Business Owners & Managers

  
 

Obtain a no cost* 0844 phone number
from us and we’ll reward you with up to
7 nights FREE hotel accommodation**
 #
 Plus we’ll rush you a 3,000 word marketing report on
how to turn your business phone number into a
white hot, state of the art, marketing tool
that will leave your competitors
trailing miles behind!!
 

And you could also win a 7 day
Mediterranean Cruise for 2
Worth up to £1,500***



From the desk of Henry Newrick


Dear Fellow Business Owner,

A 0844 number is not for every business. Let me make that clear from the outset. If you own and operate a local shop with no branches (eg the village bakery) then you do not need a 0844 number – pure and simple. And if you asked us for one, we’d try and talk you out of it. If you are a local tradesman, constantly on the move from job to job, then clients are probably happy to call you on your mobile (unless you want to mask the mobile by appearing to have a fixed office).

However, if neither of the above situations applies to you then there is a significant chance that your business could benefit from having a non geographic number and in particular a 0844 number.

Why 0844 and not 0845, 0870, 0871 or indeed 0800?  Well here are at least 15 good reasons for having a 0844 number. We can think of more, but 15 are plenty and we’ll also tell you why, if you are considering a non geographic number, 0844 should (almost without exception) be the preferred choice over other numbers in the 08 range.

A 0844 number gives you freedom

The first point about having a 0844 number is that it gives your business freedom. By freedom I mean that if at some point in the future you want to ‘up sticks’ and move to sunny Spain, fun filled Florida or Active Australia and still want to keep your business going then you can do so by simply having your number redirected to a landline or mobile phone wherever you happen to be in the world. And, as far as your clients back in the UK are concerned it’s business as usual. To them you are still running the business from the UK unless you choose to tell them otherwise.

If you are less ambitious and simply wish to move from one town to another in the UK you can take your 0844 number with you, whereas you cannot do the same with your geographic number which is invariably tied to the local telephone exchange. Redirecting your number to any landline in the UK costs nothing and to overseas countries a small charge may be involved – depending on the particular destination. Central Africa will naturally cost a bit more than France.

Create a national identity
for your business

Take a look at the travel pages of the daily or weekend newspapers. There are dozens and dozens of travel agents, cruise operators, specialist tour promoters all vying for the reader’s pound. Most are using a non geographic number – some use 0800, others 0844, and a brave (or should that be foolhardy) few 0871.

They all have one thing in common. They are seeking to achieve a national identity. This gives the impression that they are large operators competing with the ‘big boys’ on a level playing field. Competing they may be – but it’s not on a level playing field for although many of these agents lack the purchasing power of the big operators, their overheads are significantly lower since they are based in small towns and villages throughout the country – something that you would never guess from looking at the boldly presented phone number and web address.

Where your business is primarily web or mail order based then a 0844 number is perfect for giving you a true national identity. Without this ‘national identity’ some of your potential customers will, no doubt mistakenly, conclude that you are ‘small fry’ and possibly a bit risky to do business with.

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 “We took a non-geographic number from Team Telecom and the level of service has been fantastic. We have recently moved to larger premises and of course needed the number to come with us. There was no disruption in service.” Darren Beynon, Senior Business Director, Date Box Limited.
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Give your business a professional image

Having one or more 0844 numbers on your stationery brings a professional image to your business. It gives the impression that you are a serious player and that your market is a national one – since the cost of calling the number is exactly the same no matter from what part of the UK you are being called.  If you have both phone and fax then sequential 0844 numbers such as 0844 333 4666 and 0844 333 4667 appear far more professional than say 020 7453 7652 and 020 7287 0654. 

More incoming calls

Having a 0844 number in your business may result in fewer inbound calls than having a 0800 number but the quality of calls will be better given that the caller is paying for the cost of the call (albeit at a low rate). You save yourself from open ended freephone charges since once people know that you have a freephone number chances are that it will be used at every opportunity – not just for sales, but also for complaints, general chat and even incoming personal calls to staff members. We know of one smaller carrier that went bankrupt not so long ago because its incoming freephone calls were far greater than they had budgeted for.

So if you budgeted for say 1,000 minutes of incoming 0800 calls each month @ 5p per minute, you could find that this soon mushrooms into 4,000-5,000 minutes or more. Using 0845, 0870 and 0871 numbers all have their drawbacks and these will be touched on later. 

