Reverse Telephone Directory

We all use social networking websites like twitter, myspace, orkut, facebook and many others. We make new friends online all the time. If you find someone on internet and now you know him well enough to go on a date with him, are you sure you should proceed without verifying his details?

Generally people use their pen names on internet. In most cases they don't reveal their true identities to strangers. How can you go on date with a person whose true identity is not known to you? Do you think its safe?

Have you heard of date rape? It is happening to regular people around us. We should not take our safety for granted anymore. Rape is not just a physical abuse, it has a long lasting emotionally devastating effect on the victim.

I am suggesting a method here using which you will find out the true identity of any person. Ask them their land line and cell phone numbers. Once you have it, use online reverse telephone directory. What exactly is a reverse telephone directory? Well our traditional directories gives us the phone number and address details for any person. The reverse directory does the opposite. You just feed any phone number in it and it will tell you the name, address and more background details of the person owning the number.

Phone Systems - 77 Features

There are phone systems that support anywhere up to 1,000 telephones or so.

Check and see if you would like your phone system to have any of these features:

1. Busy Automatic Redial

2. Routing of Calls

3. Queuing

4. Multiple Logins for Agents

5. Call Recording

6. Voice Assistant

7. Text / To / Speech

8. Automatic Intercom for Call Backs

9. Dialing Buttons (Automatic)

10. Hold (Automatic)

11. Automatic Hold, Park Recall

12. Line Select (Automatic)

13. Number ID

14. Release Call From Hold Option

15. Release From Voice Mail (Automatic)

16. Background Music

17. Control Station

18. Overrides

19. Station Transfer, Ringing

20. Call Forwarding

21. Busy, No Answer

22. External Remote

23. Call, Park

24. Call Pickup

25. On-Hold, Park

26. Ringing Other Stations

27. Page To Meet

28. Call Record to go to Voice Mail*

29. Transfer Calls

30. Internal Calls

31. Recall

32. Call Waiting

33. Caller ID

34. Call History (Abandoned)

35. Call History List

36. Redial

37. Inform While Busy

38. Internal User Name

39. Flexible Station Numbering

40. Busy Lamp

41. Flash Button

42. Multi-Line Accessl

43. Service Override

44. Conferencing up to 8 parties

45. Multi-Station System

46. Credit Card Calling ("O"+ Dialing)

47. Day, Night Modes and Switching Automatically

48. Delayed Ringing

49. Direct Inward Dialing

50. Direct Inward System Access

51. Direct Inward Termination

52. Direct Station Select

53. Buttons

54. Direct Station Selection Console (Optional)

55. Voice Page

56. Line Hold (Automatic)

57. Night Transfer

58. Speed Dial Button

59. Voice or Tone Signals

60. LED Indicators

61. Distinctive Ringing

62. Inform Do Not Disturb

63. Do Not Disturb Override

64. Door Lock

65. Door Phones

66. Dual Color LEDs

67. Executive Override

68. Executive Override Blocking

69. External Amplified Speaker

70. Paging for Groups

71. Handsfree Answerback Intercom

72. Headset Interface

73. Hearing Aid Compatible

74. Hot Dialing

75. Hotline Service (Emergency)

76. LCD Alphanumeric Messages

77. LCD Automatic Callback Number Display

Besides having good phone features on telephone systems, it is imperative that the company has excellent Customer Service. Be sure you can reach them by phone, by fax, and by email. Should anything happen with your business phone system, it can mean lost calls, which can mean, a financial loss as well. If a potential client/customer is unable to reach you when needed, he or she just might go somewhere else to do business.

Your business phone system is the first impression your potentials get about your business. Communication is critical to every business. Without it, it is impossible to be successful. As your business becomes more successful, your business phone system needs to improve as well.

There are many options to consider. A phone system decision can affect your business, Making the wrong decision could hurt your business financially.

Can Increase Profits

If you are a small or medium-sized business owner who wants to increase sales and profits but you can not find the time to pursue your strategies, a telephone answering service may give you more answers than you could have imagined. Business gurus are fond of saying that you can solve most business problems with more sales. While that's an exaggeration, most of us would agree that adding more sales to the top line makes solving most business problems easier. It's simple: more money in the till, more money to solve problems. However, the reality is that many entrepreneurs and business owners spend more time on non-incoming producing activities than they do on revenue generation activities.

An answering service can help you grow your business both directly and indirectly by allocating more people and time to profit-building strategies, and can do so at a very economical price. Here are the top 3 ways.

1. Increase Your Client Satisfaction 24 Hours a Day
An answering service is available 24 hours a day, and not just available, it can provide an efficient, friendly, live voice to your clients any time of day or night that they want or need to call. We all know that people do not like automated voice answering and voicemail systems. They are impersonal, uncaring, and often frustrating. Giving your clients a live person to talk with increases the likelihood of their satisfaction and, importantly, their willingness to recommend your business to another because of your good service. Plus, you never miss a call. You never miss an opportunity.

2. Think Outside the Box with Your 24 Hour Answering Service
You can have the live operator answering your phone lines sell more of the products and services you want to sell. All you have to do is write down a script of exactly what you want the operator to say and she can view it on her monitor every time a current or prospective client calls. The live operator can answer with your business name and follow with, for example, special pricing on air conditioners if you're an electrician, discounted meal times if you're a restaurant, newly arrived products in you're a retail store. And you can drive more callers to your 800 or local phone numbers by advertising in newspapers or on the Internet and having those numbers answered by live operators who take orders for your product or schedule appointments for your services.

