There’s a basic bottom line for any trades business- Communications. Everything the business does is based on it. Your phones are your business to some extent.

There’s a basic bottom line for any trades business- Communications. Everything the business does is based on it. Your phones are your business to some extent. Appointments, client relations, materials, job scheduling, problem solving, you name it, the story is all about communications. Your business phone systems very much define how you handle your operations.

Business Phone Systems Basic Operating Principles

That said- When you’re looking at a phone system, you’ve got another natural issue with any business phone system- Its cost and suitability for your business. The cost has to provide value and preferably simplify and improve how you manage your communications. One of the basic principles of phone system design is improving accessibility both ways for callers and businesses.

For example:

  • If you’re managing multiple calls from multiple sources, splitting up and routing those calls is a good idea.
  • If you have a business where you’re doing consultations with builders or designers, you need dedicated lines and to separate this work from the main streams of calls.
  • If you’ve got a major maintenance contracts, streaming these calls separately and getting them logged and scheduled ASAP is the natural best option.

There are endless variations on the types of phone service that a trades business might need, but the core issue is that your telephone systems have to be able to do these jobs quickly and efficiently. The movement of information needs to be seamless.

Planning Your Phone System

There’s another issue, too, and it’s not at all obvious- Technology. At the moment, you may be able to get away with a very basic phone system. Technology, and the amount of business being done on mobile devices, is changing the rules for businesses. Mobile business is more like internet business, and the demands on phone systems are increasing. The old phone systems have been notorious for not being suitable for some of the new types of business operations, and phone network upgrades are also creating a demand for more modern phone systems.

The story here is pretty simple- If you upgrade an old system to a basic digital system, you’re not going to get “techno shock” and suffer the disruptive effects of a possibly expensive new upgrade when the new systems come in. You’ll be set up and able to handle them. These new digital phone systems are designed to work with any other type of digital system. They’re also ideal for configuring your phone system the way you want it to work, and improving your phone and business systems layout while you’re at it.

Best Practice Options

The new best practice option for trades businesses is to get a simple digital phone system. These systems have their own servers and some easy software for managing your phone extensions. You can link them to your business systems or simply assign new extensions to new operations, rather than reshuffle your resources. You can set up a fast moving system to direct calls through to where they need to go, and save time and money by simply arranging your phone system with a few clicks.

These new phone systems will help you manage business and organize your operational needs with a few clicks. They’re well worth a look. Check out what’s possible, because you’ll be surprised.