In these times of competition and a plethora of options for customers, it is often great customer service and access that becomes a differentiating factor. In the past three decades, India has seen a boom in entrepreneurship. Through various government policies and access to resources due to globalization, new entrepreneurs and companies are born every day. In such an era, a simple customer touchpoint like a Virtual Phone Number in India can be more than enough for a small startup.
A virtual number is not hardware or infrastructure dependent since it functions on the cloud. As a Start-up, a business cannot tie down its money with physical infrastructure. So, a Virtual Number is perfect for a business in the threshold stage. A Virtual Number, by its virtue, is automatically programmed to forward any incoming calls to a person’s phone or computer device. Hence, a business doesn’t need to invest in infrastructure.
Unlike normal physical telephone numbers, virtual phone numbers are not related to any physical phone. A business can get incoming customer calls to a multitude of telephone numbers as chosen by businesses. New-age Indian startups and companies have over time adopted virtual phone number services as an important technology or tool to enhance customer engagement.
A business can select the correct virtual phone number for its growing startup. As a virtue, it automatically forwards incoming customer calls to the personal phone of the business executives or your phone number. Hence, this way a business can never miss a customer call or lead. This essentially means that a business owner doesn’t need to publicize their personal phone number. The business owner doesn’t require a separate phone or two sim cards. A business executive can just have different ringtones to simultaneously take professional and personal calls. This means a Virtual Phone Number can make customer engagement seamless and less equipment heavy.
How to use a Virtual Number
It is to be remembered that potential leads and customers prefer dialing up a customer when inquiring about a product to make their buying decision. Hence, irrespective of staff size it comes sense for a start-up to make sure that the customer engagement side of the start-up is smooth and seamless always.
A start-up can select a local area number to instill trust among its consumers. It makes sense for a business to be easily accessible to its customers. Hence, for a local business, which functions in certain geography of a state, it makes sure to get a business with the STD code of their state. They find a business more accessible when the number begins with the STD code of their state. It provides the business the image of customer-centricity since it gives customers and prospects the idea that the business is not too far.
Virtual Number, Real Benefits
A Virtual Phone Number is not just a “destination” for a start-up to receive calls. It can be intertwined with various other technologies to include features like IVR, Auto-Attendant etc. A business can also select to have calls received to their handset in working hours while an auto attendant can answer calls post-work hours. As stated in this age of hyper-competitiveness, customer engagement needs are only heightened. Also, no business can afford to have its call unanswered at any point in time.
A virtual number mostly comes with a panel or dashboard that makes it an immensely data-centric tool. A Startup can easily track its customers and gather data on new launches quickly by just selecting a few menus and filters. It can cohesively view the different interactions and learn about their performance.
In a very direct business sense, a Virtual Number can even take a startup on the growth trajectory by efficiently managing all customer calls. For a Start-up, it makes utmost sense to opt for a cloud-hosted virtual phone number to man all inbound calls efficiently without increasing costs or buying overheads.
With the pandemic as well, startups have prodded up in garages and cafes and the importance of a physical workspace has only decreased. A good co-working space for a small team coupled with a great Virtual Phone Number may just be more than enough for a startup looking to set afoot in the hyper-competitive world.
