BaldwinTel

Does Your Business Telephone Number Show Up Correctly in a Google Search? Here's How to Check it (and Fix it...)

By Dan Baldwin

The whole point of having a Southern California business phone number and a published listing is so people can call you and do business with you.

But until customers and prospects commit your phone number to memory or your multi-location business phone numbers earns a spot on their speed dial list, how do you suppose they're going to find your number?

Pull out the latest 10-pound printed phone book from their desk drawer - no.

They'll Google it, if course.  

But does your business phone number, your address and a little map pop up as the top listing when your business name is Googled by customers and prospects?

If not, you need to fix that. It doesn't cost anything and it's pretty simple to do

 

Google Business  Listings 101

To see an example of what a semi-proper Google listing should look like, Google search "ATEL Communications".  

Below is an example of what this search delivered the day I wrote this blog post. Click on the image to see it bigger.

When's The Last Time You Reviewed the 411 Directory Listings for Your Business? How to Fix Problems the Problems...

By Dan Baldwin

 If a prospective customer or business partner calls 411 directory assistance in an effort to get your Southern California phone number, what happens?  

Are you having trouble getting credit extended to your business? Maybe your prospective creditor couldn't find your business in the phone directory.

When's the last time you called 411 yourself to make sure your multi-location business phone listings are correct in both your main location and all your satellite locations?

 

Business Phone Listings & Yellow Page Ads are Different

Many business owners cancelled all their Yellow Page ads long ago in favor of Google ads or some other form of Internet marketing.  Because many people equate Yellow Page ads with White Page business listings, many people neglect to make sure their business phone listings are kept up to date after they stop paying for Yellow page ads.

It's not uncommon for a business owner to brush off a business listing when switching from AT&T or Verizon to some other business phone service provider by saying, "Oh we don't need those listings because we're advertised on the Internet".

While the Internet may be sending a business all their new customers, proper business phone listings are still required to ensure that a business is seen as credible in a local community.  Business owners need to pay as much attention to their 411 listing as they do to their 911 service.

 

Call 411 Yourself to Make Sure All Your Listings are Correct

You may have decided that your business does not need AT&T, Verizon or the other old "Ma Bell" phone companies because you've rolled your service to business VoIP or some other new business phone service, but you really do still need the "big 3" phone companies for your proper 411 listings.

Competitive Intelligence: How Do SafeSoft's Hosted Call Center Solutions Compare to What You're Using Now?

By Dan Baldwin

SafeSoft Solutions, a California based company specializing in hosted call center solutions recently joined Telecom Association in an effort to share with TA's 3,800 members and their business customers why SafeSoft's set of hosted call center solutions, showcased by their "Market Dialer" are different or better than the call center and predictive dialer solutions that many business customers are using now.

Since all of our readers are interested in getting new competitive intelligence to learn about a new service or solution that might be better than what they're using now, step one in introducing any new vendor is having them sit for a "Competitive Self-Analysis Interview."

 

Is SafeSoft's Call Center Solution Better for Your Company than What You're Using Now?

This is what we want to learn so we invited Aaron Kohut, SafeSoft's VP of Sales to answer our standard set of competitive intelligence questions.  

You can listen to the audio interview now with your computer speaker by clicking the audio player below. You can also click here to download the MP3 file.

 

 

The transcript of the interview is published below. Click here to print a transcript.

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Which Hosted Contact Center Predictive Dialing Solution is Right For Your Businesses Call Center Requirements?

A Competitive Self-Assessment of SafeSoft Solutions’ “Market Dialer”

A Business Phone News conversation with Aaron Kohut, the Vice President of SafeSoft Solutions, a hosted contact center solution provider. We've invited Aaron to share with us a competitive self-assessment of their services and solutions including their “Market Dialer” service so our clients know that through the vendors we partner with, our customers are getting the best technology services and solutions available in the marketplace today and tomorrow.

February 2012


DB:  Question #1.  Solution History - Can you give our audience of business end-users and technology consultants a quick history lesson on your services and solutions, how long has this service or solution category been around, and what business solutions or services are they replacing?

 AK:   Back in the early 80’s Predictive Dialers began as an on-premise hardware-based system, so they’ve been around for about 30 years. The hosted platform emerged in the 90s and became more popular as VoIP, (“Voice over IP”), technology was evolving.  Because VoIP offered lower telecom costs which were one of the expensive components, it definitely helped make the cloud-based service affordable and eventually became the preferred solution.

