equiinet-blog

[equiinet-blog]

TCPA and Texting

The FCC (Federal Communications Commission) exists to regulate American communications via radio, television, satellite, cable, and wire. As technology evolves, so does this agency in order to better provide communication services and ensure consumers are protected. It is for this reason that the FCC created the Telephone Consumer Protection Act of 1991 (TCPA).

The purpose of the TCPA is to restrict telemarketing and unwanted telephone solicitation. It monitors and restricts the use of auto-dialers, artificial voice messages, fax machine messages, and SMS text messages.

Essentially, there are eight main requirements that everyone must follow when utilizing any of the aforementioned tools to communicate with others. Unless there is express consent from the person or entity to whom solicitations will be sent,these rules are locally enforced on a federal level, and there are no exceptions.

Solicitors must not call residences before 8 AM or after 9 PM during said residences’ local times.

Each company must maintain a “do-not-call” list of consumers who ask not to be called by the company. These DNC requests must be honored for a minimum of 5 years.

Solicitors must honor the do-not-call requests of consumers who belong on the National Do Not Call Registry.

Solicitors must provide their name, the name of the person or entity on whose behalf the call is being made, and a telephone number or address at which that person or entity may be contacted.

It is prohibited to solicit to residences using an artificial voice or voice recording.

It is prohibited to make any call using automated telephone equipment or an artificial or prerecorded voice to an emergency line (911), a hospital emergency number, a physician’s office, a hospital or healthcare facility or elderly room, a cellular telephone, or any service for which the recipient is charged for the call.

It is prohibited to engage two or more lines of a multi-line business via autodialed calls.

It is prohibited to send any unsolicited faxes containing advertising messages.

In the event of a violation of the TCPA, a subscriber may sue for up to $500 for each violation or recover actual monetary loss (whichever is greater), seek an injunction, or both.

In the event of a willful violation of the TCPA, a subscriber may sue for up to three times the damages; in other words, $1,500 for each violation.

It is therefore of paramount importance that any person or entity who wishes to call, text, or fax a recipient with advertising or marketing messages be aware of these specific restrictions and abide by them. EquiiText has developed several “best practices” methods that are available to every business SMS text messaging user to comply with these regulations.

Sleep timers in the settings tab prevent businesses from sending campaigns before or after the awake hours approved by the TCPA. The EquiiText landline scrubber also prevents any text message or voice broadcast to be sent to any residential phone number. There is a DNC scrub available to all users to ensure no texts could be sent to a person or entity who belongs on the National Do Not Call Registry, and every EquiiText user similarly has an opt-out auto-responder that must always remain activated. We also train new users how to introduce themselves in a first message to all contacts with plenty of artificially intelligent responders to answer identity questions, location questions, and contact queries.

We have numerous features and policies that prevent users from using EquiiText in such a way that users can use business texting within the rules and guidelines of the FCC and TCPA. For more information on these agencies or about EquiiText best practices, please call, text, or email us today!

Call

Text

Email

[equiinet-blog]

5 Reasons You Should Switch To EquiiText

Not all SMS companies are created equal, and not all businesses want to use them for the same reasons. Some people like having shortcodes and some people simply want to be able to separate their business texting from their personal messaging system. EquiiText specializes in some very particular SMS marketing features, and the business owners who use our platform love them! If you’re looking to revolutionize the way you text your customers, check out these five reasons why you should switch to EquiiText:

1. Unlimited Contacts and Contact Groups

Even the most boutique business maintains an ever-growing list of contacts. Unlike other SMS companies that charge extra for additional contacts, EquiiText offers you the ability to include as many opt-in leads as they need, and these leads can be separated out into a similarly unlimited number of groups. This not only allows for more visibility, it allows for easier funneling and campaigning.

2. Automatic Responders with Artificial Intelligence

One of the best features EquiiText offers is its automatic responders. Created with patented artificial intelligence, these auto-responses take the manual labor out of business SMS. Rather than spending hours each day manually responding to customer texts or being limited to only one or two responders, you can build engaging conversations with your customers without even lifting a finger. Every new account comes equipped with more that forty pre-generated automatic responders that are coded to respond automatically to keywords such as, “Who is this?” “Where are you located?” “What are your hours?” Plus, you can change the messages, create your own custom responders, and add an unlimited number of positive and negative keywords in each auto-reply. It’s never been easier to customize a system and let it run itself!

3. Bulk and Mass SMS Campaigning

Arguably, one of the most desired features of the EquiiText platform is the ability for users to send a single message to multiple contacts. In the spirit of customer engagement, we find that it works beautifully to send a personal campaign message that allows customers to respond with keywords that trigger auto-responders containing marketing messages. This leads to a better deliverability rate and a higher response rate. Your customers will enjoy communicating with your platform!

