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Why, How and When Dental Practices Should Use Professional Voicemail

The voicemail (previously known as an Answerphone Machine) was developed in the 1930s and widely adopted by businesses in the 1980s. It’s still popular today, and in recent times has been drastically improved to deliver more value to businesses, and make the customer experience better.

When first invented, it was a separate device which was connected to your Phone System or Phone Line. Now it’s simply software built into a Phone System.

What are these drastic improvements, and how can Dental Practices take advantage of Professional Voicemail to increase their success?

Let’s find out.

What is a Professional Voicemail?

A Professional Voicemail is an automated answering service that meets the following requirements of businesses:

  1. The message communicates meaningful and helpful information to your patients.
  2. The message sounds perfect and creates a positive impression of your dental practice.
  3. The length of ringing before the message is played (and the message itself) is automatically adaptable for different times, days and purposes.
  4. Voicemail messages trigger an instant notification (on the handset, PC, or Smartphone App) to the Dental Practice and can be accessed and listened to easily and instantly. From anywhere in the world.
  5. The Voicemail System should (if wanted) give Dental Practices the option for patients to “press 1 to be connected to the emergency out of hours service” if one is offered by your practice.

These are the high standards we set for ourselves when we reinvented the modern day Business Voicemail.

Top 9 Reasons why Professional Voicemail is Important for Dental Practices

  1. It helps you provide excellent service to your patients.
  2. It communicates to and receives communication from your patients which leads to more patient appointments booked.
  3. It helps patients get the information they may need.
  4. A great, well thought-out and professionally recorded voicemail message gives you another opportunity to make money.
  5. It shows patients you care about them.
  6. It satisfies patients and builds trust in your dental practice.
  7. It can create a positive and professional impression in your patient’s mind.
  8. It makes it possible to contact patients quickly enough to get/keep them as patients.
  9. It’s the perfect opportunity for you to put your vocal pipes to great use. (Only joking, an actor will do that for you).

Questions You Should Answer Before Deciding How to set-up Your Dental Practice’s Professional Voicemail

In this section we’ll look at the different features Professional Voicemail offers Dental Practices, and discuss the best ways to use them.

How Many Different Messages do we Need?

Is one message for any time of the day enough? Probably not. Let’s look at why.

By only having one message which plays both when you’re open and closed, your message will not be specific enough to deliver the correct communication to your patient. The message will also likely be tediously long.

Two messages usually hits the spot. One message for when you’re open, but can’t answer – called an OPEN VOICEMAIL MESSAGE. And another message for when you’re closed – called a CLOSED VOICEMAIL MESSAGE.

This way you can tailor the message to deliver useful, relevant information to your patients. (It’s worth noting that modern Yo Telecom Phone Systems automatically switch between Open and Closed Voicemail Messages depending on the time and day of the week – so your patients always hear the correct message.)

How do You Communicate a Meaningful and Useful Message to Patients?

The first thing you should find out is what do patients want from a voicemail?

Here are some things patients said they want from a Dental Practice’s voicemail:

  • To know they’ve called who they intended to.
  • The reason why the call wasn’t answered.
  • When they can speak to you (opening hours).
  • What alternative methods of communication are available.
  • What to do if they have an emergency.
  • When their call will be returned if they leave a message.
  • Guidance on what they should do to speak to you as quickly as possible.

I’d advise that you don’t try to fit all of those points into one message. Decide which points are most important for different times of the day and create a message around what is important to you and more importantly your patients.

Patient expectations can vary, so it would be helpful to ask your patients what they’d like.

So, with the above information, you can start to wordsmith a meaningful message for your patients. (Or, if you switch to Yo Telecom our script writers will do this for you).

Here are two examples of messages we’ve created for a Dental Practice.

OPEN VOICEMAIL MESSAGE

“Thank you for calling [name of Dental Practice] – the home of convenient dentistry since the 1950s.

We’re sorry we can’t take your call. We are open, but currently busy helping other patients.

We aim to return all calls within one working hour, so please leave us a message with your name and number and we’ll be in touch shortly.”

CLOSED VOICEMAIL MESSAGE

“Thank you for calling [name of Dental Practice] – the home of convenient dentistry since the 1950s.

We’re sorry we can’t take your call right now as we’re closed.

We’re open from 8 am to 6:30 pm Monday to Friday, and closed on the weekend.

If you are in need of an emergency out of hours appointment, we can help. We now offer appointments 24-7, 365 days a year. The call out fee is £189 plus the price of the treatment you receive.

To be connected to the out of hours dentist please press 1 now.

Alternatively please leave us a message after the tone and we’ll aim to call you back when we open.”

Will Returning Calls Promptly Lead to Happier Patients and More Revenue?

Short answer – yes. But why?

Professor James Oldroyd of MIT discovered that if you call back within 5 minutes of a patient’s enquiry, you are 100 times more likely to reach the patient as opposed to calling back after 30 minutes. This proves the importance of returning calls quickly.

Let’s take a look at what can happen when you leave it too long to call back.

The patient has unanswered questions or unsatisfied needs and wants, and may start to search for alternative dentists on Google… and voila, within 15 seconds your prospective new patient (or existing patient) is on Joe Schmoe Dental Practice’s website, reading all about why they should get their treatment done by Dr Schmoe.

On the other hand, let’s look at the other end of the spectrum.

A patient leaves you a voicemail message on a Sunday – and is expecting you to call back on Monday.

But you have a Yo Telecom Dental Practice Phone system and get the voicemail instantly emailed through to you. You listen to it and find out the caller has stumbled across your website and is interested in implants.

So you call the patient right away. You know what happens?

You exceed that prospective patient’s expectations on the first interaction. And that sticks in their mind. You don’t just say you offer great service, but you prove to this caller you offer great service.

In this scenario, you satisfied the patient’s need before she even made it to Joe Schmoe Dental Practice’s website.

Pretty smart eh?

Should we Give Patients the Option to Speak to us Directly out of Hours?

If you offer an “out of hours” emergency service, you want to make it easy for patients to contact you.

If you don’t offer an out of hours emergency service you may want to consider it for the following reasons:

  1. It’s extremely valuable for both patients and your practice.
  2. It differentiates your practice from the competition.
  3. It can be a good (and sometimes untapped) source of new patients.
  4. You can charge higher prices for emergency work.
  5. Emergency medical and dental treatment improves communities and lives in times of need.

However, most practice owners and managers do not want patients to have their mobile numbers (even if they offer out of hours services). Probably because their partners would not appreciate a wake-up call when your dear patient John Bloggs falls over and cracks his tooth after having a few too many drinks in the early hours of Saturday morning.

So what is the solution for this?

Time specific Voicemail messages that enable patients to press 1 to be connected to you. And you chose the hours that the message plays, which is to say, the hours you’re happy to provide out of hours emergency appointments.

You may want that message to switch off at 9:30 pm, or maybe not.

Whatever suits you, the Yo Telecom Phone System is flexible.

Conclusion

A Professional Voicemail has many benefits for both patients and Dental Practices.

Professional Voicemail is on the upward trend in the dental industry, with the likes of The Dental Group, Knightsbridge Dental, Ferring Dental and hundreds more hopping on the bandwagon.

