Sales

One aspect that every business needs to offer is being reachable to its clientele. This means giving your customers many simple ways to get in touch with you. And one such way is by adding a click-to-call button into your email signature.

Why Include a Click-to-Call Button in the Email Signature?

What is a click-to-call button and how can it be useful? A click-to-call or call now button is a widget or button that is linked to an individual or business’ phone number. As such, when a person clicks on this button, they initiate a phone call. By clicking or tapping the button, they place a call to that individual or business.

At this point, most businesses will have a click-to-call button on their website which can be accessed by web and mobile visitors. There are different types of call buttons. You can include a call page on your website that lets users type in their contact information to receive a callback. Or, you can include call buttons that, when clicked, place a call to your business immediately. For instance, when interested prospects search for your company’s website through their phone, they will notice a phone number along with a “call” icon near it. Upon tapping or clicking this, they will be directed to their phone’s keypad to make the call.

While your business phone number is available on your website and social media links, it is crucial to give interested and returning customers more quick channels to communicate with your business. And including a click-to-call button within your email signature is one way to accomplish this.

Adding a Call Button in a Gmail, Outlook, of Office 365 Email Signature

So, how do you add a click-to-call or call button into your email signature? The below steps work for Gmail, Outlook, and Office 365 signatures but can also be used with Yahoo and Hotmail signatures. To include a click-to-call button, you need to:

1. Create an email signature that includes your business phone number. For example,
   Jane Doe
   Product Manager
   XYZ Tudor Ln, M 339284
   P: +1-345-454-4545
2. Next, select the text of your phone number and click the “link” 🔗 icon. This is to add a link to the text of your phone number.
3. In the dialog box, enter “tel:yourphonenumber.” For instance, following the above example, you will add “tel:+1-345-454-4545” in the link dialog box. Remember to include your country dialing code at the beginning of your number (+1 is the US dialing code).
4. Then, click “Ok” and save your changes.
5. Test the click-to-call button in your email signature to ensure it works accurately. You can do this by sending yourself an email and clicking the phone number to place a call. Or, by sending an email to a fellow employee and having them click the number to place a call.

Take the Right Steps to Reach More Customers

Whether it is adding click-to-call buttons on your website, social media platforms, and email signatures or using an international toll free number to make it free for local customers to call your business, you need to take the right steps to make your teams more reachable to potential customers. To learn more about improving customer service and finding the right tools, speak with our experts today!

To successfully sell and promote any product or service, you need a strong sales team. A good sales team will highlight the strengths of the product and the company. They will maintain professionalism and credibility and good customer relations. Sales teams work in communication with each other and with customers. It is, therefore, essential to have a local sales network that is easily reachable and dependable.

Building A Local Sales Network

To build a strong local sales network, you need to hire resourceful talent and train them in the best ways to target potential customers. Once your sales team is ready, you can focus efforts on promoting the product in the sales circuit.

Ready, Set, Network

The first step to start a sales network is to begin a search for connections and talents. Use LinkedIn or other career sites to scout and build connections with people in your field and who would be a good addition to your team. Use these platforms to search for and connect with potential customers. Generate connections and start conversations about your product and brand.

Consider Forming A Virtual Sales Team

With many employees switching to a work-from-home lifestyle, you may want to consider a virtual office. This does not only work for your employees but also gives you a chance to move outside the bounds of a specific location. You can look to expand your business to other countries and hire remote employees there to help customers locally. This way you can bring international clientele to your company.

Develop A Full-Proof Hiring Process

After scouting and researching, you may have a strong pool of salespeople to pick from. And so, you want to pay attention to the hiring process or recruitment process and what skills or factors matter to you the most. For instance, do you want someone who comes with years of experience? Or, do you want someone fresh who can be trained and coached for your business’ specific needs? Have them do a “Sell me a …” test to see the practical application of their talents. Also, ask for recommendations and reach out to them to develop a better picture of your candidate.

Besides sales skills, you want to look for good personal skills in your local sales network. Working in a team requires good team management and communication skills, and your ideal candidate should have them. This is even more necessary for a remote team as a lot of your communication will happen through emails and video calls.

