CloudPhone Blog

For small and local businesses, the holidays are a busy time and a perfect opportunity to wow your existing and new customers with impeccable customer service. While for many this means greeting customers at the door, keeping shelves stocked and offering complimentary gift wrapping, there are other forms of customer service your clients expect, like professional phone etiquette and effective communication. Whether you have a virtual business or a brick and mortar store, these tools can help you provide great customer service over the holidays--some in ways you may never have thought of!

1. Record a Festive Voicemail

Adding some holiday cheer to your company voicemail is a simple and fun way to show your callers you're engaged and attentive. Be sure to also include pertinent information like special holiday hours, closings or holiday sale offerings! 

Here's an example: Thank you for calling Ron's Furniture Gallery! All of our elves are currently assisting customers with our store-wide 50% sale (happening now through New Years Day). Please leave a message and we'll get back to you soon, or come in and see what holiday deals you can find! Happy holidays and have a great day.

2. Text Your Customers It's no secret that people love to text, and receive texts--even from businesses. Texting is a great way to quickly reach your clients in order to share information on special sales, holiday hours, promo codes and when their favorite items are back in stock. Use text as an opportunity to remind your customers you're open for business!  Try something like: Ho! Ho! Ho! Pandemonium Coffee is open tonight until 8pm - 50% off lattes, 20% off whole coffee beans and 30% any retail item if you drop off dry goods for the local shelter. Bring your friends!

3. Create Holiday Themed Phone Menu Options If you use a professional phone service with menu options, these are typically the first communications you have with callers, so why not make them memorable? It's a simple and easy way to bring a little holiday spirit to an otherwise mundane experience (just be sure to change it back after the holiday season!) Say you own and operate a print shop, opt for a simple, yet festive, menu like this: Press 1 for The Workshop, Press 2 to talk to Santa, Press 3 for All Other Inquiries.

4. Activate Reach Me Anywhere Actually answering the phone is important for impeccable customer service too! And that's why there's Reach Me Anywhere. This feature does just what it sounds like--when your number is dialed, it rings to the phone number or numbers you've programmed in, either sequentially or simultaneously--allowing you to be reached anywhere. While this isn't holiday-specific, its very useful when you're on the go. Providing stellar customer service doesn't have to be hard to time consuming, you just need the right tools and the know-how to make it happen! 

Whether you’re in a meeting, with a customer, on the other line, or are just too busy to pick up the phone, missing business calls can mean missing out on sales and customer service opportunities.

Just how much does a missed call really cost your business? While the exact figure depends on your cost of product or service, if you're constantly missing calls from prospective clients or current customers looking for service, it could add up quickly. In fact, with brand loyalty at an all-time low, customers who receive poor service don't think twice about trying out your competition–or even hitting review sites and social networks to air their grievances, further damaging your ability to gain new business.

If you have ever thought that missing a call, or not getting back to a customer fast enough, has had negative effects on your business, you may want to try out one or all of these phone features. These tools can help you answer the calls you need, reject the ones you don’t and stay on top of your business communications no matter where you are.

Call Routing

This powerful feature acts as the cornerstone of communications management. In the most basic use case, simply route your business phone number to your smartphone. In more advanced scenarios, you can route your number to multiple locations, ring several extensions simultaneously, or ring them in a specific order to ensure important calls don’t get missed.  More on this below...

Reach Me Anywhere

With Reach Me Anywhere, you can create a customized list of phone numbers you want to be contacted at (think home, office, cell). Your numbers will be called in the order they are listed or all at the same time depending on your settings. This is an amazing feature that lets you answer calls at your convenience, no matter where you are—and your caller is never the wiser!

International Call Forwarding

International phones used to cost a fortune, but with International Call Forwarding you can forward your regular phone calls to any phone, anywhere in the world for a low(er) fee. So, no matter where you do business (or vacation), you’ll still be connected!

Voicemail Transcription

If you just never get around to listening to voicemails or constantly have a full inbox, this is for you! Voicemail transcription automatically transcribes voice messages before they’re delivered, so not only can you listen right from your email, you can also READ your messages. Yes, that’s right, you can read your voicemail just like email—simple and fast. Plus, it doubles as a note pad for later reference and you can save or delete with just the press of a button.

Professional Greetings

When all else fails and you just can’t get to the phone, a professional greeting will show your callers you care and adds a touch of personality. Record a customized greeting for your callers, use an automated digital greeting, or upload your own professionally recorded greeting—whatever feels right for your business. If you’re not sure what to say, here are a few ideas.

