A business organization engaged in any commercial activity depends heavily on its customers for growth and development, measured in terms of volume of sales. It is very essential for the company to understand the needs and aspirations of its customers because a business opportunity is generated on the basis of customer needs and feedback obtained from them. After undertaking market survey, a company launches new products and services and brings awareness about them amongst a group of people through advertisements in print and electronic media. Having made its products and services known to the general public, the company must provide a means such as a telephone number so that interested customers can obtain detailed clarification about the products and services such as price discounts, quality and features before making up their mind to purchase the product or commercially avail the benefits of the services.
A toll free telephone number motivates a potential customer to satisfy his curiosity of the product or service in a convenient and hassle free manner since he is not charged for making calls to the company. Also small companies with budget constrains do not like to be burdened with overhead expenses on telecommunication devices. In addition, toll free numbers serve as user friendly marketing tool.
Whenever a new company makes an entry in a competitive market where there are already other well established companies selling similar products, it has to highlight the unique features of its product or service through advertisements in order to capture a significant portion of the market. Many customers already familiar with that product/service want to give a try to this product/service offered by the new company so that they can avail themselves of its unique benefits. In the absence of a toll free number, they would not be inclined to contact the new company, resulting in the loss of business opportunity. It is now an established fact that advertisements with toll free numbers outperform those without a toll free number in terms of customer responses and sales turnover.
For long term survival and profitability, a company has to enhance the corporate image in terms of increased customer confidence and satisfaction. With a toll free number the customers get a psychological feeling that they would have a long term relationship with the company and the initial contact is not merely to the point of sale. This is because customers can use this number to call up the company officials at any time and anywhere on 24 7 basis to register their complaints, offer suggestions and also to obtain information for their queries. Additional facilities provided with toll free numbers ensure that incoming calls are received by a receptionist, recorded by a voicemail or answered by an answering machine in case of a routine query. Thus, calls don't go unanswered unlike an ordinary phone number.
Many a times after dialling the toll free number, pre-recorded messages of the automated attendant provide information related to the features of the products, the availability of different services, discounts on bulk orders and also the names and addresses of the dealers appointed by the company. Customers, spread across diverse geographical locations of the country, can obtain all the information they need with a single number at their place without the need to travel to company headquarters or search its branches. Thus, companies can use toll free number as a promotional tool. Companies in the field of electronic and consumer durables are in greater need of toll free numbers because customers invariably need after sale support and assistance. In the absence this facility, dissatisfied customers share their grievances with potential customers, thereby hampering future sales.
Companies can nowadays subscribe to toll free numbers at a much reduced cost compared to usual telephone numbers since there is no rental charge and costly installation of hardware. A phone line is enough for this purpose. Charges are levied only for the duration of the calls made by the customers. There is no need to make the telephone numbers of all the departments public since one toll free number would suffice the cause. Pre-recorded messages provide different extensions so that customers are directed to the concerned departments. Competition among the telecom companies and mass production of hardware and software is further driving the toll free number charges southwards. The hardware and set up costs are also minimal.
Similar to a local number, the toll free service providers are also offering such services as video conferencing, caller Id, call waiting, call forwarding, dropping of unwanted calls, voice mail or answering equipment. There is no way to distinguish whether the incoming number is a local number or a toll free number. Thus, by subscribing to the toll free number there would not be any major structural changes in the organization.
For small and medium sized companies, a toll free number is an effective means of reducing their operational expenses in terms of reduced sales and marketing workforce. Companies can save printing and distribution costs of promotional materials. This is because most often a large part of the advertisement material such as catalogues sent at different addresses based on guesswork or on the basis of some secondary source such as telephone directory does not end up in the hands of potential customers and is thus wasted.
Due to liberalization and globalization of trade, commerce and services and developments in the field of information and communication technology, the need for faster, reliable and inexpensive means of communication such as the toll free number may become a necessity for companies operating in different industries.
Manohar Chapalamadugu is the president and founder of 800PBX, industry's most reliable Toll Free Number providers with PBX services inbuilt. Visit http://www.800pbx.com for more details.
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