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To succeed in a sales field, one needs a lot of empathy, grit, and driving force. You need to know your customers intimately in and out. It sounds a bit stalkerish, but it is necessary if you ask.

The importance of human touch will never go out of the market in the sales market, but nowadays, sales tools are taking the clients for a good spin.

Sales is hard, and with growing awareness and tech-savvy clients, it is getting harder. Owning sales tools that are unique and technocratic in nature helps an organization grow exponentially. So, if you are spending time, resources, or energy on marketing and sales, it will never go in vain if you are using sales tools. Unfortunately, there are many sales personnel who concentrate on the wrong side of the road, implying that they are way too much concerned about the sales funnel. Instead, they should be busy thinking about how to close the deal with the client.  

Thankfully, we have gathered a list of sales tools for you that will help your organization rescue from such situations.

Good to know facts about sales

According to a survey, 73% of sales personnel think that colluding across offices is unquestionably crucial for their overall sales.

More than 86% of sales employees and executives believe that if there is a lack of collaboration or communication, it leads to a no-sale.

According to research conducted by HubSpot, 88% of marketers use at least ten sales tools.

We are here to help you select the tools and walk you through which sales and marketing tools are best suitable for your business style. This article will cover fundamental technology a marketing and sales team can use.

By the end of the article, you will find the elixir to fuel your business needs.

What are sales tools?

In simple words, there are some tools that are used by sales personnel and organizations to make their job more comfortable and efficient. These tools include virtual phone systems, video conferencing, e-signature, marketing automation, and many more.

What is the X-factor a company should keep in mind before making the deal?

Sales tools play a vital role in the success of a product or service as it helps the sales team to understand the possibilities of it being successful. These tools help save time and maintain focus on what matters most to the organization. It eventually provides value to people and businesses. It is also mandatory because it will save the time and effort of your employees, making them more productive. This means that if a company is using old-fashioned technology and tools, they are at risk of not only having bad sales but losing their best sales team due to a lack of useful tools. According to a survey by LinkedIn, in the year 2018 (State of Sales), around 73 percent of sales professionals used sales technology to make more sales.

Here are some of the tools which will make the edge in your business sales in the coming financial year-

Technology keeps on developing and, therefore, the modern systems are much different then what they used to be some years back. The same is with the cloud business phone system and service providers. It is due to the proliferation of virtualization and cloud.

At this time, if you are considering installing a new business phone communication system along with a business phone number, the Hosted VoIP that is Voice over Internet Protocol system is one of the best options available. Its benefits are not just its features but affordability. Also, it keeps on surprising its users by its ways of helping them in business communication.

Let us see some features of the best cloud business phone system solution:

Affordable Price

The legacy business phone system takes a lot of time and effort if you want to work beyond its basic functionality. They require updates that are costly due to additional service charges and are time-consuming. If you want some extra features in them, then you might require new hardware or additional services.

With cloud-based phone systems or the Hosted VoIP, you can avail of its integrated features, like caller ID, conference service, voicemail etcetera, and all included automatically. There is no need to buy extra hardware, and you can update or expand it easily without spending much.

User-Friendly

Technology development since the last decade is pacing at a faster rate. Earlier, it was difficult for the users to get full knowledge of the technology, but now, technology has made itself friendly to the users. Now, you need not struggle to get the benefits of the prevailing technology. They have become easy to use and understand.

When we talk about Hosted VoIP, it is much easier to use it. Its usage is almost the same as the traditional VoIP phone systems, where you can make calls and receive calls with so much ease and that too with your business phone number. Also, the VoIP service providers will make you understand everything you need to know about the business phone system. They will set up such an easy to use system that it would not be necessary for you to have an IT team.

Service Providers

As only a limited amount of hardware is required in a Hosted Phone System, it is easy to set them up. The VoIP service providers provide its customers with a 24*7 support service and are capable of setting up the system from a remote distance.

