CallFire

by Kimberly Kohatsu

We’re about a week away from Biz2Beach, CallFire’s first executive networking conference, and frankly, it’s overtaken my life. I go to bed still thinking about invitation lists, to-do’s, and logistics. It’s given me a new appreciation for wedding planners, event coordinators, hotel staff, and producers.

In the process of organizing an event like Biz2Beach, tools that help to streamline event planning become indispensable. Some of tools we’ve been using include

Eventbrite – for ticket registration and payment processing. PROS: Easy to use, with a lot of nice features like discount codes, ability to set different ticket tiers and early bird dates, and email functions. Free to use if your event is free. CONS: Among the more expensive ticket platforms if your event is not free, some attendees reported difficulty in registering and paying (which makes me nervous that some people may show up and I don’t know they’re coming), and some features I would actually like to use (like printing a check-in list of attendees or printing name badges) are buggy.

MailChimp – for email promotion and communication. PROS: Integrates with Eventbrite and gives you more flexibility than the basic email functions in Eventbrite, ability to create groups and segment lists has been awesome for me. Nice UI and free up to 2,000 contacts. CONS: I wish there was a plugin or something that allowed me to instantly move someone from a status like “Invited” to “Confirmed attending” when they RSVP’d. Right now I do that manually. Also, just as an aside, it was a pain to get our account approved to use MailChimp because our initial list of email addresses was so large.

Google Forms – for collecting info on people who were interested in attending. PROS: Free and simple to use. CONS: Not enough flexibility in the design/layout of the form itself, and sometimes I had to re-copy and paste the same embed code whenever changes were made.

These tools are all very well known, so I won’t take more time expounding on them. But what about CallFire as a tool for event planning? Turns out, there’s a number of things that our own software can do to help make event planning easier.

Use the Cloud Call Center for personalized telephone outreach.

For instance, we wanted to invite customers who have been most actively using our system. So we logged into our CRM system, exported a report based on certain parameters, and then uploaded the contact list into CallFire. For the invitees, getting a phone call from CallFire’s CEO Dinesh is a much more personal touch than an email, even an individualized one. But the Cloud Call Center also made it easier on Dinesh’s part to make the outreach more efficient. The autodialer meant that he didn’t have to dial phone numbers by hand (potentially mis-dialing in the process), and he automatically skipped over any bad phone numbers or busy signals.

You could also use the Cloud Call Center if you’re contacting large lists of vendors, venues, or potential sponsors. Create a target list (an Excel spreadsheet or .csv), and include any relevant info that would be helpful as you make each call. For example, if you’re calling potential venues, you could include a link to each venue’s website so you can quickly access it as you’re speaking to the contact. Then, if you need to ask a standard list of questions, create multiple-choice or open-answer questions. Once you’ve finished all your calls, you’ll be able to sort through the answers you’ve collected more easily. An example multiple-choice question might look something like this:

To learn how to set up a virtual call center with CallFire, watch this video.

Use text messaging to send updates and reminders.

This is especially helpful on the event day, when attendees, staff, and volunteers aren’t in front of their computers or regularly checking email. This month, for instance, the largest bike ride in LA, Critical Mass, plans to use CallFire SMS to send riders notes like “We’ll be leaving in 2 minutes” at the start of the ride. You can also include a link in your text message, such as maps or directions.

Other ideas for using CallFire for events? Throw’em in the comments!

And don’t just take my word for it….

“My company has been using CallFire for a couple years now. We use the Voice Broadcast campaigns to announce upcoming events to previous customers and send reminders to registered attendees. At a recent trade show, I had an attendee approach me and say, ‘Thanks for the phone call reminder – keep it up! I would have forgotten all about your event were it not for the call.’” – Carol Hill, On Time Media LLC

“I LOVE CALLFIRE!! My customers do too! Our dealership holds an event every Saturday and we utilize CallFire to get the word out! Customers personally thank us for giving them a call notifying them of upcoming events and specials. I have also saved a ton of money by using CallFire in place of my direct mail pieces. Great product!” – Erika Harris, Adventure Harley-Davidson

“CallFire was the fastest and cheapest way to get the word out about special events at our retail store. I love it and refer my friends.” – Aliki Gable, Aliki Yamani Creations

Dr. Billy Williams mentors clients, especially insurance agents, across the country. He has been a fierce advocate of using CallFire’s Voice Broadcast, Cloud Call Center, and Hosted IVR campaigns for lead prospecting and customer outreach and retention. The following post is a guest blog with some of the tips he has shared with business professionals.