Whether you’re looking to improve customer service or want to capture new business, these simple tools can help you ensure you’re answering all your important incoming calls and gaining all the potential business your calls have to offer—and Voxox CloudPhone has them all! Stop leaving money on the table and start taking control of your business communications.

Every business is unique, but one thing all companies have in common is the need for effective, efficient and reliable means of communication. When it comes to phone communications there are a number of options to choose from, each with varying costs, contracts and capabilities—but there’s one that stands out among the rest: cloud based phone systems!

Cloud based phone systems sound and act like traditional phone lines, but since they are hosted in the cloud and run over your existing cell or landline, there are a plethora of advantages—like no expensive hardware to buy or maintain and the ability to go mobile. As a small business owner managing the daily operations of your growing business, you have more to worry about than installing a new phone system. By choosing a cloud based system you’re taking the worry (and expense) out of the equation.

So, if you're considering a change, here are 5 signs a cloud based phone system is right for your business:

1. You Have a Growing Team

Choosing a cloud phone system is one of the best ways to ensure you’ll be able to scale your business. Since these systems are hosted in the cloud, you can easily add or remove lines—both local and 800 numbers—all with just a click of a button from your cloud based management portal. Want to add an extension? That’s easy too. And, many cloud phone providers offer contract-free service, allowing you the freedom to do what is right for your business.

2. You Want Professional Features

You want a professional voicemail greeting, voicemail transcription, business SMS and call forwarding, but don’t want to break the bank? With a cloud phone system you can have it—and more. Today’s cloud phone systems have all the advanced features you want and need, including the ability to add multiple extensions, message management, call forwarding, voicemail, business SMS, and different physical phone options. It’s like having a Fortune 500 phone system in your pocket, for a fraction of the cost.

3. You Need Remote Capabilities

If being tied to a desk isn’t for you or your team, you need a cloud based phone system. Cloud phone systems can easily be hooked up to ring on your cell—or any phone of your choice (your home landline, hotel room, office line or at the lake house). The name of the game is convenience and a cloud phone system lets you take it anywhere.

4. You're Crunched for Time

Whether you don’t have time to wait for technicians to set up (and inevitably fix) a traditional business phone system, or you’re on the go and can’t wait for a phone call at your desk, a cloud based phone system has you covered. With features like find-me-follow-me, voicemail transcription and a cloud based account management portal, you can be connected from anywhere, on any device—on your time.

5. You Want to Save Money

Does the idea of saving on your phone bill make you and your accountant happy? Because there’s no expensive hardware to buy or maintain, and no-rerouting or wires to deal with, a cloud phone system gives you all the features you want and need (and probably more) for much less than a traditional business phone system. Plus, since many offer service with no contract and the ability to add or remove lines as you need (with no minimums or service fees), you’ll be saving money left and right.

If you like saving time and money, sounding professional, and being mobile, a cloud business phone system is just what you and your business needs. If you’re ready to take the plunge (in this case it’s 1 easy step that take less than 2 minutes), we’re here to help. Take your business to the next level today with a reliable, easy to use, and affordable cloud phone system.

Our two-part blog series on virtual phone numbers continues as we answer more frequently asked questions. Read on to understand the benefits that a virtual number could have on your small business! 

5. Do I need any special software or equipment to make it work?

Virtual numbers work exactly the same as any other phone number – once you set up forwarding through your virtual numbers provider, all you need is your existing phone! 

6. Can I forward multiple virtual numbers to a single calling device?

You can get as many virtual numbers as you want and they’ll all reach you at the phone of your choice.

7. Can I forward a single virtual number to multiple calling devices?

Yes! Typically, when you're setting up call forwarding, you can indicate that you'd like the call to forward to multiple phone numbers that are associated with specific calling devices (e.g., your cell phone, desk phone, home phone, softphone on your computer, etc.), either sequentially or simultaneously.

8. What happens if I don’t answer?

If you miss a call to your virtual number, the caller will be forwarded to your virtual number voicemail box. You can customize this voicemail greeting to reflect your brand and provide callers with more information about your business.

9. What features come with a virtual number?

The beauty of virtual numbers isn't just convenience and cost-savings, it's also the advanced features you get that go beyond your typical mobile phone features. Each virtual numbers provider has a slightly different list of features, but just to give you an idea, here's the Cloud Phone list:

• Auto Attendant
• Call Forwarding
• Call Screening
• Extensions / Users
• Fax (Inbound)
• International Call Forwarding
• Local Phone Number
• Management Portal
• Outbound Calling
• Professional Greetings
• Reach Me Anywhere
• Toll Free Numbers
• Voicemail
• Voicemail Transcription

10. Can I still use my regular phone number? 

Yes, of course! Your regular phone number will function just the same as always –if not better. Now that you have a virtual number to field your business calls, you can keep your cell phone number private and make your voicemail greeting as goofy as you’d like. 

