A landline-based business phone system is fixed to your location and severely hinders your ability to communicate, whereas a VOIP line can allow you to communicate like you are sitting right beside your desk phone, wherever you may be. As long as you have an Internet connection, your business is connected. The increased mobility is one of the top reasons many business owners choose to switch to a VOIP provider.
35. Hello, we’re wishing you all a happy [X holiday]. Our office is currently closed so our employees can celebrate with their loved ones. Please leave your name, number, and reason for calling and a member of our team will return your call when we reopen on [X date].
.
"Thank you for calling [your business name]. Due to concerns for public health related to the COVID-19 Coronavirus, we have staff members working remotely and on shortened hours. We appreciate your patience as we reply to callers as efficiently as we can. Please note that our temporary office hours are [opening time to closing time]. Appointments scheduled through [end date] have been disrupted.
Multi-tier call menus ( a.k.a. sub-menu) provide additional call menus for teams and departments. Use this feature if you have a department that requires its own call menu. For example, if you have a customer service department, you can set up a multi-tier call menu customized just for that team - 'Press 1 for product support' and 'Press 2 for billing questions'. From here, you can direct callers to colleagues who are specialized in these areas.
You want to go with a business VoIP provider in most circumstances. VoIP business phone systems tend to be less costly, offer more features, and better technologies to serve a wider range of business needs. Small businesses can take advantage of VoIP phone technology to create more nimble, easier-to-manage organizations. Get Social with us! Sign up for our newsletter Full Name Email Operating Agreement Tool Business Plan Free Legal Forms Free Logo Generator Business Name Generator Business Ideas Generator Entrepreneur Quiz Start a Business Form an LLC Start a Corporation Start a Nonprofit File a DBA Start an S Corp Small Business Accounting Small Business Banking Build Business Credit Small Business Credit Cards Small Business Financing Options Small Business Grants Small Business Insurance Small Business Loans Best Website Builder Best Web Hosting Services Godaddy Website Builder Review WIX Review Web.com Review Bluehost Web Hosting Review Shopify Review Computers & Electronics Cars Cameras Desktops Drones Gaming Gear Graphics Cards Headphones Laptops Media Streaming Devices Monitors Network Attached Storage Phones Printers Projectors Processors Routers Scanners Smart Home Speakers Storage Tablets TVs VR Wearables Software Antivirus Backup MacOS Mobile Apps PC Games Photo Editing Security System Utilities Video Editing Video Streaming VPN Windows 10 Business Accounting & Tax CRM Database Email Providers Productivity Project Management Video Conferencing VoIP Web Site Hosting News The Why Axis Race to 5G Readers' Choice Deals Opinions Fastest Mobile Networks Fastest ISPs All News PCMag editors select and review products independently. If you buy through affiliate links, we may earn commissions, which help support our testing. Learn more.
In a nutshell, a good voicemail greeting should only be brief but also complete, simple but also professional. It should only meet its purpose of leaving a quick message to the listener or informing a caller that although you haven’t taken the call, you’re going to get back to it at the soonest time available.
This article is about the second main type of greeting – the voicemail greeting. All businesses should have professional voicemail greetings at the company level (i.e. your general business number), department level (e.g. customer service), and employee level, where applicable. It’s important that each of these voicemail greetings align with the brand and personality of your company to ensure that every caller has a consistent experience. Let’s dive in!
For some small businesses, GoToConnect may be too much. A company like Grasshopper providers virtual phone numbers without needing equipment or anything else.
You can also upgrade to one of three Live Receptionist plans. For $189.95 per month, the Plus package offers 100 live receptionist minutes and 2000 eVoice minutes.
Company Description: UniTel Voice is a cloud-based virtual phone system priced and designed for startups and small business owners. When it comes to affordability, features, call quality, ease-of-use, or customer support, UniTel Voice has you covered.
We recommend CallHippo’s Silver plan as the best virtual phone system for a small business’s sales or marketing team. The cost starts at $24 per month for each user, and should you decide to go for this option, you’ll get all the features from the Bronze tier alongside a few more useful services. Additional features include unlimited incoming calls, call queuing, call cascading, interactive voice response (IVR), live call, call reminder, internal team calling, user working hours, after call work, holiday routing, and intelligent analytics.
6. "Hi, this is [your name]. I'm either on a call or away from my desk. Please leave your name, number, and a brief message and I'll get back to you. Thank you.
