If you’re considering switching phone providers, take the time to ask these key questions before signing on the dotted line.

How will the business phones be installed at my office?

The phone installation experience is one of the main differences between business phone providers. Phone hardware may be mailed to you for you to self-install. If you already have VoIP compatible phones, you may need to reprogram your existing phones. Or, if you’ve ordered new phones from a local company, a technician may come onsite to set up your system.

Whatever option you choose, you’ll want to understand upfront how much you will need to be involved in the process and plan your time accordingly. Typically, lower price points or choosing national providers means that you’ll have to do some of the work yourself.

Do I have to set up the features and phone system options myself?

You’ll want understand up front what parts of the setup you’ll be required to do yourself. If you’re not an IT professional, setting up a phone system can come with a steep learning curve. Make sure that the phone provider has good support and can walk you through the setup. If they do the setup for you, find out how to make changes and adjustments after the fact. You don’t want to end up without support if you need to make changes.

Will I still be able to receive and make calls during the switchover?

Phone calls are likely vital to your business. You definitely won’t want to miss calls or not be able to make calls during a phone transition. Ask your prospective providers to explain how they will ensure you don’t miss any calls during the transition. A good provider will have a process for switching your phones over without you losing any calls. While installing new equipment may require momentary downtime, a good provider will know how to minimize the impact to your business. Ask if installation can be done at a time that’s most convenient for you. Some providers, like Vonix, will offer after hours or weekend onsite installations to cut down on interruptions.

What happens if things aren’t working right after installation?

Every business’ internet and technology setups are different, and the ways they integrate can cause unplanned issues. Because issues are possible, plan for it ahead of time.  There may need to be changes or bugs worked out as you use your new business phones in the real world.

When issues pop up, ideally you’ll be able to reach the same person you’ve worked with all along. You don’t want to have to sit on hold with a call center or have to explain the entire history or setup to a person you’ve never spoke with before. Make sure that the same team will be available to you before, during, and especially after the installation.

Do I have to wait for my phone number to port before being able to use my new system?

When changing providers, you will need to “port” your number, which simply means moving the phone numbers from your old provider to the new one. Your new provider will not be able to completely control the timing of when your phone numbers port. However, there are several work-arounds to ensure that you can be up and working on the new system, even before your phone number ports. You don’t want to be waiting around for days for a phone number to port after your new system is installed, or worse — have your number port before your new system is up and running.

Ready to switch to a phone provider that better meets your needs? Chat or call Vonix to see how we can work with your business.

The post Top 5 Questions to Ask Before Switching Business Phone Providers appeared first on Vonix.

Frustrated by poor customer service and slow response time from his previous phone provider, Jorge Martinez, owner and CEO of fourteen Estrella Insurance franchises in Central Florida, made the switch to Vonix in 2020.  He shares how Vonix has been a “game-changer” for his company, offering customized phone integrations, fantastic customer support, and a lower price point.

“We call in, it’s very personalized and they get stuff done for us. Before, it was tough to even get customer support on the phone,” Jorge says. “ The product itself is fantastic. It is such an improvement from what we were using before.”

Estrella Insurance: A Star in Florida’s Insurance Industry

Estrella Insurance was founded over 40 years ago by Cuban immigrant Nicolas Estrella to provide insurance solutions for immigrant families in Florida. Estrella Insurance grew to over 40 corporate locations before offering franchising opportunities in 2008, which has expanded to 175+ locations across the U.S. The company prides itself in providing budget-friendly coverage to their customers, with personalized service and bilingual expertise.  Geared especially toward immigrant families, they offer complete insurance protection for auto, home, and life.

In 2014, Jorge Martinez and his brother began franchising Estrella Insurance offices across Central Florida. In only eight years, they opened 14 branches in Orlando and Tampa and are still expanding. Jorge expresses confidence in the coming growth of their business and community, “Our goal for the next five years is to grow. We want to grow the brand and be able to serve more customers. We want to get to little towns that don’t have many insurance options and open up the market.”

Estrella is able to personally welcome customers with open arms and work individually with the needs of families.  Serving the local community is everything, and Jorge wants to ensure that people have access to insurance with equal opportunity, even in smaller communities.

