There’s an ever-increasing trend, especially with small and solo business operators, to only promote a mobile phone number on stationery and marketing pieces.
There are several reasons why you might do that; most are to suit you not your client. As a client, here’s what I see when all you give me is a mobile phone number…
An amateur.
Someone with no support mechanism behind you. In my opinion, it makes you look desperate to get my business.
It also makes me think that you haven’t considered that it costs me more to ring you than someone else. So you’d better have a really good reason for me to call you..
OK, so you have a home-based business and you want to keep the business calls off your home phone line.
So get a second landline.
By all means, publish your mobile number so that if I need you in a hurry, I can reach you on it if your service is one where immediate contact is necessary. You can always divert your landline to a mobile of course. Alternatively, use either a voicemail service or divert to a live answering service.
Why?
If we’re discussing business together and your mobile rings during our meeting, or while you’re performing your service, that’s rude and it downgrades you in my eyes. When you’re with me, your phone stays off, especially if I’m paying for your time or you’re trying to do a deal with me.
The customer / client you’re with right now is the most important person on your priority scale so take other callers to a voicemail, please.
While we’re on the subject of voicemail, whatever you do, don’t make these two major mistakes…
1. Have your domestic voicemail answer your business phone. I don’t want to hear “You’ve dialled the Robertson family. If you want to leave a message for Tony, Sue, Christine, Jackie or Robert, please do so after the tone. If you want Mike, he’s moved out and his new number is 0400 111111. OK, now here’s the tone.”
2. Have your phone answer with a pre-recorded message provided by your carrier. ”The person you’re trying to reach is busy and your number will be recorded if you press # now. If you wish to leave a different number, press * and record your new number from your keypad followed by the # key.
Getting back to using a mobile as your business number…
Mobile’s aren’t trackable and all too often, shonky operators hide behind them. On TV just this week was a story about an unethical operator scamming people on the web with fake holiday home bookings. He only had a mobile number on his site and the bank account wasn’t even his; it was one of his “employees” accounts. Yes, they interviewed her and yes, he had emptied it.
The regulative authority the TV program spoke to said this about any website promoting only a mobile number, “Don’t walk away; run - and certainly don’t trust them with your money.”
At a recent business opportunity / franchise exhibition, I interviewed several attendees while on a client’s site and asked what they were, and weren’t interested in; and how they made judgements. All said they immediately discounted any business without a landline.
All this adds up to an insurmountable weight of evidence; landlines provide credibility and enhance trust. Mobiles don’t.
Do everyone a favour; make yourself look professional, get a landline, or a second landline and get a real voicemail. Divert your calls to voicemail or your mobile when you’re out. Check your voicemail from your mobile after each call and return the important calls.
Here’s another option: hire someone really professional to answer your phone and SMS the messages to you so you can call them back.
Check out OfficeHQ You should hear the way they answer the phone; believe me, as someone who does phone skills training, these guys are as good as it gets… You can even test them out for 7 days for free and you have everything to gain by doing so. Tell them I sent you!
I agree 100% with your thoughts on mobiles and the poor impression that type of (negative) marketing leaves with a potential client or when an interruption occurs during a business meeting.
I can think of several people who need to heed to this message…
I wonder if they’re the same people I’m thinking of, David?
James, thanks for all the great tips.
Here’s what I do since I’m a one person operation.
I direct all calls to my business line and when I leave the office, I forward to a mobile from my phone.
That way the client calls the business number and I can go out and do business and still be available.
I appreciate your comments, but I know of at least two instances where they simply do not work.
One is the situation I was in a few years ago. I spent almost two years commuting among three cities in Texas. I was living out of motels, never in any one city for more that five or six weeks. I had an online voice mail service, but my customers didn’t like it … they preferred the cell.
The other is the situation a friend of mine is in right now. He is a road warrior, running his site from a laptop as he travels. His site is not remunerative, so voice mail service other than that included with his cell plan is not an option. But he still is available, as was I, when calls are made, and he still resolves such issues as can be resolved over the phone.