4. Drip Campaigns and Timed Follow Up Messages

It goes without saying that using drip campaigns is the best way to stay in the front of customers’ minds. Thanks to scheduled messages and timed follow ups, you will never be forgotten! Send messages to individual opt-in contacts based on the date they began texting your platform, or when they triggered a particular auto-responder to thank them for texting, asking if they’re interested in hearing about specials, and much more! You can also send daily messages, weekly messages, and schedule campaigns in advance to specific contacts or contact groups.

5. Innovative Integrations

The EquiiText system is super smart – not just because of its AI, but also thanks to its powerful integrations! Set up webhooks from your website, receive email and text notifications, and even integrate your EquiiText platform with Zapier. With thousands of other platforms and apps managed by the Zapier umbrella, merging your business SMS with your calendar events, CRM, management sites, and much more is a cinch. We’ve found the best ways to automate texting with your business, and now we’ve made it simple to automate every other function in your company in one place.

These are only the top five reasons people love EquiiText and why you should consider switching to our Cloud Platform. We offer dozens of amazing features that contribute to making us the most robust business SMS system on the market today, including URL shorteners, automatic SpinTax, and the most competitive pricing!

Call us, text us, or email us and see what we can do for you. We help businesses everywhere succeed and we want to help you too!

Call: +1(888)501-3550

Text: +1(888)501-3550

Email

[equiinet-blog]

SMS Marketing vs. Email Marketing

It is undisputed that using email campaigns to market to your customers is an effective way to ensure they learn about your deals, promotions, blog posts, and updates. Emails can be as short or as long as you need, with the added benefit of being able to track consumer behavior in real time.

We love sending emails, and we do it regularly! However, email marketing, while effective for many reasons, it is not the best tool for communicating directly with customers. Using SMS ensures you are reaching your opt-in leads everywhere and anywhere nearly instantaneously. With the average cell phone user checking his phone every twelve minutes, it goes without saying that text messaging is the easiest way to reach consumers across the country.

Everyone, including business owners, is subscribed to numerous company email campaigns to receive discounts, promotions, or information from businesses. However, although email marketing is still a proven way to achieve a high click-through-rate, it doesn’t have quite the personal connection that texting does. It is all too easy to delete emails as they come in, and since customers can’t traditionally respond to business email campaigns, there is very little two-way engagement between the consumer and the company.

The beauty of texting is that 98% of text messages are read within 4 seconds of being received. Talk about an amazing open rate! And, thanks to EquiiText’s URL shortener feature with tracking, it’s simple to view click-throughs on SMS messaging to customers. Text messaging is the quickest way to reach customers and the most effective way to communicate with them directly, as well.

EquiiText allows you to supplement your email campaigns with text messaging so customers will always think of you and know about your deals, specials, and more – texting combined with email ensures you and your company will never be “out-of-sight, out-of-mind”!

Give us a call, text, or email today to learn more about how you can use SMS to make your email campaigns better; we can even integrate them on your platform!

Call

Text

Email

[equiinet-blog]

What Is the Difference Between MMS and SMS?

The difference between SMS texting and MMS texting is the message content.

SMS stands for Short Message Service and is a form of text messaging that allows you to send up to 160 characters to a recipient.

MMS stands for Multimedia Messaging Service and is a form of text messaging that allows you to send pictures, videos, or audio content to a recipient.

EquiiText specializes in smart SMS technology that allows you to send multiple 160-character messages in the form of automatic responders. With the sequential responder feature, you can ensure large messages will be sent simultaneously to a text-message recipient. This way, your customers will always receive all the information you need them to know about your business.

While we work on developing our MMS capabilities for the EquiiText platform, we provide a URL shortener in all our auto-responders as well! Send your customers to your landing page, review site, or a page with your desired image, video, or audio content via SMS messaging. This feature also allows you to track click-throughs from your recipients, so you can both send your multimedia messages and see who viewed them!

EquiiText makes business texting simple with SMS. Thanks to our online texting platform, customizing your company’s texting services is easier than ever.

Interested in learning more? Give us a call, text, or email today to receive a demo with a free account! We love helping businesses succeed – how can EquiiText help you generate more leads and increase your sales while increasing your ROI?

Call

Text

Email

[equiinet-blog]

Free AI Super Phone Giveaway

EquiiText has partnered up with a local Las Vegas telecommunications company to bring you the latest and greatest in business VoIP services!

No matter what kind of business you’re in, whether you’re a remote worker or a large call center that specializes in inbound and outbound calls, the EQ-F3P is your perfect sales and communications solution.

EquiiText specializes in using our patented artificial intelligence system to make SMS marketing simpler and more functional than ever before. Recognizing this advantage, we have combined our ALINA (Artificial Language Intelligence Application) with Equiinet’s robust VoIP business phone. If you miss a call, the ALINA system will send you an SMS alert regarding the call, and it will also send a customized text to the caller, letting him or her that you will call them back!