3. Why pay a fully Salary when you can pay $100/month or less for well trained operators customized to your business?
Businesses pay hefty fees for employees. The true cost of each employee is more than the amount of his paycheck. The loaded cost of an employee can often by up to 50% more than the paycheck. Employers must pay many taxes on employee pay, and most employers also pay a certain amount for employees' vacation, sick, and holiday time off. On top of that, many employers pay a portion or all of an employee's health and other benefits. The cost of an answering service is typically lower than the cost of putting a new phone line in and is a fraction of the cost of a full-time receptionist. Yet with an answering service, you can have a team of sales people giving round-the-clock service to your current and prospective clients.

An answering service is a very strong value proposition for any growing business. Even if your business operates efficiently with your people today, an answering service can, at a very cost-effective price, be incremental to that operation, helping to increase your sales and customer numbers, expanding your business, and resulting in greater profits to you.

Buying a Phone System?

You own a small business that has been steadily growing for ten years. You have taken on new staff to keep up with the demands and every time a new person is hired you call your telephone service provider and get a new line installed. You realize your telephone switchboard needs to be updated or replaced but what do you buy?

Too many times I see phone systems installed that don't suit the needs of the business. If you needed a new delivery truck you wouldn't buy a four-door sedan. But that's how bad it is sometimes because a business gets sold equipment that their provider just wants to get rid of.

In order to get the best system for your business at the best price you need to do a Request for Quote (RFQ). But you can't do the RFQ until you have done a Needs Analysis. Whether you do this yourself or get an independent consultant to do it entails a lot more than just "how many lines do you need?'

There are many general questions that need to be answered such as: how many employees require their own telephone extension; do you need telephones away from desks, i.e. conference room, lunch room, copy room, etc; do you need Area code routing, plus many more.

Then there are office protocols that need to be identified such as are calls to an extension handled by an assistant?, what is the backup procedure when reception isbusy or not at their desk?, should calls go to an Auto-attendant and if someone needs help they dial '0'? Other requirements may include paging through telephone sets or overhead paging. Also, are internal conference calls from offices required? These only touch the surface of what should go into your RFQ.

It can be a very difficult to buy the best system for your needs if you are not aware of the advances in technology- and why would you be? It's not as if you call in providers and suppliers twice a year to tell you what's new.

For example, voice mail features have increased a great deal. Does your phone system require a company directory? How many branches do you want on your tree? Does the company directory give the customer the option to transfer directly to the extension? Do you require message notification from your personal mailbox to your cell phone when a message is left in your mailbox?

Pricing of telephone systems varies greatly. Rather than get one price from one supplier you should get quotes from a variety of sources. You can save as much as thirty to fifty per cent which more than pays for the cost of hiring an independent agency to do everything for you.

In your RFQ you need to ask your bidders to specify the amount of training they will provide after implementation. You also want to know what their guarantee provides and for what period of time. Avery important question is to ask them to specify what their guarantee does not provide.

Your telephone system is a critical tool in the operation of your business. Make sure you apply the same diligence to an upgrade or new system as you would for any other major purchase.

John Campbell is a Strategic-Partner with Schooley Mitchell Telecom Consultants, North America's largest independent telecom consulting company.

Virtual PBX Provides Huge

An answering service run by a virtual PBX can save you thousands of dollars by avoiding hardware and maintenance costs. In fact, the technology has advanced so rapidly that these virtual answering services are the preferred way to organize, forward and manage incoming calls. The capabilities of these systems are mind boggling and the cost is a fraction of what it would be if you decided to install an in-house system.

A virtual PBX service is ideal for both large and small businesses and can handle all of your communications. The options and preferences are almost limitless. You can set it up anyway you want to insure that never miss an important call again. Moreover, you can portray a professional image, even if you are working at home.

Here is a quick rundown on just a few of the many features that are included:

Toll free service: You get your own toll free number for all your business needs and your prospects and customers never get a busy signal.

Multiple extensions: Press #1 for Joe, Press #2 for Mary, Press #3 for Customer Service, etc.

Call forwarding: Incoming calls are routed to wherever your designate, such as a cell phone, and even announcing the name of the caller before you speak with them. You can even program the system to configure the time of day you are available to accept calls.

Customizable Music on Hold: "It's all rock and roll to me!" You can play whatever music you like, or even better, you can promote your business while customers are on hold -- that's called an "on-hold commercial."

Access Voicemail and Faxes Online: You can receive your voicemail by accessing your online account from anywhere -- home, office or the beach.

Live Call Transfers: Traditional PBX services can't do this, but now you can put an incoming caller on hold, and then transfer them to your business partner's extension or your assistant's cell phone. Transfer callers between extensions/mailboxes just like a large corporate phone system. This is a feature most Virtual PBX services do not provide.

Hotlines: These are recorded messages that your prospects or customers can listen to 24/7 to learn more about your offerings. If they are interested, they can leave a voicemail and you can call these pre-qualified leads back. (Interestingly enough, most prospects don't want to talk to a salesperson, fearing high pressure tactics. They would rather find out what they can themselves.

Notification of New Messages: Virtual PBX can alert you via e-mail, text message, or phone whenever you receive a new message so you can get back to your important prospects and clients right away.

Send and Receive Faxes without a Fax Machine: You don't need that fax machine or that extra phone line. Just use your email, or log onto your account's online back office.

Ad Tracker: Know exactly which advertisements are pulling in the traffic and sales.

These are just some of the dozens of included features you get when you sign up for a virtual PBX answering service. It is very easy to set up and, better yet, it is available on a month to month basis, so you don't have to have any expensive long term commitments.