Train, Train, and Train Again

Because your company will differ from other companies in one way or the other, training at the beginning is very important. Even if your hired talent has years of experience, ensure they go through training that highlights the tasks they will experience at your enterprise. Besides the initial training, perform analysis and conduct ongoing training to refresh important goals and skills. Create videos, webinars, buy educational books, do trivia nights: whatever you need to keep them up to date.

Other Tools and Resources

Consider communication and project management tools to make the organization and completion of work easy and clear. You can use Google Drive, Dropbox, or Microsoft Office to share and maintain files. Or, subscribe to a project management system like Teamwork or Slack to have all work communication, project status, etc. in one place. With these systems, employers can keep track of employees’ work and progress. Additionally, teams can collaborate together on shared files and shared projects. Customer relationship management (CRM) systems may also include statistics and metrics to track sales and responses.

For easy communication, consider getting a virtual business phone number with a voice over internet protocol (VoIP) system. Rather than traditional phone lines, VoIP phone systems use the internet to make and receive calls. You can easily sign up for one from a phone service provider that offers virtual, local, and toll free numbers. Providers like United World Telecom offer call forwarding services that forward or redirect incoming calls to a different number, where the call is to be answered. This way, you can forward calls to wherever your employees are located. With United World Telecom’s ‘Time of Day Routing’ feature, you can redirect calls to alternate numbers during specific times of the day. These features are meant to ensure no call goes missed and a salesperson is always available for your customers.

Generate Awareness and Familiarity

Spend a great deal of time working and developing your website. Most customers will look to your website for information and help. Therefore, their first impression of your website matters. It is also necessary to keep information on the website up to date. Provide educational and informational material with facts and genuine expert opinions through blogs and web content. The more your customer knows about your product, the more likely they will be to give it a try.

Use social media like Twitter, Facebook, etc., to create more visibility for your brand, product, and company. This is a good way to introduce your product to the sales circuit. Follow-up with customers through emails, special promotions, and more. Your current customers are a way to get referrals and new customers. Keep them coming for more.

Make Sales From Any Location

Advancements in technology have improved the way we communicate and sales teams can use this to their advantage. Build a local sales network anywhere with local numbers and make sales globally with virtual phone numbers. Browse through our plans today to see how we can help you make those sales calls and support your network!

So, you’ve managed to set up a foolproof phone marketing campaign. The lines are open, your staff is waiting, and the only thing to do is wait for the calls to roll in.

The only problem is that it is not working. Why?

Phone Marketing for your Business

In this article, we’ll cover why your current phone marketing strategy isn’t working and how to fix it. We will cover the following points:

• Employees do not have proper training and equipment
• Your offers aren’t compelling enough
• Customers can’t (and won’t) reach you
• Embracing automation as the future of marketing

Employees Are Not Properly Trained and Equipped

Sometimes, your organization’s successes and failures come down to how experienced your staff is at phone marketing. Whether you’re making outbound cold calls or processing inbound ones, if things aren’t working, it may mean your employees aren’t up to snuff.

Most notably, there is no single reason for poorly-performing employees. Some people just aren’t suited for over-the-phone marketing. Perhaps they may have introverted qualities that make them more suited to “back of the house” operations. Additionally, others need commission-based incentives to make a real effort.

Along these lines, there’s also the failure fn the organization to take responsibility for how their staff performs. For instance, some organizations don’t take the time to bring their employees up to speed and ensure that they know how to use their devices. Luckily, United World Telecom’s virtual phone services work with any audio and Internet-equipped devices to communicate with leads. This means that your employees can use their own devices (if permitted), as this is what they’re most familiar with. This makes cell phone marketing a possibility for both staff on your premises and those working remotely. Employees are thus more comfortable and better able to communicate.

Your Offers Aren’t Compelling Enough

Cell phone marketing captures a waiting audience that is accessible around the clock. Considering most people have a smartphone within reach, you just need to create a compelling offer that motivates them to make a move. In other words, you must be compelling.

United World Telecom offers a variety of ways to get the attention you deserve. One way is by using vanity numbers as a way of garnering attention. Simply put, a vanity number is a phone number with a visually-appealing and memorable series of digits. Tying this into your phone marketing campaigns (such as billboard advertisements, radio ads, and more), customers will remember your brand AND how to contact your business (which is certainly a win-win).