Not only is it SMS enabled, it also comes equipped with a feature known as Voicemail Auto-Drop: now you have the ability to leave pre-recorded voicemails quickly and efficiently, allowing you to call more leads per day than ever before!

Gone are the days of waiting for the customer’s voicemail to play through before you must “leave a message after the tone.” Thanks to the smart EQ-F3P, you can “drop” your voicemail the second the phone stops ringing and move on to your next call! The built-in ALINA system is designed to begin the message only after the tone is heard, ensuring your voicemails will never be cut off due to the customer’s voice recording.

The average length of time it takes to ring through to a customer’s voice mailbox is twenty seconds, or four rings. A voicemail recording can last for up to three minutes, which potentially means a single phone call can take nearly seven minutes. With the EQ-F3P Voicemail Auto-Drop, you can call twenty-one people in that same length of time. In a six-hour day, that equates to an additional one thousand calls!

If you’re still reading instead of calling us for your EquiiText phone right now, let me also add that the EQ-F3P also allows you to record your own IVR so inbound callers are greeted by your voice and directed to the appropriate extension. It is even designed for simultaneous ring capabilities, ensuring that calls will rarely be missed as they will also be delivered to your cell phone.

These are only a few of the incredible features offered on the EQ-F3P, so give us an email, call or text today to find out how this AI Super Phone can be yours! This offer is only available for a limited time, so don’t wait – contact us now!

Call

Text

Email

[equiinet-blog]

Top 10 Ways Realtors Use EquiiText

Thanks to our ongoing EquiiText Realtor Case Study, we have been able to determine the top ten ways that realtors, real estate agents, and brokers can use EquiiText SMS as a tool to market and advertise themselves and their businesses.

In an industry that requires individuals to become professional self-marketers as quickly and efficiently as possible, it is necessary to ensure one is using the best tools at his or her disposal. While there are many types of marketing platforms available for those in the real estate industry, one thing is consistently clear: everyone texts. No matter whether agents post ads online, put up billboards, or utilize social media, they will always predominantly use their cell phones to communicate with clients and prospective clients. Why not make it easier than ever to reach the most people in the least amount of time for less money?

Here are the top 10 ways realtors use EquiiText to increase their success (and their ROIs!):

1. Send mass text messages to sellers whose homes haven’t yet been sold

If you have a list of opt-in contacts who are attempting to sell their homes but haven’t had any luck, sending a campaign message to these clients to give them seller tips or more information about your processes for finding a good buyer is a great way to utilize the EquiiText SMS platform.

2. Use personalized auto-responders for prospective clients who want more information

Realtors, real estate agents, and brokers often spend a majority of their days working one-on-one with clients and don’t have time to respond quickly to prospective clients who have questions about their services. With the EquiiText auto-responders, agents have the ability to create custom responses that are sent immediately to text inquiries. This way you can ensure new prospects are never ignored without taking time away from current clients.

3. Create drip campaigns for both buyers and sellers

Thanks to the EquiiText Timed Follow Up feature, you can automatically send messages to opt-in leads hours, days, weeks, and months after they’ve started texting your platform. For instance, when someone texts in to ask for information on a particular home you are selling, you can follow up with them after a predetermined amount of time to see if they are still interested in looking at the house with you.

4. Integrate the SMS platform with Zillow and other realtor websites

If you use Zillow or a similar real-estate site that allows prospects to look at properties your company has posted, you can receive automatic notifications on your EquiiText platform alerting you to traffic on the website, allowing you to send messages to those leads asking if they would like more information from you. Beat the competition by responding faster than everyone else!

5. Send bulk SMS messages to opt-in contacts whose homes have increased in value

In the current market, the value of homes and other properties are rapidly increasing as the number of buyers outpace the number of properties for sale. However, many home owners in ideal locations are unaware of how much their homes are now worth. Sending alerts to these property owners may incentivize them to pursue selling with you and your business.

6. Keep all business messages in one place on a Cloud Platform with a virtual number, rather than using a personal phone or being forced to purchase a business phone

Because the real-estate industry has gone mobile more quickly than almost any other industry today, most agents and brokers are using their cell phones to communicate with clients more than any other medium. For top sellers with large contact lists, there is often a necessity to have a separate business phone. Thanks to the EquiiText Cloud Platform, all your messages are kept together on your browser, making it easier than ever to receive and respond to texts from clients without purchasing an expensive cellphone.

7. Allow clients to text in MLS numbers to receive more information regarding a specific home

With EquiiText’s customized auto-responders that allow for any desired keywords to trigger them, it’s simple to create unique messages for specific properties that clients can receive when they text in the MLS number. It’s a great way to get more data on current interests, as well as more opt-in leads!

8. Promote your SMS virtual number to bring in more leads

Building your contact list of prospective clients has never been easier. Since EquiiText allows you to choose your own virtual numbers from an expansive list of all local area codes as well as toll-free selections, you can pick the best phone number to lock in to your platform that allows prospects to text in. Some of the best places to include your virtual number for marketing your business include:

Direct mailers

Open house advertisements

Email campaigns

Brochures

Home for sale flyers

Business cards

Company website

Social media profiles

…And much more!

