To 0800 or to not

I'm not sure bespoke photography services are the sort of thing which should need a freephone number to attract customers. Infact do you even want the sort of customers who wouldn't pay a penny a minute on a normal geographical number to call you?

Stick with a local geographical number.
 
0800 will be one of the worst decisions you can make. It wont attrack customers, it will put some people off (because they are thick) and it doesnt make you look bigger, it just makes you look like you are hiding your location etc.

Bad idea.
 
I don't think there would be much to gain from an 0800 number for a business like yours. As others have said if you are working locally then stick with a local number. It saves unnecessary cost. Go for a 0844 or 0845 number.
 
wnb said:
To me 0800 number means endless waiting choose option 1,2,3 etc and never speaking to the same person twice.
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This is pretty much what I was getting at, as a business I don't want to phone the same crappy 0800 number that home users are meant to be ringing.
 
I would leave the 0800 for now. You can always add one later when you come time to print new cards and stuff up.

0800 is not free from many mobiles, and id certainly not call one from my mobile if a place with a local number was there in the yellow pages next to yours. Remember the people you have to think about are the new customers who dont know you from jack, they will often make irrational and illogical decisions based on stupid things like phone numbers :p

I suppose having an 0800 number had both advantages and disadvantages, most have been highlighted already in this thread.

There is nothing wrong with an 0161 number for anyone who lives within 50 miles of manchester ( and lets face it thats most likely going to be 90% of your client base ) so unless you really think that your business is going national then hang fire on the 0800 id say.

EDIT after a bit of thought:

Of course there is no reason why you couldnt have both on a business card... make the main number the 0800 number and have the manchester based number below such as

" Phone us FREE on 0800 123 456 or on Manchester 0161 123 456 "

etc etc you get the idea. Having 2 numbers like that to me makes it look better than just having the freephone number...
 
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In my opinion (not based on any statistics, so take for what it's worth), AVOID 0800 unless you have a business-specific need for a freephone number - which as far as I can see, you don't. You won't lose business just because you have an 0161 or 020 number. I'd always prefer to call geographic due to (a) free calls on mobiles; and (b) the perception that I know where I'm calling - even though there's no more guarantee nowadays that with a non-geo!
 
Some people prefer a local number, others like the professional look of a 0800 number.

I'd stick with a local number at first, you can always buy a 0800 number in future.
 
To me it would partly depend on your company name. "RoGer Tomblin, photographer" or "RGT Photography Services Ltd".

With the latter, an 0800 number and ability to cover large parts of the country I would suspect you were a middleman farming out work to freelancers.

If it is obvious the company is you it wouldn't make any difference to me what kind of number you had.
 
I would prefer an geographic number (01, 02, 03) as they are free from a mobile phone (inclusive minutes) where as 0800 are not.
 
If you want a non-geographic number that will be included in people's free calls, look at getting an 03 number (classed as the same as 01 and 02 numbers for call costs)
 
Personally Tom i'd just use a business mobile phone.

With a mobile, you aren't stuck to a single part of the country and I feel it also gives an element of that personal touch which I don't believe you'd get with a generic, large photography service.

Use a mobile along with your portfolio and state you travel nationwide :)

I'm also confident that you don't need an 0800 number to improve your image as your pictures are awesome anyway so you don't need it.
 
Isn't the real issue that with geographic locations or hiding them is that ultimately if you are based in Manchester, and would like to work across the country and places like London, is that your business is always going to be listed as in Manchester.

Reason I say this is because people choose photographers in three ways.

1. Recommendations from a friend.
2. Reputation.
3. Yellow Pages or similar.

I would imagine that most people, looking for the likes of wedding photography, photography for an event or business would use the Yellow Pages, unless they had been given a recommendation by someone else.

Therefore, if I was in need of a Photographer in London right now, I'd look at Yellow Pages and see all the different local listings and then be able to contact them or look at their portfolios online.

However, in your case, as you are Manchester based, I'm never going to see an ad for you as your not local to the area.

See what I mean?
 
I already own the 0800 number and the 0161 number, I've decided there is no harm in having both on there as there are pros and cons of both, but seem to be very few cons when combined.

Cheers for the input guys :)

Tom.
 
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