Importance of a Toll Free number!! For Hosting and other Online related Businesses!!!

How important is a toll free number to you and your business? It should be one of the top issues when starting up a company. It bascially cost pennies to the dollars to setup and maintaine. It will give you a professional feeling and look.

For example: This is very cost effective and makes your clients feel safe. Lets say for example you are hosting 50 Clients and your server has a down time of 1 hour split into four 15 minute intervals. One of them is at 1pm EST the other one is at 3am EST and the other two are pretty much the same time but two weeks later. Lets say 50% of your Clients are from Aussie land and half are from the States. That means that 25 would experience a 30 minute down time during business hours for the month while the others are not during business hours.

Lets say that half call during the down time that would be 25 calls @ 1-2minutes @ $1.50 for all the phone calls to tell them that you are looking into the issue. That is all that they phone calls should consit of. "Thank you for calling" "How may I assist you this evening" Client "Well it doesn't seem like our site is live" You "Sir/Mam, let me look at this real quick to see if I can get access" lets say that it is down "We will look into this ASAP and see what the deal is" "Is there anything else you need" Them "No thanks," You "Thank you for calling support and if you need anything else please Call us or submit a ticket via web site"

That is all you have to do to get a "Personal Touch" to your clients AT A 6 Cent Cost!!!!!!!!

Another thing is when people are searching your site they are for sure looking for a toll free number or a live chat button on your site. I can not express how many phone calls I have gotten for hosting and believe it or not Web Design just for my Toll Free number being on our contact page.

Also if you are going to get a toll free number use it for Business use and not personal use it can get costly that way. Its a business line use it as a business line. Short and sweet and to the point!!!!!!

That is it for now. Hope this helps a few of ya'll


Frank

So how do you even go about getting an 800 number?

What if while those aussies are awake, and your sleeping. And while they experience downtime, you can't even come to their aid. Then their is no point?

There are many providers out there these days. A few are TollFreelive.com is800.com do a search in google for Toll Free numbers or Virtual Office

Frank

Originally Posted by Hex So how do you even go about getting an 800 number?

That was just an example. Business that say they are 24/7 will have the number point to a support personal on the line waiting even if it is in Aussie land, America, China etc... You always have to be at their aid to bend over backwords for them. There are always points to adress and you brought up a valid point.

Originally Posted by knux What if while those aussies are awake, and your sleeping. And while they experience downtime, you can't even come to their aid. Then their is no point?

Article was a little unclear, if you're going to talk about the importance of Toll Free numbers then at least explain to us how to get one

I'm confuesed, do you personally man the line 24/7 or does someone else do it for you? If so, are they being paid or is this part of the toll fee package?

It seems to me like just another expense (especially for smaller hosts), what's wrong with the good old e-mail? I hate live chat software, trouble tickets but e-mail.....as long as the support staff act promptly, thats my favourite means of communication.

I wouldn't be as comftable phoning up a host as i would e-mailing.

Article was a little unclear, if you're going to talk about the importance of Toll Free numbers then at least explain to us how to get one

Easy to get a Toll Free number just type in google "Toll Free numbers" and I posted a couple before.

I'm confuesed, do you personally man the line 24/7 or does someone else do it for you? If so, are they being paid or is this part of the toll fee package?

I am just saying in general, it is a key factor for people who are wanting service to have a number where they can call. Usualy if you are going to offer 24/7 service you best have a Virtual Office so it can be forwarded somewhere at all times. Also there are a few companies out there that will offer this for you, I can't remember them now but they are out there. Usualy over in Asia...

It seems to me like just another expense (especially for smaller hosts), what's wrong with the good old e-mail? I hate live chat software, trouble tickets but e-mail.....as long as the support staff act promptly, thats my favourite means of communication.

Smaller hosts are acting like big compaines with Toll Free numbers, answering them professionaly etc... It doesn't matter if it is a One man show with 2000 accounts or 10 person busuiness with 2 accounts. Whats wrong with email? Well if email was as easy as a phone call I say no problem with it, BUT when you can easily pick up the phone and call a toll free number to ask a few simple questions such as "Has my order been processed" "Is there something wrong with the server" "Has my order been shipped out, cause I have not gotten any info on it" etc... It is a much smoother process and usualy takes shorter time. It is time to get personal with your business I would say.

I wouldn't be as comftable phoning up a host as i would e-mailing.

When you order products on line do you look for a toll free number from a host or from anything you order? I for sure do. If they don't have one they usualy don't get my business or referred business at that. It doesn't matter if you are a small company or a huge company, CS has been lacking for the past year or so and seems to get worse. That is all I am trying to say

Support Tickets are a little inconvenient - I never get around to checking mine even if I do make a Ticket. There should be a notification like on Forums but at least the ones I have seen don't have it.

E-Mail is quicker, most of the time, and easier. Phone Support... is expensive for the Host or you and its got to put prices up if its the Host?

Originally Posted by Lord Kalthorn Phone Support... is expensive for the Host or you and its got to put prices up if its the Host?

No not at all, thats part about business, if you are worred about a toll free number and the cost of it you should not be in business. 6 cents a minute is VERY CHEAP for support or anything related to phone support. It has not raised my prices ever. For our Golf Site you don't know how many phone callas my associate gets asking just basic questions about our affiliates with other businesses. It also opens up a lot of doors.

Thought about getting a number at some point. But Iam too lazy to answer the phone, and I am not allways home anyways.