Explosive growth isn’t easy, though.  It requires streamlined processes and support at every level of the business. Jorge comments, “Time is the most important thing for the executives on this team. And Vonix has been able to streamline that.”

Vonix was a “game-changer”

Jorge switched to Vonix in 2020, looking for a better solution for his company’s daily communication needs. Vonix was able to provide custom integrations with their customer management software, which instantly retrieves records when a customer calls in. This saves Estrella agents time and improves sales, customer service, and handling times. Vonix includes many custom integrations free of charge, so the Estrella offices were able to save money and improve their processes simultaneously.  Vonix’s price point was what attracted the CEO’s attention. He explains, “Vonix’s pricing offered a better deal. Considering time and our growth goals, we were looking to cut costs while not compromising quality.”

Vonix offers flexibility in choosing business phone plans. Vonix can normally meet or beat current rates and provide features that are unavailable from other providers, such as softphone apps, group-managed texting, web chat handling, and customized call integrations. For Jorge Martinez’s fourteen offices, this was the perfect solution that met the budget with all the modern tools.

A fantastic product with personalized support

For Estrella Insurance, the benefits of switching to Vonix went beyond reducing costs. Vonix’s customer support is at the top of the list.  Jorge has been delighted by the level of support his offices receive.  “We call in, it’s very personalized and they get stuff done for us. Before, it was tough to even get customer support on the phone,” Jorge says “ The product itself is fantastic. It is such an improvement from what we were using before.”

Now, Jorge’s Estrella Insurance offices are using the most modern technology available with Vonix’s calling, texting, and chat platform.  They have improved efficiency and customer handling through smart integrations that save time and money.

Modern businesses require advanced technology, and Estrella Insurance is no exception.  The right phone system has paid off exponentially. For Estrella Insurance, Vonix offered the right combination of technology, personalized support, and custom options at the price point they needed to achieve growth to the stars.

Want to see if Vonix is right for your business? Call us at 855-778-6649 or schedule a demo now.

The post Customer Spotlight: Estrella Insurance, “Vonix was a game-changer” appeared first on Vonix.

Staying connected across 20 Locations

This spotlight features 3CM Multifamily, a property management group with locations all over Texas. Since 2016, 3CM has worked to bring “the good life” to their tenants by providing a great rental experience from a tight-knit management team.

3CM made the decision to partner with Vonix when their employee growth skyrocketed 540% and their portfolio of properties expanded across Texas. Prior to Vonix, phone admin was a nightmare. Each property had a different phone system, and easy, accessible support was non-existent. Vonix centralized their phone management, consolidated billing, and seamlessly interconnected their properties. Now, anytime they bring on a new property, phone setup is a breeze, with just a quick call to the Vonix team.

The “Good Life” for Employees and Residents

3CM Multifamily is devoted to employee development, an investment-in-people that yields knowledgeable experts for investors and warm, welcoming connections for residents. “We are dedicated to nurturing relationships, providing a personal touch in communication – overall providing award-winning customer experiences,” remarks Jana Simmons, the business director for 3CM.  Vonix helps the 3CM to provide top customer experiences for everyone involved with the company.

3CM understands the importance of peer-to-peer support and accountability in the expansive, fast growing property management industry. One employee, Sharoya Hall, remarks, “I love that we are able to assess our staff. It is so important to know who your employers are, and how you can work with them. I feel appreciated every single day.” Vonix has helped 3CM nurture their team by connecting everyone at locations all across Texas on a centralized talk, text, and chat platform.

Filling in the gaps

Before Vonix, 3CM faced a huge challenge of staying in touch and organizing communication for spread-out employees. Since using the Vonix phone platform, it is no longer a worry.  Management can access centralized reports, analytics, call tracking, recording, and chat across 20+ locations from a centralized portal on any device. And any 3CM employee can reach Vonix for support immediately through simply dialing 611.

Jana Simmons remarks that Vonix has allowed them to “fill in the gaps” in their communications. With text, phone or email alerts, the 3CM property managers can stay on top of urgent needs, saving time and providing immediate support to residents.  Not only that, Vonix helps create a sense of connection with the team regardless of where they are physically located.