9. Create text message campaigns to alert opt-in contacts about upcoming open houses

Have a big open house coming up this weekend? Let your opt-ins know! Whether they’re interested in purchasing or if they’re thinking of selling their homes and are looking for ideas, having the opportunity to inform your contacts simultaneously ensures the most people will know and come see the beautiful property you are selling.

10. Keep in touch with past clients so you never stay out-of-sight, out-of-mind

Many people are under the impression that once their home is purchased or sold, the relationship they’ve cultivated with their real-estate agent, realtor, or broker is finished. But we know better! Keeping in contact with past clients is an incredibly important aspect of an agent’s regular correspondences. Using the EquiiText Cloud Platform to consistently reach out during holidays, birthdays, or even just to check in on past clients reminds them that you are the person to turn to for all their real estate needs. Use the Timed Follow Up feature and create future campaigns for previous clientele so they always think of you first when they reenter the market.

These are only ten of the most useful ways agents in the real-estate industry can utilize the EquiiText Cloud Platform for efficient marketing and advertising. There are dozens more features that help agents increase their success and their ROI, including URL link tracking, API integrations, and webhooks. Give us a call, text, or email today to request more information and receive a free demo of the platform today!

Interested in being part of a realtor case study for EquiiText? Sign up here to obtain your free account with bonus credits included! All we need from you is feedback on how the platform works for you and if there are any features you would like us to include in the future. We can’t wait to help you succeed!

Call

Text

Email

[equiinet-blog]

How to Create the Perfect Sales Funnel

Sales funnels are the perfect way to ensure your customers are getting from the point of awareness to the point of sale as quickly and efficiently as possible. It can feel daunting, but there are dozens of different ways to establish a pipeline for your company.

No matter what type of industry you’re in or what end result you’re hoping to achieve with your customers, EquiiText offers an affordable method for funneling lea.

Create your campaign message. This message can be as simple as thanking your contacts for opting in to receive texts from your business, or it can be a promotion for an upcoming special, information about your brand, or whatever you can think of!

If your goal is to generate traffic to your website, make sure you use the URL shortener so customers can reach your landing page and perform an action on your site.

If your goal is to funnel a customer through a series of messages to receive a discount, coupon, or otherwise, it is necessary to create a series of auto-responders that will be triggered by keywords.

Set timed follow-up messages to remind customers to take action on your website or at your business location.

Create timed follow-up messages that similarly let new opt-ins see your campaign message, so they can also interact with the sales funnel.

Here is an example of an effective EquiiText sales funnel:

Campaign Message

1. “Thank you for opting in to receive texts from Fauna's Floral! To show my appreciation, please accept a complimentary bouquet! Pick your favorite here :) laqi.co/HK948LO”

Or,

2. “Thank you for opting in to receive texts from Fauna’s Floral! To show my appreciation, please accept a complimentary bouquet! Text ROSE, LILAC, or LILY :)”

Automatic Responders

ROSE:

“To receive your complimentary rose bouquet, simply text the promo code ROSES4ME, and you'll receive your coupon!”

  ROSES4ME:

“This text is your coupon for a free rose bouquet from Fauna’s Flora! Simply show this message when you visit us and walk out smelling like a basket of roses!

LILAC:

"To receive your complimentary lilac bouquet, simply text the promo code LILAC4ME, and you'll receive your coupon!"

LILAC4ME: "Here is your coupon for a free lilac bouquet from Fauna's Flora! Simply show this message when you visit, and I'll show you how much 'lilac' you!"

‍

First Sequential Responder

"Limit one bouquet per customer. SMS coupons may be redeemed no more than 14 days after they are received. May only choose ROSE or LILAC, not both. Thank you!"

‍

Timed Follow Up

"Good morning! This is Fauna from Fauna's Floral. Just wanted to remind you to redeem your coupon for a free bouquet! I can't wait to see you soon!"

‍

In the first example, you can see how Fauna gives her customers the opportunity to purchase a free bouquet directly from her website, which will allow her to track clicks on the Cloud Platform and incite further actions from her customers online.

‍

In the second example, it's clear that an effective use of the EquiiText Platform is to establish two-way engagement between Fauna's Floral and its clientele. This style of funneling goes beyond paid advertising and remarketing ads – by using text messaging, Fauna is letting her customers funnel themselves through a device they use every single day, and it's costing her next to nothing to do so. She sets up an identical opt-in message for new customers, but now they text Fauna and tell her what they want. She can even customize her responses so they're cute, funny, and personable like herself! A sequential responder follows whichever automatic responder the customer triggers to let the customer know about each coupon's terms and conditions. A timed follow-up message further alerts the customer to use his or her coupon before the time runs out. Fauna can set up as many timed follow ups as she needs to get customers to redeem their coupons: once per day, once every three days, once per week – whatever works best for her!