We suggest booking a free demonstration to find out more about how Professional Voicemail, in conjunction with Call Logging can help you achieve your goals in 2018 and beyond.

BOOK FREE DEMO!

Suggested Reading
Find out 6 ways you can increase the success of your Dental Practice!

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6 Ways 21st Century Phone Systems Help Dental Practices Succeed

Running a dental practice is a very full on job! We understand, as we currently work with over 400 dental practice owners.

Managing staff, trying to get new patients, and making sure your policies and procedures are in place for CQC – we know, it’s a lot of work.

We have spotted that frequently one of the most critical factors to the success of a dental practice gets neglected – it’s communication.

If you look at any successful organisation that is miles ahead of the competition, you’ll notice they’re great communicators in one way or another. To guarantee the long-term success of your Dental Practice, it’s important you make great communication a priority.

You’ll be glad to hear that the Yo Telecom Dental Practice Phone System will help make your communication great and as a result will help you increase the success of your Dental Practice!

1. See All Missed Calls and Call Them Back – Increasing Bookings and Revenue

Dental Practices miss an average of 7 calls per day.

This happens from being busy on the phone, closed, or just busy helping patients.

Unanswered or missed calls and engaged tones don’t leave the best impressions in a patient’s mind – to say the least – and a lot of people get frustrated and upset by engaged tones.

To make the matter worse for your Dental Practice – with the internet one touch away – it’s easier than ever for patients to find an alternative, a simple Google search for “Dental Practices near me” will instantly put your patient (or potential future patient) in touch with your competition.

And if you lose just one patient from a missed call, it can equate to potentially thousands of pounds lost over the patient’s lifetime.

However, there is hope. There is a way to see all of your missed calls the instant they happen! Enabling you to call them back.

Returning missed calls shows your patients such a high level of service, that not only will they be impressed, but they’re also very likely to book an appointment with you!

The feature that does this is called Call Logging. It logs and displays the phone number (and/or names of patients) along with the time and date they’ve called you.

It works exactly like the Call Log on your mobile phone, alerting you of the missed call, so you can take action and turn a potential missed opportunity into a booking.

2. Improve The Communication Skills of Your Reception Team

Once you get a new enquiry into your Dental Practice, you need to ensure that the quality of your staff’s communication is very high.

“High quality communication implies a high level of service.” – Journal of Services Marketing.

“70% of people are willing to spend more with a business they believe offers excellent service.” – Survey conducted by American Express.

Imagine a patient is calling to find out about a smile makeover. The patient will likely be expecting to have his questions answered in a friendly and professional manner and if he likes what he hears and your receptionist is in control of the call, the result should be a booking of a consultation.

If your staff’s communication does not meet or exceed the expectation of the patient, (eg. questions not answered correctly, lots of “umming and erring”, or saying “the person you need to speak to isn’t here, can you call back?”) he or she will likely form an unhelpful or not good enough impression of your dental practice and your potential new patient will likely call one of your competitors instead.

This is where call recording becomes extremely valuable.

It enables you to review any communication your staff have had, and then you can use the recordings to guide your team to better communicate about your products & services and help them become better at getting you new patients. This is a simple, but effective way of staff training.

In business it’s very important to be aware of your strengths & weaknesses and Call Recording helps with that, putting you in control of your success.

Without Call Recording, you likely have little awareness of your communication strengths and weaknesses and therefore might have a hard time improving your communications.

3. Save Time When Existing Patients Phone you With Patient Name Display™

You probably use a Dental Practice Software like Software of Excellence, iSmile, Carestream R4, or Dentaly. And in your software you have names and numbers of all your patients.

The Yo Telecom Practice Phone System has the ability of instantly matching your patient’s phone number to their record in your software which will display their name before you pick up the phone.

This saves loads of time asking for spellings over the phone.

Plus it means you can greet your existing patients by their name which shows them an excellent level of service which they will appreciate.

4. Get More Emergency Bookings with Professional Out-of-Hours Voicemail

A great way to increase your revenue is to start offering emergency appointments to your patients.

Patients are willing to spend up to 6 times the normal price for emergency work (Source: Debt.org.)

But often with traditional Phone Systems you won’t find out until it’s too late and your patient has found somewhere else.

According to Gov.uk, there were over 3.2 million dental emergencies in 2016, with 914,285 emergencies happening over the weekend. This is a huge opportunity for dental practices that are geared up to offer emergency out-of-hours appointments.

With our Professional Out-of-Hours Voicemail, you can;

1. Instantly get all your voicemail messages emailed to you – enabling you to take action right away (if you want to).

2. You can give patients the option to press a button to be connected to the practice owner, manager or dentist for emergency help. The message would look like:

“Thanks for calling YOUR DENTAL PRACTICE, we’re now closed. Our regular opening hours are … If you’re in need of an emergency appointment, please press one now, alternatively leave a message after the tone.”

Overall, this keeps patients happy, and helps you service more patients!

5. Promote Services to Patients While They’re on Hold

From time to time you’ll need to put patients on hold. We recommend that you try to keep these waiting times to a minimum, but when patients are on hold, you should ensure that they don’t hear silence or tedious music.

Over 85% of callers prefer on hold messages over silence. – Cellular Marketing Magazine

Hold times are great opportunities to build the trust of your patients and inform and educate them on your products and services. People are more likely to decide to show interest in a product or service if they know about it and it’s benefits.

Yo Telecom’s On Hold Marketing messages are tailored to the goals of your Dental Practice and they’re expertly scripted to “hit the spot” and get interested patients to enquire further.

6. Say Goodbye to the Dreaded Engaged Tone Once and for all

Traditional analogue lines can only make or receive one call at any given time. So when you’re busy on the phone, your line will be engaged, and patients will be abruptly cut off by an engaged tone. Leaving them with a poor impression of your Dental Practice.

It’s frustrating for both the patient, who often will be calling to make a booking, it’s frustrating for the Owners, Managers, Dentists and everyone else involved with the practice who obviously don’t want to be throwing opportunities in the bin.

With the Yo Telecom Dental Practice phone system you can choose the right amount of inbound lines available on your main phone number. For smaller practices this might be two, but for larger practices it could be as many as 6+.

And then instead of your patients hearing engaged tones while you’re busy, they’ll hear a professional message letting them know you’re busy on all your phones and will be with them soon!

You can even give patients the option to press one and leave a message if they’d prefer.

Summary: Investing in Great Communications Leads to Greater Success and Happier Patients!

The combined improvements that are a result of just these 6 points can add hundreds of thousands of pounds to the yearly revenue of a dental practice. Plus, result in patients that are happier due to simple and helpful communication.

Book a free demonstration today!

Call us on 02382 146115 or click here to book a demo to take the next step in increasing the success of your dental practice!

Enquire now on 02382 146115

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Small business Phone Systems: Digital vs VoIP vs Hybrid (NEW)

So you’re looking for a new phone system for your Small Business?