Customers Can’t (and Won’t) Reach You

You may have the most carefully crafted marketing campaign, but it is useless if customers can’t reach you. Thanks to United World Telecom, your customers can reach you no matter where in the world they’re calling from. Virtual phone numbers can be purchased in various target markets, which means:

• No long-distance fees
• No service blockages by a foreign network provider
• Ease of localization efforts

How You Can Make Improvements in Phone Marketing

The last point is crucial, as customers don’t want to reach out to a business in another country versus one that is perceived as doing business domestically. By subscribing to an Ireland Virtual Phone Number, for instance, you can penetrate Irish markets and open up lines of communication that would otherwise be ignored.

Bridging the Digital Divide

Let’s be honest: people can be lazy. In order to reach customers, you have to streamline how customers can take in your advertising and then take action. CallMe Click is one such add-on from United World Telecom that translates from a passive experience to an active, motivated one. By equipping your website and advertising material with CallMe Click, it only takes a tap of the screen or a click of the mouse to convert on your marketing campaigns.

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Closing

In conclusion, United World Telecom offers a wide variety of methods to enhance your marketing strategies. By using these methods and many more, your marketing dollars can convert directly into increased revenue.

Have you ever wondered whether automated phone calls work in sales? In this article, we will take a look at how an automated phone calls can increase your sales, including:

• Efficiency
• Never Miss an Inbound Caller
• Keeping Your Employees Occupied
• Blacklisting and Whitelisting

Efficiency

Sales is a numbers game. Therefore, the more efficient your business is set up with automation, the better your sales will be. United World Telecom offers many ways to increase the efficiency of your business. Here are just a few of the many possibilities for business:

Simultaneous ringing: All connected devices ring at the same time, ensuring that every inbound call is answered in the shortest time period possible.
Directory: By creating an automated directory for inbound callers using a PBX (Private Branch Exchange), interested callers can self-select through your company’s staff and departments to reach the exact personnel they want to transact with.

CallMe Click: Customers don’t have the time to write down a phone number of a salesperson or your company. By bridging the digital divide with a call now button, you create a more motivated buyer that can click on a web link and initialize a phone call with your sales personnel instantly.

Never Miss an Inbound Caller

A large part of sales is ensuring that the timing is right. Often, the window of opportunity only remains open for a short period before they move on to your more easily-accessible competitors.

United World Telecom offers quite a few ways for your sales team to never miss an inbound call. First, a popular feature known as “simultaneous ringing” is just as the name implies: when a phone number is dialed, all connected devices ring at the same time. Whoever answers it first is the winner. This incentivizes your sales team to handle sales calls ambitiously, creating a positive competitive environment.

Similarly, failover forwarding is another crucial feature from United World Telecom. This allows inbound calls to ring through a list of numbers, automatically forwarding until it is received. There are also more advanced options available to automate customer support.

Keeping Employees Occupied

Sales personnel are notorious for forging their own paths and being the masters of their own destiny. However, this can have detrimental consequences for your business, particularly if your sales team is prone to wasting their time. You can automate Inbound calls for distribution among your sales personnel with United World Telecom’s call routing services.

Even better, United World Telecom’s intuitive dashboard logs data from phone calls that can apply directly to your staff. For instance, you can compare who closes the most deals versus how much time they spend on the phone. During quarterly reviews, you can use analytics to gather performance-related data on your sales team, readjust how they handle sales calls, or even terminate lagging employees.

Blacklisting and Whitelisting

Another crucial feature of call routing functionalities from United World Telecom is the ability to blacklist and whitelist calls. For blacklisting, you can automate calls to reach your salespeople while ensuring certain calls do not get through. Similarly, for whitelisting, you enable only certain calls to go through. As an example, you can whitelist only VIPs and clients that are closing deals in the near future for higher-tier sales employees, while assigning only cold calls to staff that excels in that skill.

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In Conclusion

To conclude, as you can see, United World Telecom’s services can help streamline automation in your organization to boost sales. By using some of the examples in this article as well as your own creativity, your sales team can operate more effectively. Above all, automated phone calls can be an excellent option for sales teams.

