No one likes a recession, but small businesses especially take a hit when the economy takes a downturn. They typically have less financial margin to absorb a drop in demand or an increase in supply costs. Also, fixed expenses can consume a larger part of an SMB’s budget, which means it’s harder to find places to cut costs.
But enough of the bad news, there is a bright side. You can take a meaningful step to recession-proof your business by adopting new technology solutions, starting with your telecommunications. Read on to learn four ways transitioning to an app-based, cloud voice and Business Texting solution gives you a strategic edge – recession or no recession.
When you launched your business, you may have needed a landline with a dedicated business number. Then you started using your cell phone to take work on the go with you. Then you layered a texting service on your landline to make sure you could respond to customer texts using your business number. Oh — and separate charges for voicemail, call forwarding, IVR auto attendant. Have you noticed the costs start to add up?
Believe it or not, you can get the same functionality of those multiple subscriptions by using a modern cloud communications product like Cloudli TalkNText. For as little as $15 per user per month, you get Voice over IP (VoIP) and Business Texting accessible from any computer or mobile device through a dedicated app. You also get all the features helpful to SMBs, including:
You could save more than $2,500 annually in subscriptions and fees, while simplifying your life in the process!
When you have a virtual voice and text solution, your team can handle customer calls and orders anywhere and anytime simply by logging into the mobile app on their computer or mobile device. That gives you the option to reduce office space needs and have some or all of your employees – for instance, your customer call center – work remotely from home. With office space running anywhere from $100 to $1,000 per month per employee, that can offer significant potential savings over the course of a year.
A cloud business phone solution allows you to maintain a high level of customer service and respond promptly to calls and messages in a way that’s unobtrusive to customers. With Cloudli TalkNText, for instance, you can layer VoIP and texting on your existing landline and use the mobile app to answer customer calls and texts, or communicate among staff members. You can even share a number so anyone can answer an incoming call or text, or respond to a voicemail, no matter where they are. That conversation thread gets captured in the app so everyone can review the conversation thread and respond accordingly. It’s a perfect example of technology making remote work possible.
Sometimes doing more with less is the key to weathering economic uncertainty. Cloud phone and texting technology makes that possible through automated features that save you time and improve efficiency.
Case in point: TalkNText has an AI-powered Call Screener option that lets you know who is calling and reason for their call. You receive a real-time text message, allowing you to decide to answer the call, send it straight to voicemail or block the number. You can set up customized text auto-replies that let customers know you received their call or order and will respond at a designated time. You can also have the text auto-reply share information like business hours or links to your website, so the customer knows when you’ll be back in the office and check out your web pages for more information.
Above all, the best way to weather a recession is to keep your existing customers happy, and a VoIP solution with a texting option can help. A consumer survey found that 93% of consumers who want to shop small and local want the option to both talk and text with businesses. More than eight in ten (81%) specifically say they want to text their favorite brands and businesses.
Taking the simple step of text enabling your business line through a virtual voice and texting technology can show you’re responsive to customer preferences, and can ensure you stay in touch with your best customers when it matters most.
Changing or adopting any technology can be nerve-wracking, especially when you have one eye on the bottom line. But Cloudli’s free trial of TalkNText can help you determine whether a cloud voice and texting solution is best for your business, and let you test out some of its recession-proofing features. Click here to get started today.
1Conditions apply; subject to Cloudli Terms of Service and Fair Use Policy.
2Team messaging is defined as messages sent between TalkNText users, on the TalkNText app.
3Business Texting is defined as any SMS or MMS messages sent to external contacts via the Cloudli TalkNText desktop and mobile apps, including 1-1 conversational text messages, appointment reminders and dispatching, SMS Broadcasts, auto-replies, automated text message sequences, and messages sent via API or TalkNText widget.