How to get a local phone number for your business

The three digits at the beginning of your business phone number indicate to customers where your company is based. This information can either help or potentially hinder your ability to establish a relationship with them.

In the past, you couldn’t control the area code your phone was attached to. Everyone was simply assigned a number based on the location of their landline or service provider.

Now, with services like GoDaddy SmartLine, you can choose the area code you think would contribute most to your business success. If you don’t think these three numbers have that kind of power, think again. Whether you’re starting your company or already running your business, you will want to take advantage of all the help you can get.

Who should get a local phone number for their business?

Many businesses have customer bases heavily concentrated in a specific city or county. But it’s easy to end up with a phone number that uses the area code of a completely different location. Here are a few common situations in which that can happen:

If you live in one city, and your business is located in another
If your business moved but didn’t update your number accordingly
If your customers are located in a different area than your business

If your business relies heavily on the patronage of people who live in a specific community, it’s best to use a phone number with a matching area code. Doing so communicates that you, that your business, is, to some extent, just like them. That you know the area. That you’re “local.”

What are the benefits of getting a local phone number?

People take a lot of pride in their communities and like to support local businesses. The first thing someone will notice when you call is the area you are calling from. If they see their own area code, then you will have established a valuable connection before even talking to them by showing them that you are a part of the same community.

Not only do people like to support local businesses, but they also place more trust in businesses located within their own communities. It’s easier to believe that an order placed with a company in your own town or city will arrive on time and in full, for example, than it is to trust that you’ll get the same result from a business based in a city far away.

Why do I need a separate local phone number for my business?

Even if you already have a personal phone number with an area code that matches that of your customer base, consider getting a separate, local number for your business through a service like GoDaddy SmartLine. The benefits are twofold.

It improves your professional image

First and foremost, having a separate local phone number for your business will increase the professionalism of your business:

In a survey of over 500 small business owners, 64% cited ‘answering calls professionally’ as one of the top ways of displaying professionalism to retain and find new customers.

With a separate business line connected to your existing phone, you will be able to immediately tell whether an incoming call is personal or work-related and can answer it accordingly. Greet that new client with a confident, upbeat “Hello!” instead of the relaxed, intimate “Hey” you may greet a friend with.

When you can’t answer a call, don’t worry about customers hearing your personal outgoing voicemail message. Missed work calls will be automatically routed to a separate voicemail that you create for your second local phone number.

It improves your work–life balance

Getting a separate number to use for your business will also make it easier to manage a healthy work–life balance. Even entrepreneurs need time to themselves, but when all of your communication is done with a single phone line, catching that break can be nearly impossible. Small business owners spend an average of 8 hours a week outside of work worrying about their business and over 40% say that they regularly get pulled away to deal with business matters when trying to take a break.

When you use a single phone line for both your work and your personal life, you can’t shut yourself off from your clients unless you also shut yourself off from your friends and family. By connecting a separate business line to your phone with SmartLine, you can set specific hours, when incoming work calls will automatically be routed to your business voicemail instead of ringing your phone.

You can also make a more informed choice about when to answer and when to let a call ring. If you don’t know whether a call is coming from a prospective customer or from your very chatty uncle, for example, you can end up stuck on a personal call when you are busy working (or talking to a future client while you are on vacation). But with a separate number connected to your phone, you will be able to tell the difference right away.