It is age old knowledge that the 4 P’s of marketing a business are product, price, place and promotion. There will be reams of pages written about leveraging the 4 P’s for your business. The internet is full of all kinds of strategies too.
The same 4 P’s apply to your business; even more acutely, if you are a localized business. By localized, I do not mean, operating only in a local area. What I mean is a business with specific focus on a local area. You could be a business operating out of Australia with specific focus on Adelaide and Perth. Or you could be a business operating out of Australia with your only focus as a Brisbane. In either case you are a localized business.
Localized business has gained a new stature in today’s era of business. Your HQ of business might be in India with global offices in UK and Australia. For the purpose of lending a local appeal to your business you will need to have local phone numbers for Australia and UK.
Suddenly, the 4th P in the marketing mix seems the most important. Promotion!
Promotion as we all know creates awareness, gets sales, builds the brand and improves buyer confidence in your business.
A local phone number brings forth all the benefits a promotional channel does to your business. It builds a sense of community, makes your business trustworthy and promotes ease of business.
The most important factor to consider a local phone number however is its impact on buyer confidence. Does a local phone number improve buyer confidence or no? This is the critical question, we need to answer.
Let’s first understand what factors affect buyer’s confidence in your business. Also, does having a local phone number impact these factors positively or not.
Accessibility
A potential buyer wants to easily access your product/service. If the buyer has to go through an ordeal to even access you, then it’s a lost cause. No buyer has the time or patience for it. Plus your business is not the only one offering that product/service. In the best interest of your business, it is best if you are easily accessible to your customer. If you are not accessible, some other business with a similar product/service is always there.
A local phone numbers lends your business an image of being local. This is true, no matter where you operate from. Today, it is possible and easy to get a local number even for a global business, whether big or small.
A local phone number is easy to recall and dial. It definitely improves buyer confidence in your business.
Availability
A buyer likes the business to be available 24X7. There is no particular pattern associated to a buyer’s whim or a fancy. A buyer can decide in the middle of the night or in the wee hours of morning to place an order with your business. Are your business operations available during such odd hours? is the question that needs to be answered here.
A company like Star Bucks is probably there during such odd hours. But, what if you are a service based company? Would you still be available for your customer?
This is where a local phone number plays a major role. Irrespective of the country you are in, some of the advanced features of a local phone number allow for call recording or forwarding. They can also be programmed to intelligently identify the need of the caller and route it accordingly to the concerned person, department or country.
Yes, that’s two points for local phone number vis a vis improved buyer confidence.
Responsiveness
Any buyer would like to be responded to and quickly. How responsive is your business with respect to a buyer’s query? The query could be anything ranging from a product or a service enquiry, to a deliverable or even a customization. Is the information needed to answer a range of queries available? How easily can it be retrieved and relayed? If the answers to these questions are in the affirmative, then you have a sure way to respond to your buyers in the shortest time possible.
Automating responses for buyer queries can easily be done with local phone numbers. It saves your business money in terms of hiring person. Instead the same money can be routed to use top notch features of a local phone number to respond to customer queries round the clock.
With a local phone number, your responsiveness is quick and seamless; a definite winner in improving buyer confidence.
Apart from these factors, a local phone number can boost buyer confidence in your business by building a huge image of trust. It is natural for a buyer to rely on a business that is tangible, accessible, available and responsive than a virtual entity. This is very basic human nature.
A local phone number can be featured on local phone listings, business listings and even online listings. Google does it. So do its competitors.
The advanced features available through a local phone number definitely build the image of a credible business and go a long way in improving buyer confidence.
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