How can you make an automated phone service?

IPIP

Hi all

My business is very small and is home based.

I need a really simple service where the caller hears an introduction

i.e. "Thanks for calling X Ltd, please wait and we'll answer your call soon"

How can one do that?

I was thinking to get a second line and purchase those 0845 numbers and have them direct it to my landline. I mean is there a simpler way of getting a phone service with a simple menu?

Thanks

steve1980

You actually need to pay a third party supplier to provide the equipment you need.

pitkin2020

There is no real simple option you either need all the telephone equipment yourself which won't be cheap and you will need a few telephone lines to handle the calls or you could use a call answering service. Most UK call centres offer the facility and you could either have them answer them or reroute to your own phones/mobiles.

IPIP

steve1980 wrote: »

You actually need to pay a third party supplier to provide the equipment you need.

Thanks Steve

Do you know any services that provide that?

I searched all over google for phrases like "voice greeting provider", "voice greeting equipment" and I can't seem to find any useful things.

fwor

You don't have to pay a third party service provider, and you can start with cheap equipment.

However, you need to make an assessment of risk. If you go DIY and you make a mistake or have a hardware failure, can your business really afford to have that service suddenly go missing? How long would it survive with no incoming phone handling?

A dirt cheap entry point is a decent spec PC with an OpenVox interface card, which will handle up to 4 incoming lines, and integrates well with VOIP. The software to run on the PC can be any of the current variants of the free Asterisk "PBX in a box" software - for example I've tried Trixbox, AsteriskNOW!, Elastix and PIAF around a year ago and they all work, more or less. Things change quickly and I'm a bit out of date, so there may be others now.

If you don't want to do the high-risk DIY option, there are also people who will build, service and maintain for you. If you search for "Asterisk consultancy" you find loads out there - but treat their "past clients" list with suspicion, as I reckon most are 1 or 2 person outfits...

[I should add that I've done several Asterisk builds, and I personally did not find any easy. If you are not technically minded, I would not recommend the DIY route unless you are prepared to spend more time tweaking your phone system than doing actual business!]

InsideInsurance

You could simply use a VOIP provider that includes virtual PBX as a service and could be just a couple of quid a month and you manage the service via a website.

Get a reasonable hardware voip phone for £100 and you've got a strong and reasonably priced solution.

Savvy_Sue

IPIP wrote: »

My business is very small and is home based.

I need a really simple service where the caller hears an introduction

i.e. "Thanks for calling X Ltd, please wait and we'll answer your call soon"

How can one do that?

I was thinking to get a second line and purchase those 0845 numbers and have them direct it to my landline. I mean is there a simpler way of getting a phone service with a simple menu?

Forgive me if I'm missing something REALLY obvious here, but WHY do you want to do this?

I mean, I know that the phone will ring until it's answered, and until it's answered I'm not paying. So if you're doing this as a means of answering the phone faster - well, you're not really doing that, are you? And if you're not going to get to the phone in the time I'm prepared to hear it ringing for, then I'm being charged to wait for you to get to the phone, and having an automatic voice telling me to wait isn't going to please me.

How long are you expecting people to 'please wait', out of interest?

paddyrg

Have a look at dmclub.net

Free, but you have to use an 0870 or similar number.

Savvy_Sue

So in addition to my 'why would you want to do this?' question above, you seem to be saying you'll be using a number which people will have to pay to call if they're on a mobile, which more and more people are.

Really, why would you want to do this?

Annisele

I agree with Savvy_Sue - I'll happily call geographic numbers from my mobile (because it's free), but 0845s I'll only call if I really want to speak to that company. Usually I'll just find another supplier, or use email.

McKneff

As a consumer, I would rather the phone rang and rang Im quite happy to wait for someone to answer it but ringing an 0845/0870 number and having it answered immediately and then put on hold for 5/10 minutes is really, really annoying. I'm paying for the call and you and the supplier are getting paid for it.

If in say yellow pages there is a list of companie who do the same thing, the 0800 number gets my enquiry first, then the 01 or 02 number, the 0845/0870 is really last on my list (after i have looked at Saynoto0870)
Just my slant on things as a consumer who is giving you my business and keeping you in a job.