_

Work Description

We are a professional answering service company in need of some professional sales reps.  You will be telecommuting (working from home).  We do have leads we can send to you, and we do offer residual commissions.  We have been in business for more than 10 years and our clients include Fortune 500s as well as small entrepreneurs.  We are looking for a few skilled sales representatives to take some inbound calls and make outbound calls using your own methods or utilizing the lead sheet that we’ve prepared.  It is critical that you are a dedicated and committed individual, as no lead must slip through the cracks!

Work Arrangement

This is a unique opportunity in that you can work from your home office and set your own hours.  We will either forward leads to your cell phone (or dedicated home office line) or e-mail leads to you.  You absolutely must be available during the window of time that you say you’ll be available to take inbound calls, and you must follow up on the leads we send to you.  New leads should be handled as quickly as possible — after all, the first impression is a lasting impression!

Most of the bigger sales will not happen on the first phone call.  You will be competing against other sales reps in which we’ll be monitoring everyone’s lead to sales ratio.  The person with the higher sale-to-lead ratio will get more leads.  The person with a lower sale-to-lead ratio will get less, or if it’s real bad, won’t get any more leads.  A high sale-to-lead ratio is in your best interest - that’s how you’ll make the most money!

How to Get a High Sale-to-Lead Ratio

Minimize lead response time - respond to new leads as soon as possible.  Maximize lead follow up - maintain top of mind awareness with your perspective clients in persistently valuable, not persistently annoying ways.  Always be closing - Ask for the sale and make it easy for them to say yes.

Compensation

Earn $49 commission for every successful new account sign up that remains an active customer past the initial 60 day service period.

Some leads will be ready to sign up as soon as they call, so treat every inbound phone call as a potential customer.  We will provide leads to you, but you may also choose to find your own for better success. Either way, it’s up to you how much or little you choose to work!

After 6 months of continuous and active employment and more than 150 total sales (25 or more sales per month), if you maintain a 85% active-to-terminated ratio of the accounts you sign up, we will place you on a residual commission scheme where you will receive 3% of each of your customer’s monthly recurring rate.  For example, if you sell 1,000 accounts over a year, each billing $100 a month, you’d be earning $3,000 a month residual commission ON TOP OF your regular sales commission.

If you were to only make 6 sales a day, that gives you $49 each (after the initial 60 day service period) = $294 + $12/month residual bonus (in 6 months, if you qualify).  So, $294 per day X 22 working days = $6,468 a month or close to $80,000 the first year!  Residual commissions and more leads could make this a very lucrative sales opportunity for the right person.

Work from home - Save gas

Remember, you do not have to go to an office (you save on gas).  You don’t have to work at this full time, just quickly handle the new leads that come in (or that you find) by making sure you are near your telephone and e-mail, and follow up on all your past leads to make sure none slip through the cracks.  I believe you will not find many opportunities like this, especially something so flexible to allow you to start slowly to generate some quick cash and then increase as your time allows.

If you Want to Apply

Please send your resume and cover letter describing how your skill set and schedule would fit this opportunity with the words “Answering Service Sales Rep” in the subject line to careers@phonewire.com.  Include full contact details, resume, and in the message describe what experience you have in sales and include whether you have any experience in selling telecommunication services (not necessary, but would be interesting.)  Include what times you would be available to handle inbound leads by phone and what times you would be able to follow up on leads throughout the day.

If you have no experience in sales but you still want the opportunity to apply, please write a short essay on why you’d be right for this job.  Even if you already have sales experience, a brief paragraph or two describing yourself would make our decision process easier.

Compensation will be remitted via Paypal, which allows for the most flexible options including check or wire bank transfer, and will be made biweekly or monthly depending on amount.  We can work this out, based on your demonstrated performance.

Please do not apply if you cannot start immediately or commit to a minimum of part time hours.