Sharoya uses Vonix to communicate with her colleagues across the state all day long.  She easily handles calls and messages among their multiple locations. “Vonix is extremely helpful, and I like that it is an app. It’s so user-friendly!” Sharoya explains.  With 80% of the employees spread across 20+ locations, Vonix is a necessity to stay organized and ensure that communication remains a top-priority.

Providing the tools to work smarter

3CM handles thousands of calls and messages each week. Staying up-to-date with communications is critical. Luckily, the Vonix platform helps employees and managers to navigate the constant flow of conversations. Employees are happy, and customers are well-tended. “We really try to make sure that we invest in what is beneficial to the business. We are firm believers in working smarter, and not harder.” says Shayora.  “This company plays to employee strengths. We must provide all the tools needed to be successful.” Thankfully, 3CM has found the right communication partner to help achieve this goal.

Want to see if Vonix is right for your business? Call us at 855-778-6649 or schedule a demo now.

The post Customer Spotlight: 3CM staying connected across Texas appeared first on Vonix.

Restorative Pros’ expeditious success was weighed down by a costly, disjointed business phones that hampered their ability to work and grow as a team. Vonix’s centralized cloud VoIP platform was the perfect solution. Their success story reveals the impact of the right tools to invest in customer service and uninterrupted access to those who matter most.

Restorative Pros: Central Florida’s Helping Hand

Property damage is a familiar topic to residential and commercial property owners in Florida. Hurricanes alone cause over an estimated $15.4 billion worth of damages per year in Florida. A dependable, professional remediation company is critical for property owners when adverse weather causes emergency damage. Restorative Pros comes to the rescue of Central Floridians each year with their responsive, dedicated team.

Based in Central Florida, Restorative Pros began as a consulting business in 2011, run by Carlos Medina.  In 2017, Medina decided to invest his time into performing property restoration himself, with over fifteen years of restoration experience in his back pocket. Carlos partnered with his wife Crystal, a talented entrepreneur. Together they achieved rapid growth by prioritizing attentive customer service and excellent work.

“We strive to make our customers happy by providing a seamless process in a very chaotic situation,” says Crystal. Through a team of knowledgeable employees, Restorative Pros offers peace of mind to their clients as they navigate the options of restoration. Their proficiency in the field has paved the way to rightful recognition.

Restorative Pros is on the path to local stardom. They have won three consecutive “Expertise Awards,” as well as awards for best mold remediation, fire restoration, and water damage restoration.  “It was nice to know that we were able to earn the awards from honest work,” Crystal says.

Their ‘honest work’ goes beyond physical restoration. The team’s knowledge extends to financing and other technicalities that come with disaster recovery. Every element of the remediation process, including insurance billing, is taken care of in-house. Each customer has the opportunity to follow along in every step of the process.

“We wanted to provide a ‘one-stop shot.’ When a customer calls us, we are able to handle their file from start to finish,” Crystal remarks, calling their services “transparent.” Customers do not need to communicate with other professionals, such as plumbers or construction workers. The qualified RPI team does it all. Always keeping the client up to date.  

Weighed down by costly, cumbersome business phone lines 

Engrossed in almost overnight success, Restorative Pros went the route of providing cell phones to each employee, with no centralized system for handling business calls, texts, or team chat. The costly phone system that lacked cohesion and functionality drove Carlos and Crystal to look for a better option. That’s when they discovered Vonix.  They quickly realized that not only did the Vonix Flex platform bring together all the functionality they needed, it also cost significantly less than their cell-phone-only solution. They made the switch right away.

Ditching the cell phones proved immediately beneficial. “We were able to cut our bill down by about half the price,” Crystal notes.

“I wish I would have found Vonix sooner!” 

Crystal was delighted by the Vonix platform’s management capabilities. With the ‘call playback’ and ‘call analytics’ features, she could effectively train and monitor her employees in the field. “My employees are definitely using business texting on their mobile devices, and also using [Flex] on the desktop,” she says. With Vonix, she and her team have been able to finely tune their communication, further improving the excellent service offered to their customers.

