It’s no exaggeration to say that VoIP has revolutionised the way we communicate with each other - especially when it comes to business communications.
More and more businesses are choosing to integrate their telephony systems with Salesforce. There are lots of good reasons why companies are choosing to do so. Not least of all is the fact that 41.2% of salespeople still rate telephone calls as their number one tool to close deals.

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What Is Hosted VoIP?

VoIP stands for Voice over Internet Protocol, which is just another way of describing making and receiving phone calls over an internet connection. The VoIP system converts the sound from  incoming or outgoing phone calls into data packets that can be transmitted over the internet.

Hosted VoIP means that there is no on-premises VoIP server and the whole telephony service is handled by the VoIP provider remotely through their own data centers in the cloud.

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Why Integrate Hosted VoIP with Salesforce?

There are several key advantages of implementing a hosted VoIP system in your business and integrating it with Salesforce, compared with using traditional telephony. 

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1. Cut costs - zero extra hardware 

The great thing about hosted VoIP is that it doesn’t require any extra cables, phone lines, routers, or any other networking hardware. You can simply sign up to a hosted VoIP provider, choose a phone service plan that works for you and they’ll get everything up and running remotely. This cuts down on both installation and maintenance costs compared to a traditional phone system or PBX.

You can instantly add new numbers to your service with no extra contracts or delays involved, including vanity local and toll-free numbers. Adding phone numbers that allow people to connect with you at local rates no matter where they are in the world helps your brand to establish a global presence in a very affordable way.

Another advantage of hosted VoIP is that a good hosting service such as PhoneIQ can port your existing numbers over immediately, with zero downtime and no disruption, guaranteeing business continuity.

Also, the VoIP service routes and transfers calls automatically rather than manually transferring between departments which takes up valuable time.

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2. Use data to boost sales call efficiency

Integrating VoIP with Salesforce allows you to effectively track sales calls and analyse the data in granular detail, in a way that just isn’t possible with traditional telephony. Old-school calls made through a phone line are recorded on your CRM automatically and rely on the salesperson taking notes during and after the call. 

VoIP is a much more accurate and detailed way to get sales call data and gain insights that will help improve the success of sales calls, especially when combined with Salesforce add-ons such as High Velocity Sales. If you’re considering using High Velocity Sales as an additional sales tool, check out our recent blog post detailing its benefits. 

You can monitor KPIs such as average handle time, call duration, lead generation success, follow-up success, and more using Salesforce’s pre-built dashboards and data visualizations. You can track, analyse, and report on individual or team performance, all in real-time which enables you to react swiftly and decisively to any issues that may arise. 

Management can then provide valuable feedback to their sales team to boost productivity and efficiency.

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3. Save time on information gathering

An integrated phone system enables sales and service teams to automatically get customer information on-screen as soon as their number is dialled or a call is received using screen pop. This means that you spend less time searching for details in Salesforce and more time actually talking to the prospect or customer. 

Also, with a seamless integration you can capture and record calls and voicemail automatically, even if your sales staff are working remotely. Call recordings can be saved in the cloud and retrieved quickly if needed in the future. 

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4. Improved customer experience

Salesforce lets you group customers based on various criteria and schedule follow-up calls. Integrating Salesforce with VoIP allows you to track all the interactions your sales team makes with a prospect or customer including phone calls and text messages. 

You can also add Interactive Voice Responses (IVR) to streamlining your operations and make life easier for customers. Rather than wait in a queue to speak to an agent, a fully integrated VoIP system can provide Salesforce based call routing which can connect caller automatically to their account executives, case owners and more using CRM data.

From an employee perspective, VoIP integrated with Salesforce is excellent news for both customer support agents and supervisors. Agents will never need to leave Salesforce and supervisors can access data instantly, enabling agile working practices and interactions.

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5. Scale up your sales teams with ease

If you rely on traditional telephony, as your team grows you’ll have trouble scaling your infrastructure like phone lines, hardware and the list goes on. 

By integrating Salesforce with a native hosted VoIP solution, you can simply add users elastically as you expand. With the growing trend of remote work, you don’t even need to worry about office space. Scaling up a sales team has never been easier, and cheaper! 

These days, most cloud telephony systems provide both local and international numbers with instant provisioning. You can buy and access the numbers instantly, with no contracts involved. 

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6. Boost connection rates

Modern VoIP systems provide out of the box features that boost agent productivity and increase connection rates. At the end of the day, it’s all about increasing the number of meaningful conversations and manual dialing won’t cut it anymore. Some of the key outbound features you should look for include:

1. Power and preview dialing
2. Local presence caller ID
3. Voicemail drop 
   

You should look for a tight integration between Salesforce and your hosted VoIP system when reviewing these features. For example, loading your dialing list into the power dialer should be as easy as importing CRM records from a List View or Report, or tracking Voicemail Drop and connection metrics should be made available on a native Salesforce report.

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Looking to integrate VoIP with your CRM?

It has never been easier and faster to integrate Salesforce and VoIP. Recent advances in cloud technology and communications mean you can benefit from all the advantages listed above by using pre-built affordable solutions.

PhoneIQ offers an all-in-one VoIP phone system that integrates perfectly with Salesforce to empower your sales and service with the tools they need to deliver an amazing customer experience.

Signup for your 7 day free trial and see what PhoneIQ can do for your business.