Reasons Why it’s Not Good to Use Your Personal Phone Number for Business

Communication channels are key to growing a business network, whether it is a startup or small- or mid-sized business.

A phone call is the best tool to get things sorted out quickly without misunderstandings when dealing with suppliers, clients, or partners. In addition, it is more personal than merely sending an email.

However, many business owners use their mobile numbers for work, which, although convenient and inexpensive, is not always the best solution.

A survey showed that more than 80% of small business owners used their personal phone numbers for business purposes. If you own a small business, you probably belong to this group.

Even though it may seem fine when you’re just getting started, you’ll face pain and limitations as your business grows.

Perhaps you have already experienced some of these: getting late-night calls, receiving texts from strangers on your personal number, not knowing whether it is a business or personal call, and endless spam calls.

There’s no reason for it to be this way. Because there are several reasons why mixing up your personal and business phone numbers is never a good idea. Moreover, today you can easily add a business phone number to your existing mobile device in seconds.

Continue reading to discover why your personal phone number should no longer be used for business and how to stop using it in the future.

There is no distinction between personal and business calls

It is easy to mistake a call from your child’s school for a call from a customer visiting your website with a phone number you use for business.

There is no way to know how to respond or if you should respond at all. Have you ever received a call while sitting in a noisy coffee shop and wondered if you should take the call outside?

You can eliminate this guesswork by having a separate business phone number. You can now answer the phone by mentioning the company name:

Thank you for contacting KrispCall. My name is Richard, how can I help you?

You’ll have more customers who are more likely to work with you if your business sounds great.

It’s difficult to monitor customer calls.

Over 70% of adults in the United States would switch brands if they offered better customer service.

If you use a personal phone, your messages will likely go into voicemail after hours, and as a result, your calls may go unanswered for several hours.

In addition, customers who have complaints or requests don’t have access to anyone to assist them after hours.

In spite of caller ID notifying call times, customers expect 24/7/365 assistance due to the “Amazon Effect.”

It may be a good idea to use a voice-over-internet protocol (VoIP) service. This allows the business to keep call logs and records of all incoming and outgoing calls. You can also reach a live support agent through a call center or by live chat at any time.

Limitations on calling features that don’t scale with Business Growth

There are several features that aren’t needed by individuals, but every business needs them, such as auto attendants, directories, and customer service queues.

As a business owner, you might not have the time to answer every call yourself. It is nice for a customer to call and talk to a live person, but it is not always possible.

Having automated features helps customers contact you without taking up your valuable time and can route calls to voicemail or other lines as required.

You’ll lack professionalism

Research suggests that the first impression you make on someone rarely lasts longer than seven seconds.

First impressions are often made through the phone when a customer contacts you, and this is why your greeting and voicemail are so important.

When you call a business, there’s nothing worse than having to deal with a full voicemail box or one that’s not configured at all. It would make much more sense if it said something like this instead:

“Hello, thank you for calling KrispCall. Let us know your message, and we will get back to you as soon as possible.”

It won’t give you the chance to appear more professional to your clients unless this also serves as your personal voicemail message.

A toll-free phone number will also make your business look larger and more easily accessible if you have customers all across the country.

Robocalls are unavoidable

You will have to deal with continuous automated calls if you use your personal phone for work purposes. Normal users are not immune to this.

The report indicates that approximately three out of ten calls to consumers in the U.S are pre-recorded advertisements.

Robotic telemarketing complaints continue to be received by the FCC and the FTC. Likewise, live phone marketing calls are quite annoying, and this is detrimental to a person’s quality of life and serves as a tool for frauds and scams.

You cannot control customer-employee interaction.

When you give your employees permission to use their own personal numbers to contact customers, you voluntarily give up control over that area of your business.

It’s important to keep track of all the business activities you do for your company: sales, logistics, customer service, etc.

When your company interacts with clients using employee personal numbers, you don’t know how often and when your employees speak to customers, how they handle conversations, or what results they fail to achieve.

No matter how trusting you are of your employees, giving them free rein will limit your ability to help and expose your employees to losing customers due to ineffectiveness and deceit.

Telemarketing scams are widespread.

According to estimates, telemarketing scams in the United States are worth approximately $350 million per year. Most scams appear to be genuine, but once you answer the phone, you become a focus and will be vulnerable to further abuse.

This can happen if you remove your name from any call list. This can negatively affect small businesses since spam calls lead to a decline in revenue. The automated calls will overcrowd your lines, and this will prevent you from being available to your customers.

You will have to change your phone number if your number has been compromised. This might be a serious problem for your business if the phone number is on promotional materials.

In such a case, you can prevent this by employing an automated attendant. Once a robocall reaches a voice menu, it will stay there until its time runs out.

Business owners thus prefer cloud-based phone systems, as they allow you to customize every aspect of your business number.

Furthermore, you can create blacklists and drop certain calls automatically if you wish. Additionally, a cloud phone system allows multiple inbound lines to be used so customers can reach you even if one number is unavailable.

Limited Communication

If you are content with using just ‘any’ phone number for your business, then you are in danger of losing your business. When you need to increase call-processing capacity, you may find it difficult if you use a business phone number that is your personal number.

You’ll face grave consequences if you suddenly change the number after the business has matured and you’ve been using it for campaigns. When a customer calls your old number (which you used initially for advertisement), they find that it is down permanently.

Read Also: Business Phone Etiquette 101: Essential Rules, Dos, Don’ts, and Tips

That sounds off-putting. It is likely that you might not ever hear from the person again unless an emergency requires them to call you. The customer retention value is thus diminished greatly.

This is why you should get a phone number associated with a cloud-based phone system.

Conclusion

Personal numbers are an inconvenient, inefficient, and even dangerous tool for business.

Alternatively, you can use a virtual phone system or utilize your mobile carrier’s “business” features to combat this. In any case, you must choose one to avoid the many disadvantages that come with using a personal phone for work.

There are advantages and disadvantages to each type of phone system, but virtual phone systems tend to be more affordable, convenient, and secure than anything else.

It will be effective in protecting your personal data from scammers, preserving your work/life balance, and improving your accessibility. More importantly, it will impress potential clients with the professionalism of your company.

In the past few years, KrispCall has allowed small and medium businesses to use virtual phone services. The solution boasts flexibility, power, and ease of use that are unmatched on the market.

KrispCall makes your business communication more efficient, professional, and transparent by offering affordable packages and a wide array of advanced features.

Arun Chaudhary

Arun is SEO Analyst at KrispCall. He has written in extensively in the field of cloud telephony and call center solutions.