Who would of thought that back in early 2000’s, back when almost any smart number was available for purchase – that they would turn into such a big integral part of business.
With the recent sale of the specialist 1300 number telco, Fonebox – it’s really shed the spotlight on the industry and the margins that some Telco’s are still charging for these products.
Telstra have bought back their pricing significantly over the past few years, and some of the dirt cheap telco’s have vanished – probably due to unpaid GST or other tax and have been shutdown by the ATO.
With the wave of regulation recently (as in past 4 years) bought in by the power’s that be – it seems this industry has really cemented itself as a core industry in Australia.
Thinking of getting a 1300 number?
Not sure on how it works, if its going to work for you? Get a Free Trial 1300 number from The Number Guyz today and give it a whirl!
We are very excited to offer our low cost 1300 numbers with a special limited time only free trial. Get onboard today.
What things should you look out for when taking on a free trial?
- Certainly wouldn’t be putting my credit card in anywhere, until I was satisfied
- Don’t give too much information, otherwise you just become another lead in the Telco CRM and will be hassled.
- Test the control panel – make sure it has the functionality you require. My minimums are:
- Online Signup
- Online Payment
- Realtime CDR records
- Prepaid Discounts
- Or the option of Invoice Payment
- or the option of Direct Debit Payment
- Give the company a call, and make sure they answer the phone
Get onboard with www.simple1300numbers.com.au today.
Excellent video explaining how a new 1300 number can help your business
What do you look for when choosing a supplier?
For me its simple, I want a good price and I want to know they aren’t going to go broke and leave me with no service. One of the premium and best 1300 number suppliers available in today’s market is Simple Telecom.
The online signup process and professional service is definitely the best, and their pricing is very competitive. There are so many features that come for free with the 1300 number, and the simple console is the best control panel I’ve ever seen and it gives you the ability to change your plan, update your details, request help with your service, view and pay invoices and manage the specifics of your service and any addons you might have.
Then there is the reporting,, very nice java-script graphs showing me exactly how many calls I’ve received and how much they have cost. Then I can drill down and look at which state the calls are coming from, and even further at each individual call and determine the caller ID information, duration and price. Talk about detailed reporting!
Have you ever thought about improving the customer service your offer your clients? Recently I listened to myself on a recording from a conversation with a customer from a 1300 number.
I immediately identified some areas I could improve, the pitch of my voice is probably the most important thing. In my own opinion, I sounded bored and very uninterested in the caller, so I have challenged myself to always be upbeat and use a higher pitch in my voice when answering calls. The next key I discovered was the language I was using. I was the expert, so it’s my new job to quickly identify the needs and desires of the caller, and then give them my expert opinion on what was the best solution for them. I always try and use language that reinforces my experience dealing with businesses similar to them and the results I have helped that business achieve. My services are always the best available on the market and I have full confidence in them, and that they are the best solution for the caller.
Well this is just a brief write up of some of the things I have identified for myself, imagine what doing this across the board for all your employees would help your bottom line.
The Call Recording addon for 1300 numbers is a really cheap way of providing your customer service representatives with easy feedback, follow the link if your after further details.
Occasionally I get calls from advertising companies looking to use 1300 services for AB marketing. Now I don’t come from a marketing background, so I had no idea what they were talking about. I decided that I would catch up through some good old-fashioned research.
Wikipedia states: In web development and marketing, A/B testing or split testing is an experimental approach to web design (especially user experience design), which aims to identify changes to web pages that increase or maximize an outcome of interest (e.g., click-through rate for a banner advertisement). As the name implies, two versions (A and B) are compared, which are identical except for one variation that might impact a user’s behavior. Version A might be the currently used version, while Version B is modified in some respect. For instance, on an e-commerce website the purchase funnel is typically a good candidate for A/B testing, as even marginal improvements in drop-off rates can represent a significant gain in sales. Significant improvements can be seen through testing elements like copy text, layouts, images and colours.
So – what does this mean and how could you apply it?
To start with, the concept of AB Marketing allows you to compare different means of advertising. The 1300 number with its reporting features will give you the ability to compare the inbound telephone enquiries easily.