Why Automated Dialing Should be a Marketing Tool All Businesses Use

By Billy R. Williams, Ph.D., President – Inspire a Nation Business Mentoring

Effective marketing is pretty simple:

1. Put your message in front of as many people as possible
2. Build lists of prospects that are interested in you, your product, and/or your expertise
3. Reach out to the lists regularly with timely, effective, problem-solving information
4. Reach out to as many people as possible on days that are important to them
5. Use affordable automation to help you stay consistent with your keep-in-touch campaigns

My partner agencies and the majority of our member agents use a company called CallFire for automated marketing, so I will use their functionality to explain how to target each of the 5 marketing areas I mentioned above.

1. Put your message in front of as many people as possible

• We use the Cloud Call Center to prospect DNC-scrubbed lists of prospects. You can have 1 or 100’s of telemarketers ready to speak live with a prospect.
• We use voice broadcasting to communicate important, non-solicitation, focused messages and announcements to current customers and opt-in prospects
• We also use “Press-1” campaigns to help us accomplish number two on our marketing list:

2. Build lists of prospects that are interested in you, your product, and/or your expertise

• Direct a press-1 campaign to a live person or to a CallFire IVR (message tree, automated survey, or hotline) that can be used to gather or give important information
• Every time someone responds positively to your telemarketer, or presses 1 on your voice broadcast campaign, that is one more person that you just added to your opt-in lists of potential customers

3. Reach out to the lists regularly with timely, effective, problem-solving information

• CallFire gives you the ability to easily schedule follow-up campaigns from calls that were not answered, requested a callback, needed bi-lingual help, etc.

4. Reach out to as many people as possible on days that are important to them

• We create weekly phonebooks in CallFire (Yes, 52 phone books) and each week we run a birthday audit from our database and add the phone numbers into the correct phone book. Then we quickly send out a Voice Broadcast birthday message. We do the same thing for recurring events like upcoming policy reviews, graduations, wedding anniversaries, etc.

5. Use affordable automation to help you stay consistent with your keep-in-touch campaigns

• The more a person hears your consistent message, the more credible you become. By using a low-cost solution like an automated dialer program, you are able to keep a consistent keep-in-touch program operating. You will not benefit long-term from a flash-in-the-pan marketing campaign. Here are my two rules of thumb when it comes to keep-in-touch programs:

1. Don’t send out information that has no real value to the prospect
2. The first time they hear you or your message is an introduction; the second time they can say they know of you; the third time they start to become familiar with you, but it takes four or more times for the prospect to feel like they are developing a relationship with you.

Follow the tips that I have just provided to you when setting up your automated dialer campaigns and you will see an awesome ROI.

Billy Williams, Ph.D., is president of Inspire a Nation Business Mentoring and Williams Family Agency Inc. The group currently has 23 member agencies and produces $360 Million in production annually. He is an expert at helping insurance agents and agencies double or triple their current production using no-cost conversations and processes, low-cost, efficient, marketing and advertising platforms, and technology.

by Kimberly Kohatsu

Every Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, CallFire holds webinars to introduce new customers to our products, and to familiarize them with their accounts. It’s a live demonstration with audio and video, that allows participants to ask questions and to see the CallFire interface in action.

But now, if those dates and times don’t work for you, you can view an archived webinar at any time. Many thanks to Ryan Koven and Bill Hughes who continually lend their expertise to educate our clients.

Watch now:

Cloud Call Center Webinar

(regularly Tuesdays and Thursdays at 11AM PST)

Voice Broadcast Webinar

(regularly Tuesdays and Thursdays at noon PST)

Hosted IVR Webinar

(regularly Wednesdays at 11AM PST)

by Kimberly Kohatsu

First, there’s the Mayans. Then, there’s the billboards. And if none of that bothers you, there’s climate change. Whatever is going on, there seems to be a lot of talk about the end of the world in 2012. So, *just in case*, here’s a couple ways CallFire can help you maximize the (limited?) days you have left.

Send a Goodbye Voice Broadcast

You know a lot of people, but you don’t have a lot of time. At least not enough to call them each individually. So get on the phone and record a message just once, and send it out to your whole contact list. This video will show you how. Don’t worry, it’s only 5 minutes. We realize time is ticking.

When you record your voice broadcast, feel free to use this script, or alter it as necessary.