“It brought everything together,” says Crystal, regarding Vonix. “We are able to provide a more professional appearance to our customers, and have been able to keep everything uniform.” She goes on to note, “Call forwarding, in house, we couldn’t do that before! Having that ability, oh my gosh, a world of difference. And, they get music! I didn’t have that before!”  She loves that her customers can be transferred immediately, from any device, instead of waiting for a call back – even to and from field personnel.

With  twenty-four employees, organization is vital to a job well done for Restorative Pros. Crystal remarks, “If I check the Vonix portal at noon, I’m already through five pages of call and message history. It’s not only conversations with customers; it’s in-house calls. It’s constant movement, all day long.” Since working with Vonix, Crystal notices that her process flows have improved dramatically, with visibility across her organization.

“I call, and I always get somebody”

For Crystal, it is helpful to know that she can count on swift customer support from her phone service provider. Having suffered through hours on the phone with her previous phone provider, Vonix has been a breath of fresh air. Vonix offers a fantastic level of customer support and response times. No need to wait on hold with an impersonal call center. Needless to say, customer service is a prime motivator for Restorative Pros. With Vonix, they have been able to seamlessly communicate with their clients in chaotic and urgent situations. And get the support they need as a business.

Hearing from local businesses like Carlos and Crystal Medina’s Restorative Pros is a great reminder of why the right phone platform is a non-negotiable for successful businesses.

Want to see if Vonix is right for your business? Call us at 855-778-6649 or schedule a demo now.

The post Customer Spotlight: Restorative Pros streamlines and cuts their bill in half appeared first on Vonix.

See, when customers and businesses love each other… Joking aside, what is Flex anyway?

Flex is a unique, multi-channel VoIP platform with the ability to seamlessly handle team chat, business texts, MMS, web chat, and soon to be social media messages. With the easy-to-use back-end, administrators have team communication analytics, call and message history, and customizable reports at their fingertips. Business communication with Flex surpasses basic business calling and texting, by handling multiple channels simultaneously as a team. Don’t be mad, sad, or feeling bad about the things your business has never had! Believe me, you, it’s as good as true, every business should have Flex!

The Run-Down on VoIP 

There is no need to be intimidated by VoIP (also known as “cloud phones” or a “hosted phone system”). It simply means that phone calls and messages run over an internet connection rather than traditional phone lines. The whole phone system lives in the cloud, with no need for in-office equipment (outside of optional desk-phones). With VoIP, users experience quality calls, features, texts, and chats on any device, from anywhere 4G or Wi-fi is available. No need to be tied to a desk.

Looking to convert your office to VoIP? Vonix provides a free VoIP network test to help indicate if a location’s network strength is compatible with an internet-based system.

What is the difference between SMS and MMS for business? 

Flex supports both SMS and MMS messaging. So what’s the difference? SMS, or “short message service,” simply means the message content is limited to alphabetical characters and grammatical punctuation. MMS, “multimedia message service,” means that the message contains photos, videos, or audio files. Through access to your photo libraries and phone’s camera, users can easily share MMS files via text with their business number. Flex users can send and receive media files without downloads or email attachments!

Somebody’s Gettin’ On My Nerves

Let’s take Spinderella for example, the CEO of the successful production company,  Salt-n-Pepa. She often finds herself carrying around more than one device, just to keep her personal and work conversations separate. Fortunately, she discovers Flex. No long-term commitments (aka: no contracts), only what she needs, when she needs it.

Spinderella and her team enter a new realm of productivity and more efficient customer management through Flex’s simple, well-organized app. Any ‘hit’ to her business (phone, text, web chat, social media) comes through on Flex.

After a week of having Flex, Spinderella takes a break to research an upcoming project. While online, she sees a channel message from her colleague, Cheryl, about a potential client. After posting in the team channel that she will handle the client, Cheryl transfers a text conversation with the lead to her, and Spinderella seamlessly takes over.

Just then, another client messages the main business number. It comes into the conversation queue for the whole team to see. Sandra takes the message from the queue only to realize that it is already her lunch break. She returns it to the queue for someone else to pick up.

