Is VoIP the Best Phone System for Your Small Business?

On July 20, 2021
12:27 pm
Filed under Learning, Tips and Tricks

What Is VoIP in Phone Systems for Small Businesses? There are now many more channels on which companies’ employees, clients, suppliers and other stakeholders can communicate. Emerging technologies such as chat, text and social media make it possible to connect everyone with the internet in a convenient way. Despite this, there is no doubt phone calls are as vital as ever, and many organizations are wondering if a VoIP phone system for small business is the best option for them. Most companies find it challenging to eliminate phone calls. Phone calls are an essential customer service tool that can easily

What is a Softphone? Depending on the size and the industry of your business, you might be swimming in a sea of desk phones. As life becomes more mobile and digital, especially after the pandemic, the desk phone’s days are numbered. Companies, especially small- to mid-sized businesses, are ditching clunky telephones in favor of mobile communications. Here’s where the answer to “what is a softphone?” comes to save the day. Softphones are basically software-based phones. They connect calls via a computer or mobile phone, relying on Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) technology. By using VoIP, you can place voice

Productivity Hack: What Is the “Do Not Disturb” Feature on Your Phone? The pandemic impacted everyone’s productivity, but a significant number of people relied on technology to keep their key performance indicators high. As an example, special features to disable mobile and office phones’ distracting rings and notifications became useful. You’re in the right place if you’re asking the question, “What is the ‘Do Not Disturb’ feature on my phone?” In a nutshell, the “Do Not Disturb” mode sends business calls directly to voicemail. Top providers can set up sophisticated virtual IP phone systems that forward the calls to

The end of the year is traditionally the perfect time to make plans for the coming year. The most popular New Year’s resolutions are health and fitness related, such as working out more, quitting smoking, eating healthier meals, taking up meditation, etc. Then there are some who have a different approach to New Year’s resolutions, making them not only about improving themselves, but their families (“being a better father”), their communities (“volunteering once a month”), or their work (“being a better manager”). Deciding to improve your performance at work can actually help you with all your other resolutions because any

The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) was created in 1996 to modernize the flow of healthcare information. It stipulates how all personal data maintained by the healthcare and healthcare insurance industries should be protected from fraud and theft. It also addresses limitations on healthcare insurance coverage. All healthcare and healthcare insurance industries are required to comply with HIPAA guidelines and can expect to be audited by the Office for Civil Rights (OCR), an organization within the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (HHS). HIPAA compliance should be taken very seriously, as violations can carry civil or even

Is Your Business Prepared for a Remote Workforce? Today’s workforce looks vastly different from that of just a decade ago. More companies are not only allowing employees to work from home, but they are encouraging it. In a recent report by FlexJobs and Global Workplace Analytics, remote work was found to have increased by 44 percent over the last five years and 91 percent in the past decade. Today, 4.7 million people, 3.4 percent of the U.S. population, now work from home. A FlexJob survey discovered that 74 percent of respondents believe flexible working has “become the new normal.”

The world of business today is heavily driven by customer feedback – they have the ability to leave reviews, write blog posts, and share stories through social media. So connecting with these customers and supporting their needs has a huge effect on client satisfaction and business success. Customer service has also been growing and evolving with new technology. But talking to customers on the phone remains one of the most important practices for a customer support team. So how can customer support teams improve their phone interactions to ensure client happiness? Keep reading for our customer support best practices for answering the

Having reliable communication is a very important part of running a business. Customers and business partners need to be able to contact you. So what’s the best type of phone to get to make sure you’re always reachable? This will depend on the specific needs of your business. Keep reading to check out the pros and cons of the best small business phone systems. Types of Phone Systems There are several phone systems to choose from, depending on the needs of your business. We will discuss all the advantages and drawbacks of a few different options to find out what

Only one third of businesses use some form of texting to communicate with their customers today. This is a hugely untapped business advantage. Here are ten tips on how Phone.com helps you use text messaging (SMS) in your business: 1. Text messaging is included for free with all Phone.com plans. 2. All Phone.com phone numbers (toll free and local) are textable and can start sending and receiving text messages today. 3. Try my.phone.com – this new web-based user interface allows you and your staff to easily send and receive text messages from any browser. 4. Try our mobile app –

To menu or not to menu? That is the question. But not really. If you’re a business with a business phone number, you’ll want to make sure your VoIP menu is set up for success. What’s great about the phone menu is it’s completely customizable, so you control how much or how little options you give customers when they call into your company. It all depends on your customer base or potential new business, so do your due diligence and get that research done prior. In the

The holidays are here. And so is the stress. As a small business owner, you shouldn’t have to worry about a phone that’s ringing off the hook. So what’s an easy solution to reduce the business cortisol levels? A call handling feature from your VoIP phone service. Just remember: you’re not the only one stressed. Customers calling into companies are sometimes frustrated before they even pick up the phone. And if they’re experiencing long wait times, poor call quality, or complex menus that lead to

We’re all distracted. I’m distracted even writing this. With Slack messages and email, baby pictures, Instagram, laundry, and the unending news cycle. Plus a whole lot more. A CareerBuilder survey back in 2016 found that after questioning just over 3,000 employees, 66% said they check or use their phone several times a day at work and 65% said they spend at work time for non-work personal messaging. The point is: it’s hard to carve out productivity on some days as opposed to others, especially for those of us who primarily work on our phones or absolutely need to

