So, later today you receive a phone message or a voicemail from out of your local area. What do you do first? Many people would stop and try to think who it could possibly be that called them with that number… Others would quickly check their voicemail to figure it out and the rest of us may simply call back the number direct and ask who just called them… I have also found depending on the phone carrier you may or may not always get the caller identification on your cell phone to register who just called you.

I can tell you from first hand experience that I do not answer BLOCKED callers. If you are running a business and attempting to call leads or prospects I would suggest you no longer block your calls. It can be viewed as a simple matter of trust. YOU are obviously calling them to request they answer your questions, buy your products or simply pick up their call on their dedicated line YET you do not have anough trust in them to open up your own line. Can you see the apparent break down of trust that you are conveying before you ever say a word?

There are some easy solutions to put you more in control of the next conversation between you and a possible client or lead. Technology has given us a gift to manage our time better… One is voicemail transcription services…

There are many services out there- the most important things for you to focus on when choosing a company is: Speed (how long from when the message is left till you get the email or text with the transcription), Cost (how much are they charging you- if you are running a business off that line- look for unlimited plans), Control (Hosting the data and messages on their server so you can listen online or download it to your computer at any time as an attachment. Most companies will email you the transcription with the wav. file attached so you can listen right away). My preferred vendor can be found under my resource icon or click here: PHONETAG By the way, once you join Phonetag, they encourage you to spread it virally and give you a free month of their service whenever someone signs up for the product. Many companies have cut down on their marketing expenses by offering free services based on referrals to their members or subscribers.

After you see the transcription on your smart phone and read the message or listen to the wav. file how do you find out more about the possible client? You should start with the area code… Look up the area code so that you can gather more data. A quick resource that is also free is: LincMad – they host free tables for you to see the counties related to the number. This week I received a call from a 707 area code. I did not know where it was but assumed the west coast. Here is the screen shot of what I found… Click on it to research your own:

So by reviewing this I realized that 707 is the Sonoma-California area. Now I know more about either their current location OR where they used to live. It will also make me more aware of what time to call the number back. If I am on East Coast time a call at 9 AM EST will not be well received in California. Start using both of these today when interacting with clients and “Happy Dialing”…