If you want to provide the best possible service to your clients, make sure you know which telecommunications technologies will help you stay in contact with your clients. Setting up a phone line Choose your telecommunications supplier carefully, taking into account both costs and service. It may be important to have good customer care provision and maintenance services. Take recommendations from other contractors who run a similar size or type of business to yours, and ask them to identify any difficulties they have encountered from their chosen package. For an extra charge you could buy a non-geographic phone number. Consider this as an option if you think a national focus would help your business. Phone services • Voicemail. A service for receiving messages is a basic essential. Make sure yours is professional and informative. • Call redirection. If you are often out of your main office base, make sure you don’t miss calls from important clients by redirecting to a mobile phone or alternate location.
Online and mobile services • VoIP. Voice over Internet Protocol is the technology that allows you to have voice conversations over the Internet. It’s also known as voice over broadband, IP telephony and broadband telephony. Companies such as Skype which offers free telephone calls over the Internet also has business packages for companies. Using this type of service could make significant savings in your overheads but you need to think carefully about whether your clients will be comfortable with using the VoIP set up themselves. • Mobile Internet. Send and receive emails onto your mobile or smartphone (such as a Blackberry) so you can always be quick in your response to important messages. Virtual Office Establishing a virtual office not only keeps costs down as you do not need to pay rent for a full office space, but it also creates a professional working image if you work from home. Your calls (and mail) are fielded by a dedicated officer service provider who can either pass calls on to you directly or take messages. If being immediately contacted is not necessarily a priority, virtual office services [to MSG portal] help to portray a professional image and can allow you to establish yourself in a different area from your virtual office.
Content by: Made Simple Group
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