 Today we're going to talk about why your business needs its own phone number here on the journey, but I'm Nealey and I'm Emma and today we're going to talk about the importance of having a phone line for your business because Although we're online 24-7. There's still that comfort of hearing a real person on the other line and people want to know that their Concerns or frustrations are being heard. They're not just being lost somewhere online So it is really important to have a phone number in order to have a connection with the real person on the other line So Emma, I know you have coffee and cake, but I gotta ask do you carry around two phones? No, just one because I have a virtual phone number. Can you tell the audience a little about what that is? Yeah So basically with one device you can have two separate phone numbers, which is really great for your business So you can one not have to carry two phones annoying, right? But also you can separate personal from business all in one device, right? Because you don't want to answer a customer and go hey, what's up, man? And it's a customer doesn't look that professional I mean maybe in the coffee and kickflips But but not everyone's that chill That's a little bit more professional that that setting it just isn't there But now if you answer the greeting like hey, this is coffee and kickflip speaking. I'm Emma How could I help you yeah, and you know it's for business and not personal it really helps separate that line It makes you a little bit more professional, right same in the same breath nearly calls me like go skate We're just going to hang out and I'm like hey, it's Emma coffee. Get the skin. I take your order I'm like what? I'm just trying to hang wrong number. Bye So another cool advantage of having this virtual number voicemail Transcriptions, which is super rad because you don't have to actually like answer the phone and then grab Paper any a pen and then they're writing down quickly what the message says it never works well plus my handwriting looks like a doctor's So it's true eligible and then in addition to that it just makes it easier because it transcribes it for you Yeah, and it's super helpful, right? Because like you said you don't have to go and listen you can look at it in your own time see what it is The cliff notes and just bounce exactly and now another benefit of that phone number is that call already and basically call block Yes, I know when I freelanced a lot and I had my clients They would literally call me at all hours of the day with these second phone numbers you can set your hours So if you only want to answer calls for your business from 9 to 5 you set that and the thing after goes directly to voicemail Which then you get that transcription So if it's important and call them back, but if it's not it can wait for tomorrow And also that goes right in line with what we preach a lot about on the journey, which is work life balance You've got to prioritize time between hey, this is when I work a rather compartmentalized This is when I'm working and this is when I am off the clock So you keep that balanced life and you don't get burned out. Alright, so another advantage is an automated attendant I know that my doctor uses this and it gives you that touch-tone opportunity So it really gives the call to where it needs to go based on the purpose So so like a press one for blah press to your current patient Yeah, and in addition to that I know that's also beneficial because you don't have to hire a receptionist Yeah, and there's some of those service will outsource who answers it if it does end up going to voicemail You can have someone pick up the other line and handle that that call for you now another advantage with the Secondary number with some of these apps like smart line or Google is that it offers the ability to have either a localized number like in Arizona We're 480. What's Cali? Well, I saw my Indiana number, but it's 260. There you go. You can update your number Right, but you can also pick from a toll-free number So you can look a little bit more professional up bigger than what a localized number would do for you So you have a 1 800 and then a number and many of these services let you pick your number So you're not just giving one at random. You can kind of scroll through catalogs. See what's available Possibly make it an actual word. I know that was a pretty big thing I tried with my phone number didn't work spelled like half a word and I was like Just bummed out but another advantage that you can use with your secondary phone number Also keep in mind that not all virtual business numbers are created equally because some may not forward your calls Or they can't really decipher between is this personal is this business, right? And some other options to consider with your phone are like call recording three-way conferencing or just personalized extensions Really, you want to look at what are you using most with your personal phone right now and mirror it with your Secondary business phone number also some offer a little musical jingle while you wait. This is the official journey dance All right, you just learned why you need a business phone number Comment below and let us know what your favorite tip was and while you're there Smash that like button and subscribe to our channel and ring that bell so you can get these episodes first This is the journey. We'll see you next time