Hello. This is [ your name ].
As a precaution to the world’s end [ on Saturday / in December / when the zombies attack ],
I just wanted to let you know that… [ I love you / I hate you / I'm sorry for... / I haven't forgotten that one time when you... ].
As this may be the last time you hear from me, I hope the one thing you’ll remember is that [ I loved you in this world, and I'll love you in the next / I hope we're not going to the same place / I told you so / I've sent the pictures to everyone ].
I’ll always think of you as [ my one true love / my friend / my partner / my mortal enemy ] even though [ you don't feel the same way / your family would never approve / I've only ever talked to you in internet forums ]
With this message, I bid you a final [ adieu / fond farewell / extended middle finger / goodbye ]

Your message will be sent at a rate of 50 calls per minute, which should be fast enough to reach everyone you know in time.

But what about the people to whom you want to bid farewell personally?

Aha! CallFire has a solution for that too. Because with only a few days left, do you really want to spend them dialing numbers, and trying to remember what you need to say? Of course not. This is a serious matter.

For this, CallFire has an end-of-the-world remedy: the Cloud Call Center. But in case there’s any confusion, we’re not talking about *those* clouds—this isn’t a direct line to the heavens. It’s calling through the clouds, and dialing auto-magically. Watch here:

Now, let’s think about this script a little more carefully. The beauty of the Cloud Call Center is you can customize your scripts with multiple-choice questions and open-answer text fields. So perhaps you’ll want to set something up like this:

Now as you make your calls, you’ll have a guide. And you can take notes should you need to take any follow-up actions, such as offline retribution, or sending a nice bouquet.

But what happens if the world doesn’t end?

Wouldn’t you know, CallFire has a solution for that as well. It’s called an SMS Broadcast, or the “Oops, my bad” text message. Watch how:

Best of all, you can pre-schedule your text, so if you’re locked in a bunker and can’t get to your CallFire account, everything is all set to go… just in case.

* This blog post is meant to be satirical. If you intend to use CallFire, you may only message opt-in clients. Please consult an attorney to familiarize yourself with local, state and federal telecommunications guidelines. More information on Telecom Compliance can be found on our website. Please dial responsibly. Thank you. *

by Natalia Klishina

Instead of watching the royal wedding, we here at CallFire have been following the devastating events in the American South. Nearly 300 people are dead across six states (213 of those in Alabama), and thousands more have been injured. People’s homes, belongings, and entire lives have been destroyed in a matter of a couple of days. Now that the tornadoes have passed through and search and rescue operations begin to wind down, it is time to start focusing on recovery. With infrastructure and communications completely disrupted, it will be difficult to handle donations and volunteers right away, but we are hoping to make the effort easier.

CallFire is proud to be helping United Way of Central Alabama (UWCA) reach out to their volunteers. Having worked in various capacities with emergency relief organizations in the past, we will be providing free voice broadcast services for UWCA’s tornado-relief efforts. These broadcasts will help officials contact their growing list of volunteers (currently already at 5,000). Once volunteers are allowed into affected areas, UWCA will inform them about when and where to meet and give them specific instructions. Volunteers will be helping with anything from interpreting, to cleanup, to counseling, to handing out food and water at food pantries. Our Senior Consultant Bill Hughes, who has assisted many of our emergency partners in the past, is working with James Wine of United Way of Central Alabama to help make these broadcasts possible.

United Way is a “a volunteer-led, nonprofit organization that seeks and addresses key health and human service issues, is accountable for stewardship of resources and is accountable for short-term and long-term results.” United Way of Central Alabama is currently working with agencies like the American Red Cross and the Salvation Army to “be on the frontline of the tornado relief effort” in the South — helping organize both donations and volunteers. As a whole, United Way strives to improve lives by “mobilizing the caring power of communities around the world to advance the common good.” They have set for themselves admirably ambitious goals in improving education, helping people achieve financial stability, and promoting healthy lives.

For those of you who wish to help, whether by donating or volunteering, here is what you can do:

• Visit the United Way of Central Alabama website and donate or sign up to volunteer (please expect occasional down time as servers become overloaded).
• If the above volunteering link is down, visit Serve Alabama — the Alabama Governor’s Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives.
• Go to the United Way blog to see details for mobile giving. For example, you can text SUPPORT to 27722 to give $10 to United Way of Russell and Washington Counties, or text TORNADO to 50555 to give $10 to United Way of Central Alabama.
• Call 211 for information and ways to volunteer.