With Flex, messages can be handled just like voice calls. They can be transferred, queued, and directed to the right person or department like an auto attendant. The customer hooks up with the right team member on their channel of choice.

Spinderella finishes up her sales conversation when she notices Sandra’s inactivity. After handling the client in the queue, Spinderella investigates the Reports & Analytics to see what Sandra’s been up to. She wasn’t shy, so she looked at all the digits. Sandra was pushin’ it. Fortunately, Spinderella has access to every bit of call and message history to see just what is going on.

After checking the productivity reports, Spinderella sends a direct message to Sandra:

“Sandra, I’ve noticed that there was some significant inactivity from you this week. You called a client a ‘She Thing’. Here you go, here you go, here you go again. Girl, this is your weakness. When you underestimate the recs, oh yeah, you’re a fool. We need to have a conversation about what needs to change.”

On the private channel, Spinderella receives a response from Sandra. The message reads, “What’s the matter with your life? Why have you got to mess with mine? Do not keep sweatin’ what I do. I’m gonna be just fine…”

Unfortunately, that was the nail in the coffin for Sandra. She just couldn’t get it together. But thanks to Flex, Spinderella had all the info she needed to make a clean break.

It didn’t take much. Spinderella had it all; analytics, calls, texts, team messaging, and live web chats coming and going. She even caught a live web chat with a new lead named Hurby who asked, “Can’t you hear the music pumping hard?”  Cheryl was on it and sent an audio file to him with their hit song, “Somebody’s Gettin’ On My Nerves.”  Impressed, Hurby signed on the dotted line. Whatta man!

The moral of this tale? The Flex solution gives businesses what they need, all in one place. The communication formula is simple.  Good vibes between your business and your customers starts with Flex. No convolutions, just Flex, followed next with a talk and a text, “Your service is dope!”

Thanks for having the talk with us.

Still have some questions? Do you want to know what Flex would look like for your company? Schedule a demo with a Vonix representative today.

The post Let’s talk about Flex! appeared first on Vonix.

According to Verizon, one of their busiest days for phone calls is Mother’s Day. This year, the number of calls they saw on Mother’s Day Sunday doubled to more than 800 million calls. Additionally, the time spent on the phone per call has increased overall across providers. Americans are calling more and spending more time on the phone than they have in decades. 

The craving for human connection extends far past wishing moms well. Early on, Zoom and Google Hangouts were the clear winners for unifying coworkers in a newly remote office setting. Over time, this preference has faded and traditional phone calls have come back in fashion. For one-to-one conversations it’s easier to pick up the phone and no one has to deal with buffering or disconnection issues.  

When your days are spent isolating at home with just family or housemates (or no one at all), talking to a colleague can be a breath of fresh air. People are really missing their normal routines, like catching up at the water cooler or talking about their favorite show. Even though historically employees felt that a lot of meetings could take place over email, now we’re seeing that a lot of communication that could be text-based is moving to be over the phone. 

Phones are also vital to businesses that are still operating face-to-face. With takeout and delivery in high demand, people are thinking twice about hanging around when their order is ready. Instead, restaurants are calling or texting their customers when their order is ready or when a delivery has been left at the doorstep. People are calling local breweries and stores to place orders when they would usually avoid calling at all costs.  

Generally, Gen Z and Millennials are the ones blamed for the downfall of the phone. In fact, a whopping 81% of millennials surveyed said they get anxious before making a call. This could be a self-fulfilling fear: many people rely on text communication and are out of practice in talking over the phone, making the idea more anxiety-inducing. 

We hope that the new reliance on phones in the workplace will remain and help people to continue to use phones as a means of communication well past 2020. Phones are uniquely able to facilitate social distance while building togetherness, and that’s exactly what we need right now. 

The post 2020’s Unexpected Tech Innovation for Businesses appeared first on Vonix.

Understanding “As a Service”

You might be more familiar with the term SaaS, software as a service, which is a way of saying that the product offered is cloud-based. Salesforce, Mailchimp, and Gmail are all examples of SaaS. Instead of using a physical product, the software is the service you’re getting.