These days, the cold call is becoming risky business. With new apps for call blocking and the iOS update to silence unknown callers, it can make the life of a salesperson difficult. According to a Hubspot statistic, it can take up to 18 calls to land a single buyer! If you have a personal connection, you’re 4.2 times more likely to get that appointment. That means both that you should make personal connections as often as possible and that salespeople are generally quite used to rejection. The missed calls, the unread messages, and voicemail boxes chock full

Voicemails can feel a bit archaic. We hardly spend time on the phone as is these days, but there’s something especially clunky and old fashioned about listening from start to finish to a voice message. Without voicemail transcription, you’re stuck in a certain format and unable to scan through the message like you would a text or Slack message, or even email. Sometimes, even, your caller’s connection isn’t so great, so you’re stuck listening to a garbled indecipherable message. That leads to you listening over and over to a voice message with a pen and paper like you’re

Work is busy. And as a small business owner, work is everything. But is your business phone system working for you? Your work phone may not be something you stop to think about often. But if you’re using a voice-only legacy phone system, chances are you’re not only losing money, you’re losing out on a slew of features that could make your life, and the life of your employees, a whole lot easier. You’ve probably heard of VoIP—voice over internet protocol (phone service over the internet)—but you may not be familiar with what it is and how it

For a small business, figuring out your marketing strategy early on is imperative to success. While it’s can be great visibility to get your ads into print magazines or on the subway, not everyone has that kind of budget. In this mobile day and age, it’s an easy and generally low cost option to widen your reach with video marketing. It’s become almost an inexplicably essential tool for mobile-oriented businesses, or any businesses for that matter, to use video. So here are five reasons why you should be using video in your marketing strategy. Reach far and wide Just

Maybe it’s the awkward acronym. Maybe it’s because it sounds super technical and people aren’t exactly sure what it means. Whatever it is, VoIP has been around for decades, yet, like your neighbor’s sweet dog that barks wildly every time you walk by (OMG), is misunderstood. We thought we’d take a few minutes to pull back the curtain and debunk some common VoIP myths. Because a myth shouldn’t hold you back from one of the best, easiest, most affordable things you can do to boost your small business, right? Right! Before we get started, what’s VoIP anyway?

Some days are just plain harder to get up the gusto for work. It’s like every day is a Monday and you’re sloshing through the mud trying to get any sort of momentum. This happens to sales people too, whether you’re a veteran or newbie. But, after all, you have to pick up the phone. So here are some tips to get over your Monday (or any day) sales call blues. Don’t be “Sales Voice-y”, be natural Here’s an easy one. Just be yourself. If you feel like you’re putting it on, other people are going to pick

two people looking at collaboration tools in the office

In a startup or small business, people sometimes have to wear many hats. That means an increase in responsibilities and bigger workloads and, a lot of times, more stress. The work day can seem to go by at break-neck pace week in and week out. Emails fly around like mosquitoes, vendors and employees are spread out throughout the country and the world, and you need an answer on something now. How do you keep everything together? Easy! A collaboration tool, like Slack, Hive, Google Hangouts, and a whole bunch more. These tools, a mixture of free and paid software,

So you’re finally ready for VoIP because its mind-blowing features are going to supercharge your small business. (Not to mention let you say goodbye to fax machines forever. And, if you so choose, never actually listen to another voicemail again.) When you’re this excited, it’s easy to get hasty and opt for whatever’s cheapest, especially when you’re on a tight budget. But before you choose a service provider, you need to make sure it’s the best fit for you and your business. We know it’s not always easy to ask the right questions when you’re new to

If you work in the medical field—or your clients are in the medical field—you already know the importance of HIPAA compliance. But do you know your VoIP provider needs to be HIPAA compliant as well? Business phone systems don’t always come to mind when it comes to safeguarding Protected Health Information (commonly known as PHI). But if you’re using a VoIP communication system, or planning to, the digital technology that powers it also puts electronic PHI (ePHI) at risk. That’s why it’s absolutely essential your VoIP provider is HIPAA compliant. What’s at risk with a non-HIPAA compliant VoIP provider? When

small business owner using smartphone for work

So you’re an entrepreneur. Maybe you own a small business. And your smartphone’s become…your work phone. The line between your personal life and career is so blurred you can barely even see it. But how do you know when it’s too much? And what can you do about it? The answer is surprisingly simple. (And doesn’t require sending your phone to the International Space Station. Or, you know, running it over with your car.) It’s a little something called VoIP: voice over internet protocol, or, in layman’s terms, phone service over the internet. We’re here to identify common problems

Employees are the bread and butter of your small business. They keep things moving and they keep things under control. Without them, you’re, well, you’re toast—minus the butter. You appreciate them every day, but do they know it? If you think a twice-monthly paycheck and the occasional happy hour and/or annual holiday party gives them the warm and fuzzies, think again. It’s time to step up your game and show your employees just how much you value them. But how? We’ve gathered 10 easy ways you can make your employees feel appreciated. It’s not as

