Know Your Leads: A Look at How Call Stats Can Help Improve Your Marketing Performance

Up till now, we’ve been mostly yapping about virtual PBX systems in general terms. But perhaps it’s time to get a bit more specific and examine individual features up close. Let’s start with something exotic, like the ability to view call stats.

Not unlike Clark Kent, this little feature might appear unimpressive on first sight (what’s with that dorky outfit and those square glasses)—but just throw it into the ring and see what happens.

That's because some things show their value only in action.

So here’s a practical scenario that will flush out any hidden superpowers.

Your Marketing Efforts

Let’s say you own a small business. Following the age-old advice, you've split your precious marketing eggs between several baskets: two local papers (the ‘Morning Sun’ and the ‘Faraway Star’), your website, and lastly, in a fit of creativity (or perhaps desperation) you decided to put up an ad on your local Craigslist Classifieds. 'What the heck’—it’s free, right?

Now comes the waiting game...

Your Dilemma

So while we sit here waiting for the phone to start going off the hook, why not ponder a philosophical question: wouldn’t it be nice to know just how many leads each of those platform generated?

I mean, if you only have one business number (and included this same phone number in all four places, how will you tell where each caller got whiff of you and your business?

Sure, you could start surveying your prospective clients. But that double-edged nuisance is going to slide right through your time and their patience—not the best way to get off to a good start...

Anything else?

You could perhaps try checking how many people ‘clicked’ on the ‘Contact us’ link on your website—but that doesn’t necessarily mean they all proceeded to call you, and it sure isn’t going to help you glean any information about the other three...

Fair to say, this is as far as your little foray into statistics is likely to get.

And here’s how Synclio can help you take it a step further:

Phone Call Number Tracking with Goolgle Analytics

First, Synclio gives you the ability to port numbers. ‘Porting’ numbers means that when a number is called the call is instantaneously redirected to a different number. Ever changed providers and had your calls follow you? That’s exactly it!

(Just don’t ask us how it’s done—we’ll call it ‘magic’)

Then, Synclio also lets you select as many local and toll-free phone numbers as you need.

Now let’s connect the dots.

Suppose you’ll assign a different phone number to each ad you've placed and port all four numbers to your one business line... You’ll still be receiving and answering calls on your phone just as you normally would, but in the background—magic will be happening!

When the day is done and you’ve signed up all those new customers, you’ll now be able to simply kick back, pull up your laptop, and watch as Synclio’s think-o-matic-extraordinaire (powered by Google Analytics) reveals just how many calls were placed to each of the numbers you have ported.

The Bottom Line

So even if you’ve been paying a hefty fee to see your ads prominently featured in the Morning Sun and the Faraway Star, you may learn from this little experiment that the bulk of callers actually followed your electronic bread-crumbs-trail via the freebie Craigslist.

Going to reshuffle your marketing eggs now? You betcha!

This is just one of the ways viewing call stats can help improve your business strategy and marketing performance.

And it teaches us never to judge a man or a feature by their outfit—at least not before they've had a chance to take it off and kick some @#$!

09/19/11 Edited to adjust spelling and update information.

Labels: business, call, call stats, cloud computing, how to improve marketing performance, leads, marketing, porting, statistics, technology, virtual PBX, virtual phone

4 Ways a Virtual Phone System Can Improve Customer Experience in Your Business

A great product or service is sure to attract new customers—but do you have what it takes to keep them with you for the long haul?

With increased interest comes increased need for support. And guess what, if you can’t handle them, your new clients will soon move on to find someone who can—just like in a relationship.

Since you don’t want your business to end up like the cute kid who gets dumped in the end of the movie and spends the rest of his life building model airplanes in his parents’ basement, below are four simple ways a professional phone system will help make sure that those hard-earned clients remain with you through good and bad, sickness and health (etc, etc.)

1. Never miss another call.

When a customer calls support, nothing is more frustrating than that perpetual ringing tone ringing on, and on, and on... (See?) Perhaps because it reminds us of just how lonely we really are. Or perhaps we simply don’t like to feel our youth wasting away. Either way, we want to be answered—now.

With a virtual PBX, your customers get answered instantly, 24/7, and can easily follow a simple phone tree to reach the person they wish to speak to.

Sure, it may just be a friendly voicemail that will greet them at the end of the line—but hey, how much more connected will they feel hearing a human voice, even if only a recording? And besides, leaving a message for the right person feels so much more satisfying than just hanging up.

2. No more broken phone.

Perhaps the one thing more annoying than not getting through at all is getting through only to be bounced around from one line to the other, as if caught in some mega pinball machine. A virtual PBX takes human error out of the switchboard by letting you easily set your own phone tree and call rules, so that each call is automatically routed to the right person, every time. Simple. Quick. Reliable. If only human beings were this consistent.

What’s more, with our convenient ‘Find Me/Follow Me’ feature, you can take the call no matter where you are. And we mean anywhere

So if your car broke down and you got stranded alongside the highway, you can keep on offering support even as you’re helplessly waiting for the CAA truck to show up—good for your business AND for your morale!

Just make sure you don’t end up flipping with an “I’ve been waiting here for three f&@# hours!” at your client, then switching back to ask the CAA dude if he’d care to rate your service...

3. Never leave a customer hanging.

Another common scenario—and a major source of customer dissatisfaction—can be termed ‘the call-back that never comes’. It goes something like this: Johnny has a problem. Johnny calls ‘Support’. Rep tells Johnny that he’ll call him back in half an hour. Johnny sits waiting by the phone. An hour later, Johnny is still waiting by the phone. By the third hour Johnny picks up the phone and dials back, this time speaking to ‘Retention’.

Now, we may never know what made the rep neglect poor Johnny: perhaps he was relying on one of those knock-off sticky notes that just aren't sticky enough; perhaps he got caught up with another caller and asked one of his colleagues to follow up on his behalf--who regrettably was using that same wad of stickies...

Synclio helps make such mishaps a thing of the past by keeping all your client info in a single place, accessible by the entire team, and letting each department review their own call records. Johnny is happy. Rep is happy. And the girl at ‘Retention’ gets to finish her Sudoku—job satisfaction all around!

4. We’re all about the first impression!

Sure, we like to think of ourselves as highly evolved little monkeys: civilized, sophisticated, supremely un-superficial. But let’s face it—we’re still as moved by the primordial effect of appearances as a peacock looking to mate. And both he and we know that no birdie is getting lucky if it can’t make a first impression.

So this one’s a no-brainer. When a customer calls for the first time you want them to get a sense of dealing with a professional organization, not some outfit out of Jimmy’s basement. You might be running a perfect solo act—but with your own 1-800 number and a full set of extensions, who’ll ever know you from the big guys?

Go ahead, razzle-dazzle them!

Besides, nothing says ‘professional’ louder and clearer than an elegant phone system. Civilized, sophisticated, perfectly alluring to a species of highly evolved monkeys.

In many ways, running a business is like building a relationship. It’s not enough to lure a mate in. Getting lucky is a start—but without the ability to keep them satisfied for the long haul you’ll soon find yourself strapped for cash and heart-broken, looking back on a string of short-lived affairs.

The foundation of any strong relationship starts with proper communication.

Now let Synclio set you up!

Labels: business, call routing, call stats, cloud computing, cost saving, customer service, efficiency, IT, technology, virtual IVR, virtual PBX