As the services run through clouds, it is easy for you to maintain the system without having IT employees. The service providers send any upgrade in the VoIP via the cloud, and you can make changes by adding, moving, or deleting the users. These service providers give support services without charging any extra cost if any downtime or issues are seen.

Integration & Scalability

The Hosted VoIP solutions integrate with your current business communication system. If you are using some old technology for organizing employee communication and upgrading to VoIP, then you will feel a surprising difference between the two. It makes it easy to track the client’s problem and needs and integrates the record of the client while he calls in. It is easy to scale the Hosted VoIP system as it does not require extra space or resources. It is a system that grows with its user.

Every business needs a telephone system that reflects their work. A telephone system makes a company rise or fall in a matter of days. We have researched for you and accumulate information regarding the PBX system, and how it will help your business grow.

First, let’s know what a PBX phone system is?

The word PBX stands for Private Branch Exchange. It is a private telephone network that is used inside a company or organization for communication. By using different types of communication channels like VoIP, ISDN, or analog, the company employees can communicate within the company and with the outside world as well. When you compare it to a multi-line phone system or physical phone lines (PSTN), a cloud PBX allows you to have more phones. And users on the same network can make free phone calls saving good money to the company.

These phone systems have been successful phone systems for mid-size and large companies for a very long time. They are dependent on hardware and switches to route the calls. The device is installed in the telecom cabinet, which can be kept inside the office.

It has features that are very beneficial for multi-national companies like voicemail, auto-attendant, call transfer, call recording, interactive voice menus (IVR), dial-by-name directories, and ACD call queues. This system is sometimes called Centrix if used via virtual solution. And PBX can also be used as a hosted phone system.

This system uses open standards and interfaces, which makes them more flexible as compared to the traditional phone system. As the modern cloud PBX phone system is dependent on hardware, which is readily available, it is cost-efficient and way more comfortable to be replaced.

Due to the high flexibility level and being fully programmable, it lets the user add or remove features according to the usability.

Reasons why PBX is the next big thing your company should be using

It is high time that your business moves past the costly physical phone system and get friendly with a business phone system that is competitive and cheaper.

i) Save on your resources: Every organization dreams of having technology that saves its hard-earned time and money. A virtual PBX is just that. Stop investing in high startup costs when you can get double features and high quality at half price. Other than that, you don’t have to be saturated or make commitments for long-term with your service provider like other phone systems. Give your IT team time to excel for a change instead of debugging your phone system.

ii) PBX is quite handy: You have to make the decision, and the service provider will do the hard work. That is the nutshell of a virtual PBX system. You will not have to worry about regular maintenance, security, or upgrades as your service provider will always keep you in the loop with all of it.

iii) It has features that your old phone system won’t have: This system will give you first-hand access to the services and functionality that your previous service provider would charge ten times more for. This phone system will give you business wings as it has all the tools that will make your business grow and compete in the market.

With features like auto-attendant, your global customers will be impressed with the level of professionalism. If you have a small or medium-sized business, cloud PBX will make it look like any giant corporation.

iv) It is scalable: When you opt for virtual PBX, your company doesn’t have to worry about spending on new equipment. Instead, you can be stress-free as you will be getting more features and adding new phone lines without spending a fortune. And to top it all, your company will be using technology which is far from being obsolete.

What are the pros and cons of PBX

What is a toll-free number? In layman terms, any number that incurs costs for the owner rather than the caller is called a toll-free number, also known as Freecall, Freephone, 800, 0800 or 1?800 number. However, there are two primary types of toll-free numbers – international toll-free number aka ITFN and domestic toll-free number aka DTF.

So, what are the differences between these two? And which one is the best fit for your business or organization? Let’s find out.

International Toll-Free Numbers

International toll-free numbers are restricted to specific countries. This means that both the recipient and the caller need to be in the same nation in order to make calls at zero charges.

Once a call is made to an international toll-free number, it can easily be forwarded to mobile devices, landlines, and VoIP softphones. As a result, they enable organizations to offer the same quality of services both for national and international customers.