You’re a business owner and you’ve got work to do. Business proposals to write, marketing material to draft, brainstorming, strategizing, the list goes on. To get anything done at all, you need to be creative, but you feel like your brain’s on vacation. You’re tapped out, you’re tired, and, as they say, you’ve got nothing. It might be because you’re running on empty. You might just be feeling uninspired. Whatever the reason, you need to dig deep and get ‘er done. But how do you get your creative juices flowing when there’s no juice and definitely no

No one who’s just launched a business wants to look like they just launched a business. But how do you seem like you’ve been around a while? And that you’re successful? And that it’s not just, you know, you and two other employees? (Or, uh, just you?) The answer may surprise you, as it revolves around your business phone, which probably isn’t something you stop to think about often. Just the term “business phone” may feel a bit dated—especially since it’s likely the cell phone you’re holding in your hand right now—but hear us

Running a small business is difficult, to say the least. Did you know that, according to a Business Insider infographic, nearly 34% of small businesses fail after their second year? We were surprised, too. So how do you not become a failed statistic? We don’t need to get into the myriad reasons why a business fails because we’re not trying to write a textbook…but we did want to look at one feature that can drastically help your maximize efficiency. When business is booming, it’s easy to get caught up in the success, but it’s even easier

It sounds like something only a techie could love: VoIP. You hear the acronym and think, “No way. Not for me.” Not so fast! VoIP—which just means phone service over the internet—is insanely easy to use and, thanks to a slew of cool features, can take your small or midsize business to new heights. Ideal for entrepreneurs and growing businesses, once you try it, we guarantee you’ll love it. And you don’t need to be the least bit technical to figure it out. Here are 10 reasons even you, a self-declared non-techie, will love VoIP.

VoIP (voice over IP) is packed with high-tech perks. Many of them are designed to make your life easier. But just as many were created specifically to serve your customers. And one them is a magical little feature called Click-to-Call. It works like this: your VoIP provider gives you a bit of code to embed on your website and voilà, a button appears that quickly connects customers to your business. The catch is that they enter their number and your business calls them. It’s kind of amazing. From preventing callers getting stuck in a phone maze to just making their

Being an entrepreneur is tough. That’s why so few of us do it. It can be lonely, exhausting, and intimidating. On days when it’s particularly trying—when you’re down in the dumps and feeling discouraged—a pep talk can really help. We know a thing or two about innovation and entrepreneurship. And we’d love to boost your spirit with some wisdom we’ve gleaned over the years. We’ve all been there. You’re not alone. Here’s our very best advice to make you feel better even on your very worst days. You’re doing this for a reason. Yes, branching out on your own

We don’t know how it happened, or why, but the 90s are apparently back in style. But just because teenagers are sporting, ahem, mom jeans again (*sob*) doesn’t mean you and your employees have to work like it’s 1999. Today’s business is mobile. If there’s anything that defines business today it’s mobility. We’re all working on the go, taking calls, making calls, and writing emails. Even with the best grunge playlist on earth, there’s absolutely nothing nostalgic about being chained to your desk simply because your work phone is there. But how can you and your employees cut the cord?

If you feel like you’re getting more scam calls than ever, you’re right. And it’s not just you. Americans received an astounding 26.3 billion robocalls in 2018, up a whopping 46% from 2017. It’s hard to fathom, but nearly 50% of all mobile calls are spam. It’s no wonder only half of all cell phone calls are answered at all. Why answer if it’s just a scammer—live or recorded—on the other end of the line? From why robocalls are so prevalent to what you can do to stop them, we’ve put together a quick primer so you can face the

They may drive you crazy sometimes but let’s face it: you kind of love your coworkers. (You know you do!) And it takes all types to really get a business off the ground, then keep it running like clockwork. VoIP (also known as “voice over IP”, pronounced voyp; which basically means phone service over the internet) is brimming with features to suit all of them. Even the ones never at their desks. The ones that run from fax machines (and voicemails!) like they’re on fire. The goofy ones. The frugal ones. The don’t-bother-me-I’m-busy ones. The nerdy ones. (Oops! That’s

It can be one of the biggest blunders of the business call, eliciting sighs, eye-rolls, and universal irritation. It’s the call transfer—and it has a bad reputation for a reason. If you do it right, it can help your customers and leave a lasting, positive impression. But if you do it wrong—and many of us do—you’ll not only annoy your customers, you may make them angry. And you could lose them for good. If your call transfers could use some work, there are some easy steps to make them a whole lot better. Listen carefully. Whether your business

Procrastinating is something we all like to dabble in now and then, some of us more than others. But putting things off doesn’t always have to do with deadlines. Sometimes it’s an overflowing email inbox, 100 voicemails you’ve listened to and don’t know what to do with, or a pile of books doubling as a paperweight. From technological clutter to actual clutter, spring is the perfect time to stop putting off what you should have cleaned up months ago. Clean your inbox Let’s start with your email. There’s lots of clever metaphors (your ever-growing closet, your