When your callers are placed on hold, what do they hear? Are you frustrating or confusing callers with silence? 94% of all marketing budgets are spent on inducing a customer to call, while only 6% is spent on handling the call once it is received.

Unfortunately, integrating a music-on-hold solution to Non-KSU (or “KSU-less”) phone systems which do not have a central connection cabinet is often impossible — until now!  Any brand or model two-line, three-line, or four-line telephone can now place callers on hold with custom music with voice-over messages, thanks to the Intellitouch On Hold Plus OHP-6500.

Device Details

The rear of the device has many connection possibilities, for today and tomorrow.  First, you’ll notice on the right are two telephone line connections.  Each telephone line connection combines two telephone lines (L1/L2 and L3/L4) in one jack each.  In the center of the rear panel, you’ll find that you have an audio out RCA-style jack so you can connect this unit to a KSU system when your office grows past four-lines.

About a third from the left, a USB jack is provided for connection to your PC.  The included PC software allows you to produce your own custom music on hold production including voice-overs to inform, educate, reinforce your marketing, promote your image, and differentiate your company from competitors.  Once you are satisifed with your music playlist, you temporarily connect the PC to the OHP6500 to transfer the production to the device’s internal memory.  Once the transfer is complete, you disconnect the PC and the on-hold system operates on its own with no PC required.  If you need music on hold but don’t have the time to record a custom music-on-hold playlist, the unit comes preloaded with music so you can being using it immediately (and then customize it later).  In addition, a certificate is included that allows you to have a professional talent voice-over music-on-hold production created for free in case you don’t want your own voice on the hold music.

Simple, Quick Installation

As soon as you open the box, you only need to connect the device to the electric outlet and plug your office lines (up to four) to the back. The unit comes preloaded with generic music that you can change later and load a complete custom recording with voice-overs describing your products and services to people on hold. Instantly, every telephone in your home or office, including cordless  and phones like the ATT1040, ATT1070, or ATT1080 for example, can connect callers to hold music by you simply pressing ** before pressing the Hold button on the telephone.  What a huge image improvement over empty silence - it couldn’t be simpler!

But for an even easier configuration, this system includes two adapters, called TEHMAs or Telephone Extension Hold Music Activators, that you can simply connect to the coiled handset cord of any two of your telephones to avoid the requirement of pressing **.  With these included adapters installed, you simply press the normal Hold button and this music-on-hold device “knows” when you placed a call on hold and immediately starts playing your recorded music to the caller! It is compatible with every type of two-line and four-line phone system.  And as your office grows and might need a more traditional “KSU”-based phone system, your investment is protected as this music-on-hold device can be connected to that new telephone system just as easily with no additional adapters or upgrades necessary.

Of course, you can purchase additional phone adapters very inexpensively to outfit every phone in your office so hold music is completely automatic everywhere in your office.  When you are ready to return to the caller, simply pick up the held line at any telephone and the music will automatically turn off and you can resume your conversation.

Conclusion

This unit and included certificate for a free professional talent music-on-hold production are a great value that is impossible to beat!  For our test, we’ve been running the unit for 6 months continuously without any problems.  Surprisingly, the unit doesn’t even get warm! Our custom production was completed and returned back to us in less than a week and we uploaded the production from the PC to the music on hold unit in about one minute.  The voice quality is so impressive, we could have easily used the professionally recorded announcements for a radio commercial as well!

If you have been looking for a way to add a professional touch and image to your four-line phone system without replacing your entire phone system, the Intellitouch On Hold Plus 6500 is an absolute dream come true.  When used with the TEHMA adapters installed at each phone, the system operates completely automatically.  For less than $250, you just can’t beat it!  Installation is quick and easy.  Get one for your office and no longer hear your caller sigh when you ask them to “Please hold.”

First, think of a single document that could be viewed and edited by multiple users regardless of what computer they use or where in the world they might be located.  E-mail works well when you are working with one other individual, but when you are working on a project that involves 3 or more people it becomes more difficult to keep everyone “on the same page”.  Enter the Wiki!