Here are some of the popular reasons businesses look to upgrade their Phone System:

  • Your current Phone System is old, unreliable or not fit for purpose any more.
  • Your line(s) are often engaged because you’re often speaking on the phone, and you could be missing business opportunities.
  • You’d like to take advantage of modern benefit’s like listening to calls through Call Recording or playing professionally recorded On Hold Marketing messages to improve the customer perception of your business.

Those are all great reasons to upgrade, and in this concise article, we’ll outline (in a very simple manner) the differences between Phone Systems that are available to small businesses.

What is the Best Phone System for Small Business?

In 2017, the three most popular types of telephone systems available are:

  • Digital Phone Systems
  • Internet Phone Systems (VOIP – Voice Over Internet Protocol)
  • Hybrid Phone Systems (the best of both worlds)

I’ll briefly introduce the main differences between the three, and give you some benefits and disadvantages.

Digital Phone Systems for Small Business

A digital phone system is a physical telephone system, which is installed and located in your building. They’re small boxes (around the size of a large A4 book) which are usually mounted on a wall or placed in a cabinet. Your phone lines connect to the system, which can connect up to multiple handsets – both cordless (DECT) and fixed desk handsets.

One of the main benefits of a digital phone system is its reliability. This system ranks #2 out of the three in reliability. It also offers many useful features like Professional Business Voicemail, Call Transfer, Hold, Call Logging (a list of missed calls) and much more.

The main disadvantage of a Digital Phone System is that it is restricted to physical phone lines (Digital or Analogue phone lines). Which means it’s not that future-proof.

Internet (VOIP) Phone Systems for Small Business

An internet or VOIP phone system is a virtual phone system, which unlike a digital or hybrid system will not be located in your building. Instead, it will be located in a data centre somewhere in the world.

One benefit of VOIP systems is that they can save money on call charges. Plus they offer loads of useful benefits, like Professional Business Voicemail, Call Transfer, Hold, Call Logging (a list of missed calls) and much more.

Two disadvantage of purely VOIP systems are: 1. If your internet goes down, you will not be able to use your phones – at all. 2. You’ll never actually own the system, so you’ll be paying for the rest of your time in business.

Hybrid Phone Systems for Small Business

The Hybrid Phone System is a blend of a Digital Phone System and an Internet (VOIP) Phone System. This means you can call out using VOIP Lines, Digital Lines, and/or Analogue Lines. The system will be located in your business and it offers flexibility with your choice of both cordless and fixed handsets.

The main benefit of a Hybrid Phone System is that they offer more reliability than both VOIP and Digital Phone Systems. If one type of line fails for you, it can automatically route calls in and out from a backup line.

A secondary benefit is that there are flexible options, usually over 3, 4, 5, 6 or 7 years in which you pay off the system (in a fixed monthly price), and at the end of the term you own it. So you don’t need to pay for it anymore. That’s a huge advantage over a pure VOIP Phone System in the long run.

Hybrid Phone Systems also offer more functionality than both Digital and VOIP Phone Systems.

Hybrid Phone Systems don’t really have any disadvantages… They are truly the best of both worlds.

Conclusion: The Hybrid Phone System is the Best Phone System for Small Business

If you’re a larger business, and you already have a Leased Line (dedicated high-speed fibre connection which cost £300-1,000 per month), it’s a close decision between the pure VOIP and the Hybrid Phone System.

If you’re a smaller business and want the most reliable phone system you can buy, plus want lots of functionality to help improve communication, the Hybrid Phone System is a clear winner!

Call us on 02382 146115 to find out more information and book a FREE Demo.

Or, click here to book online.

The Hybrid Phone System offers a wide range of other useful features for Small Business. Some of which listed here.

Professional Voicemail – (Day & Night)
Impress and inform callers when you can’t answer the phone, due to being closed or busy with clients.

Whenever someone leaves you a voicemail, your Hybrid Phone system will instantly email a recording of the message to you! Handy eh?

Call Waiting
Rather than clients getting an engaged tone while your reception team are on the phone, your phone system will automatically greet cleints, notify them that you’re busy on the phone and then play them some music or marketing while they wait for you. This keeps your patients interested and on the line, rather than calling the next dental practice they find on Google.

Call Logging
Never let an unanswered call turn into a missed opportunity, bad impression, or an upset client again. You may miss calls when you’re busy on the phone, helping patients, or even closed, but with the Yo Telecom Hybrid Phone System, you can easily WOW your callers by returning your missed calls, so they don’t turn into missed opportunities or frustrated clients.

Call Recording (NEW!)
Make calling your business a positive experience, always. Improve and monitor the way your staff speak to clients over the phone. If a caller has a bad experience, it can be damaging to your reputation and lead to a loss of revenue.

With Yo Telecom’s Call Recording you can listen to any call that has been made or received, and use it to guide and help staff to improve. It also comes in handy if you ever need to re-listen to information clients or suppliers give you over the phone.

Call Transfer
Help callers speak to the person they need to, fast. There’s no need to run around the building to pass the phone to someone, with the Yo Telecom Hybrid Phone System it’s one simple touch of a button to transfer a call to any other handset (cordless or fixed handset). And, you can even transfer calls to an outside phone line or mobile if you ever need to – such as a director or managers mobile.

On Hold Marketing (or Music)
Make waiting on hold enjoyable & entertaining, or informative & interesting, or a mixture of the two – your choice depending on what your goals are. Some businesses like to entertain callers with iconic music like Michael Jackson’s Billie Jean, while other businesses prefer to inform callers about services, social media or upcoming events. Either way, we’ll source the music, or create you a professionally recorded and personalised on hold marketing message, with some soft music in the background to add to the experience.

Smart Inbound Call Routing
Impress your callers with fast service by smartly sending inbound calls to a phone or a group of phones. If the person who usually answers calls is already busy on the phone or doesn’t answer quickly enough, the call will automatically be sent through to another phone, or group of phones. Saving your callers time, and keeping them happy.

What do Small Businesses say About Yo Telecom Hybrid Phone Systems?

“We are very happy with the service we have received from Yo Telecom and we would recommend them to every dental practice! Derek, Jess and engineer James looked after us extremely well from the very beginning. They were very clear about the options and there were no hidden charges or terms.Their system is amazing and it took our business to the higher level of customer service.

We are really happy! Thank you Yo Telecom! Keep up the good work :)”

— Weronika Korkosz, Manager

“5 * service from Yo Telecom. From initial set up to ongoing maintenance/service everyone provides excellent customer service. Any new work we have done has been to improve our system and at each step they have been there with us. I cannot recommend this company high enough. We are extremely happy we moved from our previous provider where we always had issues and now we have none.”

— Kevin Evans, Director

Questions?

I hope this has been simple and easy to understand for you. I’ve purposefully kept it as simple as possible.

If you’d like to know more about anything discussed in this article please call us on 02382 146115 or email info@yotelecom.co.uk!

If you’d like to arrange a free demo please click the button below.

BOOK FREE DEMO!

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What is the Best Phone System for Dental Practices?

So you’re looking for a new phone system for your Dental Practice?

Maybe because you’re facing one of these problems with your current phone system:

  • You feel that frequently engaged tones may be leading to lost revenue.
  • You’d like a phone system that links to your Practice Management Software (like S.O.E or R4) so you can greet patients by their name and save time.
  • You feel that enquiries may not always be dealt with in the best way.

