One of the best ways to strengthen the power of your vanity toll free number is to use it in all your marketing materials. That includes putting it in your telephone greetings. Think about it: Clients dial “1-888-PET-CARE” and the greeting they get is “Hi, this is Johnson’s Pet Supplies.” But they could be hearing “Hi, you’ve reached 1-888-PET-CARE, Johnson’s Pet Supplies.”

This is a no-cost way of helping customers recognize and remember your custom toll free number, increasing the likelihood that they’ll call your business again in the future. Here are five ways to use phone greetings to turn those vanity number calls into sales — and increase customer satisfaction.

1. As often as possible, have a live person answer the phone and present your message during business hours. Studies show that customers expect and prefer it, and it’s the ideal during a sales campaign when you want a sales person to have immediate access to a prospect. After all, studies show that customers who make purchases over the phone order more merchandise, and 95 percent of the time they order more expensive merchandise than customers who are ordering from print or online catalogs. If you are using your toll-free number for non-sales purposes, it’s not as critical that the live person greeting the customer be on your team. A good answering service can handle the caller and then send you a convenient email message.
2. If you need to use recorded messages, be sure to record separate ones for business hours and for after-hours. Why? See tips 3 and 4.
3. When your callers do get a recorded message during business hours, it should mention your 1-800 number and your company identity. Then tell the caller, quickly, how to get to the department they’re calling or the information they want. Example: “Thank you for calling 1-888-PET-CARE, Johnson’s Pet Supplies. A representative will be with you in one minute. If you need to reschedule a delivery for tomorrow, please press 3 for the shipment desk. For all other business, please stay on the line.”
4. The message callers get after hours should (again) reinforce your business identity by mentioning your toll-free number and business name. Then let people know when you’ll be back in the office and what they can do to get a message to you in the meantime. “You’ve reached the after-hours line for 1-888-PET-CARE, Johnson’s Pet Supplies. We’ll be back in the office at 8 a.m. Please call back then, or press 2 to leave a message with our answering service.”
5. If you have a website that allows people to view products or schedules, place orders, or send email, be sure to mention that website in your phone greeting. For some callers, this is a plus. But keep in mind that many callers to your toll-free number prefer to talk directly to a live person.

With all the many companies out there, consumers are wise to evaluate what will help them get fast, seamless and reasonable phone packages. Here are some reasons to access Custom Toll Free:

Real-time, real cool
Companies or individuals have access to real-time call reports. You are never in the dark when you have an 800 number through us. We will let you see just how many minutes you’ve used to the minute.

Harness bulk-rate plans
Every company has different needs when it comes to phone services. Some clients need to get bulk-rate plans. This can be done easily with help from one of our agents who can offer pricing for special services.

Branded advertising
Sometimes it’s all about name recognition. By using a toll free vanity number you can set your company apart from the rest. Being consistent means tying in all your creative elements from your logo and business cards to your vanity number and signage.

Simplicity: looking for a number is 1-2-3
First, all you have to do to get a toll free number is do a simple search. At Custom Toll Free, this is a very easy process. Simply use the search bar at our “Available Toll Free Number Search” page and find the ideal toll free number for your business.

select the “industry” to view what numbers are accessible; for instance Computers/Internet, Sports or Travel.

Finally, you can filter the choices by prefix such as 800 or 866 only. You can also use the slider to indicate your projected price scale.

Contact Custom Toll Free today for more advice about getting your personalized phone number.

Whenever you think of the toll-free number market, you think flowers, contact lenses, or safe autos. But today, many parents are using personal toll free numbers to keep tabs on their kids. Parents worried about their college-bound youngsters are resting better at night with toll-free numbers.

We all know it’s hard to get little Suzy or Johnny to call home everyday, but if the call is free you might have a better chance of hearing that phone ring. While normal cell phone plans were once the popular route, they can be highly expensive.

In fact, research shows that 90 percent of people in the United States are dialing toll-free numbers. Additionally, response rates increase an average of 14 percent when advertisements contain toll-free numbers.

Who are the regular people using toll-free numbers today?

•    Parents and grandparents
•    College students
•    Parents of teens and tweens
•    Military families
•    Frequent travelers
•    Those in a long-distance relationship

Custom Toll Free can design a minute plan that is just right for your special toll free needs. You just might bond with your kids, friends and other loved-ones better. Well, maybe or maybe not, but you WILL save money!

Setting up a business can be an overwhelming experience. And the thought of handling all your calls can be somewhat nagging, too. But what many do not realize is that obtaining a toll-free number is a relatively simple and seamless process.

