business phone number: local phone number, 800 number, or vanity number?
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Hi Folks Dave Waring here at Fitsmallbusiness.com with today’s lesson of the day. In our last presentation we continued our series Where to Hire Freelancers for Any Type of Business. In today’s presentation we are going to continue that series with a look on what phone number should your business use? So let’s get started!TRANSCRIPT
business phone number: Local, 800, or vanity phone number?by FitSmallBusiness.com
Local Business Phone NumberIs the one that was assigned when you originally purchased your phone number. The 3 digit area code that starts that phone number with is associated with the owner being located in a specific location.
800 Phone NumberBesides 800, it can be 877,866 and others. The number indicates that the caller will not be charged for the phone call. The number is not associated with the geography.
Vanity Phone NumberFor example, 1-800-TELEPHONE. T h e a c t u a l n u m b e r i s 1-800-835-3746, and is not very memorable. They are meant to be easy to remember.
The Pros Of A Vanity 800 Business Number
The Pros Of A Vanity 800 Business Number
•Free is always good.•Easy to remember and recall.•You appear large.
(See our articles on radio and TV advertising here.Here is good article by Scott Richards )
The Cons Of An 800 Number
•The business will pay for the calls. For example, Ring Central charges 3.9 cents per minute.
The Cons Of An 800 Number• It may limit your search engine traffic. Since google looks for your location with the phone number, those whose local number is listed on their website have an advantage over the ones with 800 numbers.
(Learn more here.)
The Cons Of An 800 Number
• People associate 800 numbers with being on hold and bad customer service.
(Learn more about 800 numbers here.)
Whick is likely to generate more sales calls, an 800 number or a local phone number?
Ads with local phone numbers printed in yellow page ads, received twice as many calls as those same ads with 800 numbers.
For internet yellow pages (IYP), ads with local numbers generated around 33% more phone calls than those with 800 numbers.
The reason why ads with 800 numbers fail to receive high call volumes in both print and online media is because of
the general negative reaction of customers to an 800 number. Such a number suggests the following: “not a local
business”, “call center”, “long waiting queues”, “less personal service”, “automated voice systems”
Doctor Dennis Fromholzer, CRM Associates
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