If so, there’s hope; Yo Telecom has helped over 350 Dental Practices successfully overcome these challenges. In this short article, we’ll outline (in a very simple manner) the differences between Phone Systems that are available.

What is the Best Phone System for Dental Practices?

There are three main types of telephone systems available:

  • Digital phone systems
  • Internet phone systems (VOIP – Voice Over Internet Protocol)
  • Hybrid phone systems (the best of both worlds)

I’ll briefly introduce the three, and give you some benefits and disadvantages.

Digital Phone Systems for Dental Practices

A digital phone system is a physical telephone system, which would be located somewhere in your Dental Practice. They are small boxes which are usually mounted on a wall or placed in a cabinet. They connect to your phone lines and all the handsets you have in your building.

One benefit of a digital phone system is its reliability. This system ranks #2 out of the three in reliability.

One disadvantage of a digital phone system is that it is restricted to physical phone lines (digital or analogue phone lines). Which means it’s not that future-proof.

Internet (VOIP) Phone Systems for Dental Practices

An internet or VOIP phone system is a virtual phone system, which unlike a digital or hybrid system will not be located in your Dental Practice. Instead, it will be located in a data centre somewhere in the world.

One benefit of VOIP systems is that they can save money on call charges.

One disadvantage of VOIP systems is that if your internet goes down, you will not be able to use your phones – at all.

Hybrid Phone Systems for Dental Practices

The hybrid system is a mixture of a digital phone system and an internet (VOIP) phone system. The system will be located in your Dental Practice and offers flexibility with your choice of cordless and fixed handsets.

One benefit of a Hybrid phone system is that they offer more reliability than both VOIP and Digital phone systems. If one type of line fails for you, it can automatically route calls in and out from a backup line.

Hybrid phone systems don’t really have any disadvantages… They are truly the best of both worlds.

The Hybrid Phone System is the Best Phone System for Dental Practices

As well as being the most reliable phone system you can buy, Hybrid Phone systems also offer a range of other useful features for Dental Practices. Listed below.

See also: 6 Ways 21st Century Phone Systems Help Dental Practices Succeed

Call Waiting
Rather than patients getting an engaged tone while your reception team are on the phone, your phone system will automatically greet patients, notify them that you’re busy on the phone and then play them some music or marketing while they wait for you. This keeps your patients interested and on the line, rather than calling the next dental practice they find on Google.

Call Logging
Never let an unanswered call turn into a missed opportunity, bad impression, or an upset patient again. You may miss calls when you’re busy on the phone, helping patients, or even closed, but with the Yo Telecom Hybrid Phone System, you can easily WOW your callers by returning your missed calls, so they don’t turn into missed opportunities or frustrated patients.

Call Recording (NEW!)
Make calling your Dental Practice a positive experience, always. Improve and monitor the way your staff speak to prospective patients or other referring practices. If a caller has a bad experience, it can be damaging to your reputation and lead to a loss of revenue.

With Yo Telecom’s Call Recording you can listen to any call that has been made or received, and use it to guide and help staff to improve. It also comes in handy if you ever need to re-listen to information patients give you over the phone.

Professional Voicemail
If you can’t answer a patient’s call because you’re closed or busy helping patients, it’s important that your voicemail is impressive, professional and helpful to your patients. If it’s not, your voicemail could be causing your patients to call a competitor’s practice. Yo Telecom’s Professional Dental Practice Voicemail messages are personalised and recorded specifically for your practice, to help you achieve your goals in business.

(Read the article: Why, How and When Dental Practices Should Use Professional Voicemail.)

Call Transfer
Help callers speak to the person they need to, fast. There’s no need to run around the Dental Practice to pass the phone to someone, with the Yo Telecom Hybrid Phone System it’s one simple touch of a button to transfer a call to any other handset (cordless or fixed handset). And, you can even transfer calls to an outside phone line or mobile if you ever need to – such as a director or managers mobile.

On Hold Marketing (or Music)
Make waiting on hold enjoyable & entertaining, or informative & interesting, or a mixture of the two – your choice depending on what your goals are. Some Dental Practices like to entertain callers with iconic music like Michael Jackson’s Billie Jean, while other Dental Practices prefer to inform callers about services like Invisalign, Smile Makeovers, or upcoming opening evenings. Either way, we’ll source the music, or create you a professionally recorded and personalised on hold marketing message, with some soft music in the background to add to the experience.

Smart Inbound Call Routing
Impress your callers with fast service by smartly sending inbound calls to a phone or a group of phones. If the person who usually answers calls is already busy on the phone or doesn’t answer quickly enough, the call will automatically be sent through to another phone, or group of phones. Saving your callers time, and keeping them happy.

What do Dental Practices Say About Yo Telecom Hybrid Phone Systems?

“We are very happy with the service we have received from Yo Telecom and we would recommend them to every dental practice! Derek, Jess and engineer James looked after us extremely well from the very beginning. They were very clear about the options and there were no hidden charges or terms.Their system is amazing and it took our business to the higher level of customer service.

We are really happy! Thank you Yo Telecom! Keep up the good work :)”

— Weronika Korkosz, Manager

“5 * service from Yo Telecom. From initial set up to ongoing maintenance/service everyone provides excellent customer service. Any new work we have done has been to improve our system and at each step they have been there with us. I cannot recommend this company high enough. We are extremely happy we moved from our previous provider where we always had issues and now we have none.”

— Kevin Evans, Director

Questions?

I hope this has been simple and easy to understand for you. I’ve purposefully kept it as simple as possible.

If you’d like to know more about anything discussed in this article please call us on 02382 146115 or email info@yotelecom.co.uk!

If you’d like to arrange a free demo please click the button below.

BOOK FREE DEMO!

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Three Reasons Your Business Should Record Calls

Each year the number of businesses that record their calls increases. In this article you’ll find out:

  • Why Call Recording is becoming increasingly popular?
  • Can it help businesses become more successful?
  • Is Call Recording legal in the UK?
  • How does call recording work?

1. Call Recording Improves Staff Performance

You may have heard of Pearson’s Law before. It’s a natural law which applies to all aspects of life, including work.

Pearson’s Law

“That which is measured improves. That which is measured and reported improves exponentially.” – Karl Pearson

To start off with, just by your staff knowing that the call is being recorded and can be listened to at a later day they’re more likely to do their best while communicating with clients over the phone. I’ve never met anyone who would want to be embarrassed if management ever heard them acting badly on the phone.

With Call Recording, it’s easy for management and the staff member in question to see areas of strength and weakness in their communication. From there you can come up with coaching and guidance to improve their communication and performance.

Once you’ve given guidance to the staff member, you can simply check some of their calls a week or two later. You’ll find one of two things; either the staff member has improved (which is very likely) or they haven’t changed and the problem still persists. At this point you will want to have another conversation with the person either acknowledging and praising the fact that they have improved, or saying something like “There has been no improvement. I would like you to make these changes…”. You could also ask if there any reasons they can’t make these changes or do they need help in making these changes?

These are small steps you can take in using Call Recording as part of staff training that have a big impact on staff performance and communication.

