Phones

Another decision that will require some thought and planning is whether to have a public phone number for your business. If you have one, people will call. They will call to place orders, ask questions about products, ask questions about shipping, ask questions about usage of products, ask questions about things you don't even sell, ask why they haven't received the order they placed ten minutes ago, complain about all the previous things I just mentioned, and try to sell you things. If you decide to have a phone, you will need to have a system in place to handle the phone calls throughout the day and night. People around the country, in different time zones, will call when it's convenient to them, even if it's not convenient to you. You will also need a system in place to call back the people who call when you can't answer the phone.

If you choose not to have a phone and only answer questions and requests by email, your life will be easier, but you will be losing potential customers. How many will depend on what you are selling. If your target customers are computer and internet savvy, it will be less of a problem if you don't have a phone. If you are selling products that will be of interest to people who are older, or who may not have a computer or internet access at home, then not having an easy means for them to order will cost you customers.

Having a phone number, particularly a toll free number, also adds credibility to your company. Many people view businesses without a phone as a fly by night operation and may hesitate to do business with you. Whereas a phone number gives them the security of having a means to contact you should they need to.

You also should decide whether or not you want a toll free phone number. The way toll free numbers work is that they are forwarded to whatever phone number you want them to be forwarded to, so you don't need a separate toll free phone line. Phone calls charged to the toll free number are reversed so that they are free to the customer and charged to the company receiving the call. There's usually a flat monthly fee for the use of the number, plus the minute charges per phone call.

Toll free numbers aren't as important as they were years ago before the days of unlimited nationwide calling plans, but toll free numbers still leave the impression of a company that's established, stable, and legitimate. Another benefit of a toll free number is that it allows you to be “local” everywhere while being national. With a toll free number, it's not obvious that you are located in a specific place. You can be across the country, or right next door. Even if your company moves location, you can keep the same number and just change the number it's forwarded to.

The main disadvantage of a toll free number is that since it's free to the customer, they will call you more, even if they aren't buying anything.

You can get a toll free number from any major phone carrier, or a toll free number broker. If you decide to get a toll number, make sure you own it. Some companies lease or rent the numbers, which can lead to problems should you no longer want to use their services. You can lose the number after advertising and promoting it and having it associated with your company. Toll free numbers are assigned on a first come first serve basis from the 800/SMS database, so if you are trying to get a vanity number (1-800-FLOWERS for example) it doesn't matter where you go to get the number. Brokers and Phone companies are not allowed to reserve toll free numbers for future use or sale.