Sounds great. Now, who can use ITFNs? It is the ideal tool for companies that have operations abroad and offers services and products beyond national borders.

For example, let’s consider a company based in the UK, which has clients in India and the US. The organization can then invest in international toll-free numbers, which are operational in these countries. In such a case, clients in India and America can call in the designated toll-free numbers at zero charges, after which the calls can be forwarded to the main office in the UK.

If you are on a lookout for the ideal toll-free number package, why don’t you try CallHippo? This industry leader is renowned for offering “time-bound, cost-effective, and business-specific toll-free numbers” on a global platform. Not only do they offer customized packages and flexible plans, but they also come with multiple features such as call forwarding, auto-call recording, call transferring, IVR, on-hold music, voicemail transcription, time-and-day scheduling, and in-built CRM integration”!

Domestic Toll-Free Numbers

Domestic toll-free numbers, also called 800 numbers, are perfect for free-of-charge, in-country calls. Does it sound similar to international toll-free numbers? Well, it’s not. Domestic toll-free numbers come with minimum restrictions.

For instance, when you deploy domestic toll-free numbers, you do not have to pay add-on charges while dialing mobile phones and payphones. Therefore, they are ideal for those businesses who want to make sure that customers can call on their toll-free numbers from any device such as mobile phones and payphones, and at zero costs.

Quarantine. Isolation. Shut down. Lockdown.

You would have heard any of these very often in the past days as governments are trying to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 Coronavirus.

Since its emergence in Wuhan, China, in late January 2020, the global community continues to fight with tackling the COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak. The strain continues to rip through cities around the globe, with new cases reported almost every day. With over 106,000 positive cases in more than 112 countries and counting, the World Health Organization (WHO) has officially declared this outbreak as a pandemic.

This 21st-century plague has shaken up businesses throughout the world adversely.

Work remotely. Sick leave.

These are some of the measures you might have experienced or may experience any time soon as companies are asking employees to work from home as a precautionary measure and to safeguard them from being exposed to the contagious coronavirus outbreak. Besides, to contain the virus, governments and businesses are asking people to self-isolate and avoid situations where they might pick up the virus. Some countries have even shut schools and educational institutions, canceled large events, and restricted public gatherings.

While we all hope that this outbreak is brought under control soon, business owners are struggling to continue to function during an emergency as such. In fact, remote working is now the preference of many employees and an overnight requirement for most employers.

However, keeping the business functional with a dispersed workforce brings in multiple challenges. While large organizations feel prepared for large-scale remote working, some companies are likely to struggle to cope with the deployment of remote working solutions.

So, how will you enable your employees to stay productive, run efficient meetings, collaborate, or communicate with team members and clients while they work remotely?

Well, a straightforward solution is making the switch to the right team collaboration, web conferencing, and call center software.

We know deploying so many remote working tools can induce panic among business owners. But do not worry. You don’t need to install all of them. Just have the right VoIP solution and have your business growth maintained even when your office premise is a ghost town.

Having a Cloud Phone System in place can keep the Business Growth on track

While enterprise VoIP solutions have enabled businesses to create their own contact centers and deploy unified communications throughout the company, its mobility and flexibility have kept them intact, even in a crisis like Coronavirus.

While teams work remotely, VoIP empowers them to access the entire suite of calling features and integrated communication tools. This ensures business continuity while allowing the team to work efficiently and preserving the organizational culture.

So, what are the essential features of a Cloud-Based Phone System that can help companies to combat the Coronavirus outbreak?

Meetings

While you get a plethora of features with a web conferencing tool, VoIP solutions enable you to conduct meetings on the go rather than firing up another piece of software when your team works remotely. Features like Call Conference and Call Barging lets you collaborate with clients, customers, and even team members from anywhere and at any time.

Every kind of business tries hard to come a little close to the customers, save a great deal of operational cost, and have a better local presence. However, only having local phone numbers by their side, can achieve it.

