Every business owner knows that effective communication is the cornerstone of success. It’s the link between individuals, teams, and organizations. It’s the difference between having great products and having great products that sell. And for local businesses especially, it’s essential.
If your phone or chat isn’t working for an hour, it’s more than an unfortunate lapse. Sometimes it can mean an hour of no sales.
That’s why you don’t want to mess around when it comes to choosing a phone service. Phone services play an irreplaceable role in your business operations, facilitating seamless and immediate interaction. They determine your overall agility and responsiveness. But with hundreds of options to choose from, how do you find the right fit? We’re here to help.
Read on for the best VoIP and phone services for local businesses in 2024 and where you can find the right tools to take your business communication to the next level.
Key Features of Great Business Phone Service Providers
While we can’t magically calculate the perfect fit for your specific business structure, there are several key features all world-class business phone systems should have.
Reliability and Uptime
A reliable business phone system is crucial for uninterrupted communication. As we mentioned, downtime can lead to missed opportunities, loss of productivity, and damage to your business’s reputation. A robust system with high uptime ensures that communication channels are consistently available, promoting reliability and trustworthiness.
Scalability
Businesses evolve and expand, and a phone system should be able to scale accordingly. Scalability allows for the addition of new lines, extensions, or features as your business grows. This flexibility ensures that your phone system can adapt to changing needs without requiring a complete overhaul.
Integration with Other Business Tools
Integration with other business tools such as customer relationship management (CRM) software, email platforms, and collaboration tools is crucial. This feature streamlines workflows, enhances efficiency, and provides a unified communication experience. Seamlessly connecting a phone system with existing tools improves overall productivity.
Cost-Effectiveness
While investing in a quality phone system is essential, it should also be cost-effective. This involves not only considering the initial setup costs but also evaluating long-term expenses such as maintenance, upgrades, and potential expansion. A cost-effective business phone system provides value for money while meeting your organization’s communication needs without sunken and hidden costs.
Call Analytics and Reporting
Analytical tools provide insights into call patterns, helping you understand call volumes, peak hours, and other relevant data. This information can be valuable for optimizing your staffing levels, improving customer service, and making informed business decisions that will set you up for success.
Security Features
Security is paramount these days, especially when dealing with business communications. Encryption, secure login credentials, and protection against unauthorized access are essential components of any secure business phone system.
Voicemail and Transcription
Voicemail is a standard feature, but modern systems often include voicemail-to-email transcription. This allows users to receive transcriptions of voicemail messages directly in their email inbox, making it easier to manage and prioritize messages.
Effective Call Routing and Forwarding
The ability to route and forward calls efficiently is crucial for ensuring that calls reach the right individuals or teams. This feature is especially important for businesses with remote or distributed teams, allowing calls to be directed to the appropriate location or personnel.
Auto-Attendant
An auto-attendant feature serves as a virtual receptionist, directing incoming calls to your appropriate extensions or departments. This enhances professionalism, ensures callers reach the right person or department, and reduces the workload on your reception staff.
VoIP Capability
Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) technology allows businesses to make calls over the internet, providing cost savings and flexibility. A business phone system with VoIP capability enables clear and reliable voice communication while potentially reducing traditional phone line costs.
10 Best Business Phone Service Providers of 2024
Now that we’ve covered features, let’s look at the systems that have them. Below is a detailed list of VoIP and phone service providers that can revolutionize your local business communication in 2024.
1. Podium
As one of the most modern, streamlined VoIP systems built specifically for small businesses, Podium Phones helps you connect with leads faster by routing all calls to the same inbox where you get your texts, social media messages, and other channel contacts. With ready messaging history and one of the best apps on the market, you can use custom pricing to ensure you get all of the features you need to meet the complexity of your operations.
2. Dialpad
Dialpad is considered an excellent virtual business phone service due to its emphasis on integrations and AI in addition to features like voicemail transcription, SIP phone support, and video conferencing. The basic plan ($15 per month) includes G Suite and Office 365 integrations, providing your users with a comprehensive unified communications experience.
3. Nextiva
Nextiva’s amazing customer service and customer loyalty have earned them the #1 rated provider ranking by US News for three years straight. Their pricing ranges from $18.95 to $32.95 per month, and they often offer around 10% in savings if you commit annually. The basic plan includes video conferencing, online faxing, toll-free numbers, a mobile app, auto attendant, built-in team collaboration capability, and unlimited texting and calling.
4. Zoom
If you have a Zoom Meetings video account, adding Zoom Phone for $180 a year is a no-brainer. The Zoom Phone Pro Plan offers unlimited calling in the US and Canada, chat messaging (with Zoom users), number porting, visual voicemail, apps, integrations with tools such as Slack, Salesforce, GSuite, and Microsoft362, and more.
5. Ooma
Are you a startup with 10 or fewer employees? Stop scrolling. If you’re looking for no-fuss no-muss, you’ve found it. Ooma supports your analog phones, and their essential plan ($20 a month) provides toll-free number options, emergency services, voicemail conversion, SIP customer support, and more.
6. 8×8
Real-time analytics and data are nothing to shake your head at. If you are looking for a phone service that empowers businesses on an international scale, connecting teams and customers across the world, look no further. Unfortunately, you have to contact the sales team for a quote as 8×8 doesn’t offer open pricing. But it does offer voice calling, messaging, and video conferencing all in one app–no hardware required.