All you have to do is request one from a company who can access them. When it comes to pricing, this can vary. The factors that affect costs include the geographic region you are located in and of course how many calls you get a month.

Why a toll-free number is an asset
Simply put: easy access. Having a toll-free number increases your communication with everyone. So whether you want to have more customer calls or better access to staff and business associates, it’s within your grasp.

Image counts. In business and marketing, image is everything. Having a toll free number speaks volumes. It says your company is professional and established. It can even imply that a company places a high priority on customer service and client satisfaction.

Not to mention a toll-free number can save on operating costs and helps you to monitor your incoming calls, too.

Available 800 numbers are on the decline. That being said, there has never been a more urgent need for companies to get 800s if they have not already. It’s been over a decade since the federal government tried to help bolster the supply of toll free numbers. In fact, 800 numbers seem to be hard to come by, and it might be getting worse. Over the years the government has tried to safeguard 800 numbers in various ways.

Not so long ago, 866 saved the day
We all remember when 877 or 866 prefixes were the new digits on the block. With the technology boom and the expanding role of Internet (the emergence of matching vanity numbers with domain names) those newer digits slowly became in short supply as well.

Consumers may or may not know that The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) does have a plan in place for solving 800 numbers from becoming extinct.

While the remaining 800, 888, 866 and 877 become less and less available, phone companies and consumers feel the pain. This could have far-reaching implications on new and existing businesses and how they communicate with customers and clients. Many companies have come to realize that their toll-free numbers a seamless way to help market and grow their businesses.

When it seems like you can’t find a good toll free number, let Custom Toll Free help you secure the right one for your business needs (one point of our service is that we DO get numbers that are not available).

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At Custom Toll Free, we’re well aware of how much time and effort our clients put in to finding a good vanity toll-free number. We help our customers choose the best toll-free numbers and, often, we help clients acquire a great toll-free number that’s not readily available.

People go to all this work because strong toll-free numbers are a proven way to enhance your market presence and attract business. Toll-free numbers are associated with major companies. And a good vanity toll-free number is easy to remember, maximizing the chances that people will call.

After all the work that goes into securing your vanity toll-free number to bring prospects to your business, you want to invest plenty of time and effort into making sure that when prospects call you, they have the kind of phone experience that turns callers into buyers.

Here are a few “must haves” to maximize your investment in a custom toll-free number:

• An efficient phone system. Don’t let eager prospects languish on “hold.” Invest in a call system that can handle your call load. 
• Trained sales staff answering your phone. If someone is answering calls to your toll-free number, that person is part of your sales team. Your call center staff should be trained to do what it takes to convert callers into buyers. 
• A professionally written sales or customer service script, tailored to your business. This is essential if your company is new to telephone sales. And, if you’ve been doing phone sales for a while, it never hurts to have a professional re-evaluate your script to see if it is still aligned with your products/services and your customer base.

When it comes to toll free vanity numbers, you don’t need to mind your P’s and Q’s. What you need to watch out for is the letter “O.” That’s because many people make the mistake of dialing the numeral “zero” instead, and end up either talking to a different company or simply getting frustrated. (In some cases, they’ll wind up reaching a competitor of yours who has snapped up an available toll free number for exactly that reason.)

If your name includes an “O,” you can still make it part of your toll free vanity number. But you’ll want to make sure to secure the version of the number that uses a “zero,” as well.

We know many other insider tricks for setting up the perfect toll free number for your business. Give us a call, or contact us using our comprehensive email form. You can also get started by using our convenient vanity number look-up tool.

No question about it—TV advertising remains one of the best ways to get a time-sensitive marketing message in front of prospective customers. Pair it with a vanity toll free number, and you’re maximizing the chances of a direct response to your campaign.

TV viewers not only see and hear your number—they see and hear it at a time when it’s convenient for them to take action. (This is in contrast to radio and billboard advertising, where the potential customer may be driving a car, in a hurry, or otherwise distracted.)

Yet, since few people watch TV with pen and paper at hand, it helps enormously to use a highly memorable toll free vanity number in your TV ad. It’s no surprise that the proportion of TV ads featuring toll free vanity numbers continues to grow.

A 2005 industry study found that the majority of toll free numbers in TV ads (using the prefixes 800, 866, 877, and 888) are vanity numbers, spelling out words associated with the advertiser’s name or service. Some advertisers claimed that switching from purely numerical toll free number to a vanity number for TV-centric campaigns more than doubled their call volume.

If your business is one of the many bolstering marketing efforts for this holiday season and using TV ads in your campaign, you’ll want to make sure the number you feature is an easy-to-recall vanity number.

Please contact us for more information on getting the perfect toll free number for your business.