📱Improve your phone system

Hi Wash Weekly Family.

There’s a question I see come up in several of the laundromat owners groups I’m in:

What phone system should I get for my store?

My answer is always the same: VOIP.

What is VOIP?

VoIP stands for Voice over Internet Protocol.

It’s a set of technologies that allows us to make and receive phone calls over the internet, which lets us cut the cord and provides a lot of flexibility that you find in big businesses.

Think back to our email Think you’re too small to compete? Using the right tools, like VoIP, can give your business the look and feel of a well-organized corporation and allows you to deliver great service and support to your clients.

That’s all great, but why VOIP?

You know your friend Waleed has the answer.

1. Cost Savings: VOIP is often more affordable than traditional phone systems, as it eliminates the need for physical phone lines and hardware.

2. Flexibility: VOIP allows you and your employees to take calls from anywhere with an internet connection.

3. Scalability: VOIP can easily scale up or down as your business grows, making it easier to add or remove users as needed.

4. Advanced Features like:

   1. Call forwarding

   2. Voicemail-to-email

   3. Virtual receptionist to route calls to the right people at your store. Think press 1 for store hours, press 2 for address… Imagine how much time this saves your team when callers only need basic info that can be recorded on your VOIP system.

   4. Company directory. Think press this option to get to the right person or department.

5. Disaster Recovery: ensures that your business communications can continue even in the event of a power outage or other emergency.

But that’s not even the best part!

Here are some of my favorite features of VOIP and how we use them at The Soap Box.

My Favorite Features

1. Video Conferencing:

   1. Used for store meetings when team members can’t make it to the store at that time.

   2. Showing clients an item they have questions about.

   3. Meetings with prospective commercial clients seeking our services.

   4. Sales pitches to sales leads.

2. Virtual Receptionist:

   1. Automates the call answering and routing, providing callers with a professional greeting and options. (remember the example above, press one for…)

3. Call Forwarding:

   1. We use this feature to redirect calls to another number, ensuring that calls are never missed, even when the team is busy working on orders or other tasks that keep them away from the phone.

4. Call Recording:

   1. This is great for customer service audits. I will check random phone calls to see how the team is answering the phone and how they are handling client questions and situations.

5. Voicemail-to-Email:

   1. I LOVE THIS!! Essentially, the system packages your voicemails as an audio file and emails them to you.

   2. It’s especially great when you enable the voice transcription feature. The system writes out the message for you in the email so you can read it instead of listening to it. Bonus: it’s also a good laugh when the system tries to write out a voicemail it doesn’t understand 😃

6. Call Queuing:

   1. If you get several calls in a short period or at the same time it will put the incoming calls in a virtual queue, ensuring that callers are answered in the order they were received.

7. Fax:

   1. Yes, some people still use fax. This feature provides us with a digital fax line to send and receive faxes.

8. SMS and Instant Messaging:

   1. We use this as an additional way our clients can reach us with questions.

9. Mobile App:

   1. Pure Gold!!! You install the mobile app of your VOIP provider on your cell phone and it turns your cellphone into an office phone for your store.

   2. This allows you to make and receive calls (when you make these calls it appears to the caller that you are calling from your store), send messages, and access other features from your mobile device, providing greater mobility and flexibility.

Consider making the move to VOIP or looking into the additional features you can use on your existing VOIP system.

You’ll lower your costs, gain more flexibility with remote work, and streamline your communications.

The best part: as your business grows, the system can easily adapt.

Now that’s a win!

—---

TL;DR:

1. VOIP uses internet technology to receive and make calls.

2. There are a number of benefits to having a VOIP system, including lower costs and greater flexibility.

3. Some of my favorite VOIP features, and how I use them in my business.

Til the next time, I’ll be here airing out some not-so-dirty laundry every Sunday!– Waleed 🏴‍☠️

I would love to hear your thoughts on this week’s topic– let me know in this issue’s survey below. And for more on the garment care business, connect with me on Youtube and Linkedin!

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