Houston business reporter Loren Steffy got stuck listening to IRS on-hold music for the better part of the morning yesterday. The song: A tune from Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker. How fitting…
In a tribute to our friends at the IRS, let’s talk telephones. Here are 20 Ways a Telephone Can Grow Your Business. Enjoy!
- Call your VIP customers to say “Thank You.” Heck, call all of your customers to say “Thank You.”
- Create a memorable phone number; 1-800-CALL-ATT is unforgettable. 1-800-225-5277 doesn’t exactly stick in the mind.
- Include your blog or website address in your after hours message.
- Get leads via text message from My411Pages.com.
- Ditch the extra phone line and send your faxes straight to e-mail.
- Switch to an iPhone or Blackberry and respond to client e-mails faster.
- Follow local journalists on Twitter via your cell; when they need a source for a story, you’ll be the first to reply.
- Use a call center to generate sales leads.
- Forward office calls to your cell phone so you never miss a call.
- Operate multiple businesses from a single location with a virtual phone system.
- Get a toll free number to make it easier for customers to reach you.
- Hire a virtual receptionist so customers are never frustrated by busy signals or after-hours answering machines.
- Enter the Matrix. You are the one, Neo.
- Create an automated phone survey to collect customer feedback.
- Alert customers to deliveries, sales and events using a voice broadcast service.
- Conduct interviews via telephone and convert them to a podcast.
(Editor’s Note: Check out the PRstore Podcast to see how we use podcasts to support franchise sales) - Avoid costly delays with real-time traffic alerts by cell phone.
- Call a blogger in your industry. Offer to write a guest post.
- Avoid the cost of calling 411 by calling Google instead.
- Grab documents off your desktop and edit them on the go with QuickOffice.