‍

These are only two variants of a single example showing how the EquiiText Cloud Platform allows businesses to funnel customers through a sales pipeline. SMS sales funnels are simple to set up and much more affordable than any other sales tool currently available to businesses.

Spend less and make more with EquiiText SMS!        

‍

Interested in learning more? Sign up for a free account today and let us show you how to create your custom funnel on the EquiiText Cloud Platform today! What's stopping you from texting your customers?

[equiinet-blog]

Why SMS Advertising Beats Google Ads

SMS advertising is simple and affordable compared to any other form of marketing. While many business owners utilize paid Google Ads to generate sales, they may not realize they are paying more than they need to for marketing and advertising in order to make a substantial revenue.

In order to receive website traffic from online advertising, marketers are forced to spend hours determining the best ad copy, creating banner ads, and fine-tuning their targeting approaches based on audiences, placements, and keywords. And all this work doesn’t even begin to encompass the pain of configuring a budget!

With EquiiText, there’s no need to become a certified online advertiser to establish an effective sales funnel. In fact, the average business owner will spend roughly one to two hours developing their Cloud Platform, and then they rarely need to tinker with their account afterwards. In fact, SMS is one of the most hands-off marketing tools available today. Plus, it costs less than $150 per month, on average! Comparatively, small businesses will spend an average of $9,000 per month on Google Ads (and this number doesn’t include the cost of resources and time spent to get these ads and their funnels set up perfectly).

With this difference in cost alone, it’s easy to see how EquiiText makes it incredibly simple to increase a company’s Return on Investment. Spend less time, spend less money, and make more profit with the EquiiText Cloud Platform.

Interested in learning more? Sign up for your free trial today at https://www.equiitext.com and receive 1,000 credits to play around with! See how easy it is to reach customers wherever they are and let them interact with your company on their terms. Customers love texting, and so should you!

[equiinet-blog]

Millennials Are Texting Your Competitions

Millennials prefer to text. They prefer using their smart phones for lurking on social media accounts, receiving push notifications, and having the ability to choose when and how to respond to a message. Texting is easy; it’s instantaneous without being interruptive. In fact, millennials generally agree that it’s rude to call someone rather than text them – and many phone call recipients are likely to message the caller while the phone is still ringing: What’s up? Can’t talk. Text.

Maybe this all sounds like a gimme. Of course millennials prefer to text and use social media. Besides, for a general cellphone user in 2018, answering phone calls every day is about as common as writing checks and is similarly regarded with apprehension and suspicion.

So, if this is the case, why are there literally hundreds of articles and blog posts and advertising seminars on how to market to millennials? The answer is that, although we all know what millennials like and why, it’s difficult for most businesses to break into millennial marketing. Advertising online is difficult, expensive, and time-consuming. Even if a business owner understands what to do on Instagram and Google Ads, it becomes a budget-juggling game.

The question isn’t really how to market to millennials; it’s how to market effectively to millennials. And the answer is simple, affordable, and hands off: text them!

EquiiText uses automatic responders that operate under an artificial intelligence engine. That’s a fancy way of saying that once you set up your SMS platform with personalized answers that respond to questions texted in by your customers, you can sit back and let your marketing handle itself! Pay only for what you need with super competitive prices that ensure you’re not breaking your marketing budget.

How many millenials can you get? Sign up for your free trial today at

https://www.equiitext.com and receive 1,000 credits to play around with!

[equiinet-blog]

Tax Code 179 Helps Your Business’ Bottom Line

Section 179 of the IRS Tax Code allows businesses to deduct the cost of new equipment that was purchased or financed during that tax year.

    In previous tax years, businesses could reasonably expect to write off a percentage of the total cost of new equipment purchased. For example, if a company in 2017 purchased up to $2 million worth of new equipment, they were eligible to deduct a limit of $500,000. This sounds like a great deal (and it was a much better deal than 2009’s $250,000 deduction cap), but this deduction is still only covers 25% of the total cost of new equipment a business could purchase.

In 2018, this deduction was raised significantly.

    As of this year, the passage and signing into law of Section 179 of the IRS tax code allows businesses to deduct up to $1 million dollars on equipment that is purchased or financed in 2018. This means you can deduct the FULL PURCHASE PRICE of all Equiinet equipment purchased for your business! There has never been a better time to update your company’s old phone systems and computer software with Equiinet. Plus, with Equiinet’s new Phone System Buy Back, there’s never been a better time to update your business equipment and save money in the process.

How does this work?

    Essentially, between the dates January 1, 2018 and December 31, 2018, your business may lease or purchase any of the following items (and more!) and receive a full deduction of the total purchase prices. These items include:

Office equipment (including phone systems, printers, copiers, fax machines, etc.)

