Stop using a mobile number as your work phone, switch to cloud phones. The secret is - you don’t have to stop using your mobile! Most people, your customers included, feel more comfortable answering the phone and calling a landline rather than a mobile.

No matter how small a business might be, it’s important to project a professional appearance to new customers and prospects. For example, an email address from your business domain has more impact than, say, a standard Gmail email address. The same is true with your phone number. If you really want your business to look professional, it should have its own dedicated phone number — even if you’re a sole proprietor.

Unprofessional

In today’s society, everyone knows that an email address needs to look professional if it is going to inspire trust. This is also the case for a caller ID. In the eyes of your potential customer, an actual business number shows that you’re professional and not cold calling.

If you’re using your mobile number, your customers will hear your outgoing voicemail message. You’ll either have a casual message which customers won’t resonate with, or a professional image that your friends and family aren’t interested in.

When comparing your contact information to one of your competitors. If all they can find on your website is a mobile number, while your competitor offers an office number - well, who would you call?

Makes you look smaller

There are systems out there that allow your businesses to appear larger than it is, using simple tricks. Something like an automated call menu when your customers call, so their call gets sent to the right department. We’ve all heard them ‘Press 1 for sales, press 2 for deliveries’ etc. It might send the customer to the same employee every time, but they have that tiny bit more knowledge to improve the quality of the call.

Work/home life balance

If you are using your mobile as a work phone, how do you know when to turn off, what calls are important at 11pm, and which can be left until tomorrow morning? With cloud phones, although they call through to your mobile, you’ll immediately know what sort of phone call it is, and how to answer the phone appropriately.

Final thoughts

Using your mobile for work is great, but using your mobile phone number could be causing harm to your business. bOnline’s Cloud Phone service allows you to make calls from your computer and transfer calls to your mobile! Stop calling customers using your mobile phone number, but instead update your professional image and use a more professional number.

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If you have any questions or comments about this post, please fill in the comment box below.  Or send me an email: shale@bonline.com.