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When Tom and Barb and their family move into your town a begin looking for a church to meet their spiritual needs, how will they find you? Maybe you will be fortunate enough for someone to tell them about your church. Maybe they will just look in the phone book yellow pages. Then they make that initial call for more precise information about the church and what do they get, an unanswered phone! That initial call can make or break your future alliance with that new family. They will usually look elsewhere if they do not get the needed information during that first call. What would you think if you were in their shoes and got no answer? In this situation the best scenario would hopefully be that a live person answered the phone, but most times that is just not possible. And if it is answered, we hope the receptionist is well versed in proper phone etiquette. Proper phone etiquette being just as important as the phone being answered, this could also break down a great chance to bond with this new family. One great alternative which many churches and ministries use is an economical small business phone system. A good small business phone system will have the means to offer many ways of positive support upon the initiation of the call. When the call is automatically answered with a professional greeting, you can actually peak their interest with music and prerecorded observations of your church. They then should be able to pick an extension, from which you have already set up, covering all ministries of the church. There should also an extension for times and directions, not failing to mention the church website if you have one. A good system should be accessible at any time over the internet so you can make changes on the fly. You should be able to change extension settings, to change forwarded calls at any time. Perhaps the youth minister is going out of town and normally the extension is routed to his home at this time of evening. When this happens you could log on to your plan and change it instantly to someone else, or to the youth minister's cell phone. Should there not be anyone available, just make sure a good voice mail is set up.
A good phone system lets ministers have a life along with ministering to needs at the same time. Imagine the impression it would make on that first time caller if one of your staff answered their call even late into the evening. They wouldn't know that the staffer was at home relaxing, shopping, or eating out with the family, having a life. The imperative outcome, is for that first time caller to realize that you care and that your church can meet their needs. An unanswered phone will not meet their need!
Discover how the right phone system can enhance your church or ministry at Church Phone Systems. You can also find more great general telephone information at http://Phone-System-Reviews.com/
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