What's in a Phone Number?

As a pet-sitter you will have to provide a means for current and potential customers to easily get in touch. As we move into an ever increasing technological era with more and more communication being done online, there still are a very high percentage of people who prefer to use the phone. Several years ago, most people only had one phone number as their landline at home, but today there are a plethora of options available. Below we discuss some of the options available:  

Landline

Most of us still have landlines, as generally you need to have a landline in order to receive a broadband internet connection. When you give your landline number out, local people will instantly recognise the area code so they know you work within the local vicinity. However, it can be expensive to divert your landline to a mobile phone as you will be paying the cost from the landline to the mobile.  

Mobile

Whether it is a personal mobile, or a dedicated business mobile, it is probably the easiest way to get in touch with someone today. Not only do they provide an instant address book for all your clients, it means that you can receive calls easily on the go (abiding by traffic regulations) to ensure you don't miss any calls from potential clients.  

0800 Freephone

Freephone numbers have been around for a long time and over the years their use has started to decline. Whilst 0800 remains free of charge to most people who phone from a landline, there is a cost for people phoning from mobiles. This can in fact put people off from phoning a Freephone number as given a choice between a landline and a Freephone number, a lot of people would choose the landline number first. There is a monthly/annual service charge associated with having an 0800 number.  

0845 Non Geographic

0845 numbers are classified as non-geographic as they are not associated with any particular region with the UK. Anybody can easily purchase an 0845 number and setup the calls to be sent to their landline or mobile. Typically this type of phone number is used by large national organisations who have many locations and phoning their 0845 number puts your call through to a call centre. Some small businesses also use 0845 numbers for a variety of reasons. The main thing to think about is what kind of phone number would you phone if you were given a choice of a landline or an 0845 number.  

Skype Number

Quite a new concept but it is very popular. For a nominal fee (around £10 for 3 months) you can rent a local landline phone number and it will be connected to your Skype account. So you can advertise your Skype phone number and when your customers phone it, they will be ringing your Skype account. You can install the Skype App on most smartphones, and the phone call will come through to the mobile. With this there are no additional divert or call charges and the customer just pays the normal fee for dialing a landline number. The only limitation with this service is that it runs on WiFi or 3G, so if you are not in a WiFi or 3G area then there will be no service.   Whatever phone you use for your business, make sure it works for you. Keep an eye on what other local businesses are doing by how they advertise their phone number. Also put yourself in the potential customer's shoes what number would they trust more to phone when looking for a new pet sitter.