How can new telephone numbers increase sales?

Date: 26/08/2011

No doubt one of the most important goals for a business is reaching potential customers to ensure they place orders and help to generate profit.

Whether a firm is just starting out and is keen to get as many consumers on board as possible, or has been established for a long time and wishes to expand its portfolio, targeting the right audience is essential.

One way in which enterprises may be able to boost their chances of success is to purchase the correct non-geographic phone numbers for their contact centres.

There are several different options to choose from depending on the size of the enterprise and its location, but getting the correct one could be a vital step towards boosting sales and therefore improving revenue.

One of the most important things to remember is that consumers are unlikely to get in touch with an organisation if they know they are going to be charged premium rates for the call.

Some revenue share numbers can be very expensive to contact and individuals are bound to begrudge paying this if they have an essential query to make.

To avoid this problem, companies may wish to purchase 0800 numbers, as these are free to contact from landlines in any part of the UK.

This means the cost of the call is covered by the enterprise itself and, although this may initially seem like an extra expense, it could lead to a greater number of enquires and therefore revenue to balance it out.

If people see that the enterprise is willing to cover the cost of the call, they may consider it to be looking after its customers and therefore have no hesitations when it comes to returning with more business or recommending the service to a friend.

Similarly, some companies could find 0808 numbers work well for them. These are similar to 0800 prefixes as they are also free to contact when calling from a landline.

They were introduced by Ofcom as an alternative set of digits when the availability of 0800 numbers started to run out, but still offer the same benefits - such as being memorable.

Furthermore, they promote a national presence, meaning organisations could expect to receive orders and enquiries from up and down the country instead of limiting themselves to a local area.

However, that is not to say local phone numbers cannot be just as useful for businesses trying to boost their sales.

In fact, if they are situated in more rural parts of the UK, they could find having digits that are instantly recognisable to those from that area encourages people to use services they know are local, thus generating revenue for their nearby entrepreneurs.

Similarly, if enterprises have 020 numbers, other firms are likely to see them as being located in the capital. As this is the heart of business in the UK, it could generate sales for firms because others may want to deal with groups they know are based in London.

Another route companies could go down if they want to generate as much money as possible from their prefixes is to buy revenue share digits, such as 0844 numbers.

This is because the money made from each call is paid directly to the enterprise and, if purchased from Commsready, they make up to 1.5p per minute.

As well as providing this extra little boost to an organisation's income, 0844 numbers offer many of the same benefits as their 0800 and 0808 alternatives - they are memorable and promote a national presence, as well as being low-cost for consumers to get in touch with from a landline.