At the very least once a month. In a fast-paced world where we’re inundated by endless scrolls on social media, a 24 hour news cycle, and increasing responsibilities at the office and at home, it’s hard to engage with customers regularly and effectively. And because there are so many statistics pointing to customers disengaging after poor customer service experiences, it pays to be on top of attentiveness and to approach this customer care with a hospitality-minded strategy. With that said, we’ve put together some thoughts on why and how you should keep in touch with your customers. Talk to

entrepreneuring using VOIP business phone

If you have a small business, you’re probably trying to cut corners. And one of those corners may be a business phone. After all, isn’t calling people—even answering the phone—outdated these days? In the era of texting, emails, and live chatting, why would someone want to actually pick up the phone to call a business? We hate to go old-school on you, but using the phone to make actual phone calls is still (surprisingly!) popular, especially when it comes to small businesses. If you’re thinking about (literally) cutting the cord, consider the following. People are

We’ve all been there: in need of assistance, furiously shouting “Operator” to an automated voice-over. Help seems, well, futile. Wouldn’t it be nice if you have a real live person on the other end of the line? Thanks to a growing number of outsourcing companies, it’s possible you now can. Live answering services have been becoming more popular and more affordable to small and medium businesses. Apart from the myriad reasons how they can help, perhaps the biggest is how it immediately elevates your brand. The big business look-and-feel can be a huge factor in whether customers choose your

You can have your dream job, a great boss, even a never-ending supply of your favorite coffee. But if your workspace isn’t quite right, your productivity can suffer. Whether your office is at home or away, a cubicle or an executive suite, if it’s dark and drab, messy, uncomfortable, and/or full of distractions, some small upgrades can yield amazing results. We’ve compiled nine simple ways to create a more productive workspace, from reducing clutter in your hard drive to increasing the green around you. Clear the (physical) clutter Nothing gets in the way of productivity like clutter. It makes

Analytics, in really any form, are paramount to a business’s success. So for a company of any size, especially those with a call center or those who suddenly have an increase in call volume, monitoring the customer experience and making it smooth is key. And the way to do that? Caller analytics. If you know how to use them, call analytics data can be a mighty tool. By studying the specifics, you can get a clearer picture of how long customers are spending on the phone when they call in, location of callers, wait times, times of day

You’ve decided to host your first webinar. That’s a big deal. It’s the first time you’re putting out such a big piece of content, the first time you’re putting yourself on camera, and, most importantly, the first time introducing your company to a wider audience. There are plenty of factors that go into making a successful webinar, but we wanted to highlight a few. Production & Promotion If this is your first webinar, it’s probably best to keep your focus razor-sharp. This is a time where you have 20-30 minutes of time to dive into a specific topic.

a call center of a company using toll-free numbers

Remember phones? Like, real ones. Not the 4K video-computers we have in our pockets. I’m talking about ones where there were actual buttons with number that you had to dial. We’ve come a long way from landlines, cordless & car phones. And we’ve also come a long way when talking about numbers. Let’s take a trip back in time. Back in the mid-1960s, AT&T devised a plan to lessen the burden of collect calls on their phone operators.The volume simply was too much. They devised something they dubbed “automatic collect calling,” where the charge for the caller is

It’s a foregone conclusion that your business should be using social media. But which social media platform is best for you? We don’t know the answer to that for you. What we do know is that Instagram in the last two years jumped from 800 million to one billion active users. That’s a lot of eyeballs and tons of engagement. Brands are jumping at the chance to get noticed but it takes a solid, specific strategy to win users and build a following. Here are some ideas to make sure your Instagram game is, as the kids say,

businessman using dial-by-name directory

In business, to have success and longevity in the ever-crowded, ever-expanding marketplace, it helps to have razor-sharp instincts. On the other hand, when your instincts may be not as honed, there is another resource just as essential if not more so: statistics. When thinking about your customer base and customer experience, it’s important to collect as much data as possible. Luckily some of that is readily available on the internet. Here are a few stats that caught our eye: According to an American Express Global Customer Service Barometer in 2017, more than half of Americans have stopped

Having a local presence by way of a local number can be vital to your business. Just take a look at the statistics from 2018’s Small Business Saturday. According to BusinessWire.com, the nationwide initiative after the Thanksgiving holiday brought in a record-high $17.8 billion in sales. Furthermore, the survey from American Express found that 70% of adults queried are aware of the shopping day and 42% reported shopping at independently owned businesses. 41% of shoppers who participated on the day said they shopped Small online. If you’re a small business owner reading this, especially ones who don’t have

There are many reasons for wanting to record a call. Whether you’re a lawyer, therapist, realtor, notary, call center, utility company, bank, etc.—there are many types of businesses that rely on call recording to keep a record of conversations for legal or monitoring purposes. If you don’t currently record calls or are weighing whether you should, here are a few benefits call recording can provide. Business Advantages to Call Recording: Improve your products and service Capturing customer complaints or product shortcomings is an excellent way to improve your overall product strategy. Call recording is an easy method to

Setting end of year goals at a small business

Keeping a New Year resolution is hard. As a matter of fact, it’s downright impossible. According to a US News article, some 80% of people fail to follow through with their resolutions. That’s a high number, but, in fairness, resolutions can also be a tall order. We’re hyper-focused on big results and fast changes and feel a huge sense of disappointment when we can’t follow through. This rings true both for individuals or business owners looking to capitalize on the new year. So instead of putting an undue burden on setting impossible goals, why not shift the focus more on

