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For female entrepreneurs, time management and privacy are at the top of the agenda. Though the rewards of being a successful business woman are immense, each of us is faced with work/life balance compromises and stormed with questions on how to “make it all work.”
Amidst these struggles, the power of a professional business communications system is often overlooked. Many female entrepreneurs are still stuck with outdated landlines while others have switched to VoIP Telephony without getting too far into the tech stuff.
If your business phone system hasn’t received a makeover in some time, you’re in for a pleasant surprise. A VoIP solution designed for small business can save you lots of time and solve major challenges business women face every day.
Challenge #1: How do I cut back on after hours work and increase mobility?
When you want to become a successful business woman amidst rising competition, it makes sense that you strive to be the hardest-working person on your team. But for those of us who have both a professional and family life to handle, it feels like juggling two workdays on top of each other. An ideal communications solution for female entrepreneurs is one that increases mobility and takes care of your business image while you have time to care for your family. VoIP telephony does exactly that.
VoIP solution
VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) telephony is known for the dozens of business communications features it provides for a low monthly fee. The solution is cloud-based, which means you’re not tied to the physical restrictions of an office and landline phone but can communicate anywhere, on any modern device. It also means there are no long-distance charges and extra costs. Designed to enhance mobility, organize the workflow, and manage you after hours business presence, VoIP telephony is a true lifehack for business women.
Mobility – VoIP telephony synchronizes business communications across all devices: you’ll be able to make/answer calls and send messages on any smart device – be it a smartphone, laptop, or VoIP-enabled desk phone. Forget about missing client calls or conference calls. With a properly set-up VoIP system, you won’t have to run back and forth between your office and the other priorities you need to handle each day.
After-hours call routing – This feature lets you choose how to treat calls after a certain time. For example, if you leave the office at a set time or need to free up several hours without missing calls, you can choose to redirect any calls received after a certain hour to other employee(s) instead of your voicemail.
Auto-attendant – Any small business gets lots of calls just to verify contact info or working hours. For those types of calls, an auto-attendant will save entrepreneurs lots of time (and peace of mind) in the middle of a busy workday.
Challenge #2: I’m a female entrepreneur running a business from home. How do I maintain a profession image?
Most female entrepreneurs agree that proving the trustworthiness of their business can be frustrating. Becoming a successful business woman in a “home business environment” can add to the challenge. The good news is that customers form their key impressions of a business in the first few seconds of interaction. For a home-based business, that interaction will often be via phone, so focusing on first impressions will go a long way.
VoIP solution
Toll-free or vanity number – When your business has a toll-free or vanity number, you can use it to represent your brand. While basic VoIP systems provide only local numbers, be sure to choose a virtual telephony provider designed for small business, so you can choose a toll-free number at no additional cost.
Caller ID – Business caller ID isn’t just about knowing who’s calling you. It’s about knowing which number the person is dialing – your business number or personal number. This way, even if all your communication is on your smartphone, you’ll always know whether an unknown call is business-related or not – and choose to respond accordingly.
Customer-friendly call menu – You can be a single mom working from home and a successful business woman! Just set up your phone system to ensure that the world sees your business from the professional side. With VoIP, your business number will include a friendly call menu with custom greetings and voicemail, business contact info, and an extension where you can always be reached.
Challenge #3: I need cost-effective, high-quality communication within my small business team.
According to the 2018 report by SCORE, 27% of surveyed female entrepreneurs hired new employees within the past year. While growth is amazing, communication costs are some of the most uncomfortable – and seemingly inevitable – issues an expanding team faces. If you plan on hiring in 2019, here’s how virtual telephony solutions can help solve the communication challenge for a fraction of the price of landlines.
VoIP solution
Unlimited extensions – If you’re thinking in public switched telephone network (PSTN – the plain old telephone service) terms, you know extensions get extremely pricey. Modern VoIP providers challenge that mindset with free unlimited extensions. Add as many employees as you wish, so clients and staff will be able to reach each other instantly via calls and messaging. As your business grows, all you’ll do is connect more people to extensions – for free.
SMS – sometimes all you need is a quick message or reminder to send clients or colleagues. VoIP solutions allow you to send messages from your business phone number, so customers have no confusion about incoming messages.
Visual voicemail – Do you have a small business with lots of incoming voicemail? Virtual telephony solutions save you time by transcribing all those voicemail messages to text messages and sending them to your email, so you can get to the important messages right away.
Challenge #4: Can I delegate tasks to employees but still be in control?
It’s easy to get distracted by smaller issues, but to be successful in business, you need to keep the big picture your priority. VoIP solutions help female entrepreneurs by enabling a structured company-wide communications system. This lets you delegate smaller tasks but always have a clear bird’s eye view over operations, so no one doubts who the boss is.
VoIP solution
Structured call flow – Do you want important clients and contacts to reach you first, but don’t mind delegating less vital communication to save time? A successful business woman has that process automated. Modern VoIP solutions can create call queues by call priority and/or working hours, all with minimal tech knowledge on your side.
Call recording – When you’re analyzing important stats and customer service, call recording can be an invaluable tool. Any time you need it, recorded calls will give you an insight into the operations within your team. Knowing that a call is recorded will also boost the performance of your employees.
Mobile app – When you need to access business communications features on the go, a mobile app is perfect. You’ll be able to control the essential parts of your business phone system and instantly access and change more advanced features without turning on your laptop.
Challenge #5: How can I improve customer service without noticeable impact on my personal time or budget?
What stats prove to us with numbers, any successful business woman knows from experience. A loyal customer is your best customer. According to a study by Marketing Metrics, the probability of selling to an existing customer is 60-70%, while grabbing the attention of a new customer results in a 5-20% success rate. If time and money are the only things stopping you from boosting customer service, look into the free analytics, social/web, and customer service features provided by a professional VoIP system.
VoIP solution
Professional voice greetings, prompts, and voicemail – To make a lasting impression on customers, avoid generic robotic messages and opt for custom voice messages and prompts (pro recording services are available across the internet). Then, upload any audio file to your VoIP provider profile in a matter of seconds.
Analytics dashboard – Analytics are powerful helpers of each and every successful business woman. A good VoIP provider ensures a smart and user-friendly dashboard for you to access all the VoIP features on your plan. Call history, missed call logs, and voice-to-text will be available side-by-side with easy configuration options for call flows, call queues, voice greetings, etc.
Web widgets – Any modern business has a website or social media presence. With VoIP, you can instantly secure the attention of clients with chat, return call, and click-to-call VoIP web widgets. You’ll need no coding to have these widgets up and running on your site.
Conclusion
Above, we’ve discussed only some of the things you can do with virtual telephony for small business. Best of all, a trusted VoIP provider, such as MightyCall, gives you most of these business features for free as part of your monthly plan. While it’s still a tough world out there for female entrepreneurs, there’s no doubt that becoming a successful business woman is a lot more affordable, family-friendly, and convenient when your goals are backed by a reliable VoIP solution for small business.