An individual DDI for every staff member

If yours is a larger organization we can supply a batch of sequential 0844 numbers for allocating to individual staff members. Unlike geographic numbers which are tied to a particular desk, a 0844 number (being overlaid on top of the geographic number) can easily be redirected in the event that a particular staff member is ill, is on vacation or has been made redundant. Having a batch of 0844 numbers allows you to keep tabs on outworkers who may be working from home and to see what level of calls they are receiving – since, for a nominal charge, we can provide you with regular reports on line usage. Again, the numbers can be re-routed as and when necessary.

Companies with branches

If you own a retail chain with say 30 branches throughout the country each time you run a national ad in one of the dailies or weekend papers you need to publish at least 30 separate phone numbers. We’re amazed at the number of companies still doing this. It gets even worse with radio or TV advertising. However, with a carefully selected, and potentially memorable, 0844 number you need only have one number and this can be set up in such a way that the carrier’s switch is able to recognize the caller’s dialing code and then route that call to the nearest shop or branch of the company. 

The only exception to this is when calls come from mobiles or areas too far away from any branch to be of real interest. In this instance calls are sent by default to a call centre or other nominee which you would provide. If one shop closes down through lack of profitability (and that is a real possibility in the current climate) then it’s a simple matter to re-route your 0844 number to another shop or back to head office so that a potential sale is not lost.

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 ”Your service has been exemplary from the start. I will definitely recommend your company to people I know.” Parmdeep Vadesha, Director
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A note for franchisors

If you are setting up, or already have, a national franchise and intend appointing franchisees throughout the UK then you should give serious consideration to obtaining a block of 0844 numbers to be allocated one or more to each of your franchisees. First of all you will be creating a professional image for your organization – especially if the numbers are sequential. Beneficial as this is, of even greater importance is the fact that by allocating your franchisees a 0844 number you retain ultimate control over the franchises that you sell.

If a franchisee fails to perform or in any way breaks the terms of the franchise, then your Agreement will give you the right to reclaim the franchise. This is all very well in theory, but if the franchisee has been using a geographic (or even non-geographic) number supplied by him/her then with all the ‘reclaiming’ in the world the franchisee is still going to receive the inbound phone calls following termination – and may very well elect to run a similar business without the franchised name. Is this what you really want when, with you in control, a single email or phone call to us, can have all incoming calls diverted back to head office or a new franchisee? 

Memorable numbers

Generally speaking if you are using a regional, geographic number such as 01273 or 020 then you have very little choice when it comes to getting a memorable phone number. Your supplier may offer you say three different numbers from which you are expected to choose one. One of the UK’s main suppliers will give you some freedom of choice but at last count it carried a price tag of £300 plus line rental. With 0844 (and other non-geographic) numbers you tend to get a much wider range of numbers from which to choose. These are normally broken into categories along the lines of bronze, silver, gold and platinum. Typically, bronze numbers will cost less than £10 month while platinum numbers can be as high as £999 or more.

In choosing a memorable number you may seek a numerically memorable number (eg 0844 222 4 222) or an alpha memorable one (eg 0844 FLOWERS).  Sometimes a combination stands out well such as 0844 999 HELP. To date, alpha (also known as ‘word’ or ‘vanity’)) numbers have not taken off as well in the UK as they have in a number of overseas countries, particularly in the United States, Canada and New Zealand. Nevertheless they are starting to catch on and all it needs for them to really take hold will be for one or two companies to start using these in their national ad campaigns. Logically, an alpha (or ‘word’) number makes much more sense in situations where it is important to remember the number when pen and paper may not be at hand. This includes vehicle signage, radio and TV advertising, advertising on the Underground, billboards, ads on buses, tube trains, theatre screens, etc. For more information on alpha numbers with numerous case studies and research data I suggest you visit www.marketingnumbers.co.uk.  Remember the word, but dial the number!

Call management systems

For a small additional monthly charge you can, with a 0844 number, often obtain a sophisticated call management system to go with your number. This might include a simple answering package that announces ‘Welcome to ABC company. Press 1 for Sales, 2 for Accounts, 3 for Support, etc) or if you operate a chain of shops and are not using call routing (see above) then the menu might say “For East Sussex press 1, for West Sussex press 2, for Kent press 3” and then having pressed 1, the system could well add “For Brighton press 1, for Eastbourne press 2, and so on”.

Such systems also allow for time of day routing so from 9am till 5pm the calls may go to one destination and then from 5pm till 9am be routed to an after hours number. The possibilities are endless and we are only too happy to discuss your company’s individual requirements with you.

Ad tracking

A little used but very effective way of utilizing 0844 numbers is in ad tracking. Let’s say you are running a sales advertisement in 6 national newspapers and you want to work out which paper gives you the best return on your investment. You could have your sales people ask every caller which paper they saw your ad in, or have the caller quote a reference code, but both these systems are haphazard and will not give entirely accurate results.

