You know that moment when you call a business and you’re greeted with, “Hello, can you please hold.” You start to open your mouth to say something, but before you can even answer, you hear the elevator music start to play and realize it was a statement not a question. All you wanted was to be transferred to extension 1013.

You might be on the other end of the spectrum looking for business communication solutions for your company because you are the person putting people on hold. If only they could just call who they need directly instead of being routed through you. That would make your life so much easier and your day much more efficient.

What your business needs are direct phone lines on your office phone systems. You’re probably somewhat familiar with the concept, but just not sure how to make it a part of your phone system. Here’s how it works.

First it’s important to understand the difference between a direct office phone line versus an extension.

A line refers to the actual phone number and can be either a direct dial number (DID) or an office phone line.

An extension refers to the separate phones that run off of a phone line.  An extension is a unique number given to a phone set on the desk of a person, or another place in the office.

Ask yourself, “How many multiple phone numbers do I need for my business or how many separate extensions versus how many direct dial numbers?”

Benefits of Direct Dial Numbers

Your phone service vendor can help you determine which system will provide the best business communication solutions for your company, but you will see the following benefits.

• Employees can be contacted directly. This is helpful when a customer has been working with a specific support person who knows their case.

• Better call management. Direct dial numbers help streamline your phone system so that customer’s needs are efficiently met even when there’s high call volume.

• Call forwarding. Direct extensions allow employees to forward their calls from their work line to their cell phone or home phone, giving them the opportunity to take work-related calls when they’re on the road or working from home.

Direct dial numbers simply give your business the ability to manage your calls better and provide more efficient customer service.

Implementation

You know it’s frustrating when you can’t get to the person you need to talk to, and you don’t want your customers to experience this when they call your business. Direct dial numbers can help you solve this problem and make your business more efficient.

It’s important to do some basic research when searching for the right phone system vendor to work with. If you’re ready to learn more about how direct dials can be used for your business, we invite you to contact Gaynor Telesystems, Inc. for a free demo. Before we recommend specific business communication solutions, we make sure we understand your challenges that are driving you to make a change.