Stop Spending On Toll Free Numbers

I am a Judgment Broker that writes a lot. This article is my opinion about why toll-free numbers are much less important than they used to be, and why a business might consider switching to a conventional number to save time and money.

In the past, in the time of cartel pricing for long distance calls, a toll free phone number was nearly mandatory for a nationwide businesses. Now, long distance telephone calls are either free or cheap, particularly when bundled into the cost of phone service plans or products.

One obvious reason for having a toll free phone number is to save money for callers. An advertised benefit is the (asserted) "enhanced integrity" that a toll free phone number offers. I think this is no longer true, because nearly everybody knows that it is currently cheap and easy to order a toll-free number.

There are some benefits for the owner of a toll-free phone number. Toll free numbers permit someone to capture addresses and names from calls.

Acquiring the name and address of telephone callers that do not purchase your product is of uncertain usefulness. One should gear their business toward those who buy, not to tire-kickers.

Toll-free phone numbers also stop the majority efforts to hide phone numbers, so concealed phone numbers commonly are recorded on toll free phone lines.

In addition to additional costs, there is another downside to providing a toll-free phone number. If people pay nothing, they can be somewhat more likely to not respect services as much.

On their web sites, some businesses conceal their number, partially due to phone leeches.

One example of a telephone leech problem, would be if one has a business selling a video tape-to-DVD transfer service. The web site clearly describes the simple business: Send in a tape and $25, and we will mail you a DVD of what was on the tape.

Even though your web site has a good FAQ, and has clear instructions, some people will call, and ask you for your phone number, what's your web site name, how long will it take to ship?, etc.

Some people like to read do not like to read very much. Asking you for your number, the same number they just called to reach you, is very silly; however, that doesn't take up too much time.

A telephone leech often elaborates on long tangents that have very little to do with your product.

A phone leech may share a portion of their life story, for example, "I have three fantastic children, and they are getting out of school in two weeks for summer vacation. I am going to my sister Sally's party the week after that, and I will bring them, and I am going to bring my video reorder and two extra batteries so I won't run out, and will bring some orange juice too, and..."

You can teach your workers to efficiently bring wayward telephone callers back on track, however, as long as you have a phone, certain people will waste your time.

Having a toll free number may attract phone leeches. Moving to a regular number won't stop silly and wasteful calls, but it will save you time and cut your costs.

In our business, we tested a move from a toll free number, to a regular number. The move did not slow down our business in any way, and we saved money, and get less phone leech callers now.

It seems that when people have to think about the phone number they are dialing, it attracts more serious callers.

If you switch from a toll free to a regular number, you do not have to give up your toll-free number, you simply stop advertising it to the public. You can always tell your real customers about it, but why spend extra money on the general public?


------

http://www.JudgmentBuy.com - where Judgments and debts quickly get recovered by the best - matched for free.

Mark D. Shapiro, with the best quality free leads for enforcers, collection agencies and contingency collection attorneys.