Business News

Know Your Options

You can choose from a local phone number, toll-free number, or a vanity number, each of which has its pros and cons. While a local number shows you serve the community, a toll-free number gives the impression of a larger business and a vanity number makes it easier for customers to remember your number.

If you are a small business owner, a local phone number might be a great idea but the downside is that unfamiliar area codes can turn off some prospects. A vanity number is great, as it helps you keep up with brand consistency but the chances of getting a free vanity number to align with your business are slim. Toll-free phone numbers, on the other hand, are quite expensive, which is why it is common among large business owners.

However, either of these options can work for you. You just need to understand how each of them works and how they can benefit your business.

Find the Simplest Number Possible

A 2019 research shows that 60% of consumers would prefer to contact a local business via a phone call after finding the business online. With this huge percentage at stake, you don’t want to risk it by using just any number for your business. You want to ensure that your number is easy to remember by making it as simple as possible. Always look out for a number with repeating digits or the fewest digits possible. If you have any possible combinations in mind, you can also request them if they’re available.

Get a Business Line for Local Customers

If you’re a small business owner, you will benefit more from a local business number, as it helps you build your reputation and market your business locally. If you’re based in a large city, you can choose the local area code and if you aren’t, you can always opt for the primary area code of the biggest city near you. This will help more potential customers identify with your business as local to them, which is especially important if you’re targeting just local customers.

Bottom Line

Owning a business phone number is important in this day and age, as many people want immediate answers to their questions. This will help you present your business as not just professional but also reputable to your customers. However, as you choose your phone number, ensure you choose right and specifically, one that will benefit your business in the long term.

Tue Sep 14

Benefits of Using a Client Portal in Your Business

Written by: Daily Bulletin

A client portal is a gateway for your clients to collaborate with team members in your business. Users are given access to various digital files, information, and communication through the use of access IDs. Today, many service providers offer web-based client portal services, which act as an intranet link between the company and its client. What’s more is that these portals have incredible features such as file sharing, chats, calendars, and access to other apps.

That said, it is time to share the amazing benefits that come with the use of a client portal in your business.

Makes Communication Easy

Easy communication with your external clients and partners is essential for smooth operations in a business. And this is where a client portal comes in. A reputable one allows you to customize branded emails and send them easily to clients.

Companies can easily customize chat options to communicate with individual clients or a group of clients. And lastly, all communications have notifications to make sure you do not miss messages from clients and partners.

Helps in Collaboration

A client portal with integration features such as file sharing, calendar access, event notifications, and task management tools makes collaboration very easy. Whether it is between the employees or with external clients or partners, your business will enjoy tons of benefits.

The best part is that you can automate some collaboration features such as sending of orders and sharing of invoices at the end of the month to your clients through integration with the right tools. Fortunately, any reputable client portal has integration with dozens of useful tools.

Facilitates Tasks Management

If you share detailed collaboration with clients that involves tasks, then using a task management feature in a client portal is essential. The tasks are accessible to everyone in the group and it is possible to see the process.

For instance, a task management tool will help an architectural firm to split clients’ projects among the team where everyone in the group will see the progress. This avoids work conflicts and allows the smooth running of operations. The clients can also see the progress of their projects when they log in.

Allows Customization Products

Detailed algorithms are used to allow companies to customize their relationship with clients. For instance, a bank uses these gateways to send emails with customized loan interest. But if they want their latest products to reach many clients, they may add them on the top of the common dashboard for clients to see.

Apart from customized information, a reputable client portal helps the company to customize their portal by choosing the kind of integration they want. It could be the use of DropBox, branding your portal, or using a certain mobile app.

Increases Data Security

Secure access to cloud services and file sharing ensure that all data is protected from malicious people. Reputable client portal service providers invest a lot in data security and even use bank standard security protocols. So, your business will never have to deal with complaints of data integrity issues at any one time.

Conclusion

Choosing a reputable client portal will allow your business to enjoy the above benefits and more. Whether it is a business startup or an existing business that wants to upgrade into using these tools, taking enough time to research is very essential. Make a smart decision for your business today.