Some products that once were delivered as a piece of hardware or CD-ROM software are now offered as SaaS. For instance, Adobe Photoshop was once a one-time purchase of hundreds of dollars. You would buy the CDs and access the software for life – so you were buying a license. Today, Adobe products are hosted on Adobe Creative Cloud. You pay a much lower rate per month to access a cloud download of their services. You’re now paying for access to the service for as long as you need it.

Benefits of CPaaS

There are many reasons why companies are switching from one-time purchases to monthly service offerings. Cloud-based platforms offer a number of benefits to both the provider and the user:

One Unified Solution: When software is available online, that means that it’s able to also talk to other software systems. You can integrate the service into other services that you use for a streamlined working experience. You’ll be able to set up automations between your CPaaS solution, billing software, sales portal, and more and work smarter.

Lower Costs: A user is more likely to try and continue using a product because the monthly cost is much easier to pay for than one large lump sum. When the cost is prohibitive, users might find ways to pirate or steal software access. When changed to a subscription model, the user only needs to pay as long as they need the software, and the provider can earn more business.

More Flexibility: Cloud-based products can be accessed on multiple devices, anywhere with an internet connection. If you switch computers, you probably won’t need to re-purchase the product or go through set up all over again. You just log in and are able to access the service where you last left off. Many CPaaS products are available to access on your mobile devices, too.

Upgrades and Updates: Because it’s cloud-hosted, the developer of the service can release patches, fixes, upgrades, and new features simply across all their customers. In the past, a user would have to buy the newest edition of a product to get the newest features; with SaaS and CPaaS, you can get the newest releases instantly within the platform without having to do a thing.

Vonix Flex is a CPaaS – it brigns together calling, texting, social media messaging, team chat and more into one simple platform. You can access it anytime, anywhere from any device giving you more flexibility into how you manage your business. If you’re looking for a unified communication system to simplify your customer communications, learn more about Flex.

The post What is CPaaS? Breaking Down Communications Platform as a Service appeared first on Vonix.

A softphone lets you access your business line from anywhere with a data connection. You can often use a lot of the same features offered by your desk phone, too. Here are three ways to get even more out of your mobile softphone app.

Keep a strong data connection

Because your calls will be made over mobile data, you want to ensure that you have the best connection possible. If you’re walking in and out of buildings, you should turn off your Wi-Fi and only rely on your 4G data. As you walk by buildings, your phone tries to connect to Wi-Fi networks and will have variations in connectivity, leading to unclear or dropped calls. Instead, turn your Wi-Fi off so you have a constant data connection.

Configure call routing

A softphone provides a lot of options for how you want to handle calls. You can have simultaneous ringing, meaning your desk phone, mobile phone, and desktop app all ring at the same time so that you can pick up from wherever you happen to be. Or, if you’re usually at your desk, you might want to set calls to ring to your cell phone after 3 rings. Some choose to have calls ring to their desk, then their mobile, and then send to a separate voicemail inbox. Just talk with your customer support team to determine the best route for your calls to take.

Take advantage of features

The biggest mistake people make when using a softphone is seeing it as just a calling app. However, it’s so much more. You’ll be able to keep business contacts in the app separate from your personal contacts in your phone. And, you can conference more than one person from your business line. Best of all, some mobile softphones allow you to text your customers from your business number. Providing a new convenient line of communication is a great way to check in on customers and earn more business.

Mobile softphones are a great solution for people who aren’t always at their desk phone. You’ll miss fewer calls and be able to reach more people with the smart features included in a softphone app.

The post How to Get the Most Out of Your Softphone appeared first on Vonix.

Businesses are always looking for a way to have an edge over their competition. Once upon a time this was by having a better yellow pages ad than the next business or by naming their company with a AAA to come up first in directory listings. More recently, everyone focused on online reviews like Yelp, TripAdvisor, and Capterra. So what’s the next step in reaching more customers?

The next big thing in business calling isn’t calling at all – it’s texting.

The average American spends 5.4 hours on their phone per day. And 75% of millennials would prefer to text over talking on the phone. While texting has historically only been used in peer to peer conversations or for marketing messages, more businesses are turning to adding texting to their VoIP plans.