As stated, I appreciate your comments, and, in large, agree with them … but they don’t leave much, if any, room for anything else. And I dislike blanket indictments.
Make a good day …
… barn
Barney,
I guess you could have hired a PA to assist in the first situation, and in the second, if it’s not remunerative, why is he doing it?
I’m talking about businesses here, not jobs; hope you understand my distinction.
Thanks for the commentary,
James.
Hello James,
I totally agree! I encourage my girls to use a landline for all of the listed reasons too.
I personally get annoyed if I have to ring a mobile as it is costly.
To become good business people, we must always remember what it is like to be a customer.
Helen,
I agree with your last sentence.
All too often, business owners and salespeople forget that they, too, are someone else’s customer!
James,
Personally, I prefer a mobile number.
With a fixed line, there is a strong possibility you will be punching buttons or talking (yelling) to a computer. Then you will be put on hold to listen to advertisements for the company and recordings telling you how important your call is.
The other alternative is an answering machine that tells you “Leave a message and we’ll get back to you”. So you obediently leave your message and never hear from them.
No thanks. I’ll spend a few cents and call a mobile anytime.
I do agree that most people need to find the on/off switch on their phones. But why single out mobiles? I’ve sat in offices where the phone on the desk was answered every time it rang. And often without even an apology.
Richard
Isn’t this discussion thread interesting? The keys that everyone have missed are these:
1. I’m talking about how your prospects and the regulators see you, not how you see yourself.
2. I also hate push-button phone menus and voice recognition systems. “Enter your account number then press #. Now enter your secuirty code and press #.” Then a voice comes on and asks, “What is your account number?” You say, “I’ve just entered it” and they say, “Ah, but the system is down…”
Or when the menu options don’t give you what you want so you either have to go throught them again and chose the nearest option or just wait for an operator.
3. I’m talking about businesses here, not individual salespeople. However, if you’re a salesperson, your Company should be answering your calls and either putting them through to you or taking messages and maybe sending them to you via SMS.
Back to mobile and other phone protocols again…
1. It costs me more to ring your mobile than your landline.
I don’t know where you might be; even if you’re within reach.
You may not have a voicemail, just a system that records my number so I can’t tell you who or why I called or when you can get me.
2. If you’re a busy person and you spend most of your time with clients, your mobile should be switched off. Please don’t let it ring while you’re with me…
3. I have no idea where you are; you may not want to, or be able to service my local area so my call is wasted.
3. You may just be a real shonk.
4. Yes, there is always a risk that a landline call may not be returned and that’s no different to a call to a mobile that isn’t answered.
Communication is the response you get. If I leave a message and you don’t return my call, what should I think of you? Efficient businesses return people’s calls.
The bottom line is this: your prospect is the one who decides if they like your marketing. If they don’t like calling mobiles, they won’t and you will never know what you missed. Many, many people aren’t, and if you want to increase the number of leads and sales opportunities you get, think about having a landline.
I agree, you got to have a landline and you have to have a live call answer. I sometimes come across clients who dont believe its worth the investment… and I guess its a vicious circle as they dont get rewarded with the extra business it brings.
I am using Skype for all my calls. I have also bought two services from Skype that I find very usefull for a small professional services company:
1. A landline number for ca 10 Eur for 3 months. All calls to this number I receive on Skype and it does have an answer service.
2. Free calling to landlines worldwide for 10 Eur per month - it makes a lot of sense for me as I do a lot of international calls.
This way, my landline is where my laptop is. I have a mobile 3G connection modem for when I am on the road, and the reception is OK in most areas.
I find the call quality of Skype much better than most mobile networks, and sometimes better than the fixed line networks.
It is just pity that Skype reception on my mobile phone is extremely poor, I thing due to delibarate sabotage by the mobile company.
The only service that I have not sorted out is fax, and in New Zealand it is hardly used by business anymore - most people are geared to scan and e-mail anyway.