Bells & whistles -- What options does your business need besides a standard attendant menu, voice mail boxes, and call forwarding?
Company Description: Nextiva is a large virtual phone service provider and a well-known brand within the industry. They allow companies to register toll-free 1-800 numbers or local numbers anywhere in the U.S. Their setup for their service is instantaneous — once you pay, you’ll be able to begin using Nextiva right away. Their features include the ability to use their service on a mobile device and manage your calls online from anywhere in the world.
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Now that you know what you want your customers to do when they leave a message, you have to make sure that message is coming off clearly. Run it by a couple of your colleagues and ask them if your greeting makes sense and adjust wherever necessary. If you’re speaking too fast, slow down. Accounting isn’t the most inviting profession.
The three price plans offered by Nextiva begin with their Office Pro plan that is available to users for as little as $19.95 a month. The Office Pro Plus solution by the company starts at $20.95 a month and the Office Enterprise plan offered by Nextiva can cost as little as $27.95 per month.
The Pro package includes all the features in the Essential plan, plus the following features: Text messaging/SMS features Access to the Nextiva app Professionally recorded greeting Unlimited conference calls Call recording Voicemail-to-text delivery Voice analytics 4. eVoice: $10 to $14 per month
Telling a quick joke or including a little more information can keep you safely within the 20-second timeframe while letting the caller understand a little more about you.
Considerations for a quality, professional voicemail greeting. When creating a voicemail script for your business, there are several points to consider. First, think about your brand’s image and voice. You want the voicemail message to represent your brand well and put its best foot forward.
True emergencies - such as extraordinary weather - should be addressed in your voicemail if it impacts your business. Thank you for calling the Carona Surf Shop. We are currently closed due to the inclement weather. Our normal business hours are Monday through Saturday, 10 am to 9 pm. Please visit www.caronasurfshop.com to order merchandise and to check our schedule during the hurricane.
If your company is using a cloud-based VoIP service like Nextiva, Ring Central or 8x8, let me know when you send your script so I can create the correct audio file to use.
You can get the Plus plan for a monthly price of $39. This plan includes two virtual phone numbers, unlimited text messages, 10 extensions, three voicemail inboxes, email and chat support, caller ID, call blasting, users and permissions, call menus, live-call transfer, call analytics, and hours of operation. This plan is best suited for a growing team on a budget.
Phones.com provides users of their voice phone number service with an automated attendant that is fully customizable. Customers are also provided with unlimited extensions, faxing and texting services, and voicemail to email capabilities.
One way to avoid this is by writing a script. When you’re writing a script for your business voicemail greeting, make sure to look over it to see if there’s any slang or business jargon that could mean two different things depending on your point of view. If there’s any potential for confusion, revise the script and simplify the language. You can always ask a friend you don’t work with to see if your message is clear as well.
The positive thing about Grasshopper pricing is that there are no additional costs for new users. As your team expands, your Grasshopper virtual phone bill will remain the same.
VirtualPhone.com offers users a simple and direct set of features, a variety of pricing options, and a tier of free services. This service does not offer the number of features some other companies offer. Businesses that desire more than one local phone number or are in need of CRM integration may do better to check out another company.
So before you begin shopping, start with a clear assessment of exactly which functions you need. Don't get caught up in a more-functions-is-necessarily-better mindset when comparing systems. Also, take advantage of the trials and demos offered by some companies to get a firsthand feel for exactly how user-friendly a system is.
All plans include features like domestic calling, an auto-attendant, voicemail, voicemail to email transcription, faxing, call forwarding, toll-free numbers, vanity numbers, custom greeting, and SMS messaging.
For one, be sure to understand QoS (mentioned above). This means going beyond understanding the concept and moving to how the networking equipment in your office -- or your employees' home offices if you're still at that stage -- can actually implement QoS. Most business-grade networking hardware will be able to handle QoS in more than one way, so testing which method will handle voice traffic more smoothly in your environment is important.