 

 

DB:  Question #2. Primary Customer Markets - Which vertical markets and/or customer types and sizes like your solutions or services best and pay attention to you the most? And, are there any metros where you are especially competitive?

 AK:   One of the great things about the Market Dialer is that it was designed to be universal and fit well into virtually any industry. From banking, to home improvement, to non-profit, and even political campaigning.

Increase Sales & Appointment Setting 400% Without More Phone Equipment Using a Hosted Predictive Dialer

By Dan Baldwin

Any Southern California based company that frequently contacts large numbers of prospects or customers by phone can achieve four-fold productivity increases with a hosted predictive dialer.

A predictive dialer is an amazing call center "SaaS" or software as a service solution, and can be particularly beneficial to any business that relies on inside sales people, either working on site or from a home office, to identify new sales opportunities; gather information about their marketplace, their customers, or their competitors; generate revenue; schedule large numbers of appointments; and perform other tasks that require extensive outbound outreach via telephone.

 

Phone Activities Improved by Hosted Predictive Dialing Include:

• 
  Appointment setting
• Cold calling
• Qualification and prioritization of campaign responses
• Nurturing of “hot” leads
• Phone-based sales to new prospects
• Up-sell and cross-sell initiatives to existing clients
• Customer loyalty programs
• Satisfaction surveys
• Market research
• Competitive analysis
• And much, much more!

Without a predictive dialing software package in place, agents waste valuable time repeatedly calling number after number – only to receive busy signals, voice mail messages, no answer, fax machines, or disconnected numbers. This reduces the number of “live” conversations they can conduct, and prevents them from spending as much time as possible interacting directly with their target audience. 

Predictive dialing software helps companies overcome these challenges. Predictive dialer systems are proven to dramatically improve the speed and effectiveness of agents and reduce costs, while allowing a much greater volume of calls to be initiated and maximizing talk time. As a result, business can more rapidly achieve their goals by performing faster, more successful outbound outreach. 

Industries that use hosted predictive dialers include:

Is Your Customer Service "Out to Lunch"? Unified Communications' "Presence" Feature Solves This Problem

By Dan Baldwin

 As the economy finally starts to pick back up for many Southern California multi-location businesses, owners and managers are happy to see that their incoming phone lines are starting to ring again but sad to know that they still have not staffed their business back up to answer and properly address the increase in prospective customer phone calls.

How can a business owner get greater efficiency out the the reduced number of employees they have reporting to work each day?

Take a look at the "presence" feature offered by many newer "unified communications" (AKA "UC") business phone systems and services.

Below is a video that simply shows how the unified communications "presence" feature works on the NEC Univerge SV8100 phone system.

While the NEC phone system solution featured is produced by a "premise based" phone system (one where you make a major capital purchase and the phone system sits in your phone closet or a "private cloud") there are many similar enterprise grade "hosted VoIP" phone service solutions offered by companies like Smoothstone, Alteva, Telesphere, MegaPath, Broadview, Vocal IP and others.  

Subscribing to an enterprise grade unified communications solution from a hosted VoIP or "cloud" business phone service provider means a business owner can access "presence"-type features without having to commit their entire capital improvements budget for the year.

 

What's "Presence"?

When I first started selling business office phone systems 30 years ago, the phone on your desk helped you make and receive phone calls and not much more.

Should You Buy Your Next Business Phone System From "Scramblin' Fran" Tarkenton?

By Dan Baldwin

 If it makes sense for retired boxer George Foreman to sell you a grill you can use indoors then I guess it makes sense for retired Minnesota Vikings football great "Scramblin' Fran" Tarkenton to sell you your next hosted VoIP business phone system for your Southern California multi-location business. Right?

That's what Ari Rabban of Phone.com must be thinking as he's recently signed up with the former quarterback to secure Tarkenton's celebrity endorsement of Phone.com's hosted VoIP business phone system solution.

 

Does it Make Sense to Take Phone Buying Advice from a Retired Quarterback?

I admit it's kind of a silly question. Sure Fran's a great guy and some of my earliest memories of watching football on TV were of watching Fran make defensive ends and linebackers look silly trying to sack him in the backfield. 

But choosing a VoIP business phone system? I'm not sure.  If you watch the short video below that features Ari and Fran discussing the benefits of the Phone.com solution, at no time during the video does Fran say, "I switched to Phone.com's solution for my business a year ago and it's better than any other phone service our business has used in 30 years!".

Now if I found myself playing quarterback at a Deacon Jones family reunion I would certainly seek Scramblin' Fran's advice about how best to survive the event.