A Wiki server places a document (or multiple documents) on a server accessible by any Internet browser software, Mac or PC, iPhone or Blackberry, which allows many users to easily view and edit using an interface no more complicated than a simple word processor program.  The greatest advantage is that all page revisions (history) are all available for viewing or restoring older editions if necessary.  Although you can control who can view and edit these documents, the goal (and convenience) of a Wiki is to encourage everyone to participate without the trouble of managing usernames or passwords.  But in the business world, collaborative projects are usually internal and confidential so therefore Wikis that are used in business are often restricted to allow access on the internal network (or “Intranet”) only.

But are Wikis all about project collaboration?  Not at all!  In fact, Wikis can also be used as a knowledge database.  One of the most popular Wikis known, WikiPedia, is a global encyclopedia of knowledge as a result of open, public collaboration using the Wiki server platform.  Smart companies who have recognized the success of WikiPedia have installed a Wiki server for customers to share support and troubleshooting instructions with other customers by incorporating “frequently asked questions” and other customer support articles under the big umbrella of the Wiki server.  These companies not only allow, but encourage, their own customers to edit and add helpful, searchable documents to the company’s knowledge library.  Now, new customers have a wealth of information to help guide them through their technical difficulties and the company’s phone support personnel can search and contribute to the same system so all information is consolidated and consistent.  A knowledge database that essentially manages and updates itself, as the readers are also the authors!

But what about Blogs?  Blogs allow for a much tighter focus on editorial control. You can disable comments, for instance - and thus ensure that only one voice is being heard. Even with comments enabled, they typically are not shown when a visitor comes to the site - the visitor has to choose to view comments (as opposed to a Wiki, where anyone can add and edit any content they want anywhere on a page). Like a newspaper, there are individual “articles” and the start/end of an article is determined by the author. A reader can add comments, but they cannot change the content of the author’s original post because the author retains ultimate control.

With a Wiki, no individual or entity really has full control over the content and attempting to keep control will lead to “last one to edit wins” battles. If your goal is create an open community where constructive criticism is encouraged, a Wiki is going to be your best bet!  Unfortunately many companies are uncomfortable with such freedom on their public website, so Wikis tend to be reserved for internal use or project-specific narrowly focused to small group of individuals held personally responsible for their own conduct and contributions.

.
For your “public” business website, a Blog seems to make more sense. It is far more useful for getting your specific message out, without changes being made by someone else.  When you control the content, you can control the image and overall message.  Because a Blog allows for “permanent” pages, such as product or service descriptions, as well as “article” posts similar to an online newspaper, it allows any business to fill their website with new and interesting content while providing easier management of static information. However, a Wiki fits well as a format for a customer support resource (such as a publically-accessible “knowledge database” website).  A Wiki is also an excellent choice for any project involving collaboration between 3 or more people.  As expected, installation of either of these server solutions can be attempted by anyone but Phonewire does provide these technologies as a managed hosted solution so you can focus on your content and let us worry about everything else!

kftk-podcastglover-phonewire

Why invest in an expensive PBX phone system when everything you need can be found in phones that simply plug right into your existing telephone jacks?

Most business telephone systems require all the phones in an office to be connected, individually, to a central control box or key service unit (KSU). The disadvantage is that the KSU and unique wiring require professional installation and programming, raising the cost and complexity of the system.

But, “non-KSU” phone systems do not require a central cabinet. Instead, each phone contains the circuitry necessary for features such as conferencing, intercom, and transfer. Installation is as easy as plugging in the phones.

Overview: Simple to install and use, this affordable multi-line speakerphone features Caller ID/Call Waiting when you subscribe to these services from your local telephone service provider. It also offers a convenient speakerphone, headset jack, 32-number speed-dial, and 3-way conferencing.