7. Vonage
It’s a household name for a reason. Vonage offers a mobile plan (starting at $13.99 per month) that’s excellent for small businesses. The Mobile Plan offers unlimited calls, SMS, and team messaging along with access to the Vonage App Center for seamless integration of essential business applications, tailoring to your specific business needs. Plus, there are 50 features you can pay to add and customize!
8. Grasshopper
Don’t need advanced features? Tired of being tied to a contract? Grasshopper is the provider for you. Grasshopper was built for small business owners working long hours to get their organizations established. Their Solo Plus plan (1 phone number, 3 ext., unlimited users) is $28 a month while their Partner Plan (3 phone numbers, 6 ext., unlimited users) runs $46 a month. The best part? When you miss a call, the platform sends a text automatically to let the prospect know you’re unavailable.
9. RingCentral
If you have remote teams across countries, or rely heavily on remote collaboration, RingCentral can help. Their Core plan ($20 per month) offers unlimited users, providing more lines than many competitors at a lower rate. This flexibility allows for significant small business growth while maintaining cost-effectiveness. Users also benefit from toll-free numbers, free calls, video capabilities, international calling, and unlimited business texting.
10. Avaya
Powered by RingCentral and starting at $25 a month for premium (most popular), Avaya offers a unique advanced team collaboration suite. You can take care of task assignments and management, file sharing, and team chat all in one place. An extra plus? Avaya includes AI noise removal, recording, and international dial-in conferencing.
Benefits of Having a Business Phone
Still not convinced? Here are seven key benefits of having a business phone and why it can prevent burnout for your employees.
1. Saves Money
Having a dedicated phone line, particularly through Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) technology, can significantly reduce communication costs compared to traditional landlines. This is especially advantageous if you’re looking to optimize your budget and cut down on expenses.
2. Streamlines Communication Flow
A dedicated phone line ensures a direct and reliable channel of communication within your organization. This streamlining processes contributes to increased efficiency as your employees can easily connect with each other, share information, and address queries promptly.
3. Tracks and Manages Calls
Advanced phone systems offer features like call analytics, call recording, and call routing. These tools allow businesses to monitor call patterns, assess customer interactions, and optimize communication strategies based on real-time data. This tracking and management capability provides valuable insights for decision-making and process improvement.
4. Increases Interaction Speed
Phone lines enable immediate and real-time communication facilitating quick clarification, decision-making, and issue resolution. This speed is particularly crucial in situations that demand prompt interactions, such as handling important customer inquiries or collaborating on time-sensitive projects.
5. Improves Sales Potential
Direct communication with your potential clients or customers through a dedicated phone line can build trust and rapport. Personalized interactions can address specific needs and concerns, leading to increased conversion rates and improved sales potential.
6. Improves Your Company Image
A dedicated business phone line adds a level of professionalism to your company’s image. It instills confidence in clients and partners as it reflects a commitment to clear and reliable communication.
7. Enables Advanced Features
Dedicated phone lines allow you to leverage advanced features such as voicemail-to-email, call forwarding, conference calling, and more. These features enhance communication capabilities, making you more versatile and adaptable to the evolving demands of the market.
How to Choose the Right Business Phone System
Now that we’ve covered several options, how do you choose the right one for your business? As we mentioned, no option will be a completely perfect fit. The trick is to find the one that checks the most boxes for the best price–the system that will take care of your pain points consistently and efficiently.
Carefully consider your 1. Pain points, 2. Operational needs, 3. Must-haves, 4. Target audience, 5. Staff capability. If you’re a smaller business, maybe scale your options down to systems built specifically for small businesses. If you’re primarily remote, look for systems that have particularly advanced remote capabilities. You’ll also want to look into which system is the most reliable in terms of centralizing communications and modernizing your connections.
Business Phone System: 3 Tips for Implementation and Optimization
Implementing a business phone system can be stressful, especially if you’re unused to the process. Here are three tips for implementation and a few strategies to help you optimize your usage.
Seamless Integration Strategies
Before implementing a business phone system, ensure compatibility with existing systems such as CRM (Customer Relationship Management) software, email platforms, and collaboration tools.
As your business grows, your system should be able to adapt to increased call volumes, additional users, and evolving communication needs.
Ensure that your phone system seamlessly integrates with mobile devices. Lastly, look for a business phone system that offers robust API support. This allows for custom integrations with other your business applications, providing a tailored communication ecosystem that suits the specific needs of your organization.
Employee Training for Maximum Utilization
After training staff on basic call handling, voicemail setup, and utilization of advanced features, conduct ongoing training sessions to keep employees updated on any system updates or new features. This ensures that your workforce is equipped to leverage the full capabilities of the phone system as it evolves.
Provide user-friendly manuals and online resources that employees can refer to when needed. Having readily accessible documentation helps reinforce training and encourages self-directed learning. These should include troubleshooting guidelines to address common issues so that staff can resolve minor problems independently, reducing reliance on your IT support and minimizing downtime.
Regular Performance Assessments
How do you improve performance? Measure it. Utilize call analytics and reporting tools to assess performance metrics. This includes call volumes, peak hours, and response times. Analyzing this data provides insights into communication patterns and weak links in your chain of connection. Make sure you regularly brainstorm ways to implement feedback in order to get the most out of your assessments.
Quit dealing with an obsolete phone system. Whether you run a restoration, pool, rental, remodeling, window, gutter, window treatment, or any other type of business, we can help.
Accelerate your connection with potential clients using Podium Phones, a VOIP system designed specifically for small businesses. Direct all calls to a unified inbox alongside texts, social media messages, and other channels, ensuring you never overlook a call.
