Using a mobile as your main contact number

[Jezclayton]

In my business I am usually out of the office and hence unable to personally attend to calls received on a land line. Whilst I have a mobile specifically for business use, I considered marketing this as my main contact number would deter prospective customers who were concerned about the call cost.

The initial solution was to advertise the land line and divert calls from this to my mobile. This however proved expensive since I was incurring the cost of incoming calls, which even with voiphone are in the order of 12p a minute.

With the advent of 08** numbers and increasing usage of mobiles by the public at large, is it really still bad business practice to advertise a mobile as your main contact number?

 

[cjd]

It's acceptable if you're a plumber, small builder, etc etc - people don't expect solo or very small businesses that don't work in fixed locations to have fixed line telephones.

If you're running a ecommerce website tho' it's the kiss of death.

 

[Gillie]

If you need to be there to answer all the queries and chat, the divert to mobile or something very similar is the way! If you are not needed all the time a good answer machine with perhaps a message saying you are out and call the mobile and give it there, otherwise don't use mobile for main contact number, gives the impression of being temporary and not solid!

 

[Carboy]

I have the same problem , I have my land line permenanently diverted to my mobile costs a fortune but i always think that mobile only contacts in certain sectors are a no no .

 

[Jezclayton]

It's acceptable if you're a plumber, small builder, etc etc - people don't expect solo or very small businesses that don't work in fixed locations to have fixed line telephones.

If you're running a ecommerce website tho' it's the kiss of death.

There is a valid point raised here. If I was phoning a plumber, I would probably want an immediate answer i.e. "can you stop the water flooding through my ceiling now?" and would prefer a mobile that gave me some change of an immediate response.

If I was buying a used car, I would be cautious if a mobile number was offered as I want to know where the vendor is when the bu**er won't start.

My business is central heating and, with the exception of existing clients, I don't generally offer an emergency service. Since I don't want to be inundated with emergency calls and my existing clients already have the mobile, I guess the land line/answer phone route is best. The other advantage of the land line, is it filters out the cold callers who aren't interested in leaving a message.

I have always been reluctant to give a mobile number on the answer phone, since it is then available for the cold callers....but would they listen that far?

 

[JoyDivision]

I use both but the landline is purely an answer phone service now since I am rarely there. I use my mobile as my main contact. I don't have any problem with cold callers but then I am registered with the TPS.

The few that do I get through result in me saying "I shall be contacting Greater Manchester Police about this" - the usual advert scam involved so called police authorities magazines.

 

[DreamLifestyle]

I would have a non geographic number and direct it to my mobile.

 

[SenditOver]

I have the same problem , I have my land line permenanently diverted to my mobile costs a fortune but i always think that mobile only contacts in certain sectors are a no no .

+1 here.

not had first bill through yet tho !

 

[Rapid Dave]

I have a landline with an answering machine giving the mobile number. Both numbers appear side by side in the adverts, etc. - I don't think people mind your 'mainly used' number being a mobile, as long as they can see the existance of a landline as well. I tried the 'divert to mobile' route, but the costs were high, as already mentioned. Also, you get all the cold callers - and YOU'RE paying to listen to their waffle! The answering machine filters most of them out - some do ring the mobile, but not many.

 

[Dizzydiza]

My business number is my mobile number. So far it doesnt seem to be a problem for my customers. If I am not able to answer their call eg im driving, they are quite happy to leave me a message as i advertise that, as a way to contact me and sometimes appointments are arranged entirely by text messaging.

 

[cmcp]

I'm just getting started with some small ecommerce clients at the moment.

Putting myself in their shoes I'd be put off seeing a mobile number as the main point of contact. The connotations are that of the small vanman mentioned earlier.

They do however like when I offer my number as a personal point of contact, or offer the mobile of one of my developers in case of emergency. I maybe get away with this because of the one on one nature of the contracts.

I wouldn't trust any company trading online with only a mobile number as contact. I'd expect to see head office addresses hence someone at head office to take the call.

I've never used them myself, but can't you get one of these 08 numbers that's suppose to generate money for you? The customer would pay the national rate and it would go towards your forwarding costs?

Not too sure how chuffed I'd be about that either - but I'd certainly trust it more than a mobile.

 

[Cybamart]

There are companies who take you calls on your behalf but you would, I expcect, have to have a lot of calls to make this cost effective. I believe the best thing to do would be to have an 0845 or 0870 number where you get paid when someone calls you as your main number, then have an answering machine saying you can not answer the phone personally at present but can be called on your mobile, alternatively they can leave you a message and you will get back to them. Sales callers probably won't call your mobile in this circumstance.

I would not just advertise a business number as a mobile, it is offputting tomany potential clients, so I would go for the 0854 or 0870 theory.

 

[Ashley_Price]

There are companies who take you calls on your behalf but you would, I expcect, have to have a lot of calls to make this cost effective.

Yes, we do!

It doesn't have to be that expensive, you can have a "pay per call" + line rental option.

