OK, you can’t stretch customer attention spans with total control of your VoIP system. But with the ability to immediately change your VoIP system, you can work with short attention spans and keep them from getting in the way of your business goals.
It starts with one fact. The average adult attention span lasts eight seconds. Eight. Seconds. A couple of blinks. When people talk about the pace of business, this race we’re all running, that eight seconds is what you’re trying to stay ahead of.
Here’s how attention spans and phone system control come together.
Imagine you’ve come across a legitimate business opportunity in Somalia. A really juicy one. There was a message from them waiting when you got in, they want what you’ve got. But your VoIP provider (for your safety) has Somalia on a blacklist of destinations you can’t call, and to whitelist it, you need to fax (yes, FAX) in a request and wait for it to be processed.
Who knows how long that request will take. More than eight seconds for sure. Maybe more than eight days. So the potential is lost. They’ve given up on you and moved on to someone else who has the capacity to respond. And you’ve probably forgotten all about it because, hey, there’s business to attend to.
Dramatic? Maybe. But it’s a real scenario. When business requires your VoIP system to change, delays cost business.
And, as I’m sure you’ve guessed, it goes way beyond attention spans. It’s operational. You hire a new inside sales rep. She says, “I can start tomorrow.” Great. But your VoIP provider takes three days to provision new numbers. So for two days, you’re managing an awkward work around that disrupts the whole process and confuses customers when it changes again in a couple of days. It’s distracting, and it steals focus away from what matters most – being productive.
For the attention spans that really matter, those of customers, you need to react quickly. Imagine you’re a snow plow company, and out of the blue a rogue storm drops three feet of snow on your city early one Wednesday in the middle of October. Brilliant! People need you. They’re calling in droves. But your phone system doesn’t have the capacity to handle the flash flood of demand. You need to add more lines in but your VoIP provider support team is three time zones west and isn’t answering yet. Even if they did, there’s paperwork and turn around times on this kind of account modification is at best a day, by which time the snow’s been plowed by your competitors. Customers don’t have time to wait for your VoIP provider to process your request. Business won’t wait, people want action and gratification. If you can’t answer, they’ll buy somewhere else.
Instantaneous control of your telecommunications is more than convenience. Control of your VoIP account is a strategic advantage that allows you to respond and adapt to your environment in real-time because that’s what the pace of business demands.
When you need new phone numbers, capacity, routes, or fraud protections, you need them right away. And you can have them the second they’re required if you’re working with the right Internet telephone provider.