Now that you’ve got the virtual numbers FAQ, you have all the information you need to put your business on the path to communications success. Do you currently use virtual numbers for your small business? Or, do you have any questions on how to get your business set up with a virtual number? Post in the comments below or connect with us on social media – Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Google+.

With warm weather and sunshine enticing you and your team to play hooky, summer months can be some of the least productive of the year. Thoughts of travelling, hitting the beach and enjoying the outdoors can leave employees feeling unmotivated and drained. So why not let them fulfill their summertime dreams, all while keeping productivity up? You can with virtual numbers.

Technology and mobile gadgets allow us to travel and work from anywhere, all while keeping in touch with globally dispersed teams. Virtual numbers are a convenient and inexpensive way to take important work-related calls with you while you’re on-the-go – and maybe even allow you to extend your vacation!

Here are 5 ways your team can use virtual numbers (and all the features that come with them) to keep productivity up during the summer months.... and still enjoy the sunshine

1. Call Forwarding

If you want to work outdoors and won’t be around the office, call forwarding lets you take calls straight to your cell and avoid the risk of missing an important call.

2. Call Screening

Maintaining a professional image is essential for building rapport with clients, and that means giving out your cellphone number, no matter how dedicated it may seem, can backfire. By receiving work calls to your business’ virtual number, you will know when you’re fielding a business call – and if you’re not prepared to answer, just send it to voicemail – saving you face in case they caught you waist deep in margaritas! 

3. International Extensions

If you are planning to travel out of the country, you can set a 3 digit extension to follow you no matter where you are in the world. Say you're based in California and are planning to go to Belize on a family trip. As a business owner you're not able to unplug for too long, and luckily Belize has only a 1 hour time difference from your usual work day hours. You can set your virtual number to forward to your hotel or a local cell phone you rented, and the caller (who is dialing your main business line and extension will be able to reach you (if you want them to!). A great way to balance work and play and make the kids happy to stay abroad longer.

4. Voicemail

If a caller ends up at your voicemail, for whatever reason, they won’t be the wiser that they called a virtual number linked to your cell phone – as they’ll be prompted to leave a message by your custom, professional voicemail greeting. And you can easily and quickly pick up the voicemail, no matter where you are.

5. Voicemail Transcription

Listening to a voicemail isn’t always easy, especially when your cell service isn’t strong. But voicemail transcription lets you read your voicemails via email or text – so as long as you can grab a wifi signal you’ll be in the loop.

If you’re feeling a summer slump in workplace productivity or are looking for ways to avoid it all together, provide your team with the tool they need to succeed – a virtual number! With the right service, set-up is easy and because the benefits of virtual numbers go far beyond mobility, you’ll be reaping the rewards all year long. 

To most everyone’s delight—particularly after a nightmarish winter--summer has finally arrived, meaning a lot of folks will be getting ready for that long-awaited summer vacation. The salty Italian air, waves crashing on the beach, tan skin, hot sun’s rays—you have been dreaming about it for weeks!

The only thing strong enough to break you out of this dreamlike haze and bring you back to reality is the remembrance that you are the owner of a small business, and while you do trust your colleagues, you also know that as the head honcho it is always possible that something only you can handle could come up.

This is a problem scenario, but one with a solution—a cloud-based phone service. A small business phone service offers an array of capabilities that will benefit you and your business no matter where you may be traveling this season.

Let’s take a look at some of the fantastic features that a cloud-based phone service offers:

• Auto Attendant: Customers are greeted in a big business manner, guided to the correct department. So you can rest assured that even if you are touring the Vatican or at a winery in Florence your customers are being well served.
• Reach Me Anywhere: Connects your incoming business calls to anywhere, on any device. You won’t have to worry about missing important business calls overseas because your cloud service will connect them all to your phone. Relaxing on the Italian coast? No problem! You are still in reach for “can’t-miss” calls.
• Voicemail Transcription: Voicemails are converted to text before they’re delivered, so you can read the message if listening isn’t an option—and on vacation, sometimes it simply isn’t.

Using a cloud-based phone service allows your small business to conquer all of the problems travel presents for a small business owner like Roman Empire conquering Italy. And doesn’t every business want a phone system that helps it triumph over all challengers?

Picture this: You’re sitting in a meeting when your phone buzzes indicating that an important voicemail just arrived. Unfortunately, you can’t pick up your device and listen to it. So you’ll spend the next 40 minutes tapping your fingers until you can get the information you need.