I have a friend in a similar business as me (see Secretary Outsource) and she uses an 0845 number which she can divert between any line she wants. However, you have to check the package you are getting. Don't be fooled by the "0845 number for £20" or similar, they will charge you for diverting the 0845 between different numbers. Rachel pays £200 a year and she only has to pay the call costs (which I think are about 4p per minute).

...0870 number where you get paid when someone calls you as your main number, then have an answering machine saying you can not answer the phone personally at present but can be called on your mobile, alternatively they can leave you a message and you will get back to them.

As many on here know I did a survey and found that 80% of people would phone another business if they got an answering machine during business hours. However, I wonder how much that percentage would go up by if the caller knew they were paying extra (as you do with an 0870) just to leave a message.

An 0870 number would only work if you've definitely got someone answering the phone.

 

[cjd]

She's paying too much

£1.99 pm for the number plus 1p per minute landlines, 12p mobiles.

 

[Ashley_Price]

She's paying too much

£1.99 pm for the number plus 1p per minute landlines, 12p mobiles.

Is there a charge if she wants to divert calls from the 0845 number to her mobile when she is out and then back to her landline when she's home?

 

[cjd]

Is there a charge if she wants to divert calls from the 0845 number to her mobile when she is out and then back to her landline when she's home?

No - change it any time to any number as often as she likes.

 

[Ashley_Price]

Could she keep her current 0845 number? (for all sorts of reasons, Rachel cannot change her website until September.)

 

[cjd]

If it's a BT number yes, otherwise we'd need to check whether it's with a 'friendly' telco. If you'd like me to check PM it to me.

If she is going to change the number, I would recommend her getting an 01/02 geographic number rather than 0845; 0845 is assumed to be the same price as 0870 - people don't like them.

If she's going to use an 08 number the best one would be 0844 - that way she'll get the call forward for free too (to lanlines). (But the 08xx problem still applies)

 

[Ashley_Price]

You can see it on the "get in touch" page of her website.

 

[cjd]

It's owned by Admiral Telecom - we have no porting agreement with them so she's stuck :-(

She'll done the right thing and explained that 0845 is a local call rate tho' which should stop people worrying about calling it.

btw, there is no longer a 'local call rate'. There is only a UK rate now. However, calls to 0845 only cost 2p pm whereas BT's UK rate is 4p, so it is still cheaper - pity nobody knows any of that!

(0845 are still expensive when called from a mobile tho')

 

[freelancer]

It's owned by Admiral Telecom - we have no porting agreement with them so she's stuck :-(

She'll done the right thing and explained that 0845 is a local call rate tho' which should stop people worrying about calling it.

btw, there is no longer a 'local call rate'. There is only a UK rate now. However, calls to 0845 only cost 2p pm whereas BT's UK rate is 4p, so it is still cheaper - pity nobody knows any of that!

(0845 are still expensive when called from a mobile tho')

Hi Voipfone, do you do freephone numbers that I can redirect to a mobile number?

If so could you PM me? I am after something like a 0800 number

Thanks,

Ben

 

[cjd]

0800 costs £4.99 pm and have an inbound call charge of 2.55p per minute. You can divert them to any other number as you like from your control panel - the divert to a mobile costs 12p per minute.

https://www.voipfone.co.uk/PB_Call_Divert.php

 

[bci]

<<<<<<<<
0800 costs £4.99 pm and have an inbound call charge of 2.55p per minute. You can divert them to any other number as you like from your control panel
<<<<<<<<
BT charge us twice that - and no Control Panel.

 

[cjd]

BT charge us twice that - and no Control Panel.

You sound surprised ;-)

 

[CKG]

I'm a heating engineer too.

What I do is advertise with a geographic telephone number from a voip set up and divert the voip to a call answering service. I only do boiler and heating installs - no call outs or plumbing work.

The call answering people then send an sms to my mobile with all the customers details captured.

It works a treat and I never loose anyones details anymore which was a bit of a problem before as you probably know people have the habit of ringing you when your hanging off a chimney 10 meters up in the air in the rain....and voicemails coming through when your driving just makes my piss boil!

And once i've spoken to the person I tell them to ring me on my mobile if they need to speak with me.

Though I had one punter that rang me so often chasing a spare part for his boiler that he totted up a £30 bill for me with the call answerers - Which is the downside to it. It does add expense that you could argue isn't really needed. Though I could say it has got me alot more work due to being easier to reach and having written call records makes record keeping a doddle.

I think it's ace though.

 

[bci]

<<<<<
You sound surprised ;-)
<<<<<
just thought I'll give you a plug!

 

[1-4-me]

if you use a skype number you can divert to a mobile and the cost of this comes off your skpe credit

 

[Liam1981]

I recently purchased an 0800 number from The Utility Warehouse that diverts to my mobile. I had been using my mobile as my main contact number but thought that it was time I had something a little more professional looking. I've not put the number on any literature yet but it's up on my website and I have to say the phone has been ringing a lot more!