Small Business Phone Lines: 7 Things to Know Before Investing

Building lines of communication

At Walmart Business, we know your schedule is already stacked with managing your day-to-day operations and growth plans. That’s why we’ve assembled this list of helpful things to know before you start shopping for phone lines for your small business. 

With these points in mind, you’ll be better prepared to find your ideal fit among all the options out there.

1. Assess current needs

The first step in choosing what kind of small business phone line to get is to determine the needs and capabilities of your organization.

Start by documenting your current phone usage. Do you have a dedicated business number that customers can call, or do you use your personal number? Do employees use landlines in their work? Do you have fax machines or anything else that may require a dedicated line? 

Try to think of this assessment as a snapshot and a guide, not a hard-and-fast rule—especially if you plan to grow your business in the near future.

2. Ensure scalability 

If growth is on your horizon, you’re going to want to explore small business phone line options that can scale with you. 

For instance, each new employee may need a line of their own at a business that regularly coordinates over the phone. On the other hand, a growing set of retail locations may only need one phone line apiece. 

Working with a phone line provider that has the flexibility and speed to meet these needs may mean less disruption as you grow your business.

3. Plan for cost-effectiveness 

No two companies are alike, right down to how they use their phones. Basing your budget on how much other businesses spend could mean overpaying. 

For example, if only a small portion of your employees are on the phone at the same time, you may not need to pay for a dedicated line for each. The same goes for devices like fax machines that may not need dedicated lines. 

On the other hand, you may wish to opt for more lines to ensure the fastest response time possible, even during your busiest hours. Think through a typical day’s operation before deciding how many phone lines you’ll really need.

4. Understand regulations

Small businesses that operate in the U.S. may be subject to certain regulations and requirements relating to how they use their phone lines.

For instance, the Telephone Consumer Protection Act establishes certain requirements that organizations must abide by when attempting to contact consumers over the phone. This includes allowing consumers to use automated opt-out mechanisms. 

As you plan how to use your new phone lines for your small business, make sure your applications adhere to local, state and federal regulations.

5. Build toward compatibility

Fax machines, speaker phones, VoIP devices and other related equipment often form the communications backbone of a small business—but only if they can work together. 

Before you change how your team communicates between each other and the outside world, verify that everything you plan to use can and will work with each other the way you expect it to. If you want your VoIP lines to work with conference call equipment, for example, determine that they actually will before making a purchase.  

Some disruption may be inevitable as you move between phone line providers or change how your organization uses its services. If you factor that during your planning process, you should be able to keep it to an absolute minimum.

6. Prioritize reliability 

There are many fancier ways to communicate these days, but the dialed-in reliability of a phone call is what really makes it a must-have. That’s why it’s important to ensure your small business phone lines remain accessible with minimal downtime.

Ask potential providers about how frequently they perform maintenance on their lines, and how often outages have occurred in the last year, to get a sense of their reliability. Also check out online reviews to get a feel for what the customer experience has been like.

7. Demand excellent customer service

What if your phone line goes down, or you have another immediate need for assistance from your provider? You should be able to expect excellent customer service the moment you need it. 

You’re used to providing excellent service to your clients and customers, so you already know what to look for here: rapid response, attention to detail and a commitment to making things right.

Consult with your professional network for opinions on different providers’ customer service.

Make the call to join Walmart Business+ 

When you sign up for a paid Walmart Business+ subscription, you’ll unlock free shipping, no order minimum¹ and free delivery from store, $35 minimum². That means no more last-minute supply runs or shopping trips and more time on task.

You’ll also earn 2% in Walmart Business Rewards on orders $250 or more³ and unlock the ability to analyze patterns with Spend Analytics to help budget for the future. 

Sign up for a Walmart Business+ membership today! 

¹Excludes most Marketplace items, freight & certain location surcharges.

²Restrictions apply. Additional fee applies for Express delivery.

3. Exclusions apply. See full terms for details.

Sources:

1. Accounting software vs. spreadsheets: which is better for your business?, QuickBooks

2. What Is Optical Character Recognition?, IBM

3. Excludes most Marketplace items, freight & certain location surcharges. 

4. Restrictions apply. Additional fee applies for Express delivery. 

5. Exclusions apply. See full terms for details.