subject: Small Businesses - A Toll Free Business Number Is A Must [print this page] Small Businesses - A Toll Free Business Number Is A Must
In order to succeed in business nowadays you need to offer more than product innovation or price. You need to make yourself known to the public; you need to get your head above everybody elses. This ultimately means utilizing every marketing resource available to you. One effective way of doing so is to get your business a toll free telephone number.
The great thing about toll free telephone numbers is that they are easier for the general public to remember than standard telephone numbers, which means that, coupled with the fact that all calls made to that number are free, you business is much more likely to receive calls from customers regarding your services or products.
Toll free numbers are very simple to set up and can come with such services as call screening, call forwarding, call recording, call conferencing, call answer services and many more. The main benefits of toll free numbers are that customers find them easier to remember and that customers are more likely to call.
The most common way for a business to acquire a toll free telephone number is to contact a RespOrg, which is an abbreviation of Responsible Organization. A RespOrg is an organization that has access to the SMS/800 database which contains the registration details of every 800 number there is. Although they may or may not be a telephone company, they are independently regulated by the FCC.
It is also quite popular for companies to obtain vanity toll free numbers which are numbers that contain digits that can be translated into acronyms or companies names or other words which further help the potential customers to remember the number. An example of this would be 1-800-URFRUIT or 1-800-LAWYERS.
In order to prevent warehousing or the hoarding of telephone numbers, the FCC (Federal Communications Commission) help regulate the industry by setting rules to which RespOrgs and other entities offering toll free numbers must adhere to.
Warehousing is the process of reserving a number without an intended subscriber for that number and hoarding (which also includes number brokering) means obtaining more numbers than a subscriber intends to use.
In summary, toll free number are popular with individuals and businesses alike due to the simplicity of setting up and the advantages of keeping in contact with family or customers. From a customers point of view, you would be much happier making a call to a company that is free than a call to a company that isn't!
