Get a business phone number in minutes

Fun fact: Even though many businesses today are increasingly offering live chat, text messaging, and other channels to interact with them...

People still call companies! Whether it’s to ask simple questions or complicated questions, or to complain, or to leave feedback, for some reason phone calls are still very much a thing.

Which is why you’ll most likely still need a business phone system—and a business phone number.

What’s the easiest way to get both? We’ll show you. First, let’s look at what exactly a business phone number is and how it’s different from your typical phone number.

What is a business phone number?

If you run a business and need a way for customers to reach you, the first thing you need to do is to get a business line. And it’s not just for customers either. (Think about if you ever have to reach out to vendors, investors, the post office…)

A business phone number is basically a dedicated line specifically for your business. Some folks (especially small business owners) can get away with using their personal number for business calls—but once your business grows to a certain point, that’s not ideal anymore. Imagine getting five or six customer calls every day, at all hours of the day, on your personal phone. It’s not good for work-life balance.

4 types of business phone numbers to be aware of

1. A local phone number

You can get a local phone number from your local phone company (or through a business phone system provider like Dialpad). Setting it up doesn’t take long, and when customers see their area code in your business phone number, they’ll think you’re a local business (even if you’re not). This is a big plus if you’re catering to a local community.

2. An international phone number

International phone numbers let you handle calls from other countries and build an international presence for your business. Each country comes with its own country codes. (For example, if you want to call someone living in the United States, you need to dial 001 or +1 and then the phone number.)

3. A toll-free or freephone number

Traditionally, toll-free numbers were provided by businesses to let their (domestic and international) customers call them without incurring charges. Today, companies still use freephone numbers for different reasons.

Some might use them as part of a specific marketing or infomercial campaign, while others might use them because they make your business look like a bigger organisation (because it used to be that only big businesses could afford these numbers—which is no longer the case).

If you have a good business phone system, it can be really easy to set up a toll-free number. For example, here’s how it works in Dialpad. You just go into your online account and add a number yourself!