telephone system. Phone systems have many useful features, such as:

Call announcements: Call announcements give businesses and individual employees the choice on how to handle an incoming call. Telephone systems allow users to change call announcements with the time of day.

Call forwarding: Call forwarding allows users to transfer the call to a house number or cell phone when they are not available to take the call from office.

Caller identification: With caller identification, users can know who is calling before picking up the receiver.

Multiple ring tones: It is possible to have different ring tones for calls from different lines or numbers. This is very useful for a business that offers more than one service from the same location.

Blocking calls: With phone systems, businesses can block calls to 900 numbers that cost the dialer money if called.

Small business owners should shop around for a telephone system provider who will work at their rates. A good provider will equip the business with a professional phone system that will improve its efficiency, productivity and quality of customer service. Small businesses can utilize the features of a business telephone system to good advantage. The right phone system can help a small business stand apart from its peers, and enable it to compete with larger concerns.