Tips for Managing Local Virtual Numbers
Many business owners quickly see the benefit of their local virtual numbers and promptly order additional virtual numbers for other locales. After all, local virtual phone numbers allow you to establish local presences around the world without requiring office space, additional staff members, and other business expenses. However, as your virtual phone presence grows, it becomes more difficult to manage. Use these tips to keep track of your local virtual numbers.
- Use one provider – The more providers you have, the more complicated it becomes. Wouldn’t you rather deal with one bill each month rather than dozens? In addition to consolidating billing by using a single provider, all of your local virtual phone numbers can be listed and managed under one account. If you need to change a ring-to number, simply log into your main account, choose the local virtual phone number that you need to change, and edit as needed.
- Use a spreadsheet or database program – This isn’t necessary when you have just a few virtual numbers to manage but can be helpful as your list grows. For example, you may want to record the following details for each local virtual number you have:
- Local virtual phone number
- City and/or country that the number is local to
- Its ring-to number
- Its purpose (localization, internal communications, hotline, etc.)
- Where it is advertised (phone book, website, company trucks, etc.)
- Local language and customs (will you need translators to interpret messages or bilingual staff to answer these calls?)
- Expected end of life (some virtual phone numbers are ordered for temporary purposes while others are intended for the long term)
- Track performance – Just as you measure the performance of other areas of your business, it’s smart to track the performance of your virtual phone numbers. Are customers calling your local virtual phone number? If not, do they know it exists? If so, are these calls resulting in sales?
Using one provider makes managing local virtual numbers much easier. By tracking important details in a spreadsheet or database program, you can quickly find relevant information should you later make changes to the number. For example, if you cancel a local virtual number, you should also cancel its associated advertisements. Tracking performance allows you to get a better sense of how well your local virtual numbers are performing so that you can adjust your approach or replicate its success with a new local phone number.
