Use an international call forwarding service to receive calls from customers around the world. All you need is forwarding numbers that are configured to send calls to your desired destination. Learn more!
What is an International Call Forwarding Service?
An international call forwarding service will forward phone calls internationally from a virtual forwarding number or DID to a ‘destination’ phone number or PBX anywhere in the world. This is one of the most effective and inexpensive ways to improve your business’ system of communication. Call forwarding is a very important tool for individuals, small businesses, large corporations, etc. looking to become more connected over the phone.
Getting a toll-free number has a huge impact on your accessibility. One common use of call forwarding is owning a local or international toll-free number in a foreign country and forwarding calls back to your own landline or cell phone.
The biggest advantage: your landline/cell phone can be located anywhere in the world, allowing you to have a virtual presence in any market you choose.
How Does a Call Forwarding Service Work
Here’s how call forwarding works:
- Purchase local or toll-free forwarding numbers in target countries.
- Forward incoming calls to your cell phone or computer through our online control panel.
- When customers call, they get routed through the Global Call Forwarding network to your desired destination.
- Answer calls and pay low communication costs, no matter where your customers call from.
Suppose your business is physically located in the United States, but you are targeting customers in a foreign country. You could purchase international numbers in that foreign country and reap the benefits of forwarding calls internationally. When customers in the UK dial your UK phone number, they get connected to our network. Our phone forwarding service automatically routes the calls to your mobile or work phone in the United States, according to your settings. Customers in a foreign country are more likely to contact your business when the call is free and the number is easy to dial.
Related: How to Set Up an International Call Forwarding Service
Why Choose Global Call Forwarding as Your Call Forwarding Service
Since 1996, Global Call Forwarding has worked hard to provide the best call forwarding service in the industry. We offer competitive rates and provide top-notch call connection and quality. We pride ourselves on unmatched and highly responsive customer experience. We have a 100% satisfaction guarantee and we are confident that your business will see great results from our service.
When to Forward Calls? Common Use Cases
Businesses can use forwarding services in a variety of ways. The main benefit of such a service is the flexibility and mobility it allows users. Here are a few use cases of a call forwarding service:
- Forward calls to different locations during certain hours of the day to manage high call traffic or provide service after hours.
- Send calls to other agents or teams when busy or unreachable.
- Use advanced routing strategies to connect your remote and distributed teams.
- Receive calls on your personal phone or home phone during off hours, and so on.
Benefits of a Call Forwarding Service
International call forwarding services provide significant benefits for businesses. Users can configure their local or toll-free numbers based on their objectives. We offer a variety of plans to choose from depending on the user’s monthly minute consumption.
Here are the key benefits of international call forwarding:
1. Increasing Sales and Marketing in New Markets
International call forwarding can greatly increase your sales potential in foreign markets. A call forwarding service helps your business establish communication between potential customers in a specific region and your sales personnel. Once a direct channel of communication exists, representatives are much more likely to close sales.
In addition to increasing your sales potential, a forwarding service is sure to bolster your company’s marketing strategy. A local or toll-free phone number gives customers the impression that your business is close by or easy to reach. Customers are more likely to dial a local phone number and do business with a local firm, thereby increasing their chances of gaining their business. You are more likely to receive incoming calls, in turn, boosting revenue with international call forwarding.
2. Access to Advanced Features
Included with your call forwarding service is a suite of advanced features that allows you to customize your phone number. A local ringback tone or customized greeting make callers feel comfortable when dialing your business due to the familiarity. Voicemail and voicemail to fax ensure that your business will never miss communications, while also storing for later retrieval. Additional advanced features like sequential forwarding and simultaneous ringing are used to make sure every call to your business gets answered. We offer more than 10 advanced features that are included with your phone forwarding service.
Global Call Forwarding also provides additional features at a small cost, like rollover minutes and call recording. The rollover minutes feature lets you accumulate unused minutes from one month to the next, which reduces business expenses. Hosted call recording is a great feature for call centers because you can record conversations between customers and representatives. Many successful corporations utilize call recording for training and sales purposes. By customizing your phone number, you can get your call forwarding service to fit your specific needs and forward calls where, when, and how you want, anywhere in the world.
International Call Forwarding for Global Expansion
Taking your business to the global stage can often mean more work and more expenses. However, an international call forwarding service provider can help your business create a local presence in multiple international markets at the same time.
You can use this service to test and survey markets before you enter them, scale your business as and when necessary, and offer sales and customer support in different time zones. And you can do all this without wasting capital by using a toll-free or local number associated with those areas.
Here are 6 cost-effective ways to use international call forwarding to achieve global expansion:
1. Test New Markets
Part of entering new markets involves testing the market and conducting research. You can use international call forwarding to test new markets. Establish yourself as a local business, even without having physical infrastructure. Your team can have a local number that potential customers are more likely to respond to. This helps you understand the expectations, preferences, and needs of potential customers before investing further.
2. Scale Your Business in Existing Markets
As you continue to do business and plan to grow and expand, changes and adjustments need to be made. And you will need a phone system that lets you easily scale up or down as your plans require.
With international call forwarding, you can easily scale your business in markets that you have been successful in. Assign direct inward dialing or DID numbers for every sales agent and customer service rep. You can track their calls, no matter where they are located.
3. Consider BPO & OffShore Team Management
Another benefit of an international call forwarding service is the ability to work efficiently with distributed teams. Not all international operations need you to open field offices and warehouses in target areas. Some businesses only need to have remote teams offering sales and customer support services to customers in these areas and time zones.
Most businesses with an international customer base choose to work with call center outsourcers to reduce costs significantly. Others hire remote workers or manage remote teams within these regions. Either way, with call forwarding, you can easily manage incoming and outgoing calls to provide uninterrupted service to your customers, no matter the location.
4. Provide Local Customer Support
To make the best out of your international business, you will be expected to be reachable and close by. Having virtual local offices can greatly help with building a local presence. Additionally, providing local customer support with a toll-free number or local phone number will also increase customer engagement. A toll-free number or local number that matches your lead’s location means that they can call your business for free or local calling rates, respectively.
This will encourage them to call you for product or service inquiries, to learn more about your services, and receive assistance. And that gives your business the opportunity to convert them into new and returning customers.
5. Advertise Locally & Improve Brand Awareness
As with any company, the best way to gain new customers and retain your existing ones is to execute strong marketing campaigns. With international business, this is more important as you need to increase brand awareness and visibility in these new regions and markets.
By getting a local number and establishing a local presence, you can enter your business in the local marketing scene. Manage local advertising campaigns by promoting your product with your local number:
- On billboards, local magazines, and newspapers
- By entering your company in local exhibitions and marketplaces
- Displaying your local contact on your website, emails, and social media
- Using location targeting
These efforts will help your company become more visible in new markets and eventually the talk of the town!
6. Convert Web Visitors (Even Ones from Other Countries!) Into Sales
Finally, work on improving website traffic and conversions. Are you seeing website visitors from other countries in your Google Analytics or Google Search Console? If you are executing your international marketing strategies effectively, you will start to see web visitors from around the world. This is because your marketing efforts are directly boosting your international brand visibility.
As you start to see a pattern, you can plan to capitalize on this. Convert more international customers by putting local phone numbers for those regions in your contact sections and on localized pages. Even if your business is international, a virtual phone number that matches a potential customer’s location will diminish their calling charges. This will encourage these web visitors to call your business for inquiries and sales.
Expand Internationally With Global Call Forwarding
Ready to take your business to the global stage? We are the most trusted provider of call forwarding services to help businesses with global expansion. Learn more by speaking or chatting online with our experts today.