Prior to releasing the VoiceConnect plugin, we had it tested by a number of beta users. Although there are a lot of possibilities that the system can be used for, the point of it is to help you sell more in less time. That being said, sometimes people make the mistake of trying to get I.D.A. to do “all the work” for them and make the mistake of just using VoiceConnect to do all calls. If you do this, you may not get the best results. So, we have come up with this summary of what we hear actually works.

There are 2 ways to use VoiceConnect: 1) To save time on leaving voicemail messages; and 2) calling mass lists of potential customers.

1.       To save time on leaving voicemail messages: When you call someone and have to leave a message, you have to dial the call (10 seconds); wait for the call to connect (2 seconds); listen to the phone ring (30 seconds); listen to the voicemail greeting from someone (10-20 seconds); in a lot of cases listen to the prompt from the voicemail system (e.g., “at the tone, leave your message, when you are through, you can hang up or dial 1 for more options, etc. This can take 15 to 30 seconds); and finally you have to leave a message (20 seconds to a minute or more). Conservatively, this can result in a process that takes around 90 seconds.

Now, let’s say you go through 200 leads a month, and you call those leads on average 5 times each. If all you did was leave messages, that would be 1,000 messages a month, which would result in approximately 25 hours of your time in a month. Or you could do the math and realize that over the course of a year, you could spend a staggering 300 hours (or 7.5 weeks at 40 hours per week) leaving messages. That is 7.5 weeks that you could do the same production and either take vacation for 7.5 weeks or work more! What if you are a big producer and you call 400 leads a month?

Therefore, a very efficient use of the VoiceConnect system in I.D.A. is to continue calling your leads yourself. If the person you are calling does not pick up, and you realize the call is going to go to voicemail, hang up, and tell I.D.A. to send a message. Because you can store as many different types of messages you want in I.D.A., what most people do is have a message for the first time you call, a message for the second time, third, etc. If a live person happens to pick up because they were not near the phone before, then you would have a “Live Answer” message play, which would let the recipient press “1” to connect over to you.

Don’t make the mistake of having I.D.A. call new leads that just came in without you trying to reach them first, as some people are put off by automated dialing software. We have found that you will have much better results calling your leads and using I.D.A. to replace the time you are leaving messages.

2.       Calling mass lists of potential customers: An obviously powerful ability of the VoiceConnect system is to call a mass quantity of leads and wait for potential customers to connect to you. What our users have found is that this method is good for leads that have gotten old and also for lists of potential customers that you have bought from a lead source and uploaded into I.D.A. Don’t get in the habit of using this function for your newer leads (see #1 above).

To have I.D.A. call a large number of leads or customers, you would move them into a folder. Then simply right-click on the folder, click on “I.D.A. VoiceConnect system”, and follow the directions. If a lead does not pick up the phone, a recording will be left on their voicemail. If they do answer, then a “Live Answer” recording will be played, followed by the “Transfer Message”, which then gives the recipient the option of pressing “1” to be connected to you now.

We hope these ideas help you grow your business, and feel free to contact us with questions!