Give Your Small Business a Big Business Look and Feel with a Virtual 800 Number

When I was a stock broker back in the late 1990s my firm was as busy as could be and one of the necessary tools that we had to have in place in order to compete was an 800 number. There is a wide misconception that having an 800 number means that you have to have all sorts of sophisticated equipment and pay an absurd amount of money every month for the luxury. Additionally it is thought that you have to also sign a contract locking you in whether you use the 800 number or not.

While that may have been true in the past, it is no longer true today thanks to the advent of virtual 800 number services. Now it is possible for your small business to have all the advantages of a big business only without the costs and headaches.

There are several different virtual 800 number services that you can choose from and some of the more well known in the industry are companies such as RingCentral and Grasshopper, but for the most part they all provide the same services. Basically what happens is that you either have an 800 number assigned to you or you can pay a little more for a vanity number (such as 800-DOG-FOOD) and then the virtual 800 number service acts as your switch board.

When a potential customer calls your 800 number that call can be routed to your cell phone, your office phone, your home phone, or any other phone line you like. What's more, you can change what line rings via call forwarding so you can dictate which line rings when the customer is calling. This means you can be on the run and still not miss that important call.

If you have multiple people working for you then the virtual 800 number service allows you to set up extensions. When a caller calls your 800 number they will hear, "Thank you for calling XYZ Corp. For sales press one, for service press two, and so on. Again you dictate what is said.

Many virtual 800 number services even have little extra such as music playing while a call is being transferred and the ability to receive faxes as well. The faxes will be sent to your e-mail, your PDA, or even you iPhone or BlackBerry.

You may be wondering why this is important for your small business. The answer is simple; the look and feel. Callers will have no idea that they are phoning into a small business and they may feel as though they are dealing with a Fortune 500 company. Additionally, having an 800 number is just good business. Many people will not call a company if there is no 800 number available. And why should they? If they call long distance then they have to pay the tab and so they will likely not call you and instead move on to your competitor who does have an 800 number.

Even if your business is primarily local, why would you want to crush the opportunity to be statewide, national, or even international? With an 800 number comes flexibility and with flexibility comes more calls.

Now the big question, "How much is it?" Well much to the surprise of many, most virtual 800 number services start at around ten bucks per month with no contract. You may even be able to find a virtual 800 number service that will give you a free trial for a certain amount of time.

The bottom line is that with the ease and low cost of having an 800 number nowadays, there is simply no excuse to not have one. It's your business and while it may be a small business, you can give it that big business look and feel with a virtual 800 number.

Sources: RingCentral, Internet Phone Service By Ring Central - How Internet Phone service Works, RingCentral.com
Grasshopper, 800 Numbers and Voicemail for Small Businesses - Grashopper Virtual PBX, Grasshopper.com