What is DID Number Buying and how Do You Choose the Right Service?
Choosing the right service for your operation can be a hair-raising task, especially when you have no idea what they are. DID phone numbers is one such service and understanding how this technology works can and will help you grow and improve your business. There are different kinds of DID phone numbers and each has its own advantages and disadvantages.
Differentiating each of these services by its pros and cons can make or break your company.
What is a DID Phone Number?
DID or Direct Inward Dialing, in a simple sense, is a pool of phone numbers offered by phone companies to a business to be used in their PBX or VoIP systems to be used in one or more phone lines. This allows companies to no longer need an individual phone line for every employee that they want to assign an individual and unique phone numbers. This helps companies manage and split phone lines and traffic easily.
DID phone numbers were created originally to help customers reach certain departments but nowadays that system is outdated. These DID phone numbers were used only a s an inbound system without the capabilities of outbound calls. Modern DID phone numbers act the same way as VoIP phone numbers nowadays as both have the capability of performing outbound calls. DID phone numbers and VoIP phone numbers are treated interchangeably with one another as each acts as a pool of phone numbers that current PBX systems can use to route customers.
Why buy a DID phone number?
Buying DID phone numbers depends on the situation of your company. If your company is small enough to have it routed through an operator or front desk then DID phone numbers are not needed.
DID phone numbers are used when a switchboard operator could no longer handle the manual transfer of customers to different employees or departments. DID phone numbers are used by your PBX system to route calls automatically and efficiently t o your company’s different internal departments without needing human intervention. This will result in customers being able to reach their intended departments faster and thus resulting in more sales, increased customer satisfaction, and increased overall productivity.
Different kinds of DID Phone Numbers
Local DID Phone Numbers
Local DID phone numbers are numbers that use the same city-specific dial codes as your customers. This results i n customers being charged the same rate as local calls no matter where these calls are routed to.
Advantages:
- Establish a local presence and add a local appeal for your company wherever in the world.
- Callers in the local region will be more comfortable interacting and calling a phone number that is familiar to them.
- Less expensive for your business as you do not have to shoulder the cost of each call.
Disadvantages:
- Have customers shoulder the cost of each call to your company.
Toll-free DID Phone Numbers
Toll-free DID phone numbers as the name suggests are toll-free phone numbers with the local DID phone number added to it. This allows customers to call a professional-looking toll-free phone number while adding the comfort and assurance of dialing a local phone number to the customer.
Advantages:
- Helps your business look more professional.
- Makes your company appear to be a more customer and support-centric company.
- Customers can expect no charges when calling your company.
- Builds a global brand presence.
- Easier to port to new locations.
- Vanity and easy to remember phone numbers.
Disadvantages:
- Higher rate of false or spam calls than non-toll-free numbers.
- Less targeting of local customers.
- Make your company appear more professional than personal.
Local or Toll-free phone numbers? How do you choose the right service?
The short answer, it depends. If you want to establish a more personal and local presence, then local DID phone numbers are the way to go. It may be more costly to your customers when calling but it helps build up a brand reputation and loyalty as y our company is just one phone call away for them i n case they need help or want to close a deal.
If you want to look more established and global then toll-free is the way to go. Toll-free numbers make your brand look more customer-centric than having a local DID phone number. Customers would have the peace of mind knowing that when they call, they would not have to pay anything for you to help them out.
Companies nowadays would opt-in for a more hybrid approach wherein they would have a local phone number that is also a toll-free phone number. It gets the best of both worlds. Customers can call in anytime they want without cost and companies can get the benefit of not only adding a vanity local number that is easy to remember but also builds up a brand presence in that local region.
Always inspect what your company needs. Look at it not only from a cost standpoint but also from a consumer standpoint. Check on what will work best in building up your company’s reputation among customers. Remember choosing between these three would make your company more appealing amongst your current and future customers.
Conclusion
How do you choose the right provider?
This question is always a hard one to answer. With many great service providers out there, such as Telnum, that provide DID, toll-free, and virtual phone numbers, it is becoming harder and harder to choose which one you should go for. I would say choose the one that is best for your company. It is such an easy thing to say but it is true. Go for what your company would need. There are a lot out there offering a lot of different add-ons, services, and licensing. You can easily get lost in all the convoluted mess and that is why you should be diligent in not only reading what they have t o offer but also look into the fine print and details of their packages and deals. Trust me as this simple advice can, later on, help your company save a lot of money.