Office furniture

Computers

Computer software(that is purchased or financed from outside your company)

Tangible personal property used in business

Simply keep complete records of all the business equipment you leased or purchased during 2018 (including where you acquired the equipment from and the date it was acquired and put into service), and fill out IRS form 4562 when you file for your 2018 taxes. It couldn’t be easier!

Let Equiinet help your business have a stellar 2018!

    Section 179 truly is fantastic for businesses. It is finally time to get those upgrades you desperately need! With Equiinet’s affordable services and products, plus our amazing new Phone System Buy Back Program, we are here to enable your business and help you have most amazing year yet! For more information on how Equiinet can protect your bottom line, give us a call. Click this link if you would like more information on Section 179 of the IRS tax code.

We can’t wait to help you grow!

[equiinet-blog]

Why You Should Consider Using a Virtual Office

According to a recent Gallup survey, approximately 43% of American employees said they spent at least some time working remotely. Whether this means they work from home or simply work from outside the office on a regular basis, the fact of the matter is that there are fewer people working in office spaces than ever before—and that number will only keep growing.

A virtual office is a place in which remote employees can virtually hang their business licenses. This is ideal for people who don’t work in an office and don’t want to: it provides remote employees with the ability to have a corporate mailing address and a live receptionist who answers and forwards business calls. A virtual office gives you a concrete, professional facility in which to have a location for meetings in a private office or conference room.

Essentially, a virtual office is a way to have an office without going to the office every day. Work from home or on the road or from other countries without sacrificing the professionalism of owning an executive office.

Virtual Offices in Las Vegas

Rather than trekking to the office every day, the virtual office allows you a place to forward all your business mail and phone calls. When you need the physical space for a meeting, simply call ahead and book the location for your conference day. Plus, with the Equiinet F6PG phone system, you can simultaneously hold your conference call and maintain all your company data right into the phone!

There are numerous companies in Las Vegas that exist to assist you in securing your virtual office. Their buildings are elegant and tastefully furnished with individual office rooms, conference rooms, and lounges in which you and your team members can gather in comfort. There are always receptionists available to greet yourself and your associates, as well as to answer any questions you may have regarding mail or phone calls.

Who Provides Virtual Offices?

The following list provides information about some of the Las Vegas companies that provide virtual offices for remote employees:

Davinci Virtual

https://www.davincivirtual.com

Pros: Great prices

12 locations in Las Vegas

Complimentary online notary

Use of address

Cons: Option for live receptionist requires an additional fee.

Average price: $65 a month

Regus

https://www.regus.com/virtual-office

Pros: Pedigree business lounges

16 locations in Las Vegas

Complimentary license hanging

Live receptionist answer with virtual office package

Cons: High price

Average price: $185 a month

Lakes Suites

https://lakesuites.com/las-vegas-virtual-office/

Pros: Great pricing

Optional package for executive office space

Complimentary license hanging

Cons: Only one location in Las Vegas

Average price: $125 a month

Opus Virtual Office

https://www.opusvirtualoffices.com/

Pros: Lowest live receptionist fee  

Free first month with 12-month contract

Complimentary license hanging

Cons: Only 3 locations in Las Vegas

Does not offer conference rooms, executive offices, or mail forwarding

Average price: $99 a month

St. Rose

https://strosesuites.com/las-vegas-virtual-offices/

Pros: Great overall value with package notification

On-site private mailbox

Unlimited call forwarding

Cons: Low availability due to number of rentals

Does not offer option for license hanging

Average price: $125 a month

Las Vegas Virtual Offices Comparison

[equiinet-blog]

Review: Equiinet F6PG Gigabit IP Phone System

Now that it’s 2018, it’s no wonder that desktop IP phones are becoming smarter and more functional. The new Equiinet F6PG is a pinnacle of smart technology, hybridized with the traditional IP phone design. It is easy to program and easier to use, and its advanced features allow for better productivity with fewer headaches.

Phone Features

The F6PG stands out from the pack with three color LCD screens. The main screen boasts a user-friendly 4.3-inch display, and two 2.8-inch DSS screens which act as a built-in extension module—a cost-saving solution to traditional IP phones. These intelligent screens have twelve DSS buttons, but with five available pages, the F6PG allows for a virtualized total of sixty DSS/BLF keys. With the phone’s ability to maintain 6 SIP lines and hold up to 1,000 contacts, the F6PG is the only IP phone you will ever need.

Fortunately, since the F6PG supports its own URL, you can access the phone’s contact library, call log, and more through its webpage. Simply scan the phone’s QR code with your mobile device or log on through your computer, and you can easily keep track of all the information going in and out of the phone.

Equiinet’s incredible new IP phone is PoE enabled with an entire gigabit of ethernet capability. Its HD voice feature shines through both the handset and its full duplex speaker. Don’t want to talk the old-fashioned way? The F6PG is also includes an RJ9 headset port that is compatible with EHS wireless headsets for hands-free communication.

