Holiday Checklist: 3 Ways to Prepare Your Business Phone System

• December 11, 2019
• Author: Keith Young

During the busy holiday season, preparing your business phone for the season is not your top priority. Our handy holiday checklist makes it quick and easy for you to make a few simple changes to your business phone system. These small changes can have a big impact on your customers, even when your business is closed over the holidays. 

Think about what your customers might be wondering this time of year: 

• Have your business hours changed over the holidays? 
• Who should they call if their usual contact is on vacation? 
• Are you offering any holiday deals or promotions?  

Show some holiday cheer and use your phone system to exceed customer expectations. Be truly helpful. Make things easy for callers when stress levels are higher. 

Completing this holiday checklist is quick and easy with a hosted phone system. All it takes is a few clicks of the mouse. 

1. Schedule Holiday Hours 

The holidays usually mean crazy business hours and staff schedules. Your regular schedule probably won’t apply. 

Do you extend your hours to accommodate shoppers? Do you cut your hours short due to less staff? 

Once you’ve finalized your hours (and those of each staff person), use Time Frames and Answering Rules to route and forward calls according to your schedule. You can set this up in advance and forget about it, letting your phone system automatically handle holiday call traffic. 

You don’t want callers waiting on the line while the phone rings in an empty office. Call Forwarding lets you send calls to a specific phone, mobile device or extension that will be available over the holidays. If you have an on-call schedule set up for your staff, your system can be configured to automatically follow that schedule.  

2. Customize Holiday Greetings

An up-to-date customized voicemail greeting gives your customers a personal touch even if you’re not available. Use this greeting to inform callers of modified holidays hours and announce seasonal promotions or holiday deals. 

Customized greetings with a hosted phone system are as convenient as it gets. After the holidays, your regular greetings will still be there. A few quick clicks and your system is back to normal. 

3. Set Up Holiday Music-on-Hold

No one likes to wait on hold. Sometimes it’s unavoidable. Make it more pleasant for your customers by selecting season-appropriate music for them to enjoy while they wait. 

At UnitedCloud, we have a selection of instrumental holiday tunes for you to choose from. No need to worry about finding legal or public domain songs. We’ve done the work for you. 

Simply contact support if you’d like this activated on your account, and let us know what dates to start and when to stop the Music-on-Hold.  If you have custom music or would like to set this up for your business, it’s a very simple process outlined here.

Stressless Holiday Business Success

Don’t get caught off guard this holiday season. Follow this short and sweet holiday business phone checklist and prepare your business for holiday success. Set it and forget it. 

Offer exceptional customer service even during holiday hours this year. Contact a UnitedCloud specialist to learn more about how our hosted phone features can benefit your business over the holidays.