What is Shared Use?
Toll free numbers have several unique capabilities that local numbers don’t. And one of the most important of those is the ability to route calls to multiple terminating locations. Calls can be routed to different locations based on almost anything from the time of day, day of the week, location of the caller, or even random or regular distribution. Large organizations often route the call to the nearest or local office or branch of a large organization. And although it’s important to remember that each toll free number can only have one end user, that official end user can arrange for the calls from one area to be routed to one location while calls from other areas go to another location.
This routing capability means an “end user” of a good toll free vanity number can arrange for a specific area to be routed to a particular local end user in that area, which is often called “Shared Use.” There are some difficulties with Shared Use, many of which come from number owners neglecting the licensee’s point of view, but it is clearly a very valuable and appropriate thing to do with a good number that’s geared toward localized services. A caterer in New York, for example, can’t deliver food to a party in Los Angeles. The food gets too cold. There are some issues which have to be considered and shared use isn’t the get rich quick plan that it might appear at first glance. But shared use is definitely an inherently better use of a number than blocking the rest of the country which you can’t service.
There are several issues which need to be considered including territories, advertising types and coverage, trademark issues, domain names and web sites, terms and agreements, customer service and your sales approach. I’ll be addressing several of these issues as we put together a comprehensive system for marketing shared use numbers and then for servicing them as well. Shared use isn’t usually as easy or profitable as it seems at first, but it can be a very viable business with a good number, especially if you have contacts within the industry. But don’t forget, it’s still more profitable to use a good number to build your business than it is to market the number to other people.
We’re getting thousands of visitors per day looking for good toll free vanity numbers. If you have a good number and would like to offer it to other people that are actively looking for something, get in touch with me right away, so we can include you in our database.
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Pet Talk Productions says:
April 14, 2008 at 4:11 pm
I just had one question. How can we forward the number to our radio show on Saturdays and then unforward it back to our main line every other day? Is there an easy way to do it or can we set up some timed way to do it?
thanks
Kathleen
Bill Quimby (203 comments.) says:
April 14, 2008 at 6:39 pm
Katheleen,
The easiest way to do that is probably with one of the enhanced voicemail services. Many of them can schedule ring to number changes like that so it automatically changes. They also give you a web interface that allows you to make changes very quickly and easily. They generally cost slightly more but give you a lot of options, menus and a more professional image that can be a huge benefit.
You could set up a greeting that gives your upcoming event schedule, allows customers to order shirts or mugs etc or to reach the show live during the hours. That could allow you to benefit from the caller during non-show hours too.
Bill