If you run your own business, there's a good chance your cellphone number is also your business number. It's printed on your invoices, listed on your website, saved in your clients' contacts and tucked into your email signature. And it's the same number your family, your friends and your kid's school use to reach you.
You're far from alone. A Moneypenny survey of 500 business owners and freelancers found that 77% use their personal mobile for business on an ongoing basis. An older GoDaddy survey of small business owners put the figure even higher, at 86%.
This is something that works when you first get your business of the ground, but as your business grows (and you gain more clients who want to contact you), your work-life balance could really start to suffer.
Here's what mixing your business line and a personal phone number can really cost you, and how little you need to do to fix it.
Your phone rings with an unknown number. Is it a new client? A supplier? A telemarketer? Or the dentist calling to confirm your appointment? When personal and business calls land on the same line, you can't tell which is which. So you either answer everything, including calls you'd rather not take at dinner, or you let things go to voicemail and hope you didn't just ignore a customer.
And when you do pick up cold, you're not ready. That's how business owners end up answering with a distracted "hello?" instead of their company name. In the Moneypenny survey, 31% admitted they answer without stating the name of their business (big no-no).
This one hurts the most. When your personal number is your business number, your business is reachable at 9PM on a Tuesday, on Saturday morning and even on your tropical getaway. Nothing separates "work" from "life" except your own willpower. The people who made the switch tend to notice. In the same survey, 71% of those with a separate business line said it creates a healthier barrier between their personal and professional life. A dedicated business number also lets you decide when the business is open. After hours, calls go to a greeting or voicemail, and you get your evenings back.
Customers form an impression within seconds of calling. A personal cellphone that rings out, or gets answered by a spouse or a roommate, doesn't help. In the Moneypenny survey, 48% of owners admitted friends or family members have answered their work calls for them. Meanwhile, 81% of those who set up a separate line said it made them look more professional. A business number gives you a proper first impression: a custom greeting, a menu that sends callers to the right person and a voicemail that truly sounds like a business.
Think of all the places your number lives: your website, Google listing, social media, invoices, quotes and email signature. Once it's out there, it's out there for good. Every client, vendor and stranger who finds it has a direct line to your personal life. And don't forget the telemarketers who scrape online listings for businesses to target.
It also gets harder to leave. If you grow, hire or sell, your business phone number is tied to your personal cellphone. Moving it later means reprinting, updating and notifying everyone, all at once. A business number is instead something your company owns. It can be forwarded, shared with a team and handed off as you grow.
"But I don't want to carry two phones." Great news! You don't have to.
That's the old way of thinking, when a second number meant a second device and a second bill. With a modern business phone system, your business number lives in an app on the phone you already carry. You call and text as your business, take calls on your cellphone when you want to and keep your personal number private. It's one phone, with two completely separate lines.
Not all business apps are equal, so here's what a good business phone system does for you:
Luckily, as Canadian VoIP experts, we include all of these features for only $25/month/seat. That price, is of course, in Canadian dollars. That includes all the aforementioned features plus 90+ others that can be helpful for your particular business needs. All of that with no hidden fees and no long-term contracts. Basic setup is included, and you get live Canadian-based support seven days a week. You can use the Phonetico mobile app on your own cellphone, add desk phones if you'd like them, and add seats as your team grows.
Getting a business number doesn't necessarily mean having a full office phone set up or buying and carrying an extra smartphone in your pocket. It's actually a lot more convenient than that nowadays. With the same cellphone, you can decide when your business is open, how it sounds and who gets to reach you. Seriouly, stop letting your personal phone number do a job it was never meant to do. Just get a business phone number. It's not that hard.
Ready to separate work from home? We can get you set up within the day! Schedule a call with Phonetico and we'll get you set up.
Sources: Moneypenny survey of 500 UK business owners and freelancers (2020); GoDaddy survey of 400 customers (Q4 2015). Consider linking or footnoting these, and noting they're UK and US samples, before publishing.
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