With blossoming technologies, business phone systems have been changing over the years. If you’ve recently started a sales business or you want to utilize better phone capabilities, researching various types of business phone lines is important. This way, you can select a phone system that’s great for your clientele, while also allowing your sales team to operate better. Thus, increasing efficiency and sales closings. In this article, we weigh the differences in the various phone systems you have to choose from for your sales business. And, offer the information you need to select the type of phone system that’s best for your sales management objectives.

Multiple Phone Line Systems for a Sales Business

If you tried to do sales on a typical phone line, you’d eventually end up with a situation in which more than one person needs to use the phone. Or, more than one customer dials in at once. If you don’t want to miss important sales leads or you want to have your employees dial sales leads at the same time, you’ll need multiple lines. A multiple phone line system is just that, a system that offers multiple lines routed to the same number.

These systems allow outside numbers to dial into one main phone that’s connected to multiple other lines. This allows for the capability to transfer calls to various phones. It also allows business employees to communicate with each other effectively.

VoIP Phone Systems for a Sales Business

Rather than traditional phone lines, the VoIP phone system uses internet connection to send telephone calls. This translates to many specific benefits like ease of setup, customized and cutting-edge features, and even better pricing. Furthermore, VoIP systems allow for the introduction of tollfree business numbers. This gives your sales business a way to create a branded, more memorable number associated with your industry. For example, if you manage a team that sells garage doors, you could choose a toll free number like, 1-800-GAR-AGES.

Further Functionality for Sales Teams

Additionally, VoIP systems allow you to choose extension numbers for each of your sales employees. This way, they can give out their individual business numbers so they can stay connected with sales leads to increase the likelihood of closing.

As a part of sales management, you’re likely to utilize CRM systems that allow you to document clientele. One of the advanced features of a VoIP system is that it can connect with software systems, including CRMs. So, if you think that this type of business phone system is the best for your company, make sure to choose one that integrates with your current business software like your CRM.

Due to its customizable features and adaptability, VoIP systems are a great option for sales-driven businesses. And, they can definitely help in your sales management efforts by keeping things organized and your calling customers satisfied.

PBX Phone Systems for Sales Businesses

PBX, or private branch exchange, is a type of business phone system that offers a way to have a private phone line for business. It allows for customizable features of other advanced phone systems like call forwarding, voicemail, routing, and conference calls. However, it does differ from your standard multiple line system. This is because it doesn’t route directly to your phone unit, but can do so through a cloud (internet storage) or another VoIP system. Most people choose PBX systems because they provide more functionality than a multiple phone system but aren’t as expensive as other options. Again, if you have a smaller business, this may be a good option for your sales team. But, if you need advanced features and can live with the functionality of a standard multiple phone line system, this may be a good choice for your business.

Get Your Business Phone Numbers Through United World Telecom

No matter what types of business phone line systems you consider for better sales management, you’ll need to have a business phone number to go with that system. Whether you need a local number, toll free number, or a vanity phone number, we’ve got you covered. Contact us today to learn more about setting up your new business phone number!

If you’re in charge of managing a high-performing sales team, you’re probably aware of the many challenges that you’ll encounter daily. With the hectic pace, the variety of personnel, and quotas to meet, sales management is one of the most difficult occupations.

Managing a Sales Team Effectively

Failure to appropriately tackle these challenges could stymie your company’s efforts from achieving maximum success. You may even experience a less-than-stable work environment. And worst-case scenario, mismanagement can cost you your job.

The following are some of the most common challenges you will encounter as a sales manager. We will then provide tips on how to overcome these challenges effectively.

Sales Team Challenge #1: Attracting and Retaining Talent

Effective sales management is highly dependent on the quality of its personnel. As a manager, you may be experiencing high turnover that hinders your efforts. Or, you may be constantly attracting less than stellar performers. In truth, the best way to attract and retain talent is by setting up incentives and creating a positive work culture.

First, you want to make sure that you’re setting commissions and bonuses at competitive rates. Do some research and try to find the median in your industry’s hiring process – and simply offer more than that. Remember, salespeople are motivated to find better-paying work and stick with companies that help them succeed.