“High-quality communications, imply a high level of service.” – emerald insight, The Journal of Services Marketing

70% Are willing to spend more with a company they believe offers excellent customer service. – Research conducted by American Express

These 2 statistics make it SO important to invest in your staff to increase the success of your business. We’ve had Call Recording since day one, and wouldn’t go without it.

2. Call Recording Helps Resolve Disputes

If you’ve ever bought something over the phone or taken advice over the phone, chances are you’ve also been told that the call will be recorded. The reason increasing numbers of companies are recording their calls is that it instantly validates any verbal agreements.

Any call can be listened to, and if needed emailed to someone to validate what was said or agreed on the phone.

Encrypted recorded calls will stand up in court if the dispute ever got to that point, which could easily save any business thousands of pounds.

3. Call Recording Protects Your Staff

It may be rare and hopefully, will never happen to you or your staff. But some nasty people may verbally abuse and threaten your company.

According to the HSE (Health & Safety Executive) verbal abuse (and the fear of abuse) can have a serious impact on an employee’s mental well-being and can lead to distress, anxiety and longer-term stress-related ill health. For employers, the result can be low staff morale, increased turnover of employees and recruitment difficulties.

By recording your calls, not only are angry callers less likely to verbally abuse your staff, but you also have proof if you needed to get the police to take action.

People who are convicted of committing crimes like verbal abuse over the phone can be fined, or imprisoned for up to six months.

So your staff will be protected and safe with call recording.

Is Call Recording Legal in the UK?

Call Recording is legal in the UK and you don’t even need to tell your callers that calls are recorded if you don’t want to. It’s fine as long as you let your staff know calls are recorded, you record calls for your own organisation and for one of these purposes:

  • Provide evidence of a business transaction
  • Ensure that a business complies with regulatory procedures
  • See that quality standards or targets are being met
  • Protect national security
  • Prevent or detect crime
  • Investigate the unauthorized use of a telecommunications system
  • Secure the effective operation of the telecommunications system.

How Does Call Recording Work?
Call Recording is usually a combination of hardware and software built (or connected to) a phone line or phone system.

Whenever a call starts (inbound or outbound) the system starts recording and it simply stops at the end of the call.

The calls are then stored in a secure, password-protected portal which can be accessed from a PC, tablet or laptop.

You can search and narrow down calls by date, time, whether it’s inbound or outbound, phone number, duration, etc and once you find the call you’d like to listen to you simply click play.

The software then plays the call to you and you can listen to it, email it to someone else, save it or do whatever you want with it.

See the diagram below to get a visual idea of how simple Yo Telecom Call Recording is.

Book a FREE Call Recording Demo Now!

If you have any questions or you just want to go ahead and get a demo of Call Recording, along with practical advice of how to use it in your business, call Yo Telecom now on 02382 146115. Alternatively, you can click the button below to schedule a demo online.

CALL RECORDING DEMO

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How To Multiply Your Customers Using Referrals

One of the biggest challenges you may be facing in running a small or medium business is getting new clients.

For the ones who get it right, business is like a pleasurable stroll through a park on a sunny Sunday afternoon. For the ones who get it wrong, business is like an uphill marathon in torrential rain.

Are there ways to increase the number of new clients you get? Yes, let’s take a look at what you can do.

Multiply Your Happy Clients Into Even More Happy Clients

As Richard Branson says it “word of mouth is probably the best and cheapest form of advertising.” If you can leverage that fact, you can enjoy howling success in business.

The first thing to know is how to really WOW your clients. Which in short, consists of simply exceeding the expectations of your customers.

For example: You walk into a restaurant for some food. Not only do you get your food, but you also get exceptionally fast service, real and personal recommendations from your waiter and to top it off – some complimentary freshly sliced fruit just before you leave… Oh and no 10 minute wait for a card machine after you get your bill (that kills me).

Once you’ve exceeded the expectations of your clients, your clients then have the potential to be powerful marketers of your business.

Then the question is “how do you get customers to refer their friends?”. Some will do it naturally, but the other 8/10 need some gentle guidance.

3 Effective Ways to get Your Clients to Refer Their Friends to You

1. Create a referral program and ask your clients to refer their friends!

The ones who are brave enough to do this, get loads of friends referred to them. Have a look at what Deliveroo do.

Deliveroo’s Referral Program

“Give a friend £2.50 to try Deliveroo and get £2.50 when they order”.

American Express’s Referral Program

“Earn up to 90,000 Membership Rewards points by referring your friends”. At the time of writing this blog, you can buy an Apple iPhone with less than 90,000 Membership Rewards Points!

But you don’t have to run an online business to do this. You can get little cards made which promote a referral program, you can email your clients to let them know about it, or you can ask them face to face. The possibilities are endless.

The best referral programs tend to give something to the client who refers their friend, and something extra to the new client. Bear that in mind when creating your referral scheme.

2. Use automated emails to get more good Google reviews (while minimising bad ones)

Businesses that show up high on the list AND have great reviews on Google searches CRUSH any competition. They get way more business and can charge much higher prices.

Take a look at the screenshot below. I was with a potential new client who owns a beauty salon in Shepherds Bush today. To his disappointment, he doesn’t show up in Googles top three options.

I demonstrated to him that when someone searches for “Beauty in Shepherds Bush” they see the three options listed below.

Which one do you think gets most of the business? It’s clear. The #1 spot (the one that stands out). And it stands out in two ways; Firstly, they have nearly 5 times more reviews than their competition. Plus their rating is great! 4.7 Stars, as opposed to 3.7 and 3.6.

This puts them in a very powerful position to get loads of new clients and they are now seen to be higher value than others – meaning they can charge higher prices and earn better profits than their competition.

But you ask your clients to fill out a google review, and they all tell you they’re more than happy to do it when they get home. But the review never comes… Either your client got lost and never arrived at home (I hope not), or they simply forgot.

What if there was an automated tool that actually got you loads of 5-Star Google reviews, and kept any bad feedback coming directly to you (in a private email)?

If that’s what you’ve been looking for, watch this short video below. It’ll change your business. Forever.

3. Get your clients talking about your business positively on social media

People these days are glued to their social medias and they love showing off. For example; nice places they’ve eaten at, great hotels they’ve stayed at, their new haircut… the list goes on.

When they do that they influence all of their friends. Some of their friends will copy and go and eat at that restaurant, stay at that hotel and even get their haircut at the same hairdresser.

The best advice I can give on the subject is make your products and services so good that your clients can’t resist but tell their friends.

Interact with your customers when they write to or about you on social media. It will make them feel recognized, acknowledged and cherished. Plus it will encourage them to write about you again in the future!

The Summary: Get Clients to Refer Their Friends

So there you have it. Three powerful ways to leverage your happy clients to increase the success of your business.

If you’ve enjoyed this article, you’ll love my book – Simple Changes That Guarantee Success In Business.

Call us on 02382 146115 and we’ll send you a copy of it for free.

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What is the Best Phone System for Care Homes and Nursing Homes?

So you’re looking for a new phone system for your Care Home?