As an owner of one or more businesses, your life is constantly full of mobile multi-tasking. You’re called away from the office all the time, you’re on the road, you’re just not available. You need some flexibility. Thanks to Phone.com’s Voicemail to Email service, you have that…and then some. This convenience is especially important when you’re away from the office and have your calls directed to your voicemail. So when your inbox begins to pile up, another responsibility looms over as you go about your day to day operations. This is, of course, unless you took the time to call

It’s the weekend and you need time to relax and recharge. It’s simply not feasible for your phone to be ringing off the hook. So, what can you do? With Phone.com’s Schedules feature, you can set certain hours for your business phone to ring and then direct all calls to voicemail. This is perfect for weekends, holidays, vacations, and other moments when you simply can’t answer. Now that your schedules are set up, we want to share some helpful tips on voicemail greeting protocol. Sometimes understanding your customers comes down to simply understanding human nature and the behaviors, attitudes, and

It’s difficult to quantify how much businesses use different software and applications for everyday operations. There are so many apps available for messaging, email, editing, social media, and an endless list of others that can be crucial for your small business. But there comes a point of saturation, where the benefit, ubiquity, and convenience actually becomes detrimental. Are you or your employees suffering from app overload? It’s very tempting to read that sentence in an infomercial voice, but app overload is actually real. According to a new study from CITE Research, which surveyed more than 2,000 workers across

In the mobile age where remote workers are spread out around the world, it’s gotten more difficult to get everyone on the same page or in the same room. Schedules are loose, distractions are high, and projects are many. So, if your business relies on smooth communication and yoAduour workforce is vast and spread out, you could benefit greatly by utilizing audio conferencing for any and all meetings. Here are some reasons why… Cost If you’re looking to get all the major players in the office for a meeting, that’s going to set you back a bit. Make room in

One minute you’re being productive at work and the next your phone rings incessantly with an unknown number and your voicemail starts to pile up with cryptic messages asking for money or slick scripts about a fantastic offer you can’t miss. It’s annoying, but more so, it’s illegal. The FTC says that “Your written or oral consent is required for ALL autodialed or prerecorded calls or texts made to your wireless number. Telemarketers have never been permitted to make robocalls to your wireless phone based solely on an “established business relationship” with you.” With life and business increasingly

How many times have you needed customer support and couldn’t for the life of you find a company number? Or are you just frustrated and exhausted by the constant ping of a chatbot that can’t really solve your problem? You’re not alone. There is still a big contingent of consumers who want to talk to a real human. And if you’re a small business that offers a service, you need to be available to help if the going gets tough. For some customers, solving problems online or through messenger apps simply isn’t enough. So if you’re a new startup, an

While some businesses adapt to change faster than others, the business world as a whole is usually kind of slow to change. Even when there are advantages to adopting new technologies, the nature of business and the work (and cost) of integrating new technologies causes most companies to take a “wait and see” approach. While the benefits may look good on paper, these companies want to see how the changes affect others in the real world before committing to an upgrade. While there is some wisdom to this approach, it can also cost time and money that those other

Small business/startup meeting in progress

There was a time when if you heard the word “meeting” you pictured a bunch of people sitting around listening while one or two people talked. Though some meetings had more back-and-forth feedback than others, by and large meetings were often handled the same. And in some companies, they still are. That doesn’t mean that meetings (and the workplace in general) aren’t changing, however. Modern technology has changed the way that we have meetings, and it’s even augmented the way that we look at the workplace in terms of efficiency, the potential of communications and more. If you’re curious as

Here at Phone.com we’re not only proud to deliver top notch business class phone service to a diverse group of small businesses, we’re also able to legally protect the sensitive information handled by medical professionals with our HIPAA compliant coverage in our standard features. If you’re unfamiliar with that acronym or new to the VoIP industry, HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) was signed into law in 1996 with the chief aim at providing accountability for health insurance companies and patients’ information. With the VoIP revolution, small, medium and large medical companies are able to cut costs by not having to

It’s easy to get caught up in all the challenges of creating, running, and growing a successful small business. It’s also easy to feel isolated, like your hiccups or shortcomings are only unique to you. Luckily there are so many resources available to help guide you along the way, and thanks to the boon of podcasting, there are so many subject matter experts talking about just what you need to hear. We put together a list of five podcasts you can listen to on your morning commute that’ll help get your business off the ground, motivate you to make positive

Everyone wants to be successful, even if we all have different definitions of success. Some view success as amassing wealth and power, others view it as seeing a dream come true or becoming their own boss. Regardless of how you define success, you’re unlikely to find it by simply waiting around for it to show up. If you want to be successful, you’ve got to work for it. While the specific work depends on lots of variables, there are some things you can do to help it along. If you want to achieve maximum success and reach your goals, a

A CEO has a lot of power of his or her company, but with that power comes an immense amount of responsibility. Not everyone is cut out for this sort of responsibility, and new CEOs can sometimes be overwhelmed by everything that’s required for their jobs. That’s why some CEOs seem to flounder once they’re in position while others thrive and take their companies to new heights. To be truly successful, new CEOs typically require certain traits. These traits are often the same sort of traits that one has to have to become a CEO in the first place, but

When you think of “team-building activities” you likely picture trust falls, cheesy motivational speeches and forced participation in boring office games. While developing teamwork and improving office camaraderie is important, the team will only improve if its members actually enjoy the activities. If everyone’s miserable, no one is going to take anything away from the exercise. Instead of trying to bring everyone together through trust falls, try injecting a bit more fun into your activities. Not only will they bring your team members closer together, but they may even help them to work more efficiently as a unit as well.

