When a customer decides to use your company for the first time they get a first impression, but it’s not your voice or how you answer your phone. It’s your phone number. Your phone number is part of your brand. It defines who you are in many respects. You wouldn’t give your customer your Yahoo email address, nor would you give your new customer a hand written business card. Why would you give your customer a phone number that is hard to dial, confusing or doesn’t mean anything? Take a few minutes before you start your next business, or order a second phone line to ask the phone company for an easy to remember phone number. They usually don’t charge for this.

And for those of you with a Yahoo email address, I’m not sorry for offending you. If you can’t put the $10 into a .com with a free email address, why should a customer think you would spend any extra time or money to make their experience worth while?