Lets say you put a new different 1300 number:
- On your website contact page
- On a specific landing page your promoting a special offer on (tied to adwords)
- On your email footer
- On your business cards
- On your print mail out campaign
- On your Yellow Pages advertisement
Imagine the level of detail you would receive after 3 months of running the above?
You would be able to tell exactly how you are receiving the majority of your telephone calls, and combine it with sales stats – work out exactly how much each lead per advertising medium is costing you.
That is vital information. You could be spending $1000 per year on a listing somewhere that is giving you no new leads. It may highlight a particularly profitable advertising medium that is struggling for budget.
We love setting up these campaigns, and always pass on as big a discount as possible to help with the cost of multiple 1300 numbers. Any questions, please ask in the comments.
I was thinking about why customers choose my business for 1300 numbers over others businesses recently and I drew a few conclusions which I wanted to share.
Firstly, my business is small compared to the “Big Guys” ie. Telstra, Optus etc. I am constantly receiving feedback from clients about how easy and simple I am to deal with and get things done/fixed. Surely this cannot be too difficult? People don’t want to be just another number on a screen – they want you to remember them, they want to know that your important to them and their issues and needs are important.
I guess as your business grows it becomes harder to manage this, however I don’t think there is any excuse for not meeting this basic need from all Customers. My business is at the stage now where I don’t hardly any of my clients, I have never spoken to them – maybe I have received an email or two from them but that’s it. I still do NOT find this hard at all. When someone calls, I load up there customer profile, take a quick look at their products – or ask them directly: “Please tell me about your business and what you need from my services.”
Not once have I had someone refuse to talk about their business, they get excited and passionate and love the conversation. When was the last time that happened to you when you called a “Big” company? Never I bet. During the call, I take a few brief notes and store it in the system, set reminders for certain tasks if I need to follow them up or if they require certain information I will send it to them on the spot. This way, if they call again, I can quickly load up there profile and see my notes from last time and remember whats going on. Nowdays, I generally have to rely on other peoples notes or my own notes from years ago to get up to speed – so I guess having a consistent system in place is definitely the key in that regard.
Now I do have to give the big guys credit, the sheer volume of customers/enquiries they deal with means its not always going to be perfect but I would question some fundamentals of their business model. Why do you have to go through endless IVR Menu’s or Voice Recognition systems to then speak with someone who isn’t a direct specialist in dealing with your original enquiry?
I image a group of numbers, maybe 1 for mobile, 1 for internet, 1 for fixed lines and 1 for inbound products. Each number would have an IVR menu with a maximum of 2 levels deep. The first level establishes what type of enquiry you have eg. Sales, Support, Billing. These need to general enough that everyone can easily choose an option.
The second level may not be required or it may drill down the enquiry further, so for example Sales -> Straight to a Sales Rep. For Billing, you might have: Pay my bill, Billing Error, General enquiry. Then finally the IVR Menu drops the call down into the specific group that handle those calls. Hold times would be managed so that no one was waiting more than 2 minutes – if they do it set’s up an automatic call back service so they can continue their work.
Finally once the operator deals with that specific enquiry, if they require further help outside of that operators help, the operator connects them either into the Relevant IVR, or establishes the department through conversation and transfers that call to the relevant department. The operator definitely doesn’t try and help the caller if its not their area of expertise.
I think this could seriously work much better than the current systems I’ve dealt with, and I know as my company grows I will certainly be moving towards this style model. Would love to hear your thoughts on this, please post in the comments below.
Many people who are new to the business world, specifically to the Inbound telecommunications world ask me what to look for when choosing a 1300 number for their business.
There are a few key points I always suggest, lets go through them now.
- Work out your budget. If you have no budget – your restricted to selecting a standard number from the public list. This list has 2000+ numbers on it and you probably won’t find any numbers making words. You will find some good numbers that rhyme, or have repeating numbers or sequences of numbers.
- Smartnumber or not? Smartnumbers is a branch of the ACMA. It is their job to sell the premium 1300, 13 and 1800 services to the public. They do this through auctions, and the reserve starts around $250. This questions really ties back to Question 1 – do you have a budget. If you have a budget and time to wait for the auction to finish (3-4 weeks) then go for it. They look impressive and definitely have some hype attached to them in the market place.