 

Ask Fran About QoS and the Differences Between Broadsoft, MetaSwitch & Asterisk Before Buying

When choosing someone to explain to my wife the difference between a "nickel" and "dime" defensive football scheme or how to throw a touchdown pass into a zone or man-to-man coverage, Fran Tarkenton is definitely my choice, especially since my wife hails from Minnesota.

What are the Benefits of Connecting Your Business to "the Cloud"? How should you choose a business cloud consultant?

By Dan Baldwin

In the 20+ years I've been helping Southern California multi-location business customers choose telecom and technology solutions I've never had a customer call and say, "I need some cloud" or "Connect me to the cloud" or simply, "Cloud me, baby!"

When I have suggested to clients that their next technology solution can be provided to them from "the cloud" though some have asked, "What the heck are you talking about!"

Following is the simplest answer that I've ever come up with for the question "what's the cloud?"

"The cloud is actually a windowless building someplace that's built for the comfort of computers instead of people. One of the comfortable computers in the cloud is the computer that makes the 'call waiting' feature on your phone work. The cloud can accommodate almost any business computer that can help your business do almost anything."

 

What Parts of Your Business Benefit from a "Cloud Connection"?

Maybe some, maybe none, maybe all.  The decision really boils down to your your thoughts as a business owner around "convenience, cost and security".

Convenience - Can you conveniently access your business email account from any computer or

A Cheap Cloud Phone Solution for Small Professional Office Locations? Panasonic says "Yes" but we say "Maybe"

By Dan Baldwin

For over 10-years, hosted VoIP providers (initially Vonage & 8x8) have been telling small businesses that "the cloud" (their broadband DSL or cable Internet connection) can host their phone service so they can abandon their expensive local phone company lines and save money.

The idea was fine when it was first proclaimed, but the actual phone equipment that small offices needed to work "with the cloud" did not have all the features required like intercom, music on hold, cordless handsets, etc.

 

Panasonic's "Office Cloud Phones" to the Rescue?

For years Panasonic has been a phone equipment champion for small businesses. The phones are pretty inexpensive, fairly easy to install and easy to

Want to Keep Competitors From Talking to Your Best Customers? Talk to them more yourself via web conferencing!

By Dan Baldwin

When your best customers don't have any problems they don't want to talk to any salesperson.

When they do have a problem they want to talk to the very next sales person they think might be able to solve their problem.

And that's a BIG problem -- for you!

 

Web Conferencing Keeps Your Best Salespeople in Front of Your Best Customers

Your main and ongoing advantage over your Southern California competitors when it comes to your customer's limited attention span for "sales pitches" on new solutions or solution upgrades is that your best customers have already purchased from you and probably even like you.

While your "after sale margins" on one customer or another may not afford you the ability to have your best salespeople physically visit "sold customers" after the sale, you can achieve almost the same effect with a monthly "lunch and learn" webinar that you can invite all your best customers to dial-into via their computers or phones.

In the comfort of their own offices, your clients and prospects can see

Should You Backup Your Critical Business Data in "the Cloud"? Can you afford a cheap solution?

By Dan Baldwin

As a telecom consultant and "VAR" (value added reseller), I'm always on the lookout for new technology solutions I can offer my business customers.

By examining everything that comes along, I'm also in a position to consult with my customers when they get an offer from someone else that seems way too good to be true -- like what appears to be an almost unlimited amount of cloud backup storage for next to nothing.

 

Who Does the Backup & How It's Tested is More Important than Price

I recently ran across an interesting opportunity to resell "unlimited" cloud backup storage to my business customers for just $59 per month.  Now this seems like a pretty killer deal at face value.  For just $59 per month I could give all my telecom consulting business clients "free data backup".

Or could I?

Hardrives "in the cloud" must be pretty cheap. I know this because big companies like Google sell me an extra 20 Gigs of storage a year for my Google Apps email storage for just $5 per year.

I'm pretty happy having 6 years and 60,000 old emails stored with Google because Google's a pretty big company and I'm fairly confident they know how to build and manage a data server farm. (And on top of that, backing up one user's email is fairly simple.)

But what about backing up "all the data" for "all your users"?

The biggest expense in cloud backup is not the cost of the actual hardrive sitting in a cloud somewhere.  The biggest expense is making sure a human that knows what they're doing is backing up your critical business data properly (and not overwriting good backups with bad backups) so that when you need to restore your data, your backup data set is not corrupted. 

 

So Who Are You Going to Trust?

While it appears that I can do it for you for practically free as we learned above, I'm thinking that