A perfect example of high-grade cloud technology, a local phone number allows a business to explore the farthest business opportunities spread within and outside the US without running out of limited investments.

Local business phone number- Integrating success without any boundaries

A local phone number is a type of business cloud telephony system that represents a particular region/location. You can identify it by the 3 digit code used as a prefix in the number. Businesses seeking global expansion can be benefitted from this type of cloud telephony service.

As all of its components are already deployed over the cloud, you can gain a local presence in any community/location without being actually present there.

For example, if you want to expand your business in West Los Angeles (310 area code) while you don’t want to move from South Bay (424 area code) then getting the local phone number of 661 area code is the ideal way out. You can easily use it from a number with 213 area code while your customers situated in California will think that you are located near to them.

This kind of freedom makes a huge difference when it comes to your business success. Here is how a local phone number supports your success.

Be omnipresent

To upkeep your promise of 24/7 availability, you must gain some superpowers. Well, CallHippo local number is that superpower. By using it, you can work from a remote location as long as you have an internet connection and data-driven device.

Calls can be routed anywhere in the world based upon the criteria selected. For example, your newly opened office in New York City (332 area code) is still under construction but the marketing has made the customers aware of your presence in the area and they started calling you.  

In that case, you can choose to route the incoming calls to another well-established office in Illinois (464 area code). Your agents sitting in that office will entertain the calls for a while. Isn’t it easy?

Work without a physical office

Having a virtual local presence is easy but a physical presence demands huge investments which are not everyone’s cup of tea. To have a physical address in area code, you either have to rent commercial property or own office space. Both options come with huge upfront investments and some legal formalities.

In the last decade, work-from-home has gained tremendous popularity. With the advent of modern work technologies, companies are finding it easy to maintain and engage a remote workforce.

What has once considered a distant dream is now a reality. In fact, 70% of the global workforce works from home, at least once a week. This clearly depicts how companies are adapting to the concept of remote work.

Well, the one concern that remains super high when you have employees working from home is security. What about the threat of data theft? How to safeguard client privacy? How to prevent online scams and fraudulent activities?

If these questions are troubling you, do not worry – you are not alone. Many employers do not move towards work-from-home options due to these concerns. However, if your company has a robust IT infrastructure and secure servers, you can minimize the major risks by promoting a safe virtual work environment.

Here are seven cybersecurity measures and tips for working from home, that will definitely prove to be useful in tightening security:

1. Strong Passwords

One of the most important cybersecurity tips for all professionals working from home is to ensure strong passwords that comprise upper and lower string characters, numbers, and special characters.

Keep your passwords unique for different accounts, and also make sure to change them on a regular basis. This is because if you use only one password for all your accounts, in case of a hacking, you will lose access to all your organizational data. You could also choose to use an automated password manager to create, edit, and autofill passwords that are strong for all your business accounts.

2. Promote Encrypted Communication

If you are working from home, then you surely need to communicate with clients, colleagues, and team members. Some of your emails may contain sensitive information; hence, it is a smart idea to use an end-to-end encryption tool for an added layer of safety.

An encryption solution will generate a password that you can send the final recipient of the email, and only through that will the mail be decrypted. It makes sure that no unauthorized personnel can access your mails and keeps your data in safe hands. Most companies that have a large workforce encourage the use of encryption software so that there is no chance of any kind of data theft or loss.

3. Separate Work and Personal Devices

One golden rule that can go a long way in enhancing the security of organizational data is to maintain separate devices for personal and business communication. While it may seem to be a challenging task to switch between two laptops or mobile devices, this will greatly help in restricting access. The more programs and applications that you install, the more vulnerable you will remain to hackers and data miscreants. Hence, make sure to separate your official devices from the personal ones, so that there is less chance of any cybercrime or loss of data.

4. Beware of Phishing Emails

Phishing emails can be voicemails or text emails that are used by cybercriminals to ‘phish’ or extract information. This data is used to hack email accounts, misuse credit card information, and into business applications.