Maybe because you’re facing one of these problems with your current phone system:

  • Cordless phones drop-out or crackle in certain parts of the building.
  • Your line(s) are constantly engaged because you’re often speaking on the phone.
  • You feel that enquiries into your home may not always be dealt with in the best way.

If so, your situation isn’t hopeless; Yo Telecom has helped over 400 Care Homes overcome these challenges. In this concise article, we’ll outline (in a very simple manner) the differences between Phone Systems that are available.

What is the Best Phone System for Care Homes?

There are three main types of telephone systems available:

  • Digital phone systems
  • Internet phone systems (VOIP – Voice Over Internet Protocol)
  • Hybrid phone systems (the best of both worlds)

I’ll briefly introduce the three, and give you some benefits and disadvantages.

Digital Phone Systems for Care Homes

A digital phone system is a physical telephone system, which would be located somewhere in your Care Home. They are small boxes which are usually mounted on a wall or placed in a cabinet. They connect to your phone lines and all the handsets you have in your building.

One benefit of a digital phone system is its reliability. This system ranks #2 out of the three in reliability.

One disadvantage of a digital phone system is that it is restricted to physical phone lines (digital or analogue phone lines). Which means it’s not that future-proof.

Internet (VOIP) Phone Systems for Care Homes

An internet or VOIP phone system is a virtual phone system, which unlike a digital or hybrid system will not be located in your care home. Instead, it will be located in a data centre somewhere in the world.

One benefit of VOIP systems is that they can save money on call charges.

One disadvantage of VOIP systems is that if your internet goes down, you will not be able to use your phones – at all.

Hybrid Phone Systems for Care Homes

The hybrid system is a mixture of a digital phone system and an internet (VOIP) phone system. The system will be located in your care home and offers flexibility with your choice of cordless and fixed handsets.

One benefit of a Hybrid phone system is that they offer more reliability than both VOIP and Digital phone systems. If one type of line fails for you, it can automatically route calls in and out from a backup line.

Hybrid phone systems don’t really have any disadvantages… They are truly the best of both worlds.

Want to know how to get complete WiFi coverage throughout your entire care home? Find out in this article!

BOOK FREE DEMO!

The Hybrid Phone System is the Best Phone System for Care Homes

As well as being the most reliable phone system you can buy, Hybrid Phone systems also offer a range of other useful features for Care Homes. Listed here.

100% Guaranteed Cordless Phone Coverage
Guaranteed cordless coverage, in your entire Care Home. Your staff and residents will be able to talk on your new cordless phones from any part of your building. You may need to make an emergency call from a resident’s room, or take the phone to a resident so they can speak to a loved one, with the Yo Telecom Hybrid Phone System you can do that, with confidence you won’t have drop-outs or crackling on the line.

Call Logging
Never let an unanswered call turn into a missed opportunity, bad impression, or an upset family member again. You may miss calls when you’re busy on the phone, or helping residents, but with the Yo Telecom Hybrid Phone System, you can easily WOW your callers by returning your missed calls, so they don’t turn into missed opportunities or upset families.

Call Recording (NEW!)
Make calling your Care Home a positive experience, always. Improve and monitor the way your staff speak to prospective callers, doctors, and friends & families. If a caller has a bad experience, it can be damaging to your reputation and lead to a loss of revenue.

By listening back to calls, one of our Care Home managers saved thousands in missed opportunities by discovering a staff member was turning down enquiries saying “Sorry, no vacancies” when they had four vacancies!

With Yo Telecom’s Call Recording you can listen to any call that has been made or received, and use it to guide and help staff to improve. It also comes in handy if you ever need to re-listen to advice from doctors.

Call Transfer
Help callers speak to the person they need to, fast. There’s no need to run around the Care Home to pass the phone to someone, with the Yo Telecom Hybrid Phone System it’s one simple touch of a button to transfer a call to any other handset (cordless or fixed handset). And, you can even transfer calls to an outside phone line or mobile if you ever need to – such as a director or managers mobile.

On Hold Marketing (or Music)
Make waiting on hold enjoyable & entertaining, or informative & interesting, or a mixture of the two – your choice depending on what your goals are. Some Care Homes like to entertain callers with iconic music like Michael Jackson’s Billie Jean, while other Care Homes prefer to inform callers with unique selling points of the care home or upcoming family BBQ’s. Either way, we’ll source the music, or create you a professionally recorded and personalised on hold marketing message, with some soft music in the background to add to the experience.

Smart Inbound Call Routing
Impress your callers with fast service by smartly sending inbound calls to a phone, or a group of phones. If the person who usually answers calls is already busy on the phone or doesn’t answer quickly enough, the call will automatically be sent through to another phone, or group of phones. Saving your callers time, and keeping them happy.

What do Care Homes Say About Yo Telecom Hybrid Phone Systems?

Hampton Care

Nellsar Care Group

Landermeads Care Home

Questions?
I hope this has been simple and easy to understand for you. I’ve purposefully kept it as simple as possible.

If you’d like to know more about anything discussed in this article please call us on 02382 146115 or email info@yotelecom.co.uk!

If you’d like to arrange a free demo please click the button below.

BOOK FREE DEMO!

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HOW TO: Get Rid of WiFi Weak-Spots and get Great WiFi in Your Entire Care Home!

WiFi is great when it works well and a huge inconvenience when it doesn’t. If you run a Care Home, you may have experienced parts of your Care Home that get very weak WiFi connection, or even worse – no WiFi connection.

So, is it possible to get good WiFi coverage in every part of your Care Home you need it in? How do you do it? Well, in this article I’ll answer those questions.

How WiFi Works – the Basics

WiFi uses radio waves to wirelessly send data (emails, Care Planning info, info from websites etc) backwards and forwards to and from a device such as a laptop, tablet or mobile phone to a router which is connected to the internet.

So we’ve established the basics of how WiFi works. Fairly simple right? Now let’s look at why it may not work in the parts of the Care Home you need it to.

Why Doesn’t my WiFi Reach my Entire Care Home?
WiFi sends and receives data through radio waves from the router, to the device. Ok, so what effects these invisible waves of data that we rely on every day?

  • Distance from the router
  • Things get in the way, like walls
  • Power of the signal given out by the wifi device

It may be one, two or all of these points causing your problem, let’s take a look at each one separately.

Want to get WiFi in your entire Care Home?
Call us now on 02380 516986 to get a free Survey and Demo.

BOOK FREE DEMO!

Distance From the Router

WiFi travels in waves, similar to sound. To explain this simply, imagine a speaker playing music – the further you move away from the speaker, the quieter it gets. Until you finally can’t hear it anymore.

Well, the same thing happens with WiFi, the further you move away from the point giving out WiFi signal, the weaker the waves become until they disappear and your device no longer picks up any waves (data).

If we take an average WiFi Router outside, the range that it’s WiFi signal will cover is just over 30 meters (about the length of 7 cars parked in a row). A bad WiFi device will be a lot less and a very good WiFi device can be 10 times better.

I’ll explain how to overcome this issue later in the article.

Things That get in the way, Like Walls

Another block to WiFi working in parts of your Care Home is are physical blocks, such as walls, that get in the way. When these WiFi waves are travelling at high speed through the air, they can be redirected, weakened or stopped dead by walls. The thicker the walls the worse it is.

