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How To Turn Your Smartphone Into A Business Phone System

Getting two phones is a common practice among business people. One is for personal calls and messages, while the other is for business purposes. 

But of course, getting two phones isn’t that good of an idea. First, you have to spend more. Secondly, you have to carry two gadgets at once. That’s precisely why agencies, like openphone.co, offer services that allow you to use two different numbers in one phone. Doing so would remove the impracticality brought by getting two phones. Plus, these services often offer additional features, like group messaging and call recording.

How To Turn Your Smartphone Into A Business Phone System

Unfortunately, if you’re planning on replicating a business phone system, although these services would certainly help, they won’t be enough. After all, smartphones don’t usually consist of important features, like transcribers, custom API, VoIP, speed dial, call forwarding, and the likes. But with a couple of modifications here and there, you can turn your smartphone into a functional business phone system. 

Below are a few tips to get you started:

  • Enable Speed Dial 

Calling tens or even hundreds of numbers daily is part of every businessperson’s life. Naturally, you’d have difficulty remembering all those numbers. So, the best way to call them is by searching for their contact from your list, which is still somewhat inefficient. 

Speed dial is a feature that addresses this issue by allowing users to place a call using a shorter sequence of numbers. Fortunately, speed dial is a built-in feature in smartphones. Simply search for your smartphone’s brand and look into how you can enable the speed dial feature. Enabling such a feature should be an excellent way to start moving towards your goal. 

  • Look For Unlimited Messaging Services 

As stated earlier, calling is a huge part of a businessperson’s daily life. So, chances are, a typical subscription wouldn’t last you for long. With that said, if you want to turn your smartphone into a full-fledged business phone, you might want to look for subscriptions with unlimited messages and calls. It may be a bit more expensive than usual, but it should be more than worth it, especially for your purposes. 

  • Establish A Conference Bridge 

A conference bridge, which others may call a conference line, is a type of call where several people can join in at the same time. It’s handy for business people, especially for virtual meetings and announcements, as it saves you time that you would’ve spent calling people individually. While it’s not a fairly standard feature in business phone systems, it’s still a valuable feature to add to your smartphone. 

You can establish a conference line on your smartphone by opening an account from conference call services. You’ll then select a number where future conference calls will take place. Once you’ve set up a dial-in number, you can now organize conference calls with your smartphone. 

  • Connect Phones With Call Forwarding 

When a customer calls your business number and doesn’t get an answer, their impression of your business would significantly decline. That’s why receiving calls from customers is a must. But you won’t always be there to answer calls, especially if the customer calls an office phone instead of your business phone. Call forwarding would go a long way in resolving this problem. 

Call forwarding is a business phone system feature that routes calls from office phones to a designated device. For instance, if someone calls the number of one of the business’s office phones, the call would automatically get transferred to your smartphone. 

Put simply, before your smartphone can become a fully functioning business phone, it must first be connected to all devices that may receive calls from customers, like office phones. Moreover, make sure you or a receptionist is available to address customers’ concerns. Otherwise, forwarding the call to your smartphone would be pointless. If you don’t have a receptionist, then you can settle for an auto-attendant instead. 

  • Set Up An Auto-Attendant 

An auto-attendant is a system that automatically answers, responds, and transfers call according to the conditions and rules set by the owner. You can think of it as a replacement for a human receptionist that typically handles your calls all day. 

Almost every virtual phone system has an auto-attendant feature, or at least a version of it, and for several reasons. One, callers would always be happy as they get answers there and then without being put on hold. Two, you can cut back on your expenses by eliminating hiring costs. But, most importantly, you won’t be missing any important calls. 

For that reason, if you want to replicate a business phone system as much as possible with a smartphone, an auto-attendant is a must-have. The good news is that there are several platforms with a built-in auto-attendant feature. A few examples include Microsoft Teams and Google. You only have to decide on a platform and then follow their instructions.  

  • Considering Adding A Call Rejection Feature 

Receiving as many calls as possible is a good practice among business people as it minimizes the chances of upsetting potential customers. However, not every call is worth taking, especially if it’s someone you’ve already blocked. 

On that note, it’s worth having a call rejection feature that would automatically prevent calls from blocked caller IDs and anonymous callers. Not only will it save you time, but it would also save you from any trouble these callers may bring. 

  • Avail For A Toll-Free Number 

As a businessperson, you want prospects to call you as much as possible, especially since you’ll get a chance to convert them into customers with each call. But that won’t be possible if they’re billed every time they call you. That’s why you need to obtain a toll-free number. This is a number that prospects can dial without incurring charges to the caller. With a toll-free number, prospects can rest assured knowing that they can call you anytime they want. 

There are several ways to obtain a toll-free number, although the best option is to simply look for the appropriate service provider. It usually costs around $15 a month and a few cents for every call placed on that number, but that shouldn’t be enough to put a dent in your wallet. 

Final Words 

The advancements in smartphone technology are explicitly designed to offer convenience. That’s precisely why a typical smartphone doesn’t provide the same features that a business phone does, but that’s not to say you can’t add those features yourself. With this guide, you should be able to turn any smartphone into a business phone system.