It goes without saying that multitasking in the business world can be extremely difficult. There are often a variety of tasks that need to be accomplished and no time to get them done. But with the right technology, you can be pulled in 40 different directions at once and not have to worry about maintaining stellar communications. The key to accomplishing this is a cloud-based phone service.

Using a cloud-based phone service, incoming voicemails and faxes can be transcribed to email so you can read your message right over your mobile device or laptop. And for calls that require immediate action, you can route them to anyone on your staff, in any location you choose.

Another great feature of small business phone systems is the ability to customize outbound messages on the fly so you can stay in touch with important contacts as you move from the board room to the taxi to the airport.

The best part is that you can get access to all of these features without having to maintain any on-premises equipment. A cloud-based phone system will provide you with essential communications tools that will be updated and maintained by a third-party host.

So if you are looking for a way to focus more critical business processes and less on making sure you’re getting all of your phone messages, perhaps it’s time to give the cloud a try. You’ll be multi-tasking like a champ in just a matter of minutes.

With communications coming over a dizzying array of channels it’s no wonder that many companies can quickly become overwhelmed and fragmented. But there is hope. In fact, there’s more than that—there are cloud communications applications!

Cloud communications applications are the perfect way to seamlessly integrate your telecommunications strategy and tools into one intuitive system, and your one stop shop solution for a small business phone number. But even if you’ve heard a little about the technology, you may have missed a few things along the way:

1. Wires are O-U-T: When you leverage cloud communications you essentially put an entire enterprise PBX system in your mobile phone. When that happens, there is no need to keep a legacy wire-based system around the office. So it’s time to rip it out!
2. Set up in a flash: Did you know that with a cloud communications application like Cloud Phone you can start configuring your system in one minute? Yes, it may sound too good to be true, but it’s as real as the mobile phone you can use to get a business-specific number and get cranking right away.
3. Always affordable: Getting rid of on-premises hardware does more than make life easier—it helps you cut costs as well. Without equipment to maintain and keep updated in your office you cut out on recurring costs—forever!

Benefits like these make cloud communications an easy choice for small business phone system your business. And now that you know what these applications are all about, it’s time to get started!

There’s a reason movie studios target summer for their biggest releases: customers are in a positive frame of mind and ready for the spectacle of a summer blockbuster.

Similarly, this summer could be a blockbuster success for your business—and cloud communications might just be the way to achieve it. As mobility and connectivity reach new levels of sophistication and power, cloud communications has become the name of the game. Its blend of galvanizing tools and easy-to-use interfaces empower businesses like never before.

With a cloud communications application like Cloud Phone—a new offering from Voxox designed specifically for small businesses—you get a myriad of benefits, including:

• Consolidation of communications tools, making them easier and more intuitive to use
• Low price points and no additional service or hardware maintenance fees
• Anywhere access
• The reliability of a system maintained over the Internet

Add to those benefits features like a professional auto attendant, virtual extensions, Reach Me Anywhere call forwarding and voicemail transcription and you can see how a cloud communications application provides the functionality of a Fortune 500 small business phone system at a fraction of the cost.

So don’t settle for poorly produced sequels this summer like upgrades to a dated legacy phone system or costly downtime. You’ve seen that film before and it’s played out.  Instead, harness the power of cloud communications this summer and make your company a box office smash!

We’re all familiar with the old adage that the three most important aspects of real estate are location, location and of course…location. Of course, we would never be so bold as to dismiss this tried-and-true idiom, but we do have a little something to add. 

As a self-employed real estate agent, you probably spend much of your time running from open houses to apartment showings all over town. Working in a service industry also means you have to devote your full attention to each client and can’t afford to answer calls or listen to voicemail messages during an appointment. 

But as an independent contractor that barely has time to sit down during the day, maintaining a brick-and-mortar office doesn’t make much sense. So how can you ensure you don’t miss important communications about a client’s newly accepted offer or a great new property just coming on the market?

A cloud communications application can help you keep in touch with clients and project a big business presence even if you don’t want to spend money on physical office space or a legacy phone system. Top-shelf services offer a company-specific phone number that rings to your mobile number so there is no need to give out personal contact information. Additionally, a cloud communications application can also provide:    

• Business-class voicemail-to-email functionality
• Easy-to-configure professional greetings
• Extensions for different departments, even if each department is only you
• Settings that can be accessed and adjusted via the Internet

We’d like to reiterate that it is not our intention to rebuff one of the principle tenets of the real estate industry, but rather to add our own little touch. A cloud-based small business phone system can’t improve a property’s locale, but it can certainly help with your business communications as you move from location to location.

Maybe location is the key after all.