Sales is all about communication – so condemning teams to an outdated communication system is a huge hindrance to client relations and the lead nurture process. Instead of missing leads, frustrating customers and losing sales, here’s how the right office phone system can give sales teams the resources they need to beat out competition.
- A Flexible Business Phone System Reduces Missed Opportunities
Landline phone systems essentially tie employees to their physical location; if a salesperson is away from their desk when a lead calls, it rolls to voicemail – and the chances of them leaving a message is about 20 percent.
Say a salesperson lucks out and receives a voicemail from a prospect call they missed. How long will it take them to listen to and address it once they return to their desk?
The numbers tell us that the better question is whether they’ll respond at all. According to recent data, about 95 percent of voicemails never receive a response.
With a cloud PBX, sales teams worry far less about missed calls because, well… they don’t miss calls. First, VoIP PBXs are easy to configure: employees can forward calls to coworkers when out of the office, traveling or in a meeting, and just as easily start receiving calls again when ready. Further, managers can program incoming calls to automatically ring the first available salesperson and escalate to other departments when sales is unavailable.
In addition, if employees want to receive calls while away from their desks, VoIP apps empower them to do so. Many are compatible with smartphones, older cell models, laptops and desktops so salespeople can essentially take their work number with them wherever they go.
Despite modern technology’s help, however, let’s face it: missed calls may still happen occasionally. VoIP call tracking and reporting allows employees to receive email or text notifications when they miss a call, improving their responsiveness without relying on voicemail.
For those voice messages that do come through, VoIP’s voicemail-to-email technology can transcribe them and send them to employees’ email inboxes. And the average email response time? A little under two hours.
For sales teams, this means fewer missed calls and, consequently, fewer lost opportunities.
- Business VoIP Is Customer-Friendly
VoIP apps do more than assist sales teams with the lead nurture process. The latest apps now enable text and multi-media messaging, allowing clients a variety of communication channels. Businesses with a large millennial and Generation Z client base particularly benefit from texting features, as 75 percent of these generations would rather text than call.
Additionally, multi-media messages open the door to more descriptive communication that bolsters sales tactics in a customer-friendly way.
Over half the population prefers to process information visually; VoIP’s multi-media messaging helps salespeople leverage visual aids to appeal to a broader audience while improving sales efforts. Looking to sell an existing client on an additional car repair? Send them a photo of the problematic part. Got a great graph of your product’s ROI? Shoot it over via text. Clear and concrete evidence like a photo or graph helps increase customer trust and buy-in, building an overall stronger business-client relationship.
On another note, virtual PBXs can integrate with companies’ CRMs, consolidating customer or prospect information, call histories and employee notes. This way, salespeople can access such information as soon as they connect with a client or prospect by phone (there’s even a click-to-call function within the CRM). This helps personalize employee-client interactions, eliminating repetitive introductory questions (e.g., “do you have an account with us?”). CRM-integration also helps reduce the sense of starting over when clients speak with a new or unfamiliar rep.
Finally, VoIP offers a welcome alternative to putting customers on hold. Instead of walking around with the phone to their ear while they wait, VoIP callers can elect to receive a callback when the next available agent is ready. Companies can even enable customers to schedule callbacks online for their convenience.
- VoIP Drives Collaboration
From its flexibility to its remote reach and data centralization, VoIP heightens team communication and collaboration.
First, VoIP’s innate mobility enables remote work without hindering team communication.
Additionally, VoIP’s flexibility and reliance on the internet rather than a landline infrastructure makes it more scalable to changing teams’ needs; employee on-boarding and off-boarding is as easy as plugging in a new phone. Sales teams can grow and evolve as necessary, cultivating a functional and cooperative team environment.
Employees can also easily move around and swap desks as needed with VoIP, empowering teams and employees to manipulate their space however they need.
- Reporting and Quality Assurance Improve Sales Performance
Performance reporting is key to a successful sales team. Fortunately, VoIP offers more expansive analytics on call times, missed call rates and other KPIs that inform both individual and team sales performance.
To monitor performance, managers can program user-friendly dashboards to display only the most relevant stats to their operation. Additionally, VoIP can track and record calls for quality assurance and sales training.
Pro tip: When working with new or struggling sales team members, try listening to one of their call recordings with them. Help the employee to identify which elements they nailed (don’t forget this step – recognition helps drive hard work) and what they could have done differently.
Additionally, managers can use dedicated VoIP-based phone numbers in their advertising to track incoming leads, helping them pinpoint where to invest their future marketing spend.
Improve Client Retention and Boost Sales with a Cloud PBX
Hosted VoIP solutions are designed to match companies’ changing needs, and their advanced features empower communication, collaboration and a stellar customer experience. The best part? Internet-based VoIP is actually cheaper than most landline options – that’s why so many companies are ditching their old phone solutions for more modern office phone systems.
To discover some other VoIP features that empower sales teams, download our infographic on the top 10 benefits of 4Voice’s business VoIP service.
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