If you are looking for a foolproof way in which to monitor the success, or otherwise, of your ad campaigns then the answer is very simple – you merely allocate a different 0844 number to each advertisement.  Following the campaign we can let you know how many calls were received on each particular number and the average duration of each call. By using these statistics in association with the cost of individual ads you will be able to easily determine the cost of each incoming call and then allocate future funds to the media (whether print, radio or TV) that produces the most revenue per £1 spent.

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 “When establishing a new business, extreme caution is required in order not to fall into any marketing traps. I am very pleased that we now have a unique phone number that is used in all our advertising. Thanks to you we were able to acquire the number at a cost that we were easily able to cope with.” Geoff Williamson, Managing Director, 2K Enigma Solutions
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Fax 2 email

Earlier I mentioned how having a consecutively numbered phone and fax number gave your business a professional appearance. What I did not mention at the time was that it is now possible to have your fax number deliver your incoming faxes to your inbox as an email attachment rather than as a traditional fax. There are a number of advantages in this approach.

  • Confidentiality. Even though the sender sends the fax as a normal fax to your fax number, instead of receiving it on a fax machine in your general or secretary’s office, it comes instead straight to your email inbox as a PDF or other attachment. This means total confidentiality with documents seen by your eyes only.
     
  • Worldwide access. Without the need for a fax machine you are able to receive faxes anywhere in the world where you are able to access emails – whether on a laptop in Lisbon or café in Caracas.
     
  • Save on fax paper and eliminate ‘junk’ faxes. You can delete unwanted faxes without printing off, and save those that you do want to your hard drive. Fax broadcasters charge premium rates for faxing to 08 numbers so most clients choose not to fax these numbers.

Automated ordering lines

If you are inviting callers to request a brochure or catalogue then it can be both time consuming and costly to use a call centre to take these incoming calls and your staff may be otherwise engaged when a call comes in. A solution to this is to have in place an automated ordering system based on speech recognition whereby the caller is greeted with a recorded message and then asked a series of questions to gather the caller’s contact details so that a brochure or catalogue can be sent. At each stage of the process the caller is asked to confirm his/her details. When the call is completed the appropriate information is then transcribed and forwarded to you as an email for action and follow up.

Disaster recovery

Heaven forbid, but if a disaster such as a fire, flood or explosion should hit your business, unless you are prepared the result will be chaos. If you are using normal geographic numbers then chances are that you may be caught short and unable to transfer calls in a timely manner to another location which of necessity will need to be in the same area as your business is located. This is because your geographic number is tied to the local exchange.

On the other hand with a 0844 number all you have to do is to arrange for a call centre (or even your partner) to take incoming calls and we can arrange for the 0844 number to be quickly switched so that to all intents and purposes business carries on as normal. If you can find no other reason to justify the acquisition of a 0844 number then being able to switch destinations with great rapidity in extreme circumstances provides all the justification you need.

A 0844 number is for life

Ofcom, the regulatory authority has said that given the recently announced changes to 0870 numbers and the likelihood of similar rules being applied to 0845 numbers in the not too distant future that it has no plans at all to regulate 0844 / 0843 numbers which serve a specific purpose, given that the cost of calling is relatively low and judged to be quite reasonable. This hands off approach by Ofcom is good news for businesses, still smarting from the 0870 review which in many cases necessitated expensive changes involving stationery, signage, hoardings, ad campaigns and the like. One of our clients had 500 vans with a 0870 number spread across every one – another has 18,000 strategically placed fire extinguishers around the country – which all need relabelling.

The cost of changing numbers in these circumstances is significant. For this reason many companies have now moved to 0844 given the assurances by Ofcom.

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“We signed up for a 08 number from Team Telecom and have been very impressed with the level of service we have received since. We required them to remap a number twice to coincide with subsequent office moves which they duly delivered precisely on time, ensuring no upset to our services. We also recently needed to dig out some Team Telecom invoices that we had misplaced, and they kindly faxed over copies late that evening, ready for the next morning’s VAT inspection. The real benefit of using Team Telecom is that they are a small company with personable service and you sometimes get to deal with the boss, Henry Newrick. They get things get done with no mucking around.” Tom Freeland, Director – TMAX Media
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Why 0844 and not 0800 / 0845 / 0870 / 0871

As I said at the outset there are very good reasons to go for 0844 in preference to the other number ranges within the 08 category.  Here’s our take on the different ranges:

  1. 0800 numbers are universally recognized as being freephone numbers in which the company receiving the call is responsible for incoming call charges which can range from as low as 1p minute to upwards of 6p. These numbers are mainly used to attract sales enquiries and the problem occurs when word gets around that your business has a freephone number at which point there is a real risk of the number becoming a ‘complaints’ line, a ‘general business call line’ an after sales ‘service’ line and worst of all a ‘general chat line’ whereby staff receive calls from their friends, relatives and colleagues outside the workplace.