Call Features

Along with the standard call features present on many IP desktop phones, the F6PG provides businesses the ability to set up private hot lines and unique passcodes for their employees to dial out, otherwise known as hot-desking. Here are more of the F6PG’s call features:

Interested? Give Equiinet a call today, and see if we can upgrade you to the amazing F6PG at little to no cost to you! You may also purchase this smart desktop phone directly. We know you’ll love the F6PG as much as we do!

[equiinet-blog]

Upgrade Your Business Panasonic PBX with the Latest Panasonic IP Phone System

What is the Buy-Back Program?

If your business is still using an old Panasonic phone system and you are interested in upgrading to the latest and greatest in Panasonic technology, you don’t have to break the bank with Equiinet’s Buy-Back Program. For a limited time, Equiinet is offering a special deal for businesses that will allow them to sell us their outdated Panasonic phone systems for a credit toward the smart Panasonic KX-UTG300B—a $300 value.

It is no surprise that businesses pay more for new telecommunications equipment than they do for the services themselves. That’s why Equiinet wants to make 2018 the most affordable year for businesses, yet! In no time, your business could be operating more efficiently with the 300B, a feature-packed Panasonic phone system with innovative touch-screen technology.

Features

Panasonic’s impressive 300B model comes equipped with a 5-inch color LCD touch screen, enterprise-grade HD voice,a full duplex speaker system, 2 Gigabit Ethernet ports, built in Bluetooth capabilities, six SIP accounts, 24 programmable keys, and expansion module support.There are buttons that are preset for voicemail, conferencing, transferring, holding, and other standard features. Oh, and did we mention it can store up to 1,000 contacts?

With its sleek look and enhanced functionality, the Panasonic 300B is the perfect business solution for navigating the modern problems of the new year. You no longer have to deal with a cumbersome PBX that feels more like a burden to your business than an asset. Plus, with the new Section 179 Tax Code, your business can write off the cost of your new Panasonic 300B equipment!

What You Need to Do

Simply give us a call to see if you qualify for our Panasonic Buy-Back Program and let us tell you how much you can save on a brand-new Panasonic 300B phone system! At Equiinet, we love to find new ways to save your business money on our products and telecommunications services.

Don’t want to change your phone or internet service provider? No problem! Your business can still qualify for a new Panasonic 300B phone system even if you choose to keep your current provider. However, businesses who switch to Equiinet will save even more money on this deal!

Have more questions? Give us a call today for your free estimate!

We can’t wait to help you grow!

To learn more about Equiitext visit: https://www.equiitext.com

[equiinet-blog]

Equiinet Offers Cloud Failover with Auto Attendant

What Is Failover?

In an age when almost everything is connected through the Internet (or at the very least, an electrical outlet), it is imperative for businesses to prepare themselves for potential losses of power. You buy liability insurance in case of fire or natural disasters; why wouldn’t you also ensure your company will run smoothly even if there is a hiccup in your connectivity?

Failover is a feature that acts as a back-up power generator in case your Internet goes out. Equiinet’s traditional 4G Failover operates like a hotspot thatassists youif you lose network connectivity.Equiinet algorithms prioritize bandwidth requirements to ensure your most critical systems are always enabled and essential operations continue without any issues.

But what if your power goes out and customers are unable even to call your business?Utilizing Cloud Failover with Equiinet guarantees you will be able to maintain your day-to-day voice operations without skipping a beat. Calls are automatically forwarded from your company’s IP phone system to your desired employee’s personal cell phone. This means customers will always have a way to reach you, no matter what.

Auto Attendant

While sending all your incoming calls to a single phone may work if you don’t expect a high volume of traffic, it is overwhelming for one person to be responsible for every phone call. That’s why Equiinet includes an Auto Attendant with our Cloud Failover. Callers are greeted with a personalized message from your company that gives them the option to be connected to a specific department or to leave a message. This way, customers can reach a particular employee based on the customer’s needs, rather than requiring one individual to handle the entire call load.

Pricing

We believe in providing affordable solutions to all our customers. No business should have to suffer simply because the power goes out. Therefore, we offer several options for your business, so you can customize your Failover plan.

4G Failover                                             Cloud Failover + Auto Attendant

$50.00 / month                                        $12.99 / month

(Plus low installation fee)                         (Plus low installation fee)

4G Failover + Cloud Failover + Auto Attendant

$59.99 / month

(Plus low installation fee)

*SPECIAL DEAL*

If you sign up for a 3-year contract with Equiinet, you will receive Cloud Failover + Auto Attendant for FREE for 3 years! Simply cover the cost of the installation fee, and Equiinet will provide these two services, at no cost to you! Give us a call today for more information – we can’t wait to help your business succeed!

