Basics and Benefits of Voice Mail and Unified Messaging
Voice mail and unified messaging are automated telephone
technologies used by businesses large and small to increase
productivity and efficiency while providing 24-hour
responsiveness to callers. Also called "virtual office systems,"
"virtual assistant" and "virtual PBX," they don't require you to
buy any software or hardware. You're simply renting a monthly
service, and the service provider automatically routes your
calls to a number that's exclusively assigned to you. All calls
to this number arrive at your physical phone.
Depending on the features you choose and how you tailor them,
most voicemail/unified messaging services make it possible for
your callers press keys for more information by voice and/or
fax, and to leave voice mail messages, and to be forwarded live
to the person they're calling.
There's a range of different voice mail and unified messaging
services available, all with different features and calling
plans. They charge a monthly fee for the basic service, plus
long distance by the minute for all usage. Most include a toll
free number, and some also offer local (non-toll) numbers in
selected cities.
Pricing varies depending on the features you choose. You can get
everything from a toll free number and/or one voice mail box to
a unified messaging aka a virtual PBX with the works.
If all you need is a toll free number, shop your local Yellow
Pages and the Internet for companies specializing in toll free
numbers only. Or if all you need is one or two voice mail boxes
for taking messages (and you'd rather not use an answering
machine), begin with your local telephone company and then
compare their prices to other such services.
But now let's talk "unified messaging, virtual office, virtual
assistant and virtual PBX," all of which generally mean the same
thing: a single phone number that does it all for your callers,
automates your communications and consolidates all your
messaging, 24/7. The starting point in determining the nature
and scope of your service requirement is to know how many voice
mail boxes you need. You figure this according to how many
different products and/or options you want to present to your
callers via outgoing audio recordings that you place in the
system. You also look at this based on how many associates, if
any, are using the system with you.
For example, you'll need more than voice mail box if you need an
automated way to deliver various kinds of messages/announcements
to your callers, say, about different products or different
options. This allows your callers to press designated keys to
hear what they're looking for and to leave messages relevant to
that topic.
You'd also need more than one voice mail box if anyone else
works with you in your business. This allows callers to leave
messages and make contact with the staff member you've assigned
to that voice mail box extension.
If you want to take your calls live, you need "Follow-me-live"
aka call forwarding. Ideally, the service you choose should have
unlimited call forwarding where it can ring as many different
phone numbers as you want until it finds you. (Many services
will only forward to one additional number so keep an eye out
for this.)
Another thing you'd most likely want to avoid is the service
that limits the length of your voice mail messages, in, out or
both. Be sure you don't mind having your callers cut off at the
ankles before subscribing to limited-length messaging services.
So far we've only scraped the surface of unified messaging
services. Among the many other features and functions of the
best services are caller ID, call screening, paging, fax on
demand, email voice and fax delivery, voice blasting,
name/address capture, lead distribution, music on hold,
automated order taking, automated interviewing and more.
The service you choose should be just that robust, versatile,
scalable and flexible without costing an arm and a leg. The best
example is a user-centric service that has years of consistent
uptime, lots of features, simplicity of use, and never a busy
signal. The idea being to support your need to deliver the
highest form of responsiveness to your callers that automation
can provide while gaining greater productivity and efficiency
for your business.