    If the organization with the 0800 number is paying say 5p minute for incoming calls and has budgeted for 10,000 minutes a month (£500) and the volume of calls balloons to say 40,000 minutes (£2,000) then the added annual cost of £18,000 may well place a heavy burden on the company. The answer to this is of course to have the 0800 number go solely to the sales department with non sales calls being redirected to another number rather than transferred.  However, by having a 0844 number this problem will not arise and you will be assured of a better quality call in the first place.
     
  1. 0845 numbers are fine at this current time but we do not recommend that new clients take them up. The reason for this is that Ofcom has gone on record as saying that following the decision to reduce the costs of a 0870 call it is anomalous that 0845 ‘local rate’ calls (traditionally cheaper than 0870) should now be more expensive. Accordingly, Ofcom has said that it will be investigating 0845 numbers with a view to bringing call charges into line with 0870 and geographic numbers in general.

    Already BT has given an indication of future trends by reducing the cost of calling 0845 numbers to the same price as calling geographic numbers and including both 0845 and 0870 numbers in their standard packages so that callers are charged at the geographic rate which currently runs 1p-2p per minute. Therefore, it does not make sense to ‘invest’ in a phone number that in 18 months or so could cost you up to 3.5p per minute to receive calls. Already BT charges its business customers 3.5p per minute to receive incoming calls on a 0845 number. And given its predominant role in telecoms, it is generally well up with the play in these matters. So be warned.
     
  1. 0870 numbers are on the way out.  From August 1, 2009 any business wishing to retain its 0870 number will be required to pay an incoming call charge of around 3p-3.5p per minute. BT has said that it will charge its business customers 3.5p per minute. If a company is getting a significant volume of calls the cost implications are horrendous. A company that in the past received say 50,000 minutes of incoming calls per month and possibly, because of this volume, a revenue share of £1,000-£1,500 depending on the carrier will now find that it is faced with paying at least £1,500 per month just to receive calls.

    Accordingly many businesses are now abandoning 0870 numbers even though the costs associated with the switch, such as changing stationery, signage, advertising, etc may be quite high. The other reason many companies are changing is that even though the cost of calling 0870 drops to 1p-2p per minute, the number range has in recent years received such bad press that there will still be a stigma associated with these numbers notwithstanding the cost reduction and the fact that businesses are paying to receive the calls. It’s a confusing world when it comes to the public’s understanding of numbers.
     
  1. 0871 numbers are being used by some businesses intent on maintaining a revenue share model. However, and I may be missing something here, it seems to me that it’s just plain ludicrous to start using a 0871 number costing the caller 10p per minute for incoming customer calls unless you have a product that is so unique, so much in demand that the caller will pay anything to acquire it. It really pains us to see national mail order companies and some travel agents using these numbers when clearly they have not looked at the possible consequences and the ill will that such usage is likely to generate once consumers become aware of what they are being asked to pay. To see examples of some of these offending companies and their ads please click here.

    The other reason for not using 0871 without good reason (apart from an ethical one) is that from August 1, the 0871 number range comes under the control of PhonepayPlus (formerly ICSTIS) the regulatory authority responsible for controlling premium rate numbers. This body has already said that it will require businesses using 0871 numbers to notify the public in their advertising and at the time a call is made the actual cost of the call, thereby giving the caller the chance to hang up without incurring a charge on their phone account. If your caller does hang up chances are that you have lost a potential customer for the sake of a few pennies in possibly earned revenue.  All users of 0871 numbers must register with PhonepayPlus prior to August 1.

Beware of ‘free’ numbers

I could write volumes about the problems and potential problems associated with obtaining ‘free’ 0844 numbers – or any ‘free’ phone numbers for that matter. As a matter of fact we even have an entire website specifically devoted to the subject of ‘free’ phone numbers (www.freeukphonenumbers.com).  However, the bottom line is that you get what you pay for. Numerous providers of free numbers are no longer in business and whilst that may not bother you once you have acquired your ‘free’ number and your business remains the same, it will cause you much concern when you move premises or if an emergency happens (such as a fire or flood at your premises) and you need to divert your number. 

