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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Aug 2002
    Location
    Stony Plain, AB
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    607

    1 800 # with cell phones?

    Hey i need to know if its a GOOD idea to hook a toll free 1 800# to your cell phone for support and sales.


    Also how many minutes does the average host use? i was thinking around 1800+ minutes/month to start.

    Thanks

    Eddy - Hostburst
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  2. #2
    If you don't have an office or don't have one manned 24/7, then absolutely. Your cell is always with you.

    1800 minutes to start is probably stretching it a bit. The best idea to do as a start up is to use www.telcan.net and that way you can buy time in small blocks you can figure out from there how much you're going to use per month.
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  3. #3
    Join Date
    Sep 2002
    Location
    Western Canada
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    1,889
    Originally posted by Coach
    The best idea to do as a start up is to use www.telcan.net and that way you can buy time in small blocks you can figure out from there how much you're going to use per month.
    Agreed. Great service and pricing.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Aug 2002
    Location
    Michigan
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    The only problem with using your cell phone for sales or support is the reception. Do you really want to be trying to sell a customer your services and then have your cell phone cutout due to reception problems? Something to think about.
    Jim
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  5. #5
    Join Date
    Mar 2003
    Location
    Duluth MN
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    3,863
    Thats why I use Verizon... I get great reception almost everywhere!

    As for a 1-800 number? Figure out how much it is going to cost you for minutes, figure out the cost for your cell phone airtime, and then the cost per minute for the 800 number, and figure out the average length of a sales call. Then figure the number of calls per sale (how many calls will you go through on average before you get a sale). Then ask yourself if the value of the sale is worth more than all those average costs per sale. If the sale is worth more, then it will be worth it.

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Dec 2003
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    Boston, MA
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    One reason why I have NEXTEL with Unlimited Free Incoming Minutes =P I pay roughly $49/month.
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  7. #7
    Join Date
    Aug 2002
    Location
    Stony Plain, AB
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    607
    ok thanks for the help, ive also heard great things about kall 8.

    Also if you dont mind sharing how many minutes does the average small-medium host use?

    Finally is it a smart idea to only offer the 1800 number to current clients? because personally i like to call before i buy something.

    Thats about it,
    Eddy - Hostburst
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  8. #8
    Or go Nextel for cell service . . . They have incoming-calls-are-free plans. The entire call into your phone is free and does not burn up your minutes.

  9. #9
    Originally posted by CyberLand
    The only problem with using your cell phone for sales or support is the reception. Do you really want to be trying to sell a customer your services and then have your cell phone cutout due to reception problems? Something to think about.
    You're right. However, if you do not have an office and are a small time host, as the thread starter is, you should go with what is going to work best for you. It doesn't matter how great his phone clarity at home is if he's not there.
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  10. #10
    Here's another suggestion: Voicemail with Paging/text messaging to your cell phone. Then you call them back on your terms from either land line or cell. Leave your outgoing message letting them know that you will be instantly alerted to their message. I know I've sometimes called Fortune 100 companies and gotten a voicemail when they were overloaded.

    I've recently found a company that does voicemail with 5 minute outgoing message and up to 5 minutes per message left for you for $9.99/mo. I'm not trying to sell anything here so I won't mention the company or contact info, but if you shop around you might find something similar in a company in your local area.

    I bring this up because you could always connect an 800 number to voicemail that alerts you when you have a message, and be sure to let them know you will call back quickly.

  11. #11
    Greetings:

    We use http://www.kall8.com/ for our emergency support number.

    During office hours, we use Kall8's routing to have it come into our office. And after hours, it automatically goes to our cell phone.

    We have been blessed by God that we don't get a lot of emergency support calls. So it is very common for months on end to go by with no usage; though in some months it can be as high as one hour.

    Thank you.
    ---
    Peter M. Abraham
    LinkedIn Profile

  12. #12
    we use kall8 as well have 3 toll free numbers routed to my cell phone... but my cell phone plan is a flat rate for unlimited minutes so it works out quite well.

    my average kall8 bill is about $15 a month with all 3 numbers, get about 20 calls per month right now
    Joe
    www.DollarWebHosting.Biz
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  13. #13
    Joe,

    Who is your flat rate cell phone plan with? Do they still offer the plan you have?

  14. #14
    Hi,

    We use tollfreelive.com for our toll free phone provider.

    It is about $9.99 per month plus fee's for the connection.

    It comes with voice mail, a voice menu, three voice mail inboxes, and one free calling card.

    This, in my humble opinion, is the best solution because of several reasons which I will tell you. I have had other toll free phone solutions, like is800.com but they don't compare to tollfreelive.com and here is why.

    First - With Kall 8 and similar companies they only accept calls from the contiental 48 United States, which can limit your clientel.

    Second - You cannot make phone calls but only accept them with companies like is800.com.

    Third - The features alone are better, such as the menu selection and the vioce mail and one feature I particiually like is the number forwarding. You can make it on certain days of the week on certain times of the day to ring to specific numbers, a very handy feature if you have multipul employee's.

    Fourth - An important feature that lots of other companies didn't supply was caller ID, it was either blocked or only had the companies phone number. TollFreeLive.com has caller ID even if they block it, also it tells what kind of a phone they have (cell or hardline).

    All these features I described to you are included all for $9.99 per month + minutes.

    The features you want or need and the size of your company can make your decide what company you sign up with.

