vanity numbers

Has anyone used any of the vanity phone nos being offered for lease 1-800-pavement, etc. thinking about the 800-sealcoat # any input? Tiny

lotmarker wrote on Apr 25, 2006:Go to #1

Has anyone used any of the vanity phone nos being offered for lease 1-800-pavement, etc. thinking about the 800-sealcoat # any input? Tiny

NOT cheap....

When I get time (don't hold your breath) I'm going to write an article about how from a marketing standpoint they can be a terrible decision. I know people who use them (about $300 per month per area code) and they do "seem" to get initial business so far (it's new after all)... But they are not yours! You just rent it. Jest of article, (1 "what if" example... looking to the future) you get one for 2 years, get a bunch of calls, people get used to it being you...then it's not producing like it did or they raise the price or whatever and the cost isn't effective...the company has a built in "customer list" of however many people called you on that number (and they keep track) to use as a sales tool for somebody else in your area...then the new "renter" gets your calls! Better to get your own toll-free if you need one, if no need for toll-free, shop numbers for one that's easy to remember. Then it's YOURS and you're not paying rent for it every month. A regular toll-free# is only a few extra dollars a month.

Thats certainly something I didnt consider - also a good reason to float ideas like this one to get feedback from the striping GURUs Tiny

Has anyone used any of the vanity phone nos being offered for lease 1-800-pavement, etc. thinking about the 800-sealcoat # any input? Tiny

When I get time (don't hold your breath) I'm going to write an article about how from a marketing standpoint they can be a terrible decision. I know people who use them (about $300 per month per area code) and they do "seem" to get initial business so far (it's new after all)... But they are not yours! You just rent it. Jest of article, (1 "what if" example... looking to the future) you get one for 2 years, get a bunch of calls, people get used to it being you...then it's not producing like it did or they raise the price or whatever and the cost isn't effective...the company has a built in "customer list" of however many people called you on that number (and they keep track) to use as a sales tool for somebody else in your area...then the new "renter" gets your calls! Better to get your own toll-free if you need one, if no need for toll-free, shop numbers for one that's easy to remember. Then it's YOURS and you're not paying rent for it every month. A regular toll-free# is only a few extra dollars a month.

Thats certainly something I didnt consider - also a good reason to float ideas like this one to get feedback from the striping GURUs Tiny

YOU NEED A 900 NUMBER YOU GET PAID FOR THEM!

YOU NEED A 900 NUMBER YOU GET PAID FOR THEM!

I just dont have that "come hither big boy" kind of voice for the 900# deal

I just dont have that "come hither big boy" kind of voice for the 900# deal

DON is right !! Stay away from the rented vanity numbers. We have a regular 1-800 number, and the number is free, we just pay .05 a min. which makes having it very affordable for our out of area callers. Check with your phone company to see what they can do for you. We use Integra Telecom.

DON is right !! Stay away from the rented vanity numbers. We have a regular 1-800 number, and the number is free, we just pay .05 a min. which makes having it very affordable for our out of area callers. Check with your phone company to see what they can do for you. We use Integra Telecom.

lotmarker wrote on Apr 25, 2006:Go to #1

Has anyone used any of the vanity phone nos being offered for lease 1-800-pavement, etc. thinking about the 800-sealcoat # any input? Tiny

I don't know if leasing works for toll free numbers. You can search online for different providers and inquire about it. For sure they don't lease this numbers. You have to subscribe to them for a fee and a contract at least.

If you NEED a vanity or 800 number (we did because in TX I covered a large area, many customers were long distance) so for $10 a month on my phone bill I got 800-261-PARK easy enough to remember and it was MINE. If you need one get one from the phone company but if you work mostly local consider the customer-"why would a local company have an 800 #?" LOTS of travelers have 800 numbers so people can't tell where they are from (not the vanity numbers of course). I know know 2 examples of just what I said. A friend in a large city (4th in the nation or so) got one for every area code--almost $1,500 a month for the vanity number and s aid it was making him a fortune!! He LOVED it-best thing he ever did! In a freak accident he got a serious head injury from the cover on his pickup truck & a freak gust of wind. Serious concussion and basically he would "lose track of who he was or what he was doing" for periods from a few minutes to a couple of days so he had to be off work 6 months minimum. He was always the "salesman" and he was good-could sell anything at a good price and had good subs for work like decorative concrete so he would turn an extra $2K on a sealing job by selling decorative concrete on the entrances etc. But the money ran low and the couple of salesmen his wife (who did the books) hired were useless so he had too let the 800 numbers go. He was getting so many calls they immediately sold them to his biggest competitor. When he recovered it was the lousy economy and his phone never rang because all his calls were going to the other guy (he had the number on his cards-flyers, everything) Between the bad economy and the phone being dead he could never recover and went under-he might have made it if he had kept his own phone so his customers would still be calling him. Another guy I know was asking me because the guy who had them gave them up for whatever reason in his area and they were selling to both him and now his biggest competitor since the other guy was gone. So I had to tell him the pros & cons but to follow his "gut feelings" because he had a point. This guy was bigger than him or his other competitor--so if he didn't buy them the competitor might and he would be way behind because the competition would suddenly be getting those calls, so he almost felt like he "had" to buy them. But it would be a big investment and he was in a cold state where they charge every month even when the snow is on the ground so add that to his winter "survival" budget. I don't know how that worked out but the one guy who would definitely win was the company selling the number of what had been the biggest sealer in town. He would come out no matter who did what. "Renting" phone numbers-- a brilliant idea --I wish I had thought of it, but I wouldn't have done it because I wouldn't have thought people would go for it. But I was WRONG ...took him ages and $$ to get all the numbers and set the whole system up but only a one-time cost. Now he makes money forever and as soon as it paid his initial cost and the monthly phone bill it's all clear profit from now on... I envy the guy. I wouldn't have thought it would "work" even if I had thought to do it. Shows he was a smart marketer and he has really sold the idea and LOTS of people use them but it's a win-win for him because even if somebody drops a number and nobody picked it up the calls then go to his office and he simply subs out the jobs to the guys back wherever and makes money that way. A "can't lose" situation. A brilliant idea for him. But if it's good for a particular contractor I can't say. Personally I want to control everything about my business so I wouldn't want a phone number that could possible end up going to someone else after I built it up and be like the guy in the first true story. It's one thing to cut back to a $40-$50 single business line if thing go bad and money is tight but $400 x however many area codes. That's a big monthly nut to crack.