With the influx of innumerable products that you can imagine, market, and sell with each passing day, the market is becoming increasingly saturated. You might have come up with a great product, but simply selling isn’t going to do the trick anymore. You need to sell smarter.
Companies are coming up with novel ideas and viral marketing campaigns to sell more. But the truth is you can go back to basics and manage to connect with your customers just as easily. 92% of customer interactions still happen entirely over the phone.
The real question is- how do you get more out of a 10 digit phone number? Well, we’ve surpassed the age of traditional landlines or even cellular phones with the advent of better technology. This is where the true potential of business communication lies, and hence, virtual phone systems have experienced a boost in popularity and usage. While convenience is a significant factor, there are a plethora of functionalities and features that are open up with virtual phone numbers.
A business of any size can take advantage of numerous opportunities with a cloud-based phone number like this. Here are some ways a virtual phone number can help you boost your sales and reach higher business targets altogether:
1. Integration with sales-boosting tools
Numerous tools help businesses boost their sales. Most businesses rely on email marketing, Sales CRM, and more to complement their traditional marketing and sales strategies. But what if there was another unique functionality that could be integrated into your phone number? This cloud-based phone number can be integrated with your CRM software and can make it much easier for you to track and nurture well-qualified leads. According to the CSO Insights Study, nearly 42% of sales representatives don’t have adequate information before making the call, and about 50% don’t know which leads should be prioritized. Virtual phone numbers solve this problem as they connect the entire customer database to the communication system. This enhances the productivity of sales teams as they have everything in one place. With a few clicks, they can now look into the history of communication with a particular lead and all the other relevant data. This process triggers effective communication. Further, integrating virtual phone numbers with help desks or other customized API applications also adds immense value to sales processes.
2. Global access
Virtual phone systems certainly widen the scope of your leads. An excellent virtual phone number ensures there is no country beyond your reach, and hence, you can connect with consumers in any part of the world. For instance, if you want to connect with prospect leads in the USA, you could get an American virtual phone number. Getting a local number makes the prospects more accessible to the sales representatives. In fact, more prospects are likely to answer a call seeing a local number rather than a foreign number. Hence, virtual phone numbers help you expand your clientele globally and reward your business in many ways.
3. Rapport and trust-building
Sales psychology states that consumers are more likely to buy your product or service if they are fond of you and trust you. But how could a salesperson build trust over a phone call? The first hurdle, of course, is to have your prospect answer the call. For a wider global target audience, the chances of rejected cold calls increases, and hence to overcome that, you can make use of a local phone number.
Continuing the previous instance, if a consumer living in the USA saw a phone number with a familiar country code, they would be much likely to answer it. They would most likely reject a call from an unfamiliar country code. For a good salesperson, all it takes is a chance to convince the prospect. This includes building a good rapport with them that further translates into repeat business and good feedback.
4. Creation of an adaptive sales strategy
Indeed, cold calling doesn’t work anymore because of the evolution of the consumer’s expectations. Modifying your sales strategy to match the consumers’ preferences and expectations can take you a long way. In fact, it could fetch you, loyal customers. Intelligent calling driven by data is an excellent way to ensure effective sales operations. Age-old cold calling and aggressive selling strategies get you repeated rejection these days. It would especially not translate into conversations if you were calling from a different country. In fact, such calls put consumers off.
A permission-based model is crucial for marketers and salespersons today. Give preference to warm calling over cold calling. This is how a virtual phone number can help you implement a suitable strategy.
5. Virtual locations and offices
Considering virtual phone numbers make calls using the internet, they can easily be synced with other web-specific trends out there. Virtual offices allow setting up an internet-based platform to meet the adequate needs of your consumer. It includes online collaboration platforms, apps, e-commerce websites, and more. Virtual offices allow a business to manage daily operations without physical presence. Considering your sales teams can handle calls virtually can significantly boost the reach of your sales team.
6. Qualification of leads using a directory
The objective of a good sales team at any given time is to minimize the number of unqualified leads. This can be very difficult for inbound calls and can get complicated with low manpower. So it could be helpful to empower inbound callers with information or the sales personnel they are looking for using a directory.
To many, cloud-based virtual phone numbers may seem like just any other temporary tech gimmick. However, it offers so much more to a business. The reasons mentioned above provide a clear indication of the potential and power of virtual phone numbers. Intelligent use of this technology can help you boost your sales and expand your business rapidly. Begin with transforming your sales strategy with the implementation of a virtual phone number today.
Swapnil is a Digital Marketing Analyst at Freshworks. She is more interested towards the organic marketing and takes care of organic lead gen for Freshdesk Contact Center,, which is cloud based phone system for modern business providing virtual phone numbers in 90+ countries.
Apart from writing, in her free time, she likes to play badminton and read books.