For more information on the tornadoes, please visit the National Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster (NVOAD).


We offer our deepest sympathies to everyone affected by this disaster, and we thank James Wine for reaching out to us so that we could be a part of the relief effort.
- The CallFire Team

Sometimes we at CallFire speak our own language. Hopefully this article acts as a Rosetta stone for all your calling needs.

Admin/Admin Login – An admin (administrator) is the CallFire account holder. The admin login is where you create and manage all your campaigns, whether they be Voice Broadcast, Cloud Call Center, IVR, buying phone numbers, or SMS.

Agent/Agent Login – An agent is solely for Cloud Call Center campaigns. An agent is a person actively making the outbound calls. You’ll use the agent login to begin dialing on a campaign that was already created by the admin user.

Agent Barge – Agent barge is a quality control measure that allows an admin to barge, or listen in on, calls as they’re being made by the agents.

Agent ID – The agent ID is a number assigned by CallFire each time an agent begins dialing through the Cloud Call Center. Once the agent inputs the correct agent ID, the agent pop-up window with the campaign script will appear, and the system will begin dialing.

Analytics Tag – This advanced IVR function sends a page-view that will be factored in to Google Analytics.

Answering Machine Detection (AMD) – The AMD capability will determine whether the call has been answered by a live person, or by a machine. When AMD is enabled, you can program your campaign to treat live answers and answering machines differently, such as hanging up and moving on the next call or leaving a message.

API – Application Programming Interface. This is coder speak for our software code that allows a developer to integrate other software into CallFire, or to build custom software.

API Key – This is a code that grants a developer access to the CallFire API. You can find your unique API key in your account settings.

Autodialer – The autodialer is what makes the Cloud Call Center so powerful. It does the dialing for you, so there’s no dialing by hand.

Autoresponder/Auto-reply – An autoresponder is a text message that is sent automatically in response to an incoming text.

Call Ratio – This is the ratio of numbers dialed at a time to a single agent. For instance, a 1:1 ratio means that each agent’s autodialer is only dialing one number at a time. A 2:1 ratio means that the autodialer is dialing two numbers at a time, and will connect the agent to the first live answer. A higher calling ratio helps get through a list more efficiently; it decreases time between calls and ups the possibility of connecting to live leads.

Call Transfer – A call transfer is the ability for an agent to forward a call to a supervisor or other party. All he/she has to do is input the 10-digit phone number into the agent interface and the call will be routed accordingly.

CPM – Calls per Minute. This is the rate at which Voice Broadcast calls go out. By default, broadcasts are processed at 50 calls per minute, but this can be adjusted in your campaign dashboard.

CRM – Customer Relationship Management. You can integrate your CallFire campaigns with certain CRM providers, such as SalesForce, using our API.

DID Number – Direct Inward Dial Number. DID Number is basically an industry term for a phone number.

DNC - Do Not Call. There are two different DNC lists: the Federal Do Not Call List, against which you should scrub your list prior to uploading your contacts. Then you also have an internal CallFire DNC list, which allows people you call to unsubscribe from future calls.

DTMF – Dual-Tone Multi-Frequency, also known as touch-tone. DTMF assigns a different touchtone to each key on the telephone keypad, so it can distinguish one keypad input from another.

Get Tag – This IVR command calls any URL or http request from your IVR.

Google Talk Tag - This IVR command will automatically initiate an instant message to your Google account.

Goto Tag – This tells your IVR to go to a certain part of your phone tree. For instance, you might have a sound file that reads, “Press 4 to repeat the options.” Upon pressing 4, the Goto tag would repeat the part of your IVR that you had already programmed.

Goto XML Tag – This advanced IVR command calls the specified URL and executes the returned CallFire XML.

Hangup Tag – The hangup tag tells your IVR to hang up and end the call.

Hosted IVR – A hosted IVR is a phone menu that does not require any hardware or special equipment, such as an on-premises PBX (private branch exchange). It’s hosted because it’s housed in the cloud.

If Tag – This advanced IVR command evaluates a javascript expression and reacts accordingly whether the expression is true or false.

Inbound – A call initiated from someone else, coming in to your line.

IVR - Interactive Voice Response. An IVR is essentially a phone menu, or a phone tree. It’s programmed to react to keypad inputs.

