Hey, what’s going on in Lenderamaland? Wake up!
Ok, now that I have your attention. Let me tell you what the call capture companies don’t want you to know.
You know how call capture works; you’re assigned an 800# that is owned by the call capture company and you pay a monthly fee plus a per-minute fee for the usage. You then record valuable/helpful information as extensions from the 800# and advertise the 800# with extension and a ‘call for recorded information’ tag.
The beauty of the call capture system is that as soon as the inquiring prospect calls the number, you are sent an email or text message with their phone number, even if their phone number is non-published. At that point you’re calling back a great warm lead. Oh, and my advice is to call them right away – not the next day.
Personally, I advertise the call capture number with $5 corrugated signs throughout the state of Florida. My $5 cheapo signs sit alongside my realtor partner’s nice fancy signs in their pre-foreclosure listings. Curious buyers tend to call the ‘recorded message’ sign instead of the real estate agent’s sign because they don’t want to talk to a salesperson.
But now for call capture’s dirty little secret. And this is something that they won’t tell you unless you ask. There is a direct connect feature with call capture. If you answer the phone when the call capture rings through or ‘direct connects’ to your cell phone, then no problem, but if you let it go to voice mail, then most call capture companies set the default to stay on the line (and use up minutes) long after the party hangs up the phone. Mine was staying on there for exactly five minutes even when the caller’s message was a short ten-seconds. Trust me that can get costly when you’re dealing with hundreds of signs.
In any regard, if you ask the call capture company about the default for direct connect upfront, you will have less of a battle to fight down the road and in addition, you will have proved to the call capture company that you know their dirty little secret.
Posted by Paul – Seller Helps Buyer
Good point about how people would prefer to call a recorded message than to get a live person. I wonder if anyone has studied the effectiveness of 800# with prerecorded messages versus a local phone number on real estate signs.
I know it works well in real estate ads but not sure about the sign… i dont see why it wouldnt work good!
The name of the game is increasing market share while keeping your expenses low. The $5 signs plus 15 cents per minute call capture is a vehicle to do just that.
I just ordered another 100 signs yesterday.
Can you or someone please provide some examples of what is put on the sign?
Your name? Your Company? Or just for more info call?