Because of the sensitive information handled by a medical practice and the compliance requirements of HIPAA and HITECH, you have to be pretty picky when choosing new technologies for your office. This obligation is especially true when dealing with communication methods, since you certainly don’t want to accidentally expose confidential patient data. As a result, many medical offices are slow to adopt new technology. If your phone system could use an overhaul, however, it might be time to consider switching to a VoIP service instead. There are several benefits to choosing VoIP over other options, including some that are vitally

Small business owner using call screening feature for VOIP

When you think of call screening, you likely imagine a feature that’s used be people at home trying to avoid calls from telemarketers or other folks they want to avoid. With the advent of caller ID, call screening is a feature that many people don’t even use. What many don’t realize is that there are still some great uses of call screening even in a world where you can see at a glance where a call is coming from. Not only that, but call screening can

A new report by marketing and research firm Criteo reveals that mobile apps grabbed the lion’s share of e-commerce transactions in 4Q’17 for retailers that have shopping apps. This is a big deal, as more and more retailers are seeing the advantage of having a dedicated mobile app to make things easier on shoppers. Some are even making a major push to make their apps commonplace, with retail giants like Wal-Mart pitching the app in stores and even adding scan-and-pay functionality that lets shoppers scan items as they pick them up to skip most of the hassle of checkout. Why

Some people see working from home as a dream come true, imagining days spent working in pajamas and only tackling tasks when they feel like it. The reality of working remotely is a bit different, of course. While you do have more control over your schedule, you still have deadlines and responsibilities along with a wide range of distractions that you never run into while at the office. This isn’t to say that working remotely can’t be a rewarding experience, however. It’s not for everyone, but for those who do thrive in a remote work environment, it can result in

You’ve probably never considered how the way that you use your phone could influence the success of your business. After all, the two things seem so disconnected that there’s no reason to think that one might affect the other. As it turns out, though, there is actually a direct connection between how you use your phone and how successful your business is. Knowing how to identify and use this connection can mean the difference between a business that does better than you ever expected and one that just barely gets by. Before we get too far into how you can

Welcome to the latest installment of “Innovation Corner.” Here, we dig into the expertise of Alon Cohen, our CTO and Executive VP, and share insider tips, lesser-known features and fun ideas on how to get the most out of your phone system and your Phone.com account. We’re all about flexibility, efficiency, ease of use and, of course, affordability for our customers of all sizes. Service Spotlight: Video Conferencing Our video conferencing tool is a Phone.com premium service. Nothing to download, nothing to install. Bring up to 25 participants together for face-to-face meetings, with up to an additional 200 participants able

We’ve all been put on hold and had to listen to all kinds of hold music. Depending on how long the hold lasts, that music can make you all but want to abandon your call and try again at a later time. If you haven’t put any thought into your on-hold experience, your customers might feel this exact same way when they have to go on hold. Fortunately, it doesn’t have to be this way. If you want to make sure that your customers aren’t driven off by your choice of on-hold music, here are a few things you can

When you work for someone else, you know that things will continue moving right along even if you take some time off of work. Even small business owners with a full staff can take time off and leave one of their employees temporarily in charge. When you’re self-employed, however, things are a little different. Most of the time there will be no one around to do the work except for you, meaning that there’s no one that you can delegate responsibility to. So how are you supposed to take a vacation? It’s possible to take some time off when you’re

Service Spotlight: The Phone.com API APIs, or Application Programming Interface, are a building block of communication between various software components. API is a broad term that refers to a communications protocol that can be accessed to extend, expand or in some way better services. Insider Insights: You don’t have to be a “techie” or a developer to make APIs work for you, your team, your communications, your technology and your work. Companies like Phone.com provide customers with the API tools and information they need. An API is like a “toolbox of opportunities” for small operations looking to do big things. APIs

There are few things more annoying than unwanted calls, especially when the person on the other end of the line keeps calling again and again. Some people even find themselves harassed over the phone, with calls coming throughout the day and night to be as much of a nuisance as possible. There’s got to be something that you can do! Fortunately, there is. Call blocking services do just what their name implies: They block unwanted calls, preventing them from ever reaching you. Even better, you can block outgoing calls as well. This gives you an amazing amount of control over

Whether you’re an independent contractor or a remote worker, your home office has to be much more than a desk set up in an empty corner of your home. Like any other serious workspace, your home office should be a dedicated environment set aside only for work tasks. If you’re setting up a new home office, or looking for a way to increase your efficiency while working at home, creating the right work environment is crucial for a positive work experience. The Work Environment Most will agree that the most important part of setting up a home office is to

You might think of video conferencing as a combination of a phone conversation and a personal meeting, but it’s really an entirely separate thing. The concept of getting multiple people together virtually is a relatively new one, and the etiquette of these meetings is still evolving. Common sense rules derive from telephone conversations, video tape and department meetings, but the combination of all three influences has created a new area of work rules that apply to video conferencing and nothing else. Follow these basic rules and expand on them to fit your personal work culture: What They See The video