Is there anything you can do to overcome this? Maybe something can be done about it, we’ll look at it in the solution section.

Want to get WiFi in your entire Care Home?
Call us now on 02380 516986 to get a free Survey and Demo.

BOOK FREE DEMO!

The Power of the Signal Given out by the WiFi Device

WiFi radio waves get weaker the further you move away from the device sending out the signal, the same way that sound gets quieter the further you move away from a speaker. But on a speaker, you can turn up the volume up and hear it at a further distance.

In the same way that not all speakers are the same volume, not all WiFi devices send out signals with the same power. You know you can get louder speakers, you can now get WiFi with more power thanks to new technology.

Here’s What Your Provider did not Tell You…

A large percentage of the telecom providers give WiFi routers out for free or very cheaply when you take their broadband.

So do you think they’re going to want to spend decent money on your free router that they’re already losing money on? Or do they want to minimise their loss and provide you with the cheapest and honestly worst router you can get? Like when you go on an aeroplane you get given those cheaply produced, free headphones that are terrible quality.

The quality of the free router you’d get from a regular telecom provider is of similar quality to those cheaply produced, free headphones you get on aeroplanes.

When I found this out and saw the impact it has on people who use the WiFi, I vouched to never provide low-quality WiFi equipment at Yo Telecom.

Instead, I researched the market to find the Dre Beats equivalent of WiFi equipment – high-quality equipment that is reliable, and powerful.

Cheap Fixes, That Don’t Work: WiFi ‘Extenders’ or ‘Boosters’

Just before we get onto the real solution to having a strong WiFi signal in your entire Care Home, I quickly want to highlight the common ‘fixes’ that I see people wasting money on so often.

There are two types of WiFi Extenders and Boosters. Wireless ones, and ones that try to send data signals through your electricity cables.

Want to get WiFi in your entire Care Home?
Call us now on 02380 516986 to get a free Survey and Demo, or click below to book online.

BOOK FREE DEMO!

How Wireless WiFi Extenders & Boosters Work

The most common fix to your problems is the Wireless Extender. Now, this may work in very small spaces but in large buildings, like your care home, it leads to tediously slow connections that drop in and out.

Here’s how it works:

You have your router sending out a signal and then somewhere else in your building, you have a little device that picks up that signal, bounces it on and then you probably have another little device that tries picking up an even weaker signal to bounce that on and so forth.

Every time one of these bounces on a signal, the data sent gets weaker and weaker.

In the diagram below, you see the good signal given out by the router where the data is sent and received well (in yellow).

Here’s the problem – by the time (and distance) the WiFi Extender has picked up the signal, the data is probably 50-90% weaker than the data that left the router.

It then boosts or extends data that is in a 50-90% worse condition than when it left your router (highlighted by the dark yellow/brown section of the diagram).

Then, in our example below, we have another booster, extending data that is now up to 99% worse that when it left the router (highlighted in the greyish yellow). And then

To make things even worse, we have a repeater trying to repeat a 99% diminished data which results in a 99.9-100% diminished data being boosted on (highlighted in the light grey).

So in this example, there is WiFi coverage of the entire building, but no data travelling through that WiFi signal – pointless.

The Solution: How to get Good WiFi Signal Throughout Your Entire Care Home

So I’ve shown you what solutions don’t work, and why. Here is the solution – it takes a little investment in your care homes data infrastructure (if you don’t already have it), and either network knowledge or the help of a professional network engineer (like the experts we have at Yo Telecom).

Here’s how it works, you create a structured network of data cables from the location your main router is, to strategically located points throughout your building.

These points then have special WiFi devices connected to the data cabled network, called Wi-Fi Access Points and they send and receive WiFi signals. because they are physically hardwired into your main router, they send clean, unharmed data out. Unlike boosters or extenders.

Your professional network engineer will ensure that the signal given out by each device overlaps, and that it’s all on one WiFi SSID (the name of the WiFi Network).

So you can walk around your building and your phone, tablet or laptop will seamlessly connect onto the device with the best signal. Because all the devices are connected through a data cable or network of data cables (blue line in the diagram), the data that they emit, is just as strong as the data received and sent from the router to the outside world.

The result is a WiFi signal that reaches throughout your entire care home!

This means your staff can use iPads to access care plans no matter where they are and your residents can Skype or Facetime family members from their rooms – without the fear of cutouts.

Call Yo Telecom on 02382 146115 to get this in place in your care home today!

I recommend calling Yo Telecom and buying a WiFi solution.

A professional WiFi consultant will come to your care home and do a survey to determine exactly what’s needed for your WiFi to work perfectly everywhere you need it.

They will create and present a plan for you based on what you need. If you like what you hear, we’ll get the ball rolling on the day and get your new WiFi equipment installed and fully operational within a couple of days.

Give us a call on 02382 146115 to book in your FREE consultation and demonstration! Alternatively, you can head to our live webchat to speak to one of our expert consultants.

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WOW your clients to increase your success!

The expansion of your business depends largely on your ability to WOW your clients, which then leads to them expanding your business for you through referrals.

Our good friends over at Zappos are amazing at WOWing their clients! We’ve learnt a lot from them and their CEO Tony Hsieh’s phenomenal book – DELIVERING HAPPINESS.

To WOW your clients you have to exceed their expectations. And I’m going to give you a few ways that successful companies do it.

I’ll start off with an example I’ve heard about Zappos. Often times to WOW their customers they upgrade their customers shipping and surprise them with next day delivery. How amazing is that, you order a pair of shoes on a standard shipping package (probably 3-4 days) and wake up the next morning with your new shoes on your doorstep! You better believe the good news from that happy and surprised customer is going to spread like wildfire!

Second example is my barbers. Cut & Grind in Soho, London. These guys are great at exceeding expectations. When you walk in you’re asked “What are you drinking?” And in my experience, they give you whatever you want, whether they have it or not. Example, I replied, “I’ll have a coke please.” They didn’t have any, so Jay (my barber and the man) reached in his pocket, gave a few pound to one of their staff and said “please go and buy Ryan a coke.” He didn’t have to do that but did and it’s something that sticks in my mind as great service. I’ve recommended nearly everyone I know to go to this barber shop. Now my brother and even his friends too are loyal clients. Oh, did I mention, Cut & Grind is around 70 miles from where we all live? Haha, what a well run business.

I’m sure that you’ve also had countless experiences like these. And you’ll remember me them for a long time. Use these in your business. You, your team, and your customers will be happier! Plus you’ll enjoy way more success!

We’ve recently stepped it up and invest heavily in WOWing our customers. The feedback has been great! Check out the amazing Yo Telecom Reviews.

Much Love

Ryan O’Carroll
Co-Founder of Yo Telecom

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How to get WiFi that works throughout your entire building.

WiFi is great when it works well and a huge inconvenience when it doesn’t. I’m sure we’ve all experienced parts of a building that get very weak WiFi connection, or even worse – no WiFi connection.

So, is it possible to get a good WiFi coverage in every part of your building that you need it in? How do you do it? Well, in this article I’ll answer those questions.

