The Advantages of Business Toll Free Numbers

It is the considered opinion of most marketing professionals that a toll-free number is a great help in boosting response rates of advertisements regardless where an ad is placed - be it TV, radio, magazine or billboard. Business people who are not aware of this secret weapon are losing heavily by not using the toll-free strategy.

The latest reports indicate that the rates for toll-free services, which now include the prefixes 888 and 877, have drastically come down, along with the rates for other kinds of long distance service. It is incredible that companies which unt until recently were paying around 25 cents per minute for an 800 call, now pay as little as 3.9 cents per minute. It is to be noted that it is not only businesses that use their 800 numbers, but even families that have contacts staying in different countries use this toll free number service to reduce their telephone bills.

Although, a common belief that setting up a toll free number is still difficult, because it takes time to call your phone company, to be placed on hold and having to deal with a rep who later tells you that it will take a week and it will cost you $50 to $100 in setup fees still remain. The truth of the matter is, that there are a number of providers that will setup a toll free 800 number for you online instantly and you will be able to forward this new number to anyone of your existing devices, such as mobile, your existing landline or your new VoIP line, or even Skype.

Toll-free telephone numbers are indeed an invaluable part of marketing efforts to acquire new customers and to retain existing ones. By offering toll-free phone numbers, businesses invite clients and prospective customers to communicate with them at no charge. As a matter of fact, the business that maintains the toll-free line pays all costs associated with the line.

Needless to state, there are number of advantages in conducting business online as customers can have access 24x7 and can shop from the comfort of their homes. But a business cannot expect to win the trust of the customer as the entire online business is impersonal with no communication. The above problem or obstacle for online businesses is eliminated when a business uses toll free numbers.

A toll-free telephone number makes your business more accessible to clients, customers, employees, and business associates. When clients call a business and talk to the business owner or the staff, the customer is convinced and it helps to build trust. Moreover, the callers do not have to pay for the call, which makes it even more attractive. If customers have to pay for the calls, then they will be disinclined to call, because calls to customer support departments are notorious for their long waiting periods. Thus there can be no doubt that toll free numbers or the 800 numbers help businesses to boost their sales.

The demand for toll-free telephone numbers kept growing tremendously that the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) was forced to issue a new prefix (888) in anticipation of the exhaustion of all possible 800 numbers. But the new 888 prefix also lasted only for two years before completely running out. Market analysts now expect the FCC to introduce a string of new toll-free prefixes suche as 866, 855 etc. over the coming years to cope up with the ever-increasing demand.

Cyril Bird is a SEO copywriter for Toll Free Numbers, Virtual PBX and VOIP Service Providers. He has written many articles in various topics like Internet Fax Service, Voicemail and Answering Service. For more information visit: http://www.ringcentral.com/