The holiday season isn’t just about managing Black Friday and Cyber Monday, there’s fostering the spirit of giving, too. As a business leader or part of an organization, you’re in a great position to help your team make a big impression at the holidays, but it can be tricky to encourage them to go it alone. Instead of simply asking your people to do their part this year, you should be leading them with simple ways to make a huge impact together. Giving Charitably as a Business Team It’s one thing to write a check from your business to

“A noble spirit embiggens the smallest man.” The Springfield Motto – The Simpsons A noble spirit is a fine thing, but it doesn’t close deals and it won’t help you compete with bigger businesses on a day-to-day basis. It’s true that many consumers, both B2B and B2C, will hesitate before buying from a small business, and that’s just one of the risks you must be prepared to take as a startup. But there are tools you can use to overcome this disadvantage and level the playing field. A social networking strategy can build up your followers quickly and relatively painlessly, as long

“Thank you for calling, can I put you on hold?” No matter who you call, at some point you’ve heard the line above, assuming a human even answers the phone in the first place. As a business that depends on telephone-based support, placing a customer on hold comes with certain risks. Some of your customers will wait indefinitely and some will hang up immediately, but the vast majority of your callers will fall somewhere in between those two extremes. For those callers who will wait, what’s the best way to keep them engaged? Well, we know it’s not muzak. The

This is part two in a two-part series. You can read part one here. In part one of this two-part series, we discussed ways to dip your small business toe into mobile waters, even if a high quality mobile app is out of the question right now. But we’re not going to forget those SMBs that are ready to get their first mobile app in the Apple store and on Google Play. Part two is entirely dedicated to these folks and making sure that app is a hit. Mobile is a wild place where the online world can reach out and

Did you know that every Phone.com extension on your account includes a FREE conference bridge, allowing your team to run conference calls with ease? Yes, free conference calling! There are some great benefits to this free feature, including: High definition voice quality Up to 500 participants Unlimited minute usage Here’s how to make the most of your conference bridge. Accessing Your Conference Bridge Mouse over Configure and click Manage Users and Extensions. Click Edit for the extension you want to use. Click Conferencing on the left side bar. Click Get Conference Bridge. Your conference bridge number, conference ID and moderator PIN

When we train new members of our Customer Service team, we focus more than anything on just that: Customer Service. Our new agents are not expected to know every setting for all of our features—however, we do expect them to provide outstanding service to our customers, and understand that it is find to ask for help when they have questions. Here are the five top Phone.com values that we focus on when we train new Customer Service staff. 1. Quality What makes a quality customer-service interaction? Listening to each customer, really hearing what they need, and being committed to finding exact answers to their questions. Providing great customer service and continually improving that

The benefit of using your mobile phone for business calls is that you can carry your office in your pocket or purse. Read voicemail, run a conference call, send a fax. But the down side is that you might receive business calls when you’re off the clock, visiting with friends or doing your grocery shopping. Set Your Schedules One of the easiest ways to manage business calls on your personal phone is to set Phone.com Schedules, which allow you to manage how incoming business calls are handled during specific times. Nights, weekends and holidays? Set all incoming calls to go to voicemail!

Lawyers, therapists, realtors, notaries, call centers, utilities, banks—there are many types of businesses that rely on call recording to keep a record of conversations for legal or monitoring purposes. Phone.com offers free inbound call recording that you can activate manually on any call. You can also enable premium recording on your outgoing or incoming calls on your Phone.com account at the the following rates: 300 minutes – $4.95/month 1,000 minutes – $14.95/month Let’s walk through how to set up both the free and premium call-recording options. Activating Free Call Recording on an Incoming Call This service applies only to incoming calls on your Phone.com

If you’ve been in business a while, you might have an old fax machine gathering dust in a corner of your office. And you probably have to figure out how to use it every time you need to fax a document. Remember checking the fax machine every minute or so, to make sure your fax was going through? Who faxes these days? Well if you do business with a bank, or a realty or legal office, you’ll still find yourself needing to send documents the old-fashioned way. But let’s face it, no one wants to maintain a fax machine anymore, and

Have you noticed how common it is for people to take laptops and phones into meetings these days? How those who are not actively part of the discussion use the time to get other work done? Or check their email, the weekend weather, or read an article on a tech blog? It’s symptomatic of how meetings happen today. You call a meeting to resolve an issue, invite all those who might be affected, who need to be kept in the loop, and then settle down to brainstorm solutions. People arrive to your meeting with a snack and a soda, and settle into the comfiest

You’ve just signed up for Phone.com service. The desk phone you ordered has arrived in the mail. Congratulations! So you follow the set up instructions, pick up the receiver and … silence. Nothing. Nada. Rest assured, silence on the other end of the phone and poor call quality are hardly ever due to an issue with your new phone or the Phone.com service. Network settings, and insufficient or inconsistent bandwidth are usually the culprit. So here are a few tips on overcoming the top three issues we encounter with new phone setup. Why No Dial Tone? If you don’t hear dial tone when

Last week, we added eight new desk and conference phone models to our line up! The new Polycom and Yealink models offer all the features you need, at different price points, and they arrive pre-configured, ready to work with your Phone.com service straight out the box! Phone.com offers a wide variety of IP phones and analog telephone adapters (ATAs) that let you place and receive calls using your Internet connection. Time to Replace a Phone? If you need to replace an old phone or add more phones to your network, here is a simple set of guidelines for ordering a new phone

