Startup Tools: Google Voice
When new businesses are started, people always think of their brand in the sense of typography, images and the emotional connection that customers have with your business. But in fact the reality is a much different picture for small startups because they must be much more fluid to meet their customer demands and keep up with a higher volume of direct contact.
How do you reach your audience, block the spammers and escape calls to your cell phone on a late weekend night, or during a vacation? Google acquired Grand Central technology a few years ago and has been rolling out (by invite only) their rebranded Google Voice product, and while it still feels like a true beta product; it has the potential to rock your startup world.
Number Management:
Do you have a mobile device, home phone & work phone? Do you want only particular people (by #’s) to reach your cell phone, and others to be directed straight to voicemail? What about “turning off” your public number temporarily while you are on vacation, so only the closest of people really know how to reach you? All these things are possible under a single management tool of Google Voice.
Transcription:
Voice to text has been around for a while, but frankly most of the “out of the box” products have been quite terrible in their accuracy. Are you in a meeting where it would be inappropriate to listen to your voicemail or take a call? Google voice has the ability to transcribe your voice mails into an e-mail so that you can read through ~ or even better search through the information left for you! This is hands down the best voicemail feature I have ever seen, and the more you use, the more utility you will also see in it.
Just like when GMail first came out, having access to this product will give your customers the impression of being technology advance over your other small business peers which only stands to reinforce a positive brand attitude (assuming you back up their reason to believe so).
So if you haven’t checked out Google Voice, go apply for an invitation today! (GV)
Did you want more? Follow @travisketchum here!
DISCLAIMER: Before acting on this post, be sure to read my disclaimer.
Did you enjoy this post? Why not leave a comment below and continue the conversation, or subscribe to my feed and get articles like this delivered automatically to your feed reader.
I found your site on technorati and read a few of your other posts. Keep up the good work. I just added your RSS feed to my Google News Reader. Looking forward to reading more from you down the road!