What to do when you get Clunkers calling you.
800 numbers aren’t just the default name for toll free numbers, they are the default area code that people think of and sometimes dial when they go to dial any toll free area code. Callers don’t usually see 800-CLUNKERS and dial 877-CLUNKERS by mistake, but it turns out hundreds of callers per day are seeing and trying to dial 877-CLUNKERS and reaching an Illinois florist that just happens to have the 800 equivalent.
There are a couple things that the florist or any business can do. The coverage area of toll free numbers can be changed to minimize wrong numbers so one solution would be to block calls from outside their area or any area that they don’t get calls from. Perhaps better in this case since a florist could probably get delivery calls from almost anywhere would be to switch their service to the type of enhanced voicemail service that plays a greeting with the name of the company and a menu saying “to order a floral delivery press one, to check on the status of a floral delivery press two, to reach anyone at The Flower Corner in Clinton, Illinois, press three or to trade your clunker for flowers press four.”
Then they could have option four go to a recording saying that you’ll be happy to trade their clunkers for a bouquet of flowers. If they want to drop off their clunker, just deliver it to 1160 Route 54 in Clinton, Illinois. But if you want to reach someone about the Cash for Clunkers program they will have to dial 877-CLUNKERS, or leave a message after the tone and we’ll just ignore your message unless we’re really bored.
That would prevent most of the wrong numbers from bothering anyone in the flower shop, while injecting a little humor and perhaps generating at least enough more publicity to cover the couple bucks a day it costs them for the toll free calls. It’s hard for a florist or any business like that to change their toll free number on short notice even if they wanted to, because it’s in so much advertising and printed on so many things. But the portability of toll free numbers does at least give them the ability to change how it’s set up to fit the situation and hopefully minimize the disruption. There is a whole directory of enhanced voicemail services that most of which do this type of greeting and menu system very easily at http://www.TollFreeNumbers.com/providers.
Unfortunately the Cash for Clunkers program doesn’t have much commercial benefit and isn’t worth much in terms of the leads that are generated. Wrong numbers can be a pain sometimes, but with some creativity they can even be turned into a positive in some cases. Many other situations could be monetized even better than this but at least this way the damage would be minimized. There are actually whole businesses based on wrong numbers that essentially use the wrong numbers to create free advertising opportunities. And a feature in our toll free lookup tool at TollFreeNumbers.com can even help find misdial numbers. You might not want this type of “Clunker” calling you but would you like to find misdial numbers for your competitor’s number?
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