Sales Team Challenge #2: Time Management with Prioritizing

If there’s one resource you wish you could have more for your sales team, it’s time. Unfortunately, there is only so much manpower to accomplish the many tasks throughout the day. This can be a challenge for managers that always feel like they’re falling behind.

The solution? Try to look for more efficient ways of doing tasks that drain your time. If necessary, run down the list of the day’s events and see where there is room for improvement. Chances are, some activities may be mission-critical, but get left behind in favor of other work. For instance, you may have deadlines that could jeopardize a long-term client versus getting your sales team to follow up on new leads. Both tasks take significant amounts of time. But considering that attracting clients takes 5x the effort than holding on to new ones, the choice is clear.

That’s where prioritizing comes in handy. Prioritizing can often seem like choosing between “impossible” situation after “impossible” situation. However, there are usually tasks that must be done for the greater good and longevity of your sales team.

Sales Team Challenge #3: Inspiring a Competitive Team

It may seem like a contradiction, but having a competitive spirit among your sales team is necessary for a high-functioning company. To do this, you’ll need to coach your sales team through constant incentive and thoughtful comparisons between colleagues. After all, most sales reps go into sales in order to actualize their potential, so it’s your responsibility to foster a positive environment.

You’ll want to highlight top-performers and give them the spotlight, while also showing how up-and-comers are able to attain the same success. Bear in mind that what motivates some will not motivate others, so you’ll want to discover what each rep values. Some may be looking for more flexibility to have time off with their family; others may be looking to make as much money as possible. You’ll want to discover what makes your top reps more successful and see what’s holding back under-performers.

Sales Team Challenge #4: Aligning Your Team with Your Marketing Department

For most organizations, your sales team is separate from your marketing team. Because marketing is responsible for attracting new leads and retaining customers, there may be a disconnect between the two. After all, they’re on the front lines – whereas the marketing department serves as support staff.

As a manager, you should have regular meetings with your company’s marketing team just like you do with your sales team. You’ll want to make sure that your marketing team is united around common goals so that your sales team is better served. For instance, your marketing department may be focusing on social media ads, whereas your demanding better online catalogs for clients to place consistent orders. By ensuring that these goals are aligned, you help avoid miscommunication and wasted effort that doesn’t serve the company.

About United World Telecom

United World Telecom is a leading service provider for cloud phone and toll free number solutions. If you are interested in purchasing a toll free phone number for your business phone get in touch with our sales department so we can assist you or visit our service page.

It takes effort to create a return customer, but with the number of sales they bring to your store in return, they’re worth the extra effort. If your business is using up all of its resources towards directing its advertising budget on attracting new clients, you may be missing out on a huge market… the customers that you already have.

The Power of Loyalty

Getting a new customer will usually cost your business money on advertising. Loyal customers don’t just buy your products; they tell other people about them. They might even post your products on their social media pages, giving your business free advertising to hundreds or even thousands of new potential customers.

New customers may appear once or twice and you’ll never hear from them again, but every new customer is an opportunity to create a return customer. And that is why it is important to take care of every single customer as well as you can. If you do it right, every customer can become a lifelong customer, which really pays over time. If you offer a great product or service, there is no reason why you won’t be able to create a strong following of return customers.

Here are 4 simple steps to create a loyal following of return customers

Create The Right Environment

If your business isn’t presentable, you probably won’t get many people wanting to return. Take a walk around your store and make notes. Your store should be comfortable and welcoming. The inside and outside should be clean, the lighting should be inviting, and the layout should be easy to maneuver through. If a customer cannot find the product that they need, then your layout might need some changing up. Take some time out to think about your decor and finishing touches, too. Listen to the feedback you hear from staff and customers about the environment and see what could use some sprucing up, while leaving the things that are already working.

Have Your Staff Put Their Best Foot Forward

If you’re not always around or selling directly to your customer, then you need to be sure that you have a loyal and friendly staff, who preferably believe in the products they are selling. Your staff should not only be friendly, but they need to be knowledgeable as well. A kind and well-informed staff will leave the right kind of impression on your customers. If a customer has a positive experience, they are more likely to return even if they did not purchase anything the first time. Gather your staff together for training sessions to be sure that they are upholding your business to the highest degree. Having a properly trained staff will ensure positive interactions.

