The right time to get a business phone system in place

I’ve been doing Sales in Exotel for almost 2 years now and the one question that I encounter frequently is – When is a good time to get a business phone system in place for my business?

Having a business phone system that is functional, scalable and easy to use is very important right from the start. But it usually gets put on the back burner by most small business owners. They wait for their businesses to “scale.” Until then it is the trusty personal number that is put to use. But it’s quite hard for anyone to envisage when the phones will start ringing.

Business in India still relies on picking up the phone and speaking to someone a lot because the general perception is that the response time on other channels is abysmal. You can’t risk giving your customers your email id to interact with you because the perceived need to speak to someone is very high.

Ask yourself these 3 questions before you decide on the kind of business phone system you need

1. Do I want to sound professional to my customers and prospective customers?

Nitin Yadav, CEO of Gempundit says ‘You should have a number pretty much right from the beginning because it projects your business and increase the perception by large extent by using some of the Exotel features which are typically only available to big companies but for smaller companies it makes sense for eg. an IVR will be useful for a small travel business, they hardly get any calls but it (Exotel) is worth spending on and think of it just as branding, as a marketing expense, don’t look it as an operational expense.’

That pretty much sums it all up.

2. What is current call volume and how is it going to change over the next few months?

It is relatively easy to manage business calls on your personal numbers (you and your team) but as you scale, it is both difficult and important to keep track of the calls. Especially the ones you may be missing. Every call is a business opportunity, so do your maths and calculate your profit by not missing any calls.

3. Is this solution cost effective for me?

Think about how it impacts your pocket and if you’re getting enough out of the business phone system to justify it. This the biggest reason why cloud based systems are popular among small businesses.