Business Phone Systems: The must-have features for your industry

Want to know how business phone systems can drive your business productivity and efficiency further?

When choosing a business phone system, it’s important to think about your unique business needs to ensure your environment is equipped with the best phone features. Depending on the industry, different tools will work better for you to enhance your overall business performance.

Let’s take a look at a few industries and how they can make the most of their business phone systems.

Travel industry

A typical day for a travel agent involves spending countless hours on the end of a line with customers, travel operators, hotel vendors and so on, be it locally or internationally. Agents trying to stay in touch with customers while they are travelling also presents challenges. That’s why a robust business phone system is so crucial to their operations. Having the right phone features can mean the difference between being able to communicate effectively or lead to endless frustrations.

Some of the tools that benefit the travel industry include:

• Voicemail to email – captures messages left by customers while you’re already on the line, and avoids other staff members taking handwritten messages.
• Auto attendants (virtual receptionists) – ensures you never miss a call with personalised greetings that direct calls according to the customer’s reason for calling. It also provides control over how calls are routed outside of business hours.
• Call monitoring – captures call records and data which travel agencies can use to assess the effectiveness of any marketing campaigns and sales.
• Hunt groups – enhances productivity by being able to intelligently direct calls to the next available operator.

Real Estate industry

Much like the travel industry, real estate agents have their own unique communications challenges because they are constantly on the move. Having mobiles alone isn’t the answer, as it comes with its own set of challenges, especially when advertising the business with just the mobile number of a real estate agent.

Some of the business phone system features that benefit the real estate industry include:

• Mobility – agents all call on their mobile when they’re out of the office ensuring no important calls are missed.
• Voicemail to email – allows customers to leave a message directly with the agent they need to speak to.
• Auto attendants – if the receptionist is busy, the auto attendant can step in and provide support after a certain number of rings to ensure calls are received. It can also divert calls appropriately after hours.
• On hold messages – while waiting to speak to an agent, customers are informed with relevant content being played to them.
• Call Accounting – Measuring inbound and out calls is important especially when marketing budgets are limited.

Hospitality industry

Whether it’s a hotel, motel, B&B or serviced apartments, the hospitality industry have specific business phone system requirements that go beyond the standard office phone solution.

Businesses such as these can maximise their productivity and improve their customer service rating just by utilising phone features such as:

• Extension dialling – provides staff or customers with a way to directly reach a specific department, employee or room.
• Auto attendant – effectively forward calls to the right department if no one is managing the reception desk.
• Call recording – provide a way of monitoring employee performance.
• On hold music/ messages – a great marketing tool that also ensures the customer isn’t left waiting in silence.

Customer service/ call centres

Phones are the lifeblood of a customer service centre. Generally customers are calling to resolve an issue, troubleshoot or receive a more personalised solution to a problem. Having a poor business phone system will only contribute negatively to a customer who may already be calling with a gripe.

Some of the ways business phone systems can help customer service operators to enhance their customer experience include:

• Call routing – automatically routes calls to available operators, which minimises wait times for the customer.
• Call transfers – ensures the customer can stay on the line and be directed to another operator who can assist them further with their enquiry.
• Call monitoring – useful for operators for training purposes and improving customer service.
• Call reporting and tracking – collection of data allows management to review and analyse performance.
• Call Recording – can really improve your quality and keep clients and staff in check.

No matter what industry your business is in, having the right phone features installed on your business phone system ensures you’re providing the highest level of customer service and delivering business communication improvements for all.