It’s everyone’s least favorite part of calling a service company. “Could I place you on hold for a moment?” Well, do I have an option? Didn’t think so. One of the worst parts of being on hold, is the hold music that goes with it, also known as elevator music (because hotels and department stores love to use it in their elevators) or simply, muzak. We all know the kind of muzak I’m talking about: a muffled instrumental version of Wind Beneath My Wings or a zippy Girl from Ipanema. Muzak is always at least a few decades out of style. It doesn’t need to

When customers call your business, what do they hear? A message stating your hours and asking them to leave voicemail? Outdated hold music? Some business owners see setting up greetings and phone menus as a chore, rather than a key part of their service or brand promotion. Hold music and menu settings are often added to the phone system ad hoc as the company slowly grows, and the call experience evolves into something inefficient but predictable—customers are used to calling a store and hearing a standard blurb before being placed on hold. Yet as younger workers and consumers enter the marketplace, this is changing. According to a recent

Many people get nervous when recording a voice message. Add to that the pressure you might feel trying to create a professional greeting for your company’s phone number! Here are a few tips on planning and recording a voicemail greeting for your business, followed by the Phone.com tools that make it much easier to make classy greetings. Decide What You Want to Say Most businesses need a general reception greeting that states your company’s name, your products, services and hours, and then gives callers the option to transfer to an extension or leave voicemail. You might also want to add other greetings, though, for evenings

You’ve started a promising business and you’re ready to make those great ideas happen. As any successful entrepreneur will tell you, it’s not enough to have a great plan, it’s all about how you execute. Time to get organized! In today’s distributed workforce, collaborating face to face isn’t always an option. And while Phone.com powers business communications, providing affordable phone service wherever you do business, a good phone call is only part of the solution. Here’s the list of tools we find essential to collaborating at Phone.com, particularly since our own team is distributed across the United States! These simple and free online tools will keep employees in

Growing up, my family lived in rural suburbia, an area with horse trails instead of sidewalks and the earthy smell of dairy cows in the air. We had a pet emu, called Emu. Emu lived in the back corner of our yard, beside the chicken coop, fenced in with a shoulder-height chain-link fence and a make-shift gate secured by a pretty flimsy piece of wire. Emu spent most of her day snapping at the air, head tilted to one side, as if she was very confused. One day, there was a big commotion in the back yard. The chicken coop was in a frenzy, all squawking and flying feathers. My

Our SVP of Strategic Alliances and Partnerships Joel Maloff may have a fancy title, but behind the scenes, we simply call him Mr. Awesome. You’ll get the joke if you watch this ten-minute clip of his discussion with GetVoIP’s Reuben Yonatan. For those who only have a couple minutes to spare, we’ve summarized the key takeaways below. Joel has a way of capturing the simplicity and power of Phone.com. Video Stop Points: Did you know? With Phone.com you get FREE conference calling. No need for a third-party service. (See 1:40) Growth areas for the next 12 to 18 months: First, making strategic updates to our internal network

The world of business becomes smaller every day—the Internet allows us to set-up video conferences with anyone on the other side of the world at a moment’s notice. Despite this, the phone call is still a key tool for businesses connecting with their customers, partners, suppliers and investors without concern for national borders. Just as mobile services and Internet Telephony Service Providers (ITSPs) like Phone.com have all but eliminated domestic long-distance telephone charges, so too are we seeing an evolution in how international calling is treated. Phone.com includes international destinations like Canada, France, Germany, Israel, Italy, Netherlands, Puerto Rico and the United Kingdom in our standard

This guide covers how to change your outbound caller ID name and number for use in outbound business calls from Phone.com

This guide covers how to screen your incoming business calls to Phone.com. This allows you to differentiate between callers dialing your personal line and your business line.

This guide covers how to forward your Phone.com number to an unlimited minutes extension. This will allow your minutes to be tracked as unlimited usage.

Business phone solution for mobile workers.

We are excited to share the newest update to our iPhone app, which will now allow you to place and receive calls using VoIP instead of your cell phone minutes. This will transmit all calls using your cellular data or WiFi connection. Let’s walk through how to set this up on your app and Phone.com account. Receiving VoIP Calls In order to receive VoIP calls on your iPhone app, you will need to add a mobile extension to your account and forward your calls to this extension. To add the extension: Mouse over Configure and select Add a User/Extension. Select Mobile

This guide shows you how to block spam callers from wasting your minutes with caller ID, area code, and anonymous call blocking.

This guide covers how to transcribe your voicemails to text-based messages.

This guide shows you how to set up a menu system (phone tree) for your business.

This guide shows you how to add a schedule to your account for your business hours.

This guide shows you how to place and receive calls on your Mac or PC using our Communicator softphone.

This guide covers how to change your outbound caller ID name and number for use in outbound business calls from Phone.com

This guide covers how to screen your incoming business calls to Phone.com. This allows you to differentiate between callers dialing your personal line and your business line.

This guide covers how to forward your Phone.com number to an unlimited minutes extension. This will allow your minutes to be tracked as unlimited usage.