As your business expands, you can add additional telephones from within this AT&T series which can be networked into a system of up to 16 phones. Additional features include all-station paging, intercom, hold, call transfers between stations, four lighted line indicators, 16 intercom one-touch keys, two data ports, Centrex compatibility, and power failure protection.

The setup: For this review, we purchased one new ATT 1070 speakerphone (as well as an ATT 1080, which was necessary for testing features only available when using 2 or more phones of this phone system series). We connected each phone’s first two lines together, in a star topology, to distribute both lines of a two-line SIP adapter by Sipura using G.711u audio compression to our Asterisk 1.4 voice server.

As you can see by the picture on the right (click to zoom), all of the external telephone lines in your home or office must be wired to all phones. It is actually very common for homes and small offices to already have this wiring plan, so these new phones simply plug in where the old phones were once connected! Optionally, Line 4 can be shared by all phones, or unique as a “private line” exclusive to one phone, or a group of phones that might need a dedicated telephone number for external callers to reach them directly.

First thoughts: Unlike recent AT&T 4-line phones that looked more like a cheap, plastic, consumer-grade, home telephone trying to survive the daily abuse of an office environment, the telephones in this new series of “non-KSU” intercom phones (ATT 1040, ATT 1070, and ATT 1080) look and feel like professional business phones. It’s two-tone silver brushed metal and hard black plastic design fondly references back to the popular AT&T Merlin® KSU phone system of several decades ago.

The included manuals are outstanding! You receive a Quick Setup Guide, a Users Guide, and an Installation Guide. But these aren’t some tiny little pamphlet! Each of these books are about 50-150 pages, every page written in plain English, covering every single feature in a very clear and concise way to make sure you get your money’s worth out of everything this phone has to offer. (I have never been more impressed by documentation!) I found no typographical errors or confusing descriptions. The manuals really add some confidence to AT&T and the future of this new phone series!

The good: The four-way directional button and center “Enter” button become your primary tool to quickly and easily select features without the need to remember codes or special key sequences. In fact, all too often, these “non-KSU” phones will have buttons with two or more functions — not this new AT&T series! The buttons on the phone are self-explanatory and only serve the one function for which they are labeled. All related feature options appear on the blue backlit LCD screen when you are in a particular mode that offers more options. For example, when you lift the handset and press the Intercom button, the top half of the screen prompts “Intercom No.?” while the bottom half of the screen presents you to optionally “Page” a single extension (instead of simply ringing it) or to “Page All” and broadcast your announcement on all the phones in your home or office simultaneously.

Another improvement, which is why I suspect these phones aren’t backwards compatible with earlier AT&T “non-KSU” phones other than the 1000-series: the Intercom audio is digital, crystal clear. No longer will your Intercom calls be subjected to interference from a nearby radio station transmitter or other nuisance! With two phones side-by-side, you can detect a slight millisecond or so delay as an Intercom page is encoded on your phone to be then decoded on the destination phone. The sound quality is truly impressive and worthwhile. If you are currently experiencing any issues with your Intercom on older non-KSU phones, you might want to give a pair of these a test run.

The bad: If you transfer a call from one phone to the next, the caller hears nothing. No music-on-hold, no tones — nothing but silence. If they had offered an option to play a soft double-beep tone to the caller every couple of seconds, that would have been a worthwhile improvement over dead-air. (However, the ATT 1080 does play a “Please hold” recorded announcement every few seconds when a caller is transferring to an extension by way of the built-in auto attendent included on that ATT 1080 phone. But even that phone leaves the caller with dead air if they are put on hold or transferred by a human instead.)

One big disappointment was with regards to the system recognizing when a caller on-hold had disconnected. I tried everything in my “toolkit” of test equipment, but it seems these phones just don’t recognize (or don’t care) when a caller that you’ve placed on-hold chooses to hang up before you return to the call. The system will continue to keep that line blinking on-hold until you retrieve it — often to the frustration of loud dialtone in your ear.

