Got your number.
A telephone is pretty vital yes? I think we can all agree on that.
The problem you have when running a marquee hire business is most of the time (hopefully) you’re out putting marquees up. So who answers the phone? If you’re large enough to afford office staff then well done (and pretty much stop reading now!)
Option 1. Getting a standard landline
Pros:
Having your local area code will help attract local business.
Cons:
Someone’s got to answer it or they’re expensive to redirect to a mobile. You can ask someone at home to take all calls (if it’s a full-time mum remember that a. they’ll be working harder than you most of the time! and b. screaming kids in the backround isn’t good for either side). I’m not sure what they’re called but you can have your number put through to a company that act as an office – I knew someone who used to do this and got on very well with the service. Finally I’d avoid using an answering machine, you’ll lose a lot of business.
Option 2: Use a mobile number
Pros:
Convenient, it means you can go anywhere in signal and act as an office from your car/van whilst on site.
Cons:
Companies that advertise mobiles are one-man bands, this might stop you getting larger work and growing your business
Option 3: Use an online redirectable number
Pros:
The number can follow you anywhere, easily redirected through to your mobile, landline or a messaging service (if you have to). It’s worth having two mobiles on separate networks to increase your coverage if you use this.
Cons:
You lose the local presence a local area code gives
If I was starting up again I would use an internet redirectable number and wherever I advertised the number (website, leaflets etc) I would always put the area we covered.
Thanks for reading
Spencer
