Using Grasshopper with your cell phone to have a dedicated business line

Using Grasshopper with your cell phone to have a dedicated business line

Whenever you're running a business, or just put a website up to make some extra money, you'll always want to be seen as professional as possible.  This means you need an elegant design, a nice logo, a support system, and a dedicated phone line with an 800 number attached to it.  Sure, you could use your own phone number, but that won't be seen as professional as it could, so you'll need to think of getting a dedicated number in order for people to see you as a professional business and not someone working out of your spare bedroom.  You could be working out of your spare room, but you don't want people to see you like that, so get a dedicated line and watch your authority start to boost up because of how professional you are

I've set up multiple websites, ran a few businesses, and I know that having a dedicated phone number is crucial when it comes to boosting sales.  I've used my own cell phone number, I've purchased prepaid phones with dedicated numbers, and I've used dedicated 800 numbers as the primary way to contact me over the phone.  Out of all 3 of these methods, I've found that the 800 number ALWAYS works better because people see the 800 and know you're a business and not a single person trying to act like a business (even if you really are lol).

In this discussion, I'll be going over how Grasshopper is crucial when it comes to running your own business from home or if you have a few employees but not an office to work out of.

Choosing the right number
When it comes to choosing the right number, you're sort of limited to what Grasshopper offers you.  You'll get to choose from a limited library of phone numbers, but that's not a bad thing at all because they'll all be 800 numbers   So, choose the one that has the best ring to it or has multiples of the same number in a row so it's easier to remember and looks more professional.

When you've picked your new 800 number, move on to setting up your custom greeting.

Setting up your custom greeting
When it comes to your custom greeting, you don't have to get too fancy, just be sure to thank the person for calling and let them know what you do.  Sure, they will know who you are and what you do, but you need to recap it so they know for sure they called the right number.

In your custom greeting, you can say something along the lines of "Thank you for calling (your company name)" then go into your specific departments or employees.

Add departments and employees
If you're running a business that has multiple departments or employees, you'll likely want to add some extensions so people can get in touch with someone that can answer their questions right away without having to be redirected.  If you're adding departments, you'll normally have something like Sales, Questions, Billing, etc.  If you're setting up extensions for your employees, you'll just add something like Jack, Jill, Mark, Mary, etc. 

With each extension, you'll need to say something that identifies it, such as:  "For the sales department, press 1" "To talk with Jill press 392" or whatever you'd like it to say that is unique for the person or department the caller is trying to reach.

Get Calls, Faxes, and Voicemails directly to your cell phone
The beauty of Grasshopper is that you can get not only calls, but you can get faxes and voicemails as well, which expands the possibilities of your business.  I've never used the fax option, because I don't get faxes, but I have used the call and voicemail feature plenty of times to know it's pretty great   I'll get a call through my 800 number and know exactly what website it's coming from, I can even send it right to my custom voicemail to capture the users information.  Normally I pick up and talk to anyone that calls, but there are certain situations that don't allow me to like when I'm sleeping or if I'm out to eat with my family.


In conclusion
Setting up an 800 number for your business or website use to be extremely difficult because you needed a bunch of hardware and needed a company to set everything up.  With the advancement in technology over the last few years, we've been noticing the reduction in costs for systems like this, and with Grasshopper it's super affordable and all you need is a cell phone   I'm sure there are more companies out there that do what grasshopper does, but I've had a great time using their service and would recommend them to anyone running a website. 


Remember to follow me!
https://www.seoclerks.com/user/TommyCarey


Thanks!

Tommy Carey