Phone Burner Review: Pros and Cons Of This System Of Calling Leads
Phone Burner, aka phoneburner, is a leading internet tool that does a lot of different things. In a nutshell Phone Burner is a program that takes your leads and uploads it to an automatic dialer that speed dials numbers. Now this might seem simplistic but understand that if you have hundreds of phone numbers to call the physical time it takes to dial a number, wait for it to pick up, listen if it's an answering machine, hang up, and then dial the next number . Phone burner does this hands free. Submit leads with phone numbers and it will dial them for you. If you get used to the system it will even mute the dialing sound so you can be doing chores around the house and it will just connect you when a live person is connected to.
The secondary power of Phone Burner is the ability to skip voice mails and answering machine. So you record in your own voice your message you would like to leave. When the system detects a voice mail box it automatically switches you to another line and starts to dial while it leaves your recorded message on the previous caller. What this does is prevent you from having to leave hundreds of the same voice message personally. It will free up time by not having to listen to someone's voice mail and the system will leave your pre-recorded voice message an auto pilot while your waiting for the system to connect you to the next line. This works amazingly well.
The Third bonus is being able to send out an email to the ones you leave a message to. The ability to contact your leads in multiple ways and doing it on autopilot is a real time saver. The email will be stored and when a voice mail is detected the system sends the email plus voice message on autopilot while the system switched you over to the next line. This takes place quickly and allows most to rip through leads who are not at their phone.
But not all is peachy with Phone Burner.
First there is the issue of cost. There are multiple plans but most will need to max their account. The basic plan is $ 67.50 for only 7.5 hours. If you get leads that are talking your head off the timer is rolling. Your gut is telling you to get off the phone as the timer is ticking. Now the entry level plan does allow for roll over minutes but most using this plan won't have carry over since if the leads are worth anything you will be speaking with a couple leads that will more than take up your time. If your good with getting off the phone then this could be a good option but most understand building a solid relationship could take time and first impressions are very important. The unlimited is $ 149.00 and works well but over time that starts to stack up. At this price range other services start to come into play that one should start considering.
Second there is the issue of calling leads. Calling leads can be fun for 2% of the population. It's not exactly a cold call if you have solid leads but as a society there are some serious issues with people in general. You can buy opportunity leads that are fresh and call them only to be yelled as for spamming. You can even generate your own leads and they will question why you have their information even though you have it noted that they requested information from you just a day ago. When you speak to enough people the majority of purchased and self generated leads are not qualified to spend time with you. This is why call centers and telephone sales agents are outsourced. Over time this approach will burn you out! Just by looking around how many successful home business owners rather be on the phone calling luke warm leads? Most would rather have an assistant screen the call.
This is the main missing ingredient. Screening doesn't take place early enough in the call process and what this does is allow tire kickers and time wasters to speak with you. It's one thing if you're a super closer but those are very rare in our industry, and even those don't like to speak with unqualified leads. The ability to sift and sort out the leads is the best use of your time. Phone Burner does not screen calls and this is a big time waster if you're a home business owner with only a couple hours to work a night. Would you rather be doing other tasks like generating more leads than speaking with broke prospects? Phone burner puts you on the front lines which in my own experience will drain your time with poor prospects. Not to say all of your leads will be poor prospects but if time is money it's better to follow suit as large companies do. Only speak with qualified and pre-screen individuals.
So this leads me to where I went from there. After using Phone Burner for months and spending countless hours with tire kickers I decided to move to a professional call center. A virtual assistant did come across my list of potential outlets but most virtual assistants with fluent English are extremely expensive for the hourly rate. Over seas virtual assistants are a not desirable. So instead I went to a using something called My Phone Room, also known as MyPhoneRoom, which takes care of all the issues and on top of that added a ton of benefits.
If you value your time and understand you are not the chef, the bus boy, the hostess, the dish washing attendant, the manager, and the owner of your so call business then you understand the need for outsourcing. I'm not saying don't speak with your leads but speak with leads that are pre-qualified and in the process get edified during the screening. What is more powerful than having a lead who speaks with a native English speaker in the United States who is interviewing your leads to determine if they qualify for your time. That is a huge benefit in your favor to be put on a pedestal as the saying goes "no one is a prophet in their own town".