Why texting is better than calling

Texting takes the on-the-spot pressure away from the conversation, giving each party time to think about their questions and responses they want to send before they reply. And texts enable each side to send links, photos, and videos to enrich the conversation.

When a customer texts a business, they can come back to the conversation at any time to pick back up with questions without having to call, get put on hold, or get sent to a voicemail inbox. Texting is also asynchronous – meaning that it doesn’t have to happen at the same time. A customer might think of something in the middle of the night and text it, fully expecting that the answer won’t come until business hours the next day.

Business texting features

One of the main reasons businesses don’t text customers is that they don’t want those conversations to live on an employee’s personal phone – and employees don’t want to use their personal phone for work. If the employee leaves, you lose all history with that customer and you don’t get to see what is being said. That’s where business texting comes in.

With business texting, you use an app instead of your phone’s native texting application to send messages. Or, you can send from a desktop application, removing the need for a mobile phone at all. You can use your business number to send messages, so no one’s personal phone number is revealed.

Where business texting falls short

The main complaint we hear about business texting is that it’s still one-to-one – the customer texts a direct line to an employee. That’s why we build Vonix Flex. With shared inboxes, you can assign multiple team members to message groups so that whoever is available first can answer the texts that come in. And everyone on the team will have full visibility into the conversation history with any customer, so whoever answers has all the context they need.

For managers and owners, we offer advanced analytics into calls and texts for every location and every line. Find out who is answering the most texts, who is spending the most time on the phone, and when you might need more coverage based on when you get the most calls and texts in.

All in all, more people wish they could text their business instead of calling. It lets customers communicate on their own terms and their timeline. It lets you communicate along their buying process instead of just during one phone call. And, it provides a line for people to reach out with questions that may seem too small for a phone call but make a big difference in their decision making.

That’s just the beginning of the ways Flex helps businesses communicate in the modern era. Learn more about how Flex can help your business grow.

The post The Next Big Thing in Business Calling  appeared first on Vonix.

Texting is an effective yet low-stakes way to connect with prospective and current customers. Because it’s asynchronous, the recipient can choose to not respond or can respond later when it’s most convenient. A text is a much smaller commitment than asking someone to take a phone call, but the two-way nature of it makes the barrier of response lower than with an email offer. Here are 3 ways businesses can use texting to grow revenue.

1. Offer to check stock and place orders

Use your social media accounts to publicize your business texting number to let customers get a hold of you. We see this with local craft breweries offering tap lists for to-go beer pickups and bike shops sharing what they have in stock. Just letting customers know they can text you will go a long way in getting those who prefer to not use the phone.

2. Give personalized special offers

People know what marketing texts look like and often ignore them – they come from a 5-digit number, state the company, and include tracking links. Instead, craft texts that are personal – just like if you were giving the person a call.

Introduce yourself, get to the point, and don’t pester. Don’t repeatedly text people who say no or don’t respond. You want to sound helpful, not pushy.

Start with people who you’ve talked to but haven’t closed the sale.

• Hi [name], this is [your name] with [company]. Were you still considering [item]? I’m here if you have any other questions before you buy. We’re also offering 10% off through the end of the weekend – let me know if you want me to hook you up!

3. Check in with past customers

Look at your customer log and find customers who bought from you 3, 6, or even 12 months ago. Send something quick with a low-stakes ask.

• Hi [name], this is [your name] with [company]. I hope you’re loving your new [item]. As you know, things are a little rough for small businesses right now – if you have time, would you mind leaving us a review on Google or Facebook? It would mean a lot. I’d be happy to give you or a friend 15% off your next purchase if you do. Thanks!
• Hi [name], this is [your name] with [company]. I just wanted to check in and make sure you were still happy with [item]. We just got in some great accessories that go with it and wanted to share them with you!
• Hi [name], this is [your name] with [company]. It looks like you’ve had your [item] for a year! Have you been enjoying it?

Texting is a great way to build relationships with prospective and past customers alike. You can use texts to try to earn referrals, repeat business, or upsells. It’s always good to stay top of mind and a quick text is the best way to reengage your contacts.

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