I know the people who say that they do it online personally and it’s like trying to find someone you trust in the porn industry. I was going to say a used car dealer that you can trust, but it’s worse than that because at least in the used car business there are book values and customers are familiar with the business and you can shop around. Imagine if there were no book values for used cars, that you didn’t have a clue what you should pay or how it really worked or how to tell where the cars came from. And then throw in the fact that there really is almost no over sight or authorities paying any attention to it.

I’m not naming names here but I think you can understand why I say that it’s practically impossible to find someone you can trust. Add to this the fact that Hoarding and Brokering 800 Numbers is against FCC regulations which is why there’s no reputable phone company that any type of negotiating or brokering. Unfortunately that does leaves the door open to abuse by some less reputable people.

First of all, Never pay anything up front.

I did this for several years and know 800 number negotiations better than anyone. And getting numbers away from customers or phone companies is ultimately a long shot no matter what you hear when you dial it. That’s why I NEVER charged anything up front. If they know what they’re doing and you don’t know the business, charging up front should make you want to run away as fast as you can. It’s enough of a reason to me, not only not to engage them but not to want to do any type of business with that organization at all.

I’ve written about why it’s hard to know who will sell a number and there’s no whois.

Adding an extra layer usually only makes it harder

Unless you work for Google or such a huge company and brand name that the customer will see big dollar signs and think they hit the jackpot, there’s benefit to using a third party. Putting someone else between you and the customer only distances you from the negotiations. It slows things down and reduces the contact and communication you have about the process. How do you know the negotiator was really pushing as hard as possible for you and honestly negotiating in your best interests?

I tried to make things more open when I was doing end user negotiations by doing three way calls with the client on the phone silently, so they could hear me discussing this with the phone company or end user. If the person you’re dealing with isn’t willing to do this, run away.

Don’t turn the money part over to anyone else

If you have a range that you can pay, how do you know that all the money is going to the end user? Would you know if the ‘negotiator’ got the number from the phone company and just set up a friend as the end user so he gets the negotiation fee AND the whole purchase price too? It’s also amazing how a negotiator seems to always wind up getting the number for the maximum you were willing to pay.

Who’s side are they really on?

The toll free business is an extremely small world. There’s really only a handful of players. That means there’s a good chance your ‘negotiator’ may know the organization that has the number you want. In that case they probably have a longer and better relationship with the seller than they do with you. So who do you think they’re going to care more about, the one time buyer or someone else they’ve known and done deals with before and will probably do more down the road with.

Don’t trust anyone that has large amounts of numbers for RENT

Having a few numbers and actually building a business around a vanity number is fine, but most of the websites promoting shared use are clearly not out to help the customer. (Yes, that’s definitely the understatement of the year!) I’ve written several articles about that, but shared use is clearly the dark side of a shadowy industry. http://www.tollfreenumbers.com/blogs/the-dark-side-of-shared-use.html

Use a couple specialists if you need it

If you need help, use a specialist for the parts you need. There are people that do a good job at pieces of this and can make it easier. I’ve gone through almost a dozen different private investigators to find someone that both does a good job reliably and timely. I offer a Private Investigator service to track down the customer name and address, although I don’t promote it that much because it takes some work and often requires a lot of communication. It doesn’t guarantee that you can reach anyone or even find them any more, but it gets you the information.

If you need help transferring the number, either knowing how to do it or as a backup to make sure it goes through properly, we can help you with that. We don’t usually take over and process it all for you, because again it’s not that hard and you can usually do it yourself. But we know the phone company processes and can answer questions or be a backup to step in and help you if you need it.

Using outside people for specific pieces allows you to get help where you need it without giving someone else. It may sound easier to just have someone go do it for you, but I don’t care how busy you are, if this is important to your business, don’t outsource the whole thing to someone you wouldn’t trust your whole business with.

Find someone you Trust first or do it yourself.

The bottom line is that you’re usually much better off going with someone you trust that will work hard for YOU, than you are trying to get someone else from the phone number business to negotiate for you. If you need help getting to the end user information use a private investigator you can trust. Then contact them yourself.

Negotiating for a toll free number isn’t really any different than negotiating for anything else in business. If you have or are starting a business, you’re negotiating with vendors, landlords, domain names, lawyers, zoning boards etc. Many of those things are actually much more difficult. It’s actually harder to find someone you can trust or to know who to trust, in this business than it is to negotiate for a number.

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