How can SMBs improve revenues without hiring more people or expanding in a way that increases expenses?

So asks telecom blogger Ron Fischer, who suggests that Voice over IP (VoIP) has several great ways to do that by “doing more with less or the same.”

Fischer identifies four specific ways VoIP can help your SMB do more with less.

You can gain another employee without having to hire one. Does that sound too good to be true? Using the network Automated Attendant capability, “your telephone receptionist can now be used to perform other functions your business needs to grow,” Fischer says. How does it work? By allowing the network to route calls to the proper person or department, your “previous receptionist” now becomes a customer service rep or an outbound caller.

You’ll never miss another order. We don’t have to be the ones to tell you that SMBs can’t afford to miss an order. This is why -- well, one reason why, anyway -- making sure that every call is answered by a qualified person is so important. With VoIP you have that -- the capability to reroute any inbound call to another number if not answered, inside or outside your business.

And yes, we know what you’re going to ask: if you change locations or numbers, you can change the call redirection via any Internet connection.

You can answer every call, even on the go. Even though sales people, field technicians or customer service reps may be in or out of the office at any given time on any given day, you can ensure they receive every call while in the field by having their calls to their office phone ring on multiple phones at the same time. Calls to your office can ring and be answered at your office phone or up to three other phone numbers.

You will get your messages. Since many employees have both an office phone and a mobile phone, checking multiple voice mail boxes to retrieve messages can be a hassle. With VoIP, a single voice mail box can receive and allow retrieval of messages from both devices, and send them to your email, as well as forward them  to your smartphone as a .wav audio file for later listening.