The number of businesses that are moving over to VOIP phone systems is on the rise.  VOIP phones offer many advantages, including lower monthly phone bills and nifty ways to connect your remote employees.  For me, the biggest benefit of VOIP is that it allows you to integrate your office phone to Act!. 

Your computer must have access to a dial tone in order for it to integrate to your CRM software.  Ten years ago most computers came equipped with a phone/fax modem and it was easy to simply plug a phone jack into the back of your computer and take advantage of the Act! dialer.  However, in this age of wireless connectivity that is no longer the case.

Using a VOIP system provides you with a simple solution for getting a dial tone to your computer.  It also means that you now have a way to dial out of your Act! software.  I recommend a product called Call Monitor.  The product runs $99/year, works with most VOIP systems, and will have you up in running in Act! in a matter of minutes.

There are some great benefits to integrating Act! to your phone system that will increase your efficiency and productivity.

• Time Saver – If you want to dial a contact you just click on their number in your Act! database. Call Monitor automatically installs a tiny icon to the right of all of your phone fields so you just click the number you want to dial.  The less time you spend dialing numbers, the more time you have to spend on sales and profits.
• More Attention to Detail: Call Monitor  will “pop up” the correct Act! contact record when you receive an incoming call. That means that you can concentrate on your call rather than having to search through the database for the appropriate contact.
• Better Communication – Part of effectively using a Act! for your CRM solution is making sure that every interaction is recorded. This can be a hard thing to remember to do.  Having the history box pop up automatically whenever a call is completed makes it easy for you to record a history of the call.  This convenience makes it that much more likely that every call, including the duration of the call, will be recorded.
• Better Data – There are a number of Act Reports that track phone activity. Data like this can help you improve your business and customer relations. You can easily see the average length of phone calls, or find out who’s making the most calls on the sales team.

The benefits are clear for integrating your office phone to your Act! software. Anything that helps simplify and streamline the sales and contact management process is a smart investment. If you would like to learn more you can contact the friendly Act! consultants at Tech Benders today.