Stuck on the phone all day? Here are 3 tips for solopreneurs to claim back precious time and money

When it comes to running a microbusiness, having a professional phone system can make an enormous difference. After all, first impressions matter. But what if you could scale your setup to maximise your valuable time and cash flow too?

It’s why many modern businesses are shifting to cloud-hosted phone systems.

Moving your phone setup to the cloud might seem like a big task for a small business. However, if you’re looking to cut costs and take control of your time, then it’s a viable strategy to consider.

Scaleable, economical and secure, cloud-based systems deliver functionality through a virtual phone line to bring significant benefits to sole traders and businesses. If you spend hours on the phone or need more sophisticated options for your office phone setup, then it might be time to make the switch.

Here’s how to make your phone calls efficient whether you’re a freelancer or a microbusiness.

1. Get your ‘call flow’ in order

Traditional systems are limited in their function. When you connect to the latest technology, you unlock advanced features that can simplify the way you manage your calls and enhance your customer experience.

When selecting the system for your business, ensure you have access to the full suite of features and functions to better assist your team. Some essentials to look for are Music On Hold, Voice2Email, and a welcome greeting with an IVR (Interactive Voice Response) menu to direct callers to an appropriate team; an automated option that allows callers to navigate the department or specialist of their choice.

Choosing the right features is important to call flow and workplace efficiency. While traditional phone systems are restricted by hardware that doesn’t support all functions or relies on additional licensing or payments to enable them, a quality cloud-hosted VoIP – which stands for “voice over Internet Protocol” – gives you more control to manage call handling better.

With the business functions of hosted systems you can:

• Strengthen your customer service
• Set up call queues, call recording, time conditions and more
• View call analytics to better manage your time
• Take advantage of NBN-ready functionality

Peter Wishart, owner of Facelift for Homes, a window and door replacement business in Melbourne, says the best feature by far is the system’s portability.

“During Melbourne’s many extended lockdowns, all our staff were able to work from home by simply connecting their desk phone to their router at home,” Peter tells Flying Solo. “The call quality was perfect, and phone functionality was exactly as if in the office. This meant zero disruption to normal admin operations and, most importantly, zero inconveniences to callers through continuity of sales and customer service functions.”

Peter adds that the ability to transfer incoming calls to mobile phones eliminates the need for relaying messages – as well as other productivity benefits.

“Call history lookup is also helpful in ensuring numbers are correctly recorded with time, date and duration,” Peter says. “These features help us optimise sales opportunities and provide customer service at the highest level.”

2. Only pay for what you need

Reducing costs is a top priority for sole traders and small business owners. One of the biggest benefits of switching to a cloud phone setup is the savings and low call costs.

Some systems cost as little as $9 a month (see Australian-based telco BusinessCom’s plans here). If you have contractors working for you, it’s particularly useful as you can keep them on the same communication system to streamline workers’ time.

As staff come and go in your business, you can add and remove with a click of a button to adapt quick changes as they happen and avoid additional costs.

3. Invest in a flexible system

As your business grows, so does the need for new contractors, employees and maybe an office. This requires a communications system that can scale up – or down – as you need.

Cloud phones are virtual services delivered over the internet making them highly flexible and portable. Unlike conventional office phones, you only need a reliable internet connection to make and receive calls as usual, but without your desk phone or mobile call data. Simply use the app on your chosen device to start making calls.

Find a cloud-hosted VoIP that has enough flexibility to adapt to your environment. With these systems you can connect everyone to the same system; make, receive and transfer calls the way your business needs; and get employees or contractors onto the same system via multiple devices such as smartphones, laptops and PCs – wherever they are.

As business owners and sole traders, we need to be able to filter important calls from the less urgent ones. Cloud-hosted systems are hugely beneficial if you get lots of calls during the day or offer eCommerce or professional services.

Look into solutions that can make things easier for your customers, but most of all, yourselves.

For more info on business phone solutions, visit businesscom’s website.

This article is written by Jayde Walker – a creative copywriter and small business owner in Perth.

This article is brought to you by Flying Solo in partnership with BusinessCo.

Feature image: AdobeStock