Learn Your Customers’ Names

Introductions are the best way to make a good impression on someone right away. If you are not great at remembering names, try to make a mental note about something that the person is wearing and repeat their name back to them. If your business is very busy and you don’t have time to introduce yourself to everyone, go out of your way to introduce yourself to people that you already recognize. IVR technology can free up valuable time and scale the effectiveness of your workforce. Recognizing a frequent customer will help you to learn what the customer wants and expects.

Remember Your Customers and What They Like and Don’t Like

Now that you have brought in a customer for a second time and have introduced yourself to them and gotten their name, you can start taking notes about their shopping habits. Many businesses use this technique and it makes their repeat customers feel appreciated. For example, if you run a wine store and you already know that a customer likes a certain wine region, you can remind them when you know you are getting a new wine from that particular region. If you own a restaurant, remembering people’s allergies and sending out their favorite appetizer as a compliment will guarantee that your customers will return.

Return Customers = Greater Value

If you remember to do all four of these simple steps, your business will soon be on its way to maximizing its profits. As a business, you want as many customers as possible, however, loyalty goes very far in the long-run. Gaining a customer and keeping them for years to come means your initial marketing efforts were ultimately successful, enabling you to bank on them long-term. Considering the large expense marketing can be, why not extend your efforts for the highest yield?

A customer’s happiness is the most important component of a business’ success. Without customers, there is no business. Therefore, making customer service an integral part of your business model is extremely important. Since it all starts with customer service, make sure that your staff is fully trained in how to deal with an angry customer should a problem occur. One bad customer experience is the quickest way to turn your customers over to your competitors, so being able to diffuse bad situations is the key to success. Having a great relationship with your customers will bring up the value of your brand and increase your sales. If your customer is angry, there are ways to please them, and even turn them into a customer for life. Here are several tips to keep in mind:

Actively Listen To Your Customer

Take into account what your customers are saying about your products. There are times when a customer is angry about something outside of the service. Perhaps they are just having a bad day, so remember it is only your business to be sure that you solve their anger surrounding the issue with your product. Listen to what their issue is with intent, let them completely explain everything. Be completely silent while they explain, you may nod or acknowledge that you are listening, but be sure that they are finished talking before you begin.

Apologize Immediately

No matter what the issue is, be sure to apologize right away for the mistake or miscommunication. It might be an immediate reaction to want to be defensive of your products, but you have to remember that this person is allowed to air their grievances since they purchased the product and supported your business.

Go Out Of Your Way To Make Them Happy

This is what could turn your angry customer into a loyal one. If you do it right, your customer will be excited to return to your store. Going out of your way also makes your customer feel special. Perhaps you work at a restaurant and a customer was unsatisfied with their meal; you could comp the food and include a gift card to get them to return. When they return, you can go out of your way to make the next experience much better. By going above and beyond, you’ve created a customer for life.

Create an Opportunity for Improvement

Every angry customer brings up a solid point about issues with your company or your product. Take every opportunity to learn about what you need to improve on in order to give yourself a leg up from the competition. Treat complaints as if they are a problem that you need to figure out with your brand. If one customer is unhappy and lets you know there is a problem, surely there have been customers with the same issue but never mentioned it; they respond by simply not buying your product again. With that in mind, customer complaints are invaluable resources for improvement. Your business will never stop growing as long as your customers’ needs are being met and your product continues to improve. If you feel that your business does have room to grow and you don’t want to sit around waiting for complaints to roll in, consider sending out a survey that your customers can opt-in or out of to gauge their satisfaction.

Build Up Your Reputation

By consistently meeting consumer needs and providing excellent customer service, you will quickly gain a reputation for being delightful to shop with. Brands like Nordstrom have built up their reputation with customers and they have thousands of reviews from customers gushing about their dependability. People are more likely to go with a dependable option than something that has a wishy-washy reputation. Just remember, every angry customer is a chance to win customers over and invite them back.

By using these four simple tips and responding to angry customers in a positive and approachable manner, your business will be flourishing in no time. Since your company is now focusing on customer relationships, you have the tools to thrive in any market.