Starting Out: Which Contact Details a New Business Should Publish and Which to Hold Back

All new companies encounter the same situation early on: your website is up and running, your Business Cards are printed, and you need to decide what information should be on them. Do not exceed the amount, and customers will not be able to get to you.

There’s too much, and you’ve put your phone number with all strangers who enter your “Contact Us” page. Many founders decide to stride that hurdle in the second half by using GetTempNumber and creating an exclusively for-public contact address that they never end up with in print somewhere on a flyer or Google index with their own contact number.

Why This Decision Matters More Than It Seems

Most founders initially answer the phone, reply to mail, and ask questions about their customers. Back then, most founders received incoming calls, replied to incoming emails, and answered their customers’ inquiries themselves. Which implies it’s easy to roll the same number you use throughout the day.

It’s one of those numbers that’s only shared with close friends, and then all of a sudden it’s a number the cold callers, scrapers, and even the less-than-friendly customer are going at. From the get-go, it’s important to distinguish “public” from “personal”, to prevent a great deal of tidying up later on.

What Should Go Public

Some contact information really does need to be displayed for a business to operate, and it’s unlikely that a business will gain credibility from hiding it:

• An inquiry line or number to enable customers to call or send a text message with a quick question before committing to purchase. It doesn’t have to be a statement to have to put in your pocket and carry around everywhere – it’s just a thing that should get to them – or should get to the person taking the questionnaires, if they are that sort of person.
• It looks much more professional on the outside, and a business e-mail stores everything related to clients, whereas a personal e-mail.
• A street address (if available). It is inevitable if you have customers come into your store, your studio, or any other location. Typically, just a registered business address, or a mailbox service, is enough for your home-based or remote business, and you don’t need to give them your mailing address.
• Whether you’re using Twitter or other social media channels, if your customers are there, so should your customer service team. It’s a fact that many people now opt to reach out to businesses by using social media rather than the telephone – so should your customer service team.

Together they give consumers a sufficient way to get in touch and give the enterprise the appearance of being trustworthy, without divulging too much information.

What Should Stay Private?

Likewise, some information is too private for even the smallest, but yet asocial, operation:

• Your cellular phone number. You might be the one on call for every call you get, but that won’t always be the case, and a call from marketing on your personal number will bore you with the convenience it promised.
• Your home/address should not be included unless your line of business has a specific focus on everyone who visits the home address.
• Personal social media profile. Ordering combined with these begins to offer consumers vacation pictures and appropriate family updates.
• Not used for public phone calls by staff that do not require them.

They should never be draped on anything public – these are kept in consultation and for the benefit of those who use them as being in business.

Setting Up a Business Line Without Overcomplicating It

For starting up a new desk, a whole set of extensions are most likely overdoing it. In the early days, most entrepreneurs would decide to have a business number (not their own), and use it when the company is open but punch the same number in black when it is closed. You can use the number on your website, in your listings, and in all the print items, since it will only need to be changed when it changes.

For this reason, if a specific contact method is needed for only a brief period of time, such as a “one-and-done” conversation with a supplier, or a listing in a marketplace or a working number from a trade show, the phone line will be necessary for just that amount of time.

A Few Situations Worth Planning For Early

There are a few moments in history that startups are about to experience and that will be unfamiliar to them:

• Marketplace/directory listings. Local directories or marketplaces may ask for an address, which is shown to everyone who checks the directory. They may also ask for a contact number, making the number public. A separate line provides a chance to not contaminate the platforms.
• Vendors/outdoor fairs, displays. By the end of the day, dozens of numbers have been substituted into a stranger’s phone when people are given a number in a stall or a booth at a market. That number is meant only for once, and cannot be returned – no more having to deal with too many cheesy calls that follow a trade show.
• Contact with suppliers/sellers at an early stage. There is no need to give over your main line prior to any connection with a different supplier. If there is a relationship before a permanent contact point, there is an initial contact point number, which means that when there is a relationship, a relationship is determined as a formal relationship and not as an informal one.

It’s not enough that a new enterprise be accessible. Think carefully about what information you really have to make public, such as your additional information line, your business email, and whether your business offers an address you wish your clients to be able to visit, and then don’t include any of the other information, including your personal number, in print.