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Are Toll-Free 800 Numbers Right For My Business?
Wherever you look you will find businesses offering toll-free 800 numbers to attract customers with the convenience of a free call. This begs the question "Does my business need a toll-free number for our customers?" and in this brief article we will explore some of the reasons why you should offer this as part of your customer service and marketing strategy.
Wherever you look you will find businesses offering toll-free 800 numbers to attract customers with the convenience of a free call. This begs the question “Does my business need a toll-free number for our customers?” and in this brief article we will explore some of the reasons why you should offer this as part of your customer service and marketing strategy.
Customers find toll-free 800 numbers simple and convenient to use and a sign that a business is serious about its commitment to customer service. There are also definite benefits for your own company image and customer reputation in using 800 numbers. Bluntly, you are demonstrating your commitment to customers both new and old.
Having a toll-free number does have some drawbacks such as people can make calls on your dime that are simply not necessary. On the other hand it is a simple business axiom that the first step in making a sale is to get potential customers talking to you about their needs and how your product or service can help them.
Businesses that rely for the most part on local custom are not likely to be able to leverage the benefits of a toll-free number service. If your customer and prospect targets are widely dispersed around the country then an 800 toll-free number certainly will convey significant benefit to your reach, image and reputation. Businesses that are providing a product or service that has a need for technical support calls tend to significantly outperform rivals that do not have an 800 number as part of their customer service offering.
Toll-free 800 numbers have a very significant feature that your business can use to great effect - anonymity! No-one will know what part of the country they are calling as the number will give no clue. Combining a toll-free number with a mailing address, allows you to establish a virtual presence anywhere in the country, at a fraction of the cost of setting up a physical base. Consider the enhanced perception of customers if a financial services company has a Wall Street mailing address coupled with a toll-free number, and yet, they can be physically located in Boise, Idaho or anywhere outside New York.
Of course, you as the business, will pay for the cost of the call and not your customer. The cost will be determined by your service provider and typically they charge you for blocks of call time and the rates for these vary widely. Long-distance call blocks usually are offered in 6, 30 and 60 second units with longer time units charged at a cheaper rate, but you still are charged if you do not use all the time in that unit i.e. the call time period is rounded up to the next whole unit.
Service providers for toll-free 800 numbers are easily found as there are many of them and you do not need to be restricted to your existing telephone provider. The internet or Whitepages will provide you with dozens of 800 toll-free service providers and with a wide choice comes the need to research their terms and conditions carefully.
The popularity of toll-free numbers is driven by a simple factor - customers really like them and businesses have responded to this. Not every business needs a toll-free 800 number but such organizations are in a clear minority. The majority of businesses recognize that if they do not offer the simple convenient commitment to their customers of providing a dime to call them, then they can look forward to their customers contributing, not to their bottom line, but to a competitor’s instead.