Keyword – For an SMS campaign, a keyword is the word that is texted. For instance, when the Red Cross says, “Text JAPAN to 50555,” JAPAN is the keyword, and 50555 is the short code. Keywords will be available on CallFire SMS campaigns beginning summer 2011.

Key Press – This command tells your IVR what to do once a digit on the telephone keypad is pressed.

Live Answer – A person who answers the phone, as opposed to an answering machine.

Long Code – A 10-digit phone number that can send and receive texts.

MachineSkip - This feature detects answering machines, and filters them out of your Cloud Call Center campaigns. When it detects an answering machine, it will automatically leave a pre-recorded message, so your agent doesn’t have to do a thing. The MachineSkip feature is available on the Standard- and Pro-level campaigns.

Max Transfer Rate – The maximum number of transfers your Voice Broadcast campaign will allow at any given time; when the maximum is reached, the broadcasts will pause until your campaign returns below the maximum.

Outbound – A call initiated by you to one of your contacts.

Passcode – The campaign passcode is the password that the admin assigns to access a Cloud Call Center campaign.

Phonebook – A phonebook is a contact phone list maintained in your CallFire account. Watch this video to learn more about working with phonebooks.

Play Tag – This IVR command plays an assigned sound file or performs text-to-speech.

Press-1 Transfer – During a Voice Broadcast, if a press-1 transfer is enabled, the called person can press 1 and be connected to your business. You can also assign a different keypress to transfer your calls, but the capability is generally referred to as “press-1″ anyway.

Press Menu – This IVR command prompts the caller with several options, for instance, “Press 1 for our address, Press 2 to speak to someone in Sales.” You’ll need at least one “Play” menu to present these options.

Power Dialer – The Power Dialer is what makes CallFire’s Voice Broadcasting capability so powerful. It has the ability to dial thousands of numbers, all at once.

Record Tag – This IVR command records the remainder of the call, or will begin recording with a beep and stop by pressing pound (#). When you record a message using CallFire’s Voice Recording Utility, our IVR is using the Record Tag, in conjunction with the advanced Stash and Get tags. You can see a video demonstration of the Record Tag here.

SAN Number - Subscription Account Number. Telemarketers may need to obtain a SAN from the Federal Trade Commission in order to call consumers legally. Click here to find out how to get a SAN.

SetVar Tag – (Set Variable) This advanced IVR command creates a variable which can be used later.

Short Code – A 5- or 6-digit number that can send and receive texts.

SmartDrop – During a Cloud Call Center campaign, the agent can press the SmartDrop button on the interface, and it will leave a pre-recorded message for the answering machine. The agent does not have to wait for the beep or speak into the voicemail; this allows the agent to move on to the next call.

SMS - Short Message Service. An SMS is a text message.

Stash Tag – This advanced IVR tag stores the varname (variable name) and value in the call details report in your CallFire account. See a video demonstration of the Stash tag here and here.

Subset Campaign - A subset campaign duplicates all the settings of an original campaign, but applies it to just part of a phonebook. For instance, you might want to run a subset campaign to call back the portion of your contact list who did not receive your original message. This video will show you how to set up a subset campaign.

Tag - A tag can refer to an IVR command, such as a play tag or a record tag, but when used by itself, it generally means what’s found on the “My Numbers” page. Tags can be useful to help you keep your phone numbers straight. For instance, if you put one phone number on a magazine ad, and a different phone number on your website, you may want to tag each respective number “magazine” and “website.”

Text-to-Speech (TTS) - The text-to-speech engine allows you to program voice prompts on the fly. For instance, if you wanted your IVR to read an individual’s account number, you would use CallFire’s text-to-speech capability.

Transfer Tag – This IVR command connects the active call to a specified phone number. For instance, a political campaign might use a transfer tag to connect the call to a voter’s congressional office.

Voice Broadcast- Voice Broadcast is a type of CallFire campaign that allows you to send a pre-recorded phone message to your contacts. Learn more about Voice Broadcast here.

VoIP - Voice Over Internet Protocol. VoIP is a kind of technology that allows calls to be connected over the internet. However, CallFire VoIP should not be confused with residential VoIP such as Skype or Vonage; we offer an enterprise-level, redundant, fiber-based platform for better reliability and call quality.

Whisper – A whisper is a short message that will be played before an incoming call is connected. This can help you better serve your incoming calls. For instance, if you have one phone number assigned for real estate properties for sale, and one phone number assigned for people who want to sell their real estate, you can set a whisper that will tell you “This call is regarding properties for sale,” before you greet the caller. You can enable the Whisper feature on your “My Numbers” page in your CallFire account.