To learn more about Equiitext visit: https://www.equiitext.com

[equiinet-blog]

How SMS Marketing Boosts Restaurant Sales

Food and beverage establishments receive some of the highest benefits from SMS marketing. Perhaps your goal is to build the number of customers who subscribe to your business;maybe you want to increase the amount of new and returning customers to your business while simultaneously selling more products. EquiiText knows exactly how to help restaurants, bars, coffee shops, smoothie shops, creameries, and everything in between! It has been proven time and time again that using text messaging to advertise restaurants and bars to customers is one of the best marketing tools available.

For instance, in a case study done with Jack in the Box, it was discovered that coupon redemption rates were 3-5 times higher when the fast-food chain used SMS marketing, as opposed to traditional email marketing. The restaurant offered 2 free tacos to any customer who opted in and subscribed to their texts. Jack in the Box further found that 26% of the consumers that received SMS promotions attributed their in-store purchases to those texts; 32% of SMS recipients attributed their visit to the restaurant on text-message advertising; and 21% of SMS recipients recommended Jack in the Box to another person based on text promotions they received. The restaurant also saw a 97.7% subscriber retention rate following the text-message promotion.

Similarly, Bulmers Irish Cider in the UK used SMS marketing simply to make their targeted audience aware of Bulmers’ locations in an attempt to bring in more foot traffic to their individual pubs. Over the course of 4 weeks, Bulmers sent approximately 77,000 texts to males between the ages of 18 and 34. At the end of the promotion, their data showed that about 75% of those who were texted visited a Bulmers pub because of the SMS message. After the promotional texts were sent, Bulmers sent a follow-up survey to the recipients, finding that 53% of those who received the first text remembered seeing it. This alone is evidence that people are more likely to open and read text messages than they are any other form of traditional marketing.

There are dozens of case studies on food and drink establishments that have found success in SMS marketing, including Pizza Hut, Jamba Juice, Texas Roadhouse, Taco Bell, and many more. A common denominator in these case studies showed that these businesses typically offered promotional items, discounts, or coupons as a way to generate interest in new and returning customers. This specific marketing tool is incredibly viable with great results!

Thanks to EquiiText, you can send scheduled campaign messages to all your SMS subscribers to alert them of your upcoming deals and specials. And, thanks to ALINA, if your customers want to respond to your campaign message to get more information, she can manage all these inbound texts seamlessly and naturally. This hands-off marketing approach ensures that you can focus on running your business while still effectively advertising to and communicating with your customers.

For more information on how EquiiText can help your business succeed, give us a call today! Or, if you want to test ALINA out for yourself, send her a text and see how conversational she really is!

1 (888) 501-3550

To learn more about Equiitext visit: https://www.equiitext.com

[equiinet-blog]

Equiinet: Super Distributed Compute Company

To learn more about Equiitext visit: https://www.equiitext.com

[equiinet-blog]

How to Register your Business in Las Vegas

Las Vegas is a vibrant city full of life, which makes it one of the best places to start a business. But even if you are ready to get your business started in Las Vegas, it’s important to make sure you are following all the right legal procedures. One of the first things every business should do is register with the state of Nevada. Here are the steps to follow to get registered.

Determine your type of business

There are multiple types of business you can register as, so here are some ways to determine what you qualify for:

Corporations: A corporation is a group of people working together on a business that are legally permitted to act as a single entity. It means the business functions on its own separately from any other businesses, so a person could own two corporations and go bankrupt with one while still making a profit on another. Corporations can be publicly traded and give limited liability in the event of a lawsuit. This means the business would be liable for any costs related to the lawsuit but the individuals who own it would not necessarily be liable to pay out.

Limited-Liability Company (LLC): An LLC provides a business with the limited liability similar to the corporation while also allowing for pass-through taxation, meaning the taxes pass through to the owner instead of the business getting taxed separately for profits.

Limited Partnership: A limited partnership would be required if your business has multiple owners and one of those owners is responsible for the majority of the liability for the business and the other partner is not liable while still being able to own or manage.

Sole Proprietor/General Partnership: Generally, any individual working in exchange for pay (such as a freelance photographer or writer) is going to fall in this category. The disadvantage to working as a sole proprietor is there is no legal safety net keeping the individual’s assets separate from the business, meaning the person could lose everything they have in the event of a lawsuit. A sole proprietor/general partnership is not required to file a business registration like the above companies. Instead, a notice of exemption or a business license is required.

Fortunately, the state of Nevada makes it very easy by allowing most of these forms to be filled out online, but you can still send in a paper copy if you’d prefer.

Check on licensing and zoning

When registering your business, you’ll want to make sure you can actually function legally. Before you sign a lease on a space or start working, check the Nevada zoning laws for the area you will be working to ensure your business will be able to function in that spot. It is also important to make sure you have all licensing required to operate your type of business. This would include making sure to have a health permit for a restaurant, for example. By registering your business and obtaining the proper licensing, you’ll be ready to get started on the other aspects of getting your business started in Las Vegas.

To learn more about Equiitext visit: https://www.equiitext.com