Industries · Retail
The phone rings on the floor. Someone should answer it.
Shops need phones that ring wherever staff are standing, a network that keeps the card terminals and the calls apart, and one number to call when either one stops working.
What goes wrong
Small shop, a lot plugged in.
A typical shop has card terminals, cameras, a register PC, guest Wi-Fi and the phones, usually on one consumer router that someone set up years ago.
- Phones
- The only phone is behind the counter, so calls ring out or go to voicemail during business hours while staff are on the floor.
- Network
- Card terminals, cameras, staff devices and guest Wi-Fi all share one network, and nobody has the router password.
- Computers
- The back-office PC runs the register software and the email, and no one knows when it was last backed up.
- Website
- Holiday hours on the site are last year’s, and the login belongs to someone who no longer works there.
What we manage
The shop’s phones and network, handled.
- 01
Ring groups for the floor
When the phone rings, every phone in the shop rings. Whoever is free picks it up, and sales calls stop going to voicemail.
- 02
Auto attendant and hours
A professional greeting for hours, directions and sales, with holiday and seasonal schedules set before they are needed.
- 03
After-hours routing
Calls go to the shop while it is open and to voicemail, a cell or an answering service after close.
- 04
The shop number on the owner’s mobile
Owners and managers call and text from the business number on their own phone, without giving out a personal cell.
- 05
Networks kept apart
Payments, cameras, staff devices and guest Wi-Fi on separate networks behind a business firewall, documented and monitored.
- 06
The back-office computer
The register PC and email kept updated and backed up, so a failed drive is an inconvenience and not a lost week.
- 07
Hours and details kept current
Holiday hours, new products and contact details updated on the website on request.
-
Changes to any of it go through one number and one agreement.
How we work
A typical setup
What a shop usually runs on.
Illustrative. Every office is scoped at the assessment, and nothing is installed that the business does not need.
- Phones
- Desk phone at the counter; cordless handsets on the floor and in the back office
- Numbers
- Main number on an auto attendant (hours, directions, sales); business texting from the same number
- Call handling
- Ring group across the floor, counter and office; custom hold message; optional call recording
- After hours
- Time-based routing to voicemail, the owner’s mobile or an answering service
- Network
- Business firewall; separate networks for payments, cameras, staff and guest Wi-Fi
- Computers
- Back-office workstation managed, updated and backed up
- Website
- Hours, location and contact details kept current
Services involved
Start with an assessment
Start with a look at the shop.
We map the phones, the router, the terminals and the back-office computer, and give you a written picture of what you have and what we would change. Then you decide.