subject: Inbound Call Handling [print this page] In today's world of ecommerce, the rules of business engagement are radically different to what they were 15 years ago. To those of us who stay reasonably close to the cutting edge of personal communications, information about all products and services, from those connected with mainstream popular culture to those involving the most obscure and specialist technical language is available through search engines instantly whether you are sat at a desk or on the move.
In the past, the approach towards fashioning an image for your business was very much dependant on the industry and market in which you operated. You advertised in the places that you believed your customers would notice you, be it the high street, television, radio, or trade journals.
Revealing the location and size of your operation was not a matter of choice; telephone numbers and postal addresses inherently showed where in the country you handled your inbound communication and affordable technology was not advanced enough for you to communicate with people without them being able to gauge how big your company was and how many staff you employed.
Now however, revealing this information is something you choose to do. Creating a polished and professional-looking website is something that most companies can afford to do, meaning that your customer-facing image is entirely customisable and you can project almost any image that you deem appropriate.
Similar leaps forward have occurred in the world of telephony. Here are some simple ways for you to control the image you project to your inbound callers using Numberstore's services:
Choice of Number
Your telephone number can either have a local or national presence.
Local
Numberstore provides non-geographic versions of 58 major UK area codes including London, Manchester, Liverpool and Birmingham numbers. Please click here to see a complete list of the area codes available.
Using Area Code NGNs allows you to choose particular areas of the country in which to establish a presence without having to physically answer calls there. The inbound calls can be routed anywhere in the world, to landlines or mobiles and the caller has no way of knowing where the call is terminating. Advertising a local telephone number may give many people the confidence to deal with you knowing that you have committed to establishing an identity to serve their local area.
National
All other UK telephone numbers we provide have a national presence - they are recognisably UK numbers but do not relate to any particular area of the country. This is true of all numbers in the 03, 08 and 09 ranges.
Using a number with a national presence can give an impression of scale; the perception of many people will be that your company operates all over the country rather than being tied to a particular region. By extension, they may also make assumptions about how long your company has been trading to become so established. A national number exudes professionalism and sophistication.
Announcements on your Number
All Numberstore Service Plans include the ability to upload sound recordings in .wav format as greetings on your numbers which are played to the caller before they are routed to the default destination. Time Groups, Call Queues, Feature Codes, IVR Menus and Voicemail Mailboxes all come with the ability to have customer-facing announcements uploaded to them as well.
Although announcements on 09 Premium Rate Numbers do have some specific compliance requirements, deciding on the content of these sound recordings is largely down to you. This gives you the opportunity to further affect the way your company is perceived at first contact. A professional-sounding recording can give an impression of trustworthiness, scale and respectability, particularly if the wording is chosen carefully. Saying "Please note that calls may be recorded for training and monitoring purposes" or "Please wait while we place your call with one of our agents" gives the instant appearance of a large operation with many staff or 'agents' that would need to be 'trained' to provide excellent service.
Similarly, on an IVR Menu, up to 13 different options can be listed for callers, relating to different departments within the company. All of these options may route calls to the same destination or even the same agent without the caller knowing that this is the case.
