How to Sell Direct Inward Dialing Services

In the days when businesses routinely had complex phone systems on traditional landlines, it was common to hire an operator to route calls to different extensions within the organization. Customers would call the main number and ask for the extension, person, or department they wanted to reach. The operator would then put the call on hold while they transferred the caller to the appropriate destination. That changed with the advent of direct inward dialing (DID).

Today, DID lets companies have blocks of virtual telephone numbers connected to a specific private branch exchange (PBX) system so incoming calls can go directly to an extension without operator assistance. It helps companies streamline their workforce and provides a better customer experience, as they no longer have to wait for a person to answer and physically connect the call. It allows each person or department to serve their clients more effectively

What Is Direct Inward Dialing?

DID is a flexible tool for businesses. Organizations can customize the services based on their operational needs. Examples include: 

  • Call centers – The goal of call centers is to provide faster, more efficient customer service. DID routes incoming calls to a call center queue so that the next available service agent can answer. 
  • Call forwarding – In today’s workplaces, employees can be anywhere at any time. Forward DID numbers to another office or your staff member’s mobile phone at any time to keep them connected. It also routes calls during after-hours or when an employee is on vacation. 
  • Fax machines – Industries such as law and medicine still use fax machines. You can assign a fax DID number to each device.  
  • Voicemail – Ensure calls never get missed with voicemail for individuals or departments.   

How Does Direct Inward Dialing Work?

This question is one that IT and telecom professionals get often. It can be difficult to condense it to just a few relevant details and still explain the concept adequately to customers. There are lots of moving parts and related technologies and protocols. 

Related: How to Help Your Customers Understand SIP Trunk Channels

The following is a brief yet comprehensive explanation of how Direct Inward Dialing works to help you convey the concepts to your customers: 

  1. First, the customer purchases a set of phone numbers, say from 567-1000 through 567-1234, depending upon their expected call volume. DID numbers use a SIP (Session Initiation Protocol) trunk to connect calls over a broadband internet connection. Trunks are pathways that can handle many calls at the same time. They are quick to set up and more easily scalable than a traditional phone line—they are limited only by the bandwidth from your internet provider.
  2. In the case of a company using a PBX system, the call comes into the PBX, and then the telecom provider routes the call to the desired location. A PBX system is a phone system that provides a connection between the SIP trunk and the various phones or extensions for the business. Instead of a receptionist answering calls coming into the general phone number, DID automatically directs them to the intended recipients without the hassle and costly expense of multiple phone lines.
  3. The same principle applies when a company uses a VoIP (Voice Over Internet Protocol) phone, except the call goes to the main number and then gets routed to the appropriate extension. VoIP is a set of rules that enables voice calls over an internet connection. A SIP trunk connection uses the Voice Over Internet Protocol, and the recipients take the call using a VoIP device, such as a computer, smartphone, or VoIP-enabled telephone. 

What Are the Benefits of DID?

Direct Inward Dialing combined with a robust SIP trunking platform provides your customers with several benefits, saving them money and time in the long run and enabling a smoother experience for their customers. Let’s review them in detail.

The Call Goes Directly to the Intended Recipient

When customers call to contact the customer service desk or sales, instead of being sent through a receptionist or navigating a complicated phone menu at the beginning of their call, they can reach the person they wish to speak with directly, saving them time and frustration. An operator is not always necessary. Companies may still require an operator in some instances, but for the most part, an employee whose main job is to direct calls becomes redundant when the system can perform the same tasks.

There’s No Need for Multiple Phone Lines for Each Recipient

Direct Inward Dialing offers the flexibility of direct phone numbers for each department or employee in the organization, if necessary, without the expense of purchasing multiple phone lines. With traditional phone infrastructure, businesses had to request the installation of new physical phone lines. With DID, companies can provision several DID numbers on a single internet connection, limited only by available bandwidth. This is a significantly strong selling point. 

Instant Gratification

A dedicated phone number will let your customers’ clients and stakeholders contact them instantly and directly without the need to wait in line, get busy signals, or be transferred around from one extension to the other. 

Related: 7 Reasons Every Telecom Reseller Should Offer SIP Trunking Services

Call Forwarding 

A DID phone enables all remote or traveling employees to receive work calls on their mobile phones. It also gives workers on job sites an easy way to communicate with office personnel or customers while away from their offices. 

Marketing Campaign Tracking

Your customers could obtain Direct Inward Dialing phone numbers specifically for advertising or marketing purposes, which will let them track those calls to see how well the campaigns perform.

SIP Trunk-Powered DID

Direct Inward Dialing with SIP trunks enables your customers to easily add blocks of numbers. When implementing DID with SIP trunks. A DID phone number will allow the company to receive calls directly from anywhere—they can receive them on their VoIP, IP PBX, or analog PBX extension. Companies will receive calls on any of their SIP trunk lines because the DID does not depend on a dedicated phone line.

SIP makes DID scalable, which means your customers can order as many as they need. You could offer: 

  • More Than One: If your client just needs a handful of numbers.
  • More Than One Hundred: When your customer needs to buy large banks of phone numbers (anywhere from 10 to 100, for example)

Your customer only needs one SIP trunk. You could offer DID for the company to have the flexibility of direct phone lines for each person without investing excessively in buying multiple phone lines.

In addition, the best SIP providers offer your clients redundancy to ensure business continuity in the event of call failure. Direct inward dialing numbers route to a primary and, should any call interruption or routing failure occur, the call automatically routes to the secondary PBX. Superior SIP trunk programs also allow secondary routing to cell phones or landline numbers. Your clients can seamlessly configure these in a user-friendly control panel.  

Find the right SIP ally with outstanding system capabilities to make selling Direct Inward Dialing a breeze. SIPTRUNK’s program has the most reliable, high-performance communications network, plus powerful software tools to create a steady revenue stream for you while benefitting—and generating savings for—your customers. Get started today.