White Label Program – CallFire’s White Label Program allows approved vendors to re-sell CallFire products using their own branding. An improved version of the White Label Program will be unveiled in late 2011.

by Kimberly Kohatsu, Director of Marketing

Marketers tend to think of opt-in marketing as a limitation, but I honestly think it’s a benefit. For one, opt-in means you’re communicating with people who say it’s okay for you to communicate with them. That means you’re not annoying them, which will help the success of your campaigns. And perhaps more importantly, opt-in voice broadcasts and text blasts save you money in the end. You’re not paying for calls or texts to people who don’t want them, which is only going to help control costs. So how should you get your opt-in list to grow? Here’s 10 suggestions:

1. Tell your customers what they’ll get if they opt in

Are you planning on sending a monthly discount code? What about exclusive, text-only invites to sales? Give your customers a good reason to opt in, as well as an idea of how frequently you plan to contact them (monthly, weekly, daily, etc). You can also incentivize opt-ins by offering an immediate benefit, such as a discount or free gift.

2. Make sure they know they can always opt out

Sounds a bit counter-intuitive, but customers will be a lot less hesitant to sign up if you reassure them they can push 8 or text STOP at any time to unsubscribe. CallFire will automatically add your unsubscribes to your internal DNC list, making your list easier to manage, and making your customers more comfortable in joining.

3. Use your existing sign-up pages to drive subscriptions

If your customers use any sort of form on your website, include a check box to opt in to your text or marketing campaigns. You might want to put this directly below the field where your customers input their phone number, like in the example below:

4. Create an email marketing campaign

Email your customers and tell them about your great new marketing initiative. Tell them what you plan to send to them via phone calls or texts, and include an opt-in call-to-action such as “click here to subscribe” or “Text SMSFIRE to 88202.”

5. Drive subscriptions with social media

Encourage your Facebook fans, Twitter followers, and LinkedIn contacts to subscribe to your list. Have your whole team share these posts with their contacts, so that their contacts can tell their contacts, and so on.

6. Get their attention with point-of-purchase signage

Got a physical storefront? What better place to reach your existing customers? Make a sign to hang near the register, in the window, or on tabletops. One note of caution, however—don’t simply have a clipboard where people can add their phone numbers, because most carriers won’t accept a paper sign-up as a valid opt-in should you ever face a complaint. Instead, encourage your customers to subscribe with their cell phones, such as “Text SMSFIRE to 88202.”

7. Hold an employee competition for signups

Do your employees spend a lot of time interacting with customers? Run a month-long competition to see who can get the most subscriptions, and offer a great prize to the winner, like a gift certificate or a paid day off.

8. Append an opt-in message to your sales receipts

Include a short message about your voice and text promotions every time the register rings.

9. Design a CallFire IVR to solicit opt-ins from customers who call your business

When customers call your business, add an option to your phone menu to subscribe to your list. Example: “Press 1 to receive discounts via text message, and Press 2 to speak to a representative.” When callers press 1, design your IVR to record the calls and prompt the caller to leave the cell phone number he’d like to subscribe. If you need help doing this, my colleague Ryan can show you how in this video.

10. Keep an online archive for reference

Once you’ve been doing voice or text broadcasts for a while, house some of your past deals somewhere on your website. Then, when prospective subscribers are considering  opting in, they will have a good idea of whether they’d benefit from your company’s messages. Visit “Past Deals” on LivingSocial if you need an example.

If you have your own tips to share, please do so in the comments. And if you have success with any of these suggestions, please share your stories too. Good luck with your marketing campaigns!

by Kimberly Kohatsu

“Wake up and get ready for class.”

If you’re a teenager, you might expect to hear this from your mom or dad. But from your principal?

That’s exactly what happened to 500 chronically tardy students at B.M.C. Durfee High School in Fall River, MA.

The goal is to have 95% of students in class before the first bell rings. Last year, Durfee reached 89% attendance, when the goal was set at 92%. Administrators note that they do not rely solely on the automated calls; some go so far as to knock on doors. “We’re looking to get whatever hooks the students,” Ross Thibault, Durfee’s vice principal, told Boston.com.

