London, 7 January 2014: everreach, a new UK online phone service to help busy small business owners take control of their incoming calls, launches today. The service lets customers choose a ‘virtual’ local or national UK phone number and provides a suite of features so they can decide how they want to deal with their business calls based on how their specific business operates.

Calls can be forwarded to an unlimited number of mobile and landline numbers on any UK network, making it ideal for businesses without a permanently staffed office or ones that are regularly on the move, and where staff might use their own phones for work purposes. There’s also the ability to set up personalised welcome greetings and call menus for busy periods of the day so the right call always gets to the right person wherever they are, and voicemails can be sent straight to email for anyone in the team to pick up and respond to.

“If you’re a busy entrepreneur, tradesman or an owner of a very small business, it’s common to use your mobile as your main business contact number because you’re typically not office-based and can be running around for most of the day. As a direct consequence, it’s very easy to miss important calls, new business opportunities and be forced to make follow up calls in your personal time.” said Nick Mullen, CEO of everreach.

- Research finds that 72% of small businesses worry about losing business as a result of missing calls

The service was designed in response to a research study conducted on behalf of everreach by polling company Censuswide, looking into the challenges faced by small business owners when trying to manage their business calls. The survey examined what missed calls cost in terms of lost revenue, as well as more personal elements, for example to what extent out of hours work calls might impact on time with the family. 72% of respondents said they regularly worry about missing calls and losing new business as a result.

The service has been specifically designed to be simple and easy to use and includes a number of features that give small businesses owners the control they need to take full advantage of their incoming calls including:

- Call forwarding to an unlimited number of UK mobile and landline numbers
- Time-based rules to control how you receive calls according to your working day
- Welcome greetings and call menus to allow customers to choose who they speak to
- Voicemail to email to ensure rapid responses
- Call data to track the type of calls you are receiving and when they come through

Tony Joseph, Product Marketing Director of everreach, commented: “A key requirement of the service was being able to give small business owners the continued flexibility they need to run their business using a mobile phone, so we use virtual numbers to achieve this. The call management features we provide ensure they won’t miss any important calls and adds a layer of professionalism with regards to how they answer calls, helping them be more successful in the long term.”