How WiFi Works – the Basics

WiFi uses radio waves to wirelessly send data (emails, information from websites etc) backwards and forwards to and from a device such as a laptop, tablet or mobile phone to a router which is connected to the internet.

Why Doesn’t my WiFi Reach my Entire Building?
WiFi sends and receives data through radio waves from the router to the device. Ok, so what effects these invisible waves of data that we rely on every day?

  • Distance from the router
  • Things get in the way, like walls
  • Power of the signal given out by the wifi device

It may be one, two or all of these points causing your problem. Let’s take a look at each one separately.

Distance from the Router

WiFi travels in waves, similar to sound. To explain this simply, imagine a speaker playing music. The further you move away from the speaker, the quieter it gets. Until you finally can’t hear it anymore. Well, the same thing happens with WiFi, the further you move away from the point giving out WiFi signal, the weaker the waves become until they disappear and your device no longer picks up any waves (data).

If we take an average WiFi Router outside, the range that it’s WiFi signal will cover is just over 30 meters (about the length of 7 cars parked in a row). A bad WiFi device will be a lot less, and a very good WiFi device can be 10 times better.

I’ll explain how to overcome this issue later in the article.

Things That get in the way, Like Walls.

Another block to WiFi working in parts of your building are physical blocks, such as walls, that get in the way. When these WiFi waves are travelling at high speed through the air, they can be redirected, weakened or stopped dead by walls. The thicker the walls the worse it is.

Is there anything you can do to overcome this? Maybe something can be done about it, we’ll look at it in the solution section.

The power of the Signal Given out by the WiFi Device

WiFi radio waves get weaker the further you move away from the device sending out the signal, the same way that sound gets quieter the further you move away from a speaker. But on a speaker, you can turn up the volume up and hear it at a further distance.

In the same way that not all speakers are the same volume, not all WiFi devices send out signals with the same power. You know you can get louder speakers, you can now get WiFi with more power thanks to new technology.

Here’s What Your Provider did not Tell You…

A large percentage of the telecom providers give WiFi routers out for free or very cheaply when you take their broadband. So do you think they’re going to want to spend decent money on your free router that they’re already losing money on? Or do they want to minimise their loss, and provide you with the cheapest and honestly worst router you can get? Like when you go on an aeroplane you get given those cheaply produced, free headphones that are terrible quality.

The quality of the free router you’d get from a regular telecom provider is of similar quality to those cheaply produced, free headphones you get on aeroplanes. When I found this out and saw the impact it has on people who use the WiFi, I vouched to never provide low-quality WiFi equipment at Yo Telecom. Instead, I researched the market to find the Dre Beats equivalent of WiFi equipment – high-quality equipment that is reliable, and powerful.

Cheap fixes, That Don’t Work: WiFi ‘Extenders’ or ‘Boosters’

Just before we get onto the real solution to having a strong WiFi signal in your entire building, I quickly want to highlight the common ‘fixes’ that I see people wasting money on so often.

There are two types of WiFi Extenders and Boosters. Wireless ones, and ones that try to send data signals through your electricity cables.

How Wireless WiFi Extenders & Boosters Work

The most common fix to your problems is the Wireless Extender. Now, this may work in very small spaces but in whole buildings, especially large ones, it leads to tediously slow connections that drop in and out.

Here’s how it works. You have your router sending out a signal and then somewhere else in your building, you have a little device that picks up that signal, bounces it on and then you probably have another little device that tries picking up an even weaker signal to bounce that on and so forth. Every time one of these bounces on a signal, the data sent gets weaker and weaker.

In the diagram below, you see the good signal given out by the router where the data is sent and received well (in yellow). Here’s the problem – by the time and distance the WiFi Extender has picked up the signal, the data is probably 50-90% weaker than the data that left the router. And it boosts or extends data that is in a 50-90% worse condition than when it left your router (highlighted by the dark yellow/brown section of the diagram). Then, in our example below, we have another booster, extending data that is now up to 99% worse that when it left the router (highlighted in the greyish yellow). And then to make things even worse, we have a repeater trying to repeat a 99% diminished data which results in a 99.9-100% diminished data being boosted on (highlighted in the light grey). So in this example, there is WiFi coverage of the entire building, but no data travelling through that WiFi Signal – pointless.

Wireless Extenders & Boosters That Try Ending Data Along Power Cables

Whoever invented this had a really good idea with great intentions. Sadly however, it doesn’t work well and he’s caused frustration and wasted the money of thousands of people all around the world.

The product is a set of two or more devices, one of which connects directly into your router through an ethernet cable, which then plugs straight into your buildings mains power circuit. The product tries to send your data through your electricity cables, but on it’s way that data passes through your lights, TVs, Computers and everything else connected to your mains power circuit (all of which damage the data) to the other device, which then tries to send on the damaged data through WiFi. Great idea in theory, but in practice, it doesn’t work.

This solution tries to mimic the solution that does work – sending data through data cables – but here’s the difference between data cables and electricity cables.

  • Electricity cables are 10 times thicker than data cables, slowing down the data.
  • Electricity cables are made out of stranded copper, on which data doesn’t travel well.
  • Electricity cables take your precious data on a journey through your every single device that’s connected to your mains – from PC’s to lights. And they don’t help.

So it was a great idea, but just doesn’t work well. Not to mention that it could potentially be sending your data through electricity cables to your neighbours… You’d just better hope your neighbours aren’t hackers.

The Solution: How to get Good wifi Signal Throughout Your Entire Building.

So I’ve shown you what solutions don’t work, and why. Here is the solution – it takes a little investment in your buildings data infrastructure (if you don’t already have it), and either network knowledge or the help of a professional network engineer (like the experts we have at Yo Telecom).

Here’s how it works, you create a structured network of data cables from the location your main router is, to strategically located points throughout your building. These points then have special WiFi devices connected to the data cabled network, called Wi-Fi Access Points and they send and receive WiFi signals. because they are physically hardwiredinto your main router, they send clean, unharmed data out. Unlike boosters or extenders.

Your professional network engineer will ensure that the signal given out by each device overlaps, and that it’s all on one WiFi SSID (the name of the WiFi Network). So you can walk around your building and your phone, tablet or laptop will seamlessly connect onto the device with the best signal. Because all the devices are connected through a data cable or network of data cables (blue line in the diagram), the data that they emit, is just as strong as the data received and sent from the router to the outside world.

The result is a WiFi signal that reaches your entire building, and allows you, your staff and your customers to use their phones, tablets, laptops and other devices that rely on WiFi to work or for pleasure.

Call Yo Telecom on 02382 146115 to get this in place in your building(s) today!

I recommend calling Yo Telecom and buying a Wi-Fi solution. A professional WiFi consultant will come to your building(s) and do a survey to determine exactly what’s needed for your WiFi to work perfectly everywhere you need it.

He will create and present an order form for you based on what you need. He’ll get the ball rolling on the day and get your new WiFi equipment installed and fully operational within a couple of days.

At the time of writing this article, Yo Telecom is doing FREE surveys, data cabling, and setup of WiFi equipment – but this isn’t going to be FREE forever.

Call today on 02382 146115 to book a free survey and demonstration.

All the best,

Ryan O’Carroll

Founder & CEO