5 YT teachers offer important tips for leaving a message and creating your own outgoing message. Need captions? Click on CC.Learn from: JenniferESL, Vicki of
When you first launch a business, it’s possible to manage contacts with your personal phone number. But doing so is neither scalable nor professional. As your team and your business expand, the need for a business phone number becomes more obvious. That’s where a virtual phone number comes in handy. Instead of paying expensive bills for both your employees’ phones, your office phone, and your personal number, you can just opt for a virtual business number. For a reasonable monthly fee, virtual phones route calls to your cell phone, your home number or a VoIP phone number. So you can take business calls anytime, anywhere. Grasshopper is the perfect solution for solopreneurs and teams no bigger than 15 people. It has the best 800 number service for small businesses, letting you choose from 800, 888, 877, 844, 866, or 833 numbers. Available on any mobile device, it gives you the ability to tend to your clients wherever your business takes you. Read Review Special offer: Save $75 on annual plans or $15 on monthly plans GET STARTED RingCentral is another robust solution that brings more than just a virtual phone number to the table. It is a cloud-based PBX that provides state-of-the-art features like video voicemail, video conferencing, and screen sharing. These features allow you to communicate with your customers in a unique and personal way, and help you bring remote teams together. Read Review CallHippo offers virtual local phone numbers from more than 50 countries. It lets you add multiple users and make calls to receivers all around the world. Its features include call recording and forwarding, workflow automation, and detailed call analytics. CallHippo's pricing plans start at $14/user/month, and its service is best suited for small businesses and outbound calling teams. Read Review Sonetel is one of Sweden’s fastest-growing tech companies, and its virtual phone number solution is efficient, easy to implement, and very affordable. You can get a virtual phone number for free, with global call forwarding, voice responses, call queues, and much more. Apart from providing phone numbers, Sonetel lets you implement live-chat support features on your website or your business’s Facebook page. Read Review ⦿Free phone number if you use widget ⦿Offers live-chat and team-communication features ⦿Free call taking via mobile app Line2 is an excellent all-in-one solution for small teams. Its long list of features includes everything from call answering with a pre-recorded auto-attendant message to merged calling and voicemail transcriptions. The provider also makes it easy to pick the ideal virtual phone number by giving you toll-free and vanity options while ensuring all your calls are routed to the right place. Read Review ⦿Excellent call-management features ⦿Unlimited SMS and MMS messaging ⦿Toll-free and vanity numbers eVoice is another US virtual phone number provider that tailors to businesses of all sizes by providing advanced tools for proper communication without requiring users to set up additional equipment. It offers local, national, and international numbers and enables you to forward calls you can’t take to other employees. In addition to video conferencing and screen sharing features, a 24/7 virtual receptionist is on hand to ensure you never miss another call. Read Review Freshdesk Contact Center (formerly known as Freshcaller) is among the best toll free number providers out there. You can choose one of the available numbers or even create a customized vanity phone number. This system has the most robust call-center features for handling calls and monitoring employees’ work and productivity. Since it is available only on softphones, you won’t have to invest in any additional equipment. Freshdesk also boasts a free version with a few standard features. Read Review ⦿Freshworks integrations ⦿Powerful call-center solutions ⦿Free plan with limited features As one of the industry's leaders, VirtualPBX strikes a good balance between affordability and functionality. Thanks to its wide range of features such as unlimited minutes, auto-attendant, and customized greetings, this cloud-based VoIP solution can help a company of any size streamline and enhance its internal and external business communication. Try VirtualPBX risk-free with a 15-day money-back guarantee. Read Review As an all-in-one virtual receptionist system, MightyCall aggregates customer queries coming from phone calls, social media channels, and emails into one queue. It processes calls made and received via vanity, local, and toll-free numbers and lets its users organize client data in a highly efficient way. We recommend this provider's virtual phone services to small and mid-sized business owners on the hunt for an affordable way to improve their internal and external communication. Read Review ⦿Team collaboration features ⦿Visual voicemail and voicemail transcription ⦿Scalable solution The Nextiva service tops other providers since it delivers a CRM system for the price of a virtual phone service. Call quality, system reliability and its array of features are all top of the line. The company also provides non-stop exceptional customer care across different communication channels. This provider is great for scaling - as your number of users goes up, your monthly user fee will go down. Read Review ⦿Very reliable with 99.9% uptime ⦿More than 40 call-management features ⦿Sales and service CRM features Talkroute combines recently developed software-based features and traditional phone services aiming to turn your smartphone into a well-rounded business communication system. Featuring desktop and mobile applications, IVR, call transfer, menu prompts, and advanced reporting, Talkroute's solution is best suited for businesses looking for a cost-effective way to handle large call volumes. Read Review 8x8 offers an advanced set of call-handling features that satisfy the needs of small business owners wanting to set up a call center. In addition to a heap of features for communication with customers, this service also has plenty of options for team communication. The 8x8 system operates on any internet-connected device, as well as your existing traditional phones. Read Review ⦿International calling within 47 countries ⦿Desk phones for sale ⦿Conference calling
With a voicemail-to-email service, you have the option of deleting the voicemail from your phone system or third party storage service once it has been sent to you. This frees up space for new voicemails to be saved, so callers never reach a dead end.
Call Queue with Music On Hold: Customers who purchase Virtual Receptionist can enhance their rollover hunt group with this feature. You can select from 12 music choices, specify the maximum time you want a caller to stay in queue and the number of callers that can be put in queue.
In certain situations, it’s a good idea to let a call go to voicemail. If you’re in a loud area, unable to spend 10-15 minutes talking, or are otherwise distracted, don’t answer. Recruiters who cold-call candidates will understand that you’re simply unavailable – but make sure to return calls in a timely manner. If possible, call back during regular business hours.