Quite apart from not being able to contact your supplier you will also find that nobody else can or will accept responsibility for re-pointing your number. The reason such resellers and carriers go into liquidation is that their business model is not robust enough. Relying on say 1p minute revenue share and no line rental is not a sustainable business model. If your business is generating say 300 minutes of incoming calls a month then the ‘free’ number provider will earn £3 from you. Multiply that by say 500 similar clients (if he’s lucky) and the business will be making £1,500 month. £18,000 gross revenue per annum is not enough to support any business through covering overheads and providing an income. Likely as not it could take a year to reach even that level of clients, and the ‘reseller’ is almost certainly not going to have the capital to carry him through the year. If you are tempted to take up a free 0844 number I suggest you first go to www.freeukphonenumbers.com so that you are aware of the implications.

Ofcom’s guarantee

 Ofcom, the regulatory body for all phone numbers in the UK has said that although it plans to hold a ‘consultation’ involving 0845 numbers (following the recently concluded 0870 one) it has no plans to make changes to, or in any way tamper with 0844 numbers. To quote from the Ofcom website “Ofcom does not intend to make other changes on 0845 or 0844 numbers….However Ofcom will review 0845 numbers again within the next two years”

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 “We found the care and attention, together with the speed of service offered by Team Telecom second to none in setting up and running our local rate numbers. They have worked well and we are very happy to recommend Team Telecom.” Chris Rolland, Partner, Total Mortgage Solution
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Our offer to you

*   When you acquire one or more 0844 numbers from Team Telecom (you can download the current list here) initially there is a small payment. However your number(s) could end up being free. A standard bronze number costs just £4.95 per month (£59.40 per year). If your business generates at least 12,000 minutes of incoming calls per annum, being less than 40 minutes per day, then at the end of the year we will take your first year’s payment and credit it towards the second year’s line rental, and in this way keep rolling from year to year so long as the minimum 12k minutes continues to be generated. If your number is a silver / gold / platinum one at a higher line rental, then we will credit the bronze rate component of £59.40.

In adopting this approach our business is much stronger with the result that you can be sure we’ll be here to provide you support as and when you need it. We’ve been doing it now for ten years, and intend to be here for at least the next ten or more years. If you’ve any doubt about the quality of our service then you might like to look at some of the testimonials throughout this letter. The other very important matter to bear in mind is that we are a real company, in business since August 1999, offering good old fashioned service. Unlike some telephone companies you can reach us by phone pretty well anytime (even on Saturdays unless I’m overseas) and you DON’T have an endless wait in order to be put through to someone. When you call there is every chance that one of our senior staff will answer the phone and, if available, the person or department you wish to speak with will be dealing with your enquiry straight away.

Three Special Bonuses

**         Bonus 1.  Upon obtaining your 0844 number from us  we will send you a 12 page booklet detailing over 160 hotels around the UK, Republic of Ireland and Channel Islands that are offering up to 7 nights free hotel accommodation for two people (subject to availability). If is sometimes possible to stay longer if there are rooms available. The hotels are all good quality properties with most being either 3 star or 4 star. The only requirement is that you take breakfast and dinner at the hotel paying the same rates as other full paying guests. To receive your free gift you need to quote the 4 digit reference (shown in the magazine ad that brought you to this site or given to you by our agent). If you do not have a reference please call us on 0800 970 4864 and we will give you a code to use.

***       Bonus 2.  We have commissioned an authoritative business writer to write on some of the many ways in which your phone and phone number can be turned into a white hot, state of the art, marketing tool that will leave your competitors trailing miles behind. The result is a 3,000 word report which we will email upon your taking up a number from us. This report will give a unique insight into how some very savvy marketers are using phone numbers to further their business. This includes Jim McCann who built the largest florist business in the world on the back of his unique number 1-800 FLOWERS.

***       Bonus 3.  Book any number with us prior to December 31, 2009 and you will be automatically entered into a free draw for a 7 day (or less) Mediterranean cruise for two – worth up to £1,500. You choose the cruise. We’ll pay the bill!!!

 

Order Here – Order Now

We have a wide range of numbers available designated bronze, silver, gold and platinum. As the list is continually being updated please click here for the immediate download of a PDF file containing currently available numbers. Once you have made your choice simply fill out the accompanying order form and fax/email back to us and we will confirm availability and arrange connection. You may also phone our office on 0844 888 6 777.  Don’t delay – Order today and get your free hotel accommodation booklet along with the special number report. The number to call again:

0844 888 6 777

To your continuing success!

With best regards,

Henry Newrick
Managing Director
Team Telecom (Europe) Ltd


Team House
208 Church Road
Hove
East Sussex BN3 2DJ
UNITED KINGDOM

Co Reg No: 3821103