Durfee is just one of the many schools employing voice broadcast to combat absenteeism. In New York City, a campaign named “WakeUp!NYC” launched last month, where chronically absent students in 25 schools received automated calls from celebrities including Magic Johnson, Jose Reyes, Big Boi, Terrence J and Rosci, and Trey Songz. “To make it big,” Trey Songz warns, “you gotta go to school and get your education, just like I did. It’s the key to a better future, better job, better money, better life.”

“Through WakeUp! NYC we’re putting on a full-court press, using mass media and digital media to drive home the point that every student should be in school every day,” Mayor Michael Bloomberg said. “It’s the next step in our efforts to cut absenteeism and put more students on the road to success, in school and in life.” Early results from the truancy program showed improvements in many participating schools. Elementary schools registered the largest improvement, with a collective 24% decrease in the number of absences. At Isaac Newton Middle School, the drop was nearly 39%. Among high schools, the High School for Teaching and the Professions in the Bronx showed the highest decline of 9%.

WakeUp!NYC is also including a “good news” component, where students will be congratulated by celebrity partners for strong or improved attendance, because research suggests celebrating improved attendance helps further improve attendance.

“We almost caused a stampede when we played the inspirational ‘stay-in-school’ messages from Trey Songz over the loudspeaker,” Camille Jacobs, assistant principal at Pathways College Preparatory School in Saint Albans, NY, said. “My students thought a celebrity was in the building and ran to the office to see him. It really seemed to make an impression on them!”

If you are interested in implementing a similar program for your school, district, or non-profit group, CallFire is an eager and enthusiastic partner. Our Voice Broadcast product makes it simple to upload a message and pre-schedule it to go out to a list of contacts. Call 877-897-FIRE to get started.

by Kimberly Kohatsu

The protests in the Wisconsin state Capitol are now in their second week, and the political dialogue has gone beyond collective bargaining and the state budget. Now, there are calls for the recall of certain Wisconsin lawmakers.

Two national liberal political groups, the Progressive Change Campaign Committee (PCCC) and Democracy for America (DFA), used CallFire’s Hosted IVR to send automated calls to 50,000 constituents in five Wisconsin state-senate districts.

Aimee Auer, a New London, WI schoolteacher, recorded the message, and it was uploaded into the CallFire interface. The voter interest poll was then programmed using CallFire’s drag-and-drop IVR Designer. Each keypad input is recorded for reporting, and listeners can be connected directly to their state senators office using a call transfer command. Listen to the result below:

Adam Green, co-founder of PCCC, sums up the strategy in three words: “Offense, offense, offense.” Green revealed to MSNBC that initial results of the calls show 59.7% of Republican voters would support recall efforts if the targeted state senators ultimately support Gov. Scott Walker’s bill, S.B.11. Green was able to see these survey results in real-time through CallFire’s campaign dashboard.

Michael Snook, Director of Targeting and Analytics for PCCC, noted, “CallFire made it possible for us to produce and deploy this effective advocacy campaign—quickly, and on budget. With CallFire’s simple, flexible XML environment, we were able to design a campaign that would connect with thousands of Wisconsin voters to voice their support for working families against Republican class warfare, and offer them the opportunity to connect directly with their elected officials.”

For a recall to be successful, petitioners must gather a number of signatures equal to 25% of the general electorate. If enough signatures are gathered, an election is held, and the official must run for his/her job again.

A conservative group, the American Patriot Recall Coalition, is also testing the waters for recall—except they are hoping to recall seven of the 14 Democratic state senators who fled the capitol in protest of Walker’s bill.

There are currently labor disputes in Ohio, New Jersey, Rhode Island, and even the NFL. Any of these political groups could use CallFire’s intuitive platform for voter outreach and education, volunteer phone banking, and text messaging campaigns. Watch CallFire’s CEO, Dinesh Ravishanker, explain how political campaigns have benefitted from using CallFire.

by Kimberly Kohatsu

In my capacity as CallFire’s Director of Marketing, I am trying not only to market CallFire as a brand, but to help our clients, most of whom are small business owners, market themselves.

First, I shared some best practices for opt-in text marketing. This week, I’m sharing tips on how to create an effective voice broadcast campaign. And we should know. Last month alone, CallFire helped businesses send over 10 million voice broadcasts.

This video covers how to script your message, how to time your message, whether you should consider using a professional voice, and most importantly, what to do after your campaign has run. If you are interested in running a subset campaign, watch this video with my colleague Ryan.

I hope you find this video helpful, and I encourage you to share any of the tips and tricks you’ve learned in using Voice Broadcast in the comments below.