Your toll free number may be driving Affairs Far

When I launched my company, Championship Communication, ten years ago, a veteran entrepreneur advised me, "Get your own toll free number right away." He said that would attract more customers and keep existing customers happy if they could call me for free.

"But," I asked, "is not that expensive?"

"No, Bill, is surprisingly reasonable, and will be well worth the moderate cost increase because of your customer."

Following his advice, I got an 800 number and displayed on my stationery, website, business cards and e-mail signature. For a decade, I said that the number when I left a voice mail message for a contact out of town I had called and lost.

Then, not long ago, I started rethinking whether my toll free number was gaining business for me. Discussing this with a fellow professional speaker, I was surprised to hear him say: "People who want to have a toll free number, so you can save three or four dollars, when you call it, is unlikely to be able - or not want - to pay the professional fees your experience merits if they are so cost conscious that I do not think they could afford to call you, then how can you change your mind wants to invest in your services. "?

His idea made me shudder. At the same time, the logic seemed sound. Over the next few months, I started looking at my monthly phone bill to see who was using my 800 number to reach me. The answer: mostly friends and relatives.

Even worse, a company that I had never heard of print my toll free number as the contact number for its customer service. I spent a few harrowing moments assuring callers I had nothing to do with that company.

Furthermore, I reasoned, at a time when many calls come from people using cell phones, saving an 800 number once promised are likely to be obsolete. With most providers, minutes used are cell phone minutes, period.

Then I thought back to my twenty years in management. Like any manager, I fielded numerous calls from sales people who wanted to talk to me about their product or service. As I decided to return calls from someone whose name meant nothing to me? Simple - I deleted calls from strangers with toll free numbers. I knew I was in a sales pitch, and with my packed schedule to take time for calls not proved wise time management.

Remembering that, I wondered how many people I had to return their calls from the filtered-list since 1996 because of my area code 800.

However, I did not trust my own intuition. So I interviewed twenty-five professional speakers had come to know through our state and national associations. Included in my study: the speakers with sales more books, more taxes, calendars and more packaged reputation. Most I reached by e-mail, and the rest I just checked their web sites.

The results surprised me. Out of the twenty-five, only eight have toll free numbers. The other seventeen were thriving well with standard telephone lines. The most significant indicator: a speaker with a fee of $ 20 000 public keynote his office and cell phones, but no toll.

So I took the next logical steps. I called the phone company and canceled my toll. I warned my friends and relatives who had been using the number was no longer active. The professional technician who makes the required changes to my Web site eliminated the number from those pages, and also from the pages of "landing" accessible through Google. And I deleted the number from my formal e-mail signature.

I worry because the toll is on my business cards and stationery? Not really, certainly not enough to order a fresh batch of both. I will change those eventually. Meanwhile, from what I've learned that there will be prospects with a high level.

I recommend that you evaluate if my results match your professional niche. If the toll free number attracts mostly friends, relatives, and marketers who want to spend money on them, it's time to switch to a traditional phone number. You will save significant dollars each year, and above all you will attract the caliber of callers you want to do business with .......