Toll-Free – How it do what it do.

Conduct Business on the Telephone Toll Free

You undoubtedly know what a toll free number is and there is more than a reasonable chance that you have used one yourself when you have ordered goods or services over the phone. Toll free numbers were once reserved for use by big businesses who had lots of money to spend on these services, but the less restrictive costs and pricing plans mean that any business regardless of size or structure can easily afford to have a toll free number installed. An order line is one area where you do not want to encourage customers to get off the phone quickly.

You may think that when a customer rings the order line they have already decided on the products or service they are going to buy. In a way you would be correct. They certainly know the items they wish to purchase when they pick up the phone but that doesn’t mean that they are the items they have to buy once they are on the phone. If you have a toll free number that routes through to your ordering system or to customer service representatives that take orders then there are ways you can persuade them to purchase more items.

A PBX is a private branch exchange and is the system that companies use to answer calls, direct callers to the correct department and even take messages and perform certain actions. They are sometimes referred to as automated systems and if you have ever rang a call center you will have dealt with one at least once. You may believe they are irritating but it has been proven that angry customers will become placated and less argumentative while customers unwilling to purchase items can be subjected to subtle but effective advertising.

Toll Free Advertising Kicks In

In place of hold music, some companies have shown good levels of success by including short advertising messages. It is important that you don’t get carried away and be seen to be pushing items when you should be answering the phone but if you have a toll free number then customers are even less likely to worry about the cost. These companies have conducted research and tests on purchases made having listened to the messages. When advertising messages are introduced in small amounts, customers have a greater tendency to purchase that item. Remember, these will usually be extra purchases of items they were not originally planning on buying.

Initially, if a customer sees a toll free number is being used as the order line they will be more inclined to call the number. This is simply because it costs them nothing. Once they are then on the line to the person taking the order they are predisposed to listen to any suggestions of other items that you may particularly want to sell or simply items that compliment those being purchased. A premium or even local rate number will prevent this willingness because the customer will want to get off the phone as soon as possible, if they end up calling at all.