It also would have been nice if the Hold button had a red-colored key for quick access. I realize its a minor complaint, but when you take a lot of calls it helps to have that button easy to find. I would suggest the purchase of a red permanent marker so you could do it yourself — you’ll thank me later!

The ugly: When integrated with an ATT 1080 with the “SYS EXT” voice messaging feature enabled, trying to figure out how to listen to your messages on any phone except the ATT 1080 is a huge headache! For a phone system that is so “menu-driven” by that directional navigation and “enter” button arrangement near the LCD screen, it is irritating to have to dig out a reference card to use this ATT 1070 phone to listen to your messages in the mailbox reserved exclusively for your extension but actually recorded and stored on the ATT 1080 voicemail/answering system. It just seems to me this could have been better thought out!

My guess is that AT&T would probably “recommend” that you purchase an ATT 1080 phone for every person who needs a voicemail/answering system, instead of using one ATT 1080 to serve voicemail for multiple ATT 1070 phone users as their advertising suggests.

Conclusion: Overall, this is the best four-line telephone AT&T has ever made! If you’ve ever experienced issues with any of the earlier four-line models, such as the ATT984, ATT974, ATT964, ATT955, ATT945, or ATT944. The 1040, 1070, and 1080 have been redesigned from the ground-up and the attention to quality really shows!! All advertised features worked beautifully, each button pressed produced the expected result — press the Transfer button while on a call, the LCD prompts “Transfer line to ?”. By keeping one function per button, and also utilizing the navigation menu-driven options through the phone’s display, anyone can easily figure out how to do anything on these phones without ever needing to read any of the documentation.

The speakerphone sounds nice, although the volume of the speaker could’ve been louder (in my opinion). Each phone allows you to control the ringing tone, volume, and delay ringing options for each line individually. Believe it or not, that level of control of line ringing assignments are usually reserved for KSU systems only! Intercom calling worked flawlessly. All-Page was loud and very practical for a busy home with office, or larger retail store.

With a cost of between $100-$150 per phone, these are an outstanding value for any large home or growing business with 2 or more phone lines looking for the simplicity of replacing their old phones with something more serious, flexible, and functional.

On this very date in 2008 of our 10-year anniversary, we have launched this new website to allow us to integrate our products and services with the reviews and recommendations we’ve been waiting so long to share. With this upgrade, we now have the interface to deliver this information in an organized way that begs for your own comments to build and add to the community discussion!

Special note to all of our customers: you may want to start visiting Phonewire.com more often as this redesigned website will be introducing several new products and services before the end of the year! In addition, we’ll also be writing the occasional article with tips and tricks that we hope you find helpful.

Thanks for being a Phonewire customer, we couldn’t have got this far without you! Come back soon… more announcements are on the way.

If you have heard one of our commercials on your local radio station, tell us about it!  If you are interested in broadcasting or you would like to include our commercial in your podcast, please contact us at help@phonewire.com.

Note: Please do not redistribute without first obtaining our written permission.

phonewire-soft

phonewire-energetic

phonewire-meetings

In an effort to reach our target business executive audience, we have developed a relationship with several selected airports rotate our backlit ad copy entitled “Read Your Voicemail”. Please be on the lookout at your own regional airport for our gorgeous display, designed by Group 360 Media.

Special thanks to our personal contacts at Clear Channel who extended us this unique opportunity and helped make this an otherwise unattainable possibility.

Watch Phonewire appearance on CNBC

“Tired of listening to that automated voice on your phone’s message menu? Now you can get your voicemails in text form on your Blackberry. CNBC’s Jane Wells found a new service that wants to end voicemail as we know it.

“More traditional answering services, such as phonewire.com, use live operators who transcribe voicemails into text. “Every telephone has voicemail [today], and I believe in the next ten to fifteen years every phone is going to have [voicemail transcription],” said Matt Rygelski, President of Phonewire, Inc.”