We teach freelancers to lie

The virtual PBX RingCloud continues to publish cases about how telephony can help in organizing business processes for different areas of activity.

Earlier we talked about how telephony can help owners of online stores.
Now I am the owner of an online store (Part 1)
Now I am the owner of an online store (Part 2)
Now I am the owner of an online store (Part 3)
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Today, we would like to talk about how telephony can help freelancers in their work.

In the last decade, the Internet has been developing very rapidly, the number of people employed in the IT sphere, people of creative professions (designers, artists) is growing. And all these people are united by one thing - thanks to the Internet, they can work remotely. And since no one controls a remote worker, except himself, he can take orders from the outside and become a freelancer - “a man without a boss,” those who work for themselves.

Here we must immediately make a reservation, because there are people with the main work, whose third-party orders are part-time work, hack-work. If they are not, then do not worry. But there are freelancers who want to further build a business on their free occupation (and have already withdrawn from their main job, or can only plan to leave) or, if they have such a business, they want to scale it. So, it will be about those for whom freelancing is “daily bread” and if today there is no work, then tomorrow there will be no business and there will be no bread and butter.

There are freelancers whose new orders arrive regularly, on recommendations, etc., and there are those who need to look for customers. To attract customers, you can post profiles on special sites and forums. But here, in each area, there are already old-timers with a good portfolio and recommendations, so it’s difficult for a newcomer to get through, since all that remains is to underestimate the price. And the low price is not a very good indicator, which is questioned by reasonable customers.

You can give out business cards, give announcements - but on business cards, in an amicable way, the phone number and the site should be indicated.
So we came to the conclusion that if a person is just starting to work for himself, and he does not have a good portfolio and feedback recommendations, he needs a website. Own web page should serve as a presentation of a freelancer, and possibly demonstrate some of his skills - layout, design, graphics.



What else attracts customers on the site, besides a convenient menu and a beautiful picture? Telephone And it is desirable that this was a direct Moscow number. Why desirable? Because there are many people who do not know that you can get a direct number "independently" from the telephone wire, like a mobile. In the minds of most of us, an office in Moscow (what this office looks like, depends on your imagination ) with a telephone set on one of the tables appears in beautiful figures (495 or 499). Of course, few people may have doubts, but maybe this number is not stationary? But we will not be able to immediately confirm or deny this. For example, a direct Moscow number gives the freelancer a “weight”.

Buy such a number is not a problem - you can even choose a beautiful and memorable, or ending in rhyme to the slogan. And to the number you can purchase a virtual PBX.

What will she give?

First "Hello! You called the design office of Ivanov Ivan ... ”, greeting, recorded in a pleasant female or male voice.



Secondly, “If you are interested in design development, press 1, if entering into a contract, press 2 ...”, voice menu. At a minimum, one gets the impression that not one person works in this bureau, but the whole team and business are responsible. And also there is a feeling that once the calls are distributed among the employees, it is possible that the agency has many orders, and the voice menu is designed to reduce the time spent by employees on finding out the purpose and address of the call.



Third, make the freelancer himself accessible anytime, anywhere.

That is, the performer can be at least on the beach, even at the dacha, anywhere, and the calling customer will get the impression that he has fallen into a reputable company, where several employees are sitting who perform different tasks. In fact, it can be one person.


How moral and ethical is this? Just say, the impression is formed by the customer independently, no one assures him that he is calling a solid company. This is only indicated by indirect signs, such as high-quality telephony and direct number.

And if you think globally, then the point of any freelancer is to find a customer and complete the order with the highest quality possible. So, there are a lot of companies and firms in the world that have everything officially, but the quality of the result of work is lame, and there are a lot of freelancers who do their job brilliantly and on time. And we believe that once bad firms go bankrupt, and high-quality ones will grow and flourish.

By the way, the history of building a business of many entrepreneurs is full of themes about how the first major customer was found, who needed to be convinced of the “solidity” of the artist. For such purposes, large beautiful offices were filmed for the last money, staff was hired, and a whole bunch of “tricks”. So, many, having received the contract, and in good faith fulfilling it, in a short time, companies were able to afford a “cool” office in fact. So will it be harmful to the client if he is deceived by the quality telephony and receives a perfectly completed order?