Telephone Systems As A Marketing Tool

Most small business owners buy telephone systems in order to be able to answer calls

at one extension, then put the inbound person on hold and then transfer them to somebody else inside the organisation. This is the primary function of telephone systems and it has been since early in the twentieth century. They are quintessentially a box on the wall with star formation cabling running out to individual phones dotted around the various parts of a building. But the question is, are their users missing a trick or two?

There is no doubt that businesses of any more than 2 or 3 employees require telephone systems in striving to become efficient. If you are a; butcher, baker or candle stick maker you can more than probably survive with a single line, as with a domestic situation, and just have the capability to respond to contacts at a solo telephone point. But as you expand there is a need to be answering in a much more professional way. Enter telephone systems and their portrayal of professionalism. It is a must have to any serious commercial operation although somewhat of a grudge purchase to some. But what if you can evolve telephone systems to grow into a stream of profitability?

From the beginning of the 1990s, ISDN lines have been the interface of choice once that you have concluded that you demand the functionalities of telephone systems. These give you the benefit of receiving caller identity and the ability to have multi numbers whilst keeping rental to a minimum. In large corporates, DDI numbering, as it is referred to, allows them to hire less receptionists as callers can ring straight through to a phone or department.

The canny SME can utilise this to advertise alternate contact details within its plethora of advertisements. You could use this for; Yellow Pages, Thompsons Local Directory, signage, vehicle liveries, multiple mail-shots, leaflets, exhibition attendance, websites, corporate gifts, billboards, email broadcasts, etc. Imagine the power of knowing precisely what works effectively!

Modern day telephone systems permit you to tag the source of an enquiry which is commonly known as DID tagging. So it says on screen mailer 1 or trade-show 2, enabling you to visually recognise the lead-source. You can then make a mental note as to where your leads emanate from and adjust your marcom activity correspondingly. Many firms expend far greater on advertising than they do on annual telephony spend so there is a fantastic opportunity to fine tune things accordingly. This is exactly how you win free telephone systems.

Estate and land agents invest an enormous amount on generating enquiries, albeit that they tend to be miniscule organisations. There are; for sale boards, shop signs, directories, car livery, press adds, etcetera. Legend has it that a UK agent wanted to discover whether an oval or rectangular board produces the best results. So new properties taken onto the books featured the rounded edge placard and it wasnt long before statistics proved that all placards would be better in this shape.

If you are genuinely focussed upon utilising telephone systems like this, then you would be well advised to acquire some call management software. The CMS connects to telephone systems via the LAN and captures all information for later review. The payback is prompt as these packages start at approximately 300.

by: Tony Raynor

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