Sellsius did an excelent post this morning on GrandCentral. GrandCentral gives you one phone number that rings to all of your phones and provides all of your voicemail messages in one inbox. Incoming calls are free and unlimited.
It's feature packed, that's a fact.
I'm not going to rehash the Sellsius post, so do yourself a favor and click the links to check it out for yourself. What I AM going to do is demonstrate two of the features. The first you can see illustrated below my photo to the right. The "Call Me!" button is a free WebCall button, similar to the one offered by RealPing, only I think the extra options make it more valuable by a long shot.
One of those features that make it more valuable is the ability to record any call that has come into you by simply pressing the "4" key on your phone.
I had Julie Ferenzi call me to discuss her Plainfield Real Estate Blog, and I recorded the part of our conversation around GrandCentral's call recording feature. I just hit the number "4" on the telephone keypad and then hit it again when I wanted to stop recording. It not only records the call to an mp3 file that can be accessed from their control panel, it generates the embed code for the player you see here. Voila! instant podcasting feature.
I used it all day today, linking all of my phone numbers to my single GrancCentral number. Now, when you call me, it tries all of my phones at once. It's brilliant. So, if you call me and I don't answer, I'm either really busy, or I REALLY don't want to talk to you. :)
Jeff Turner aka respres
It's the QuickRule box located in the top right corner of the account main page. Click on that button and a control panel slides down from the top of the browser. It allows you to send all phone calls to voicemail or set a temporary forwarding number. Nice.
Jeff,
Thanks for the post. Is there really ever a time when you don't want to talk? LOL! Thanks for another gem!
Maggie,
Jeff has that unassuming demeanor that gets under the skin and causes you to do things you otherwise wouldn't or maybe its in his eyes! Where's TLW when you need her?
William, you're actually quite funny. Let's see if we can get TLW in on this. Thanks for being a sport.
Sorry for derailing your post Jeff!
Sweet dude. I use a similar service that is paid ($10/month). I like this one also so i signed up and grabbed a number. will use for some different marketing. thanks! :)
William, we missed each other when I was in NJ last week!
Maggie, you don't need TLW to hijack one of my posts... you're doing fine all by yourself. She'd be proud! :)
Rochell, I would never record someone without their knowing it. OK, maybe that's not true. I would never record someone without their knowing it and then use it to blackmail them... OK, well maybe that's not true either. :)
Nick, sometimes free is not better than paid, but in this case free is pretty darn good! What is the name of the service you are paying for?
Alll... I just found this on their website:
"GrandCentral is commited to helping those in need stay connected by offering individuals a local phone number and voicemail box for life. Through our Project CARE initiative, GrandCentral is providing, free of charge, a local phone number and voicemail box to members of the homeless community in San Francisco. We hope to extend this program nationwide as we build out our services."
Listen To Some Stories Here
Combine a great product with a great way to use the product to help others and you have my attention!
Hi Jeff. in this case, I would say the free is doing just fine. They each have some features that the other service doesn't, i think. I record all calls through that line, and everyone is notified of that when they call. Its sure does cut down on the telemarketers :) the service doubles as a Fax also. its via Phoneboxetc.com, but i dont think they have the ability for all the states. This GrandCentral is a good one. I may convert entirely over eventually.
I love all these things you are pointing out. I went to look at this one and (as with all things) people think that Boise is the only city in Idaho. Bummer. Since we are 8 hours north of Boise in a much more beautiful city ;), I'm out of luck at the moment.
I have it bookmarked though - thanks!
Hi Jeff,
It sounds great. It would work out well for me because I do not get cell phone service at my home and therefore, cannot even forward my cell to my home number, but... Grandcentral does not service my town.
I emailed them; maybe they'll add us.
Fran
Too bad they don't have my area code. Ironic, that they have my son's rural area code but not our metro one. I've passed the information on for him to sign up. Thanks for the research and testing.
I love your title for this post! I am working on trying to create "read-generating" titles like that. It definitely made me click and read!
Thanks for the post.
You are a man with a wealth of knowledge. I am not trying to "fluff" you but, being still a semi-newbie, I feel very lucky to have you as a member and contributor here on this format.
Thanks again for the information.
this is awesome Jeff.
in less then 60 seconds, I signed up, and have a "click to call" button on one of my Zionsville and Anson Real Estate blogs.
I need to see if I can make the "call" button smaller, it doesn't work well with my formatting...
this sounds like a great option for the Jeff Belonger Hot Seat or any other interview process
as an mp3, can you download it? so I could put it on my iPod or listen to it on my iPaq?
Julie Ferenzi has a good "radio" voice
btw... The Goal is a great book... I did a post on it. Very approachable as it reads like fiction
Jeff,
Are you still using this service? How has it continued to work for you? If you could let me know before I sign up for it I would apprecate it.
Thanks