Toll Free Number - Does Your Business Have It?

All business enterprises uniformly acknowledge the fact that Toll-free telephone numbers are a powerful marketing tool to attract new customers, develop closer rapport with the existing customers and generally enlarge the customer-base. The salient feature of toll free number is to provide clients and other associates a means of communicating over phone free of cost. This is because the business house that possesses the toll-free line pays the charges for all incoming calls received on that line.

Toll-free telephone numbers came into existence in 1967 and it took a few years for its advantages to become publicly known within the business community. Today toll free numbers are ubiquitously used by business houses and in fact, an environment has been created whereby customers have begun to expect the business houses to have a toll free number and try to avoid contacting the ones wthout toll free line.

This apart, customers also believe that small businesses that have toll-free numbers are better established, more stable and reliable and feel secure dealing with them. Besides, mentioning a toll-free number will enhance your company's image and also make it look professional to all your customers and business associates.

When anyone calls your toll free number, the call can be forwarded to a number you designate - your office phone line, or your mobile phone, or any other convenient phone number and this will ensure you do not miss any valuable business call. Another useful benefit of having a toll free number is its portability. If you have to shift your business to a different place for some reason, you can still be reached by your customers with the same toll free number.

The overwhelming demand for toll free numbers led to an acute shortage of the numbers in recent years. Thus, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) was compelled to issue a new prefix (888) to fulfill the demands of 800 numbers. The 800 prefix ran out in 1996, and the subsequent 888 prefix lasted only two years. The FCC has thereafter introduced a string of new toll-free prefixes (877, 866, etc.) to meet the undying demand. There are now four toll free area codes, 800, 888, 877 & 866, and technically they all serve the same purposes - although 800 is still deemed prestigious.

Yet another key contributory factor in the explosion of toll-free numbers was the FCC ruling in 1993 granting companies' ownership of their toll-free numbers. The advantages of toll-free numbers are multifarious and business enterprises can ill-afford not to have toll free numbers in today's scenrio.

With the toll free numbers having become commonplace, most business owners who understand the importance of toll-free numbers are opting for vanity numbers. You gain a significant increase in customer calls when you have a vanity number, as vanity numbers are a lot easier than standard toll free numbers to remember by the customers.

So if you are running a business - whatever be its size and scale - you must procure your own toll free number and mention it in all your trade advertisements, sales promotion literature and other marketing campaign documents - to encourage and motivate your existing and prospective customers to call you. Several surveys have revealed that ad responses go up by a whopping 50 percent if a toll-free number is included in your trade ads.

Much of the success and growth of your business depends on your company image and the professionalism you project to your clients. Toll free numbers lure customers to your business precisely for these reasons.

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