- Are some suppliers better than others? Of course! Each different supplier has their selling points, but its likely they all use one of the main core networks. I’m aware of Telstra, Optus, AAPT, Primus and GoTalk. Some networks are based on VOIP, some aren’t. These are questions you should direct at your supplier. My company focuses on high quality services, simple setup and explanations and personal service – these are the main selling points.
- Why should I go 1300 over 1800? Well 1800 services are “generally” associated with community services and feedback services. Also 1800 numbers are outside of most mobile cap plans and actually cost alot more to the caller than a 1300 service does and 1300 numbers generally work out to be slightly cheaper than 1800 numbers if your making use of the free time options for local callers to fixed line answer points. There is a unsaid standard in the Australian marketplace that automatically associates 1300 numbers with business.
- Hidden terms and conditions. Unfortunately, there are some suppliers out there that will charge you for everything they possibly can. Have a good read through the terms and conditions before you signup. Being charged for invoices, charged for answer point changes or charged extra for normal included extra facilities on 1300 or 1800 numbers are the things to look out for. It is quite normal for suppliers to have a direct debit requirement and penalties for late payment and direct debit dishonours as this is a general standard across Australian business.
Well I hope that has given you some food for thought. Please post any comments below – I would love to hear from you.
Looks like there hasn’t been much movement on this yet.. Maybe one day!
I was just reading an article talking about how they are planning to petition to make Mobile phone carriers change the rules surrounding the call charges for the so called ‘free call’ 1800 services in Australia.
I have always wondered why it has taken them so long to do this – especially considering its supposedly called a ‘free call’. Ha.
Anyway, the article is available here. I will be keeping a keen eye on this – I imagine if it goes forward it will suddenly make 1800 services more expensive to my telecommunications company on a wholesale level, or it could change the whole market. See we are currently at around 90% 1300 number usage (in my customer base anyway).
The market views 1800 numbers as your community or feedback services – not the normal perception an Australian business wants.
original article: david thomas – are 1800 numbers going…
View original post 5 more words
Lets go on to discuss the other paid add-ons which will add a new level of flexibility to your Inbound Number.
- Live Answering Services – This would be the most common addon for 1300 numbers. It is usually a dedicated line where the operator will answer the call based on a custom script pre-supplied to them. Generally a message will be taken down, including Name and Number and then Emailed or sent via SMS through to the business. Its a very good method of making sure your customers feel valued and don’t have to talk to machines. With the SMS facility you can even provide after hours support facilities.
- Fax To Email Services – With many businesses still needing the ability to receive faxes, when combined with a 1300 Pair (matching or sequential numbers) it looks very professional and is a really cheap solution to the physical fax machine with dedicated Phone Line.
- Postcode Prompter or Dialler – As mentioned in the Exchange based routing, mobile phones don’t have this facility and often for consistency of brand, many large franchise or enterprise businesses will use a Postcode Dialler to make sure all calls that enter the 1300 number are prompted for their postcode (or for the postcode of the store they wish to speak with). This ensures smooth delivery of calls in a cost effective manner. Callers enter their postcode via the telephone keypad, and the system automatically routes the call through to the relevant answer point for that postcode.
- IVR Menu – or Interactive Voice Response, is a smaller version of the postcode prompter. It only accepts 1 digit, so your allowed a maximum of 10 inputs (0-9). This is a great way for many businesses to route callers through to specific departments, or if you have a small number of offices you can connect callers directly through to the suburb.
- Voice TO Email – As the name suggests, this is a simple answering service facility, which will prompt the caller with a pre-recorded message, and then record their details and Email it through as a MP3.
- Line Hunt or Caller ID service – This is a newer product that many people are adopting, its pretty simple in structure and function. Basically all calls that come through on the 1300 are answered by a system, and then forwarded through to the answer point. This means all calls for that 1300 number come from a specific phone number, so you know how to answer the call. This is great if you use your personal mobile and want to be able to keep business and personal separate. It has many of the Call Overflow and Time based features, as well as the option to have RVA’s (Recorded Voice Announcements) or even Music on Hold while the service is ringing through to the answer points.
Well that’s enough information for now. In the next article I’ll go through some of the common setups small businesses throughout Australia are using so maybe you can get some ideas.
1300 Numbers Telecommunications | The best 1300 Number suppliers in Australia 