Money Saving Tips

You might not be familiar to the technological name but we’ve all experienced Auto Attendant on a telephone call at some point or another. When you call a big company, lets say your mobile phone provider, you will often be greeted with a message and be given a list of options. Let’s use Orange mobile in this case.

Once connected, you’ll often be greeted with a menu with a variety of different options. For example, “Press one to hear your remaining minutes. Press two if your phone has been lost or stolen… Etc”

So why do businesses opt for this service on their telephone number? Most of the time, it’s to offer the customer an easy, quality experience when trying to get an answer to a question or problem.

If your phone had been lost or stolen, you’d press two on your keypad and would be transferred to the department that would best help you. The same would happen if you had had problems with any of your services. By offering you these options, the business would save your time and theirs by getting your problem solved as quickly as possible.

This service can be available to you when you take out an 0845, 0844, 0800 or 03 telephone number. Simply call us on 08450 777 777 and we’ll be happy to talk you through setting it up.

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It seems that every woman, man and his dog has a mobile right now. Well, I’m not entirely sure if they’ve invented a mobile for a dog yet but it’s inevitable. They could call it the iBhone…

I digress. In 2009, the number of mobile cellular subscriptions worldwide reached approximately 4.6 billion. Baring in mind that there are about 6,861,800,000 (6.8 billion) people in this world, the mobile phone has proved quite a popular device. Recently, when estimating the average salary for someone to live comfortably, mobile phones were classed as essentials, along with broadband, gas and electricity.

It begs the question, why are calls from landlines to mobiles so expensive? When taking out a mobile phone contract, calls to other mobile are normally included in any monthly minutes. When dialing from a landline, calls can be as much as 12.5p/minute during the day, seeing as most people have a mobile, this could generate quite a bill.

The team at Planet Numbers have put their heads together to find a solution to this. Then a little lightbulb lit up above our heads.

We offer customers cheap international calls through our 0844 access numbers, why can’t we do it for UK mobiles? Well, the answer is, we can!

Next time you want to call a mobile in the UK, simply dial 0844 303 0040, directly from your BT landline. Calls to the 0844 303 0040 number are charged at 1.5p/minute, offering a huge saving.

At the moment, the service is only available for calls to Orange, T-Mobile and Vodafone mobiles and currently available at evenings and weekends. You know us though, we’ll be working our socks off to add more mobile service providers to our list!

All the information can be found in full detail here: http://www.planet-numbers.co.uk/cheap-calls-to-mobiles.jsp and of course, there always someone available to chat with on 0844 811 8355.

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Every once in a while, we find numbers that are just too good to keep secret. I doubt we’ll ever come across numbers as good as these again.

Before I reveal these ultra memorable telephone numbers, I’ll explain the benefits of having such easy to remember number.

Firstly, these numbers are perfect if you are running television or radio adverts. I’d estimate that 98% of the time, people aren’t sitting in front of the TV or radio with a pen and paper to hand, waiting to jot down any products that are being advertised. Having a memorable number as good as the ones I’m about to tell you, shout to your customer and will stick in their heads. You’ll see what I mean when I tell you.

Memorable telephone numbers don’t just sound great, they look great too. When you stick your telephone number on the side of a bus, on a billboard or in a magazine, these number will catch your potential customer’s eye. With these numbers, there’s no need for any advertisement gimmicks, just print the number and watch your response rate rocket.

So, here are the once in a lifetime telephone numbers… Drum roll please!

0800 08 08 08

03 333 333 333

I think you see what I mean now…

I’m expecting our telephones to ring as soon as I post this, so don’t delay. Pick up the telephone to chat about these ultra memorable numbers today.

UPDATE:
Due to the expected interest in these telephone numbers, we’ve set up two telephone numbers for you to contact us on.

0844 811 8355 and 08450 777 777 – phone quickly to register your interest!

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The telephone is still most business’s primary point of contact with customers, making phone answering skills critical for businesses. The way you answer your company’s phone will form your customer’s first impression of your business. These phone answering tips will ensure that callers know they’re dealing with a winning business:

1.) When answering the phone, welcome callers courteously and identify yourself and your organization. Say, for instance, “Good morning. Planet Numbers. Alex speaking. How may I help you?” No one should ever have to ask if they’ve reached such and such a business.

2.) When you answer the phone, be warm and enthusiastic. Your voice at the end of the telephone line is sometimes the only impression of your company a caller will get.

3.) Answer all incoming phone calls before the third ring.

4.) Control your language when answering the phone. Don’t use slang or jargon. Instead of saying, “OK”, or “No problem”, for instance, say “Certainly”, “Very well”, or “All right”. If you’re a person who uses fillers when you speak, such as “uh huh”, “um”, or phrases such as “like” or “you know”, train yourself carefully not to use these when you speak on the phone.

5.) Enunciate clearly, keep your voice volume moderate, and speak slowly and clearly when answering the phone, so your caller can understand you easily.

6.) Answer all your calls within one business day. I can’t emphasise this one enough. Remember the early bird? The early caller can get the contract, the sale, the problem solved… and reinforce the favorable impression of your business that you want to circulate.

7.) Take telephone messages completely and accurately. If there’s something you don’t understand or can’t spell, such as a person’s surname, ask the caller to repeat it or spell it for you. Then make sure the message gets to the intended recipient.

8.) If you use an answering machine to answer calls when you can’t, make sure that you have a professional message recorded, that does the same thing as tip # 3, and gives callers any other pertinent information before it records their messages. Update your answering machine message as needed. For instance, if your business is going to be closed for a holiday, update your recorded answering machine message to say so and to say when your business will reopen.

9.) Don’t use a speaker phone unless absolutely necessary. Speaker phones give the caller the impression that you’re not fully concentrating on his call, and make him think that his call isn’t private. The only time to use a speaker phone is when you need more than one person to be in on the conversation at your end.

10.) Always ask the caller if it’s all right to put her on hold when answering the phone, and don’t leave people on hold. Provide callers on hold with progress reports every 30 to 45 seconds. Offer them choices if possible, such as “That line is still busy. Will you continue to hold or should I have ________ call you back?”

11.) Train everyone else who answers the phone to answer the same way, including other family members if you’re running a home-based business. Check on how your business’s phone is being answered by calling in and seeing if the phone is being answered in a professional manner. If they don’t pass the test, go over this telephone answering tips list with them.

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Last year, Planet Numbers were issued with TWO awards in outstanding customer service. We put this down to the superb training that each and every one of our customer service team receives and the fact that we have the loveliest customers in the world.

It lead me to think; just how important is good customer service? Is it really that essential that a customer gets off the telephone feeling happy, every time?

The answer is indisputably, yes. Many businesses underestimate the importance of brilliant customer service. That’s probably why they didn’t win TWO awards for it and we did.

So why is good customer service so vital in a business?

Firstly, customers love having someone real to speak to. It’s comforting to them to hear someone on the end of the phone when they call up. They might never need to phone you but if they do, they’ll be comforted to know there’s always someone there.

Business reputation travels fast. If someone has had a good experience with a business, they will feel compelled to tell all their friends and family. They will post it on their social networking profile or write a review on the web. Unfortunately, the same will happen if someone has had a negative experience.

From a business point of view, if a customer comes off the phone feeling happy, they are much more likely to reuse your service. If it’s a new or a potential customer, you’ve given them no reason NOT to use your service.

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