    One last factor you must consider is that most, if not all, of these companies keep the number and if they do you must make sure you are going to stay with them for a really long time.
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  15. #15
    Join Date
    May 2003
    Location
    Ottawa
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    2,478
    I'd suggest using voicemail as well, and call them back as soon as you can. You never know where you'll be or what you'll be doing when you get the call. It's also hard to provide proper support from your car etc, when they're asking about account specific issues. It's not too professional to say something like "I'm actually in my car right now and can't help you, I'll give you a call when I get to a computer".
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  16. #16
    Join Date
    Aug 2002
    Location
    Stony Plain, AB
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    I understand what your saying Amdac. So using voice mail on the cell phone is a good idea ? then when i reach home i can call the client back and answer any questions etc they might have. It also seems that people tend to use less minutes with voice mail because the client gets right to the question etc. or is that the case?

    - Eddy
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  17. #17
    Join Date
    Aug 2002
    Location
    Seattle
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    Originally posted by Crucial
    One reason why I have NEXTEL with Unlimited Free Incoming Minutes =P I pay roughly $49/month.
    Nextel is great for the incoming plans, not to mention the i58sr is the most durable phone you've ever seen (i've been known to throw it across the room ).

    Unfortunately, Nextel is quite expensive. We use T-Mobile now as a cost savings initiative. So now we have a boatload of termination fees and spare Motorola phones to try and pawn off.

  18. #18
    Also check www.gotvmail.com. Been using them for about a year. Great Service and Great Control Panel.

  19. #19
    Join Date
    May 2003
    Location
    Ottawa
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    Originally posted by sirgamesalot
    I understand what your saying Amdac. So using voice mail on the cell phone is a good idea ? then when i reach home i can call the client back and answer any questions etc they might have. It also seems that people tend to use less minutes with voice mail because the client gets right to the question etc. or is that the case?

    - Eddy
    If you're using a cell phone, this would usually mean you're not at home. If you're not at home, how can you possibly help with tech issues? Yes, there may be some quick questions you can answer over the phone, but you will still run into cases where you need a computer near by. It's hardly professional to ask a customer to call back when you get to a computer.
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  20. #20
    DeathNova,

    About pawning those Nextel phones off. Check on eBay to see what they sell for. (You have to be registered to do it, but you can search under "Advanced" and check off the box that says "completed" and see what sold for what for the last 30 days.) I've seen some phones on eBay sell for MORE than the Nextel new price simply because you don't have to make a commitment to their service in order to get the phone. But it all depends on the model number . . .

  21. #21
    Join Date
    Dec 2003
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    I got my mom, dad and sister all nextels they love them...... Prolly becasue they dont pay for them
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  22. #22
    Originally posted by Amdac
    If you're using a cell phone, this would usually mean you're not at home. If you're not at home, how can you possibly help with tech issues? Yes, there may be some quick questions you can answer over the phone, but you will still run into cases where you need a computer near by. It's hardly professional to ask a customer to call back when you get to a computer.
    Or you take the information and create your own manual ticket and tell them that they will receive an email when their issue is resolved. You then have the option of calling another tech that runs online support and have the issue taken care or get it taken care of when you get home.

    When it comes to the Internet, I generally don't do business with a company if I get voice mail.
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  23. #23
    www.ringcentral.net
    For $50/month you get unlimited inbound minutes, and 500 outbound minutes (you can call the toll-free and place calls).
    I think this would be the way to go...

    Regards,

  24. #24
    Oh yeah, and you can set 3 different numbers that it forwards to... can ring each one trying to find someone to pickup while the customer is on hold with some nice music...

    This is what I use, and it's been good to me!

  25. #25
    Originally posted by Coach
    Or you take the information and create your own manual ticket and tell them that they will receive an email when their issue is resolved. You then have the option of calling another tech that runs online support and have the issue taken care or get it taken care of when you get home.

    When it comes to the Internet, I generally don't do business with a company if I get voice mail.
    Definitely something to think about . . .


    Something else to think about is this:

    If you forward a phone to a cell phone, and you're out of the area, the caller might get that "the caller you are trying to reach . . ." message every now and then, even when you DO have voicemail. Systems get crossed sometimes. Some people calling a tech support number would not do business when they hear that message (and unfortunately, that's something beyond your control).

    Perhaps the cell phone is not the best answer, perhaps voicemail really isn't either.

    In the past there were certain calls from certain companies that I could not afford to end up at either voicemail OR cell phone, yet I couldn't be available to man the phones all the time. What did I do? I set up an account with an answering service, giving them strict instructions on what to do for what. They were able to connect my callers to me via pre-set instructions while the caller was on hold. They would answer the phone with my company name, screen the call, then call my cell phone, and if they reached me they would connect them to me. If I was not able to take the call for whatever reason, they would simply explain to the caller that I was "out of the office (you could say 'at the datacentre' or 'in the server room?') and they would be happy to get a call-back number so that I could return the call." And then I would receive a page letting me know about the call, the callback number, and the issue the call was regarding. Today most cell phones have the ability to receive text messaging, so they could send the same message to your cell phone.

    After all, EVERYBODY has to eat SOMETIME ;-)

    By the way, if you go with an answering service, don't use their toll-free lines. Get your own number and forward it to their local number - because they keep their numbers and if you don't like their service and want to fire them to go with a better service in the future it's easier to just change where your number forwards to than it is to order new business cards, distribute the new number everywhere, etc.

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