The PBX, or Private Branch Exchange, is a business tool that allows companies to increase the efficiency of communications. In its’ classic application, an employees telephone becomes a powerful business tool. The PBX allows voicemail, conference calling, ring groups call queues and other features to make sales and customer service work better.
But what happens when your employees work in different locations, particularly in the “field” or internationally. For example, you have a real estate company, with multiple sales people, working in many locations. You know how important it is for the customer to reach the sales person. You could give out the telephone number of each sales person, and have the customer call directly. This has both positives and negatives. The positives are the direct connection with sales. The negatives are many; the customer may have to pay mobile phone calling costs (common in many countries), the sales person loses privacy (they give out their private number), you have limitations when the sales person is unavailable, and if your company is international, it is unlikely that a prospective buyer will incur those costs. Let’s assume for the moment, your company manages clients and real estate in multiple countries. Or sells artwork internationally, or provides technical support in multiple locations. Having geographically placed, local telephone numbers would substantially enhance the ability for your customers to reach your agents. An art gallery in Genève, with customers in New York, Tokyo and Vancouver, would benefit from local telephone numbers in each city. The customer never pays long distance to reach you. But, your sales agents may be in Genève, or Rome, or Cairo, or wherever. Having your sales agents, connected to your PBX, regardless of location, solves many problems reaching your distant agents. Let’s assume you could do so, and not have to pay long distance charges. Now, that would be great! The mobile PBX does just that. The telephones (mobile and landline) of each sales agent, or technician, or really anyone, would be connected globally, in a “virtual” PBX, and everyone saves long distance, airtime and mobile charges. The design is very efficient, simple and attractive to companies, employees and customers. The client in Tokyo calls a local number in Tokyo. The call is answered with your announcement, and the customer enters a three or four digit extension, and connects directly with sales, or technical support, or accounting. It doesn’t matter where that agent is located; the system finds the agent and connects the call, as long as the agent has their telephone turned on.
Let’s look at another example. Your real estate company has sales people in 3 countries. A customer calls, and you want to make sure they reach a sales person quickly. Rather than calling each person, to find an available agent, you use a ring group. This feature allows the system to find the first available agent, or goes through an ordered list, ringing the first person available. The customer presses “1” for sales, and the system finds a sales agent, quickly and regardless of location. Long distance charges are saved, the customer reaches sales quickly, and your company provides good service.
Now, what do you do with calls from different time zones? No one can be available 24 hours a day. By setting time conditions on your system, you can also program it to send calls automatically to agents in different time zones. That way, after hours, your caller doesn’t get sent to voicemail. Customers like to speak with people, and are less enthused about leaving voicemail.
The power of the PBX, particularly the mobile PBX, makes your business calling much more efficient, saves money and time. Your customers get better service, avoid paying long distance, and connect to the right person much faster. The enhanced services of the PBX really make sense in the global sales world.
In the next blog, I will look at virtual telephone numbers for enhancing personal security, as well as family communication. CallnFax.com is an expert in providing virtual telephone services, such as the mobile PBX. We are available to help you find the correct solution, and in a very cost effective way.
But what happens when your employees work in different locations, particularly in the “field” or internationally. For example, you have a real estate company, with multiple sales people, working in many locations. You know how important it is for the customer to reach the sales person. You could give out the telephone number of each sales person, and have the customer call directly. This has both positives and negatives. The positives are the direct connection with sales. The negatives are many; the customer may have to pay mobile phone calling costs (common in many countries), the sales person loses privacy (they give out their private number), you have limitations when the sales person is unavailable, and if your company is international, it is unlikely that a prospective buyer will incur those costs. Let’s assume for the moment, your company manages clients and real estate in multiple countries. Or sells artwork internationally, or provides technical support in multiple locations. Having geographically placed, local telephone numbers would substantially enhance the ability for your customers to reach your agents. An art gallery in Genève, with customers in New York, Tokyo and Vancouver, would benefit from local telephone numbers in each city. The customer never pays long distance to reach you. But, your sales agents may be in Genève, or Rome, or Cairo, or wherever. Having your sales agents, connected to your PBX, regardless of location, solves many problems reaching your distant agents. Let’s assume you could do so, and not have to pay long distance charges. Now, that would be great! The mobile PBX does just that. The telephones (mobile and landline) of each sales agent, or technician, or really anyone, would be connected globally, in a “virtual” PBX, and everyone saves long distance, airtime and mobile charges. The design is very efficient, simple and attractive to companies, employees and customers. The client in Tokyo calls a local number in Tokyo. The call is answered with your announcement, and the customer enters a three or four digit extension, and connects directly with sales, or technical support, or accounting. It doesn’t matter where that agent is located; the system finds the agent and connects the call, as long as the agent has their telephone turned on.
Let’s look at another example. Your real estate company has sales people in 3 countries. A customer calls, and you want to make sure they reach a sales person quickly. Rather than calling each person, to find an available agent, you use a ring group. This feature allows the system to find the first available agent, or goes through an ordered list, ringing the first person available. The customer presses “1” for sales, and the system finds a sales agent, quickly and regardless of location. Long distance charges are saved, the customer reaches sales quickly, and your company provides good service.
Now, what do you do with calls from different time zones? No one can be available 24 hours a day. By setting time conditions on your system, you can also program it to send calls automatically to agents in different time zones. That way, after hours, your caller doesn’t get sent to voicemail. Customers like to speak with people, and are less enthused about leaving voicemail.
The power of the PBX, particularly the mobile PBX, makes your business calling much more efficient, saves money and time. Your customers get better service, avoid paying long distance, and connect to the right person much faster. The enhanced services of the PBX really make sense in the global sales world.
In the next blog, I will look at virtual telephone numbers for enhancing personal security, as well as family communication. CallnFax.com is an expert in providing virtual telephone services, such as the mobile PBX. We are available to help you find the correct solution, and in a very cost effective way.
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