Americans faced more than 29 billion robocalls in 2016. The problem is complicated and out of control, with the FCC even having to step in to try its best to combat the increasing frequency of these unsolicited calls. Make no mistake though, it’s an uphill battle—technology for robocalling is relatively cheap, which makes entering the market quite simple.
That’s why you need to protect yourself, especially if you’re an entrepreneur and have a business number. Billions of robocalls means millions of hours wasted, and that isn’t a statistic you want to be included in.
1. Register on the National Do Not Call Registry
The first step is to register on the National Do Not Call Registry. However, even that won’t stop the majority of robocalls. Registering will stop telemarketing calls from companies abiding by FCC rules; it will not stop scammers other illegal robocalls.
2. Get robocall blocker app
If you want an app to block or alert you to robocalls, there are some cheap (or even free) options out there.
A few of the more notable ones are:
3. Get a virtual phone system for your business
However, you have another option as well. You can get a virtual phone system. Virtual phone systems offer a wide range of features and functionality to give you the capability to do almost everything you need for your business straight from your phone.
At MightyCall, we have our own solution to dealing with spam and robocalls: the block list. No, it’s not the NBC television show or the year end list of the best unsold scripts in Hollywood—it’s a feature that allows you to automatically drop calls from certain numbers.
You don’t even need to answer and waste time with robocalls—if you deem a number suspicious, you can add it with a click to the block list and any future calls from that number will be dropped within seconds, and before your end of the line even rings.
Considering the calls are dropped automatically, it’s highly unlikely scammers will continue to call your number, saving you the time and hassle.
It’s difficult for callers to get around the block list too, because the feature is just one link in the system’s chain. The heart of any virtual phone system is the auto-attendant, which administers the call routing rules you put in place and is the point where block list numbers will be automatically dropped.
Whenever someone calls your business number, the auto-attendant plays a custom greeting for them and, if you have it enabled, a short phone menu; this serves 2 purposes:
- It helps to more accurately forward calls to reduce call wait time, and
- It acts as call screening.
If you have a phone menu, robocalls will be out of luck, unable to proceed forward at all and timed out without blocking your phone line. For scammers and call centers, if they do get through to a person, once their number is added to the block list they’ll be out of luck.
A review from MightyCall user Varga Gulshani (Elegant Paining) directly mentioned how well this has worked for his business number, writing,
Simply put, if you’re looking to avoid robocalls and maximize your phone, MightyCall has you covered.
