As someone who has worked in customer support for a lot of years, one of my favorite questions to ask my peers in the industry is, “What are the seasons for your company?” In the context of a business, seasonality refers to those times that tend to be busier and require more staff to handle the volume of customer interactions.
Seasonality definitely varies by industry. As you may guess, retail tends to be busy between the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays. Finance and accounting companies see a significant bump in activity as the deadline for filing taxes approaches in the spring. And health insurance providers certainly ramp up their customer interactions during open enrollment sometime in the fall.
Believe it or not, telephone numbers have seasons as well — and it’s been fun to observe them at NumberBarn. Let’s take a look at the most common seasons we encounter and the typical solutions we’re able to provide.
Headed South for the Winter?
”What’s a snowbird?” you ask. In short, a snowbird is a person who migrates from a colder, northern climate to spend the winter season in a warmer climate.
Popular migrations include Canada to Mexico or anywhere in the northern US to Arizona. Seriously, who wouldn’t want to escape months of rain, snow and cold in exchange for a sunny beach somewhere? It’s kind of a no-brainer if you have the means and flexibility to pull it off.
How can NumberBarn help? For those coming from Canada, avoid costly roaming charges on your cell phone by porting that Canadian telephone number to park with NumberBarn. Then obtain a SIM card in the United States or Mexico for your mobile phone and forward calls to that telephone number for rates as low as $0.00/min. Learn more about our international rates.
Or perhaps you’re in the United States and just want a telephone number that’s local to wherever you’re wintering. That way you can feel just like one of the locals. Find a good one on our website and forward calls to your cold-weather cell phone number.
Studying Abroad?
The beginning of the fall and spring semesters at universities means tons of students are traveling thousands of miles away to study abroad. And if the old adage of “poor college student” rings true, I can’t imagine they’d want to maintain their current cell phone plan in the United States or Canada AND obtain an international SIM card in another country.
A trend we’re seeing in customer support is that students are porting their cell phone numbers to NumberBarn while abroad. For the cost of a burrito or a froofy drink at Starbucks, they can forward calls just about anywhere in the world and send and receive text messages. When they return from their trip? Simply reestablish wireless service and port that number back to your carrier.
For the record, this use case doesn’t only apply to students. We talk to customers every day, many of them digital nomads, who are leaving the country for extended periods of time. And we’re happy to help them keep their telephone number! That way they remain connected with their contacts and save money at the same time. Learn more about porting your number and forwarding calls to an international number.
Upgrading Your Device?
With the holidays nearly upon us, Cyber Monday promises to be the perfect time of year for a great deal on a new cell phone for that teen or tween in your life. A vanity number pairs perfectly with that new device! We’ve found that many customers simply don’t want to settle for the limited selection of telephone numbers from their mobile carrier.
If this matches your plans this holiday season, go the extra mile and combine the perfect telephone number with the perfect device for that perfect gift. With millions of numbers to choose from, there are bound to be many terrific options in our telephone number marketplace. And when you’re ready to port that number, our team has a series of articles with sage advice on porting to the major carriers.
Regardless of the season, NumberBarn may very well have a perfect solution to meet your number needs. Perhaps you’re looking for the perfect number to pair with a new mobile device. Or you’re headed on an adventure and want to make sure your number’s waiting for you when you return. Either way and for any season, we’ve got you covered!
