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Singer Electronics 254 Gunnell Rd Grants Pass, OR 97526 USA Phone: 541-981-4332 |
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Features for the Communicator I
telemarketing system
telemarketing system
- 2-line system. Communicator I is a 2-line out-bound/in-bound message delivery system. It automatically makes telephone calls at a preset time and can deliver the same message on 2 phone lines. Or you deliver a specific message to a specific phone number at a specific time. Or you can use one line for outbound calls and the second line for inbound, or even both lines for inbound calls. Communicator I is a totally digital system--no tape drives are used for storing or delivering voice messages.
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- Multi-message Capability. In-bound or out-bound it can deliver up to 60 separate messages to your clients, prospects or contacts. In the out-bound mode you may select which message you want delivered to any number or set of numbers stored in memory.
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- Program Dialing. This Mode is used when you want to program or enter specific numbers by hand or download files of numbers from a host computer into Communicator I 's memory for it to dial. The basic system holds 10,000 individual phone numbers.
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- Memory Retention. Example: 1-503-782-4731. You are able to store in memory, 1-503-782-47 and thus manually enter the last two numbers only. Or you can store 1-503-782- and then only enter the last four digits. Or enter 782- and again, only the last four digits. This makes it much faster to enter a long list of phone numbers with the same area code or prefix.
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- Duplicate number alert. If you accidentally enter a duplicate phone number it will beep you to alert you of your mistake and let you decide if you want to duplicate that number in memory or not.
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- Search and Edit. Once you've created a file of numbers you can upload them into a host computer for storage or editing. But if your numbers are still in the Communicator I memory you may locate a specific phone number to edit it or delete it. You can also quickly scroll to the front or back of your number file.
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- Interval Dialing. In Interval Dialing you can set the machine to begin dialing for example at 668-0000 and to stop dialing at 668-9999. We call it interval dialing because dialing number after number, as 668-0000, 668-0001, 668-0002 and so on, is illegal. To get around this ruling we use intervals of 10, where we jump by 10, as 668-0000, 668-0010, 668-0020 and so on. All the numbers in that prefix are still covered even though the system jumps by 10. Communicator I stores 50 prefixes or 500,000 phone numbers in memory which it can dial uninterrupted, except for the time you want it to stop working.
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- Jump by 200. In some instance when you're dialing a 10,000 number prefix you'll run into hospitals, business conglomerates or government offices that have 500 or more phone numbers. To avoid irritating the public, you also have the ability to make the system jump by 200 every time it makes a call and thus not make contact with that business as often. It will still cover every number in that prefix though.
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- Dial Up To and After. Let's say that in a prefix, a block of 1,000 phone numbers, from 668-4000 to 668-5000 is taken up by a hospital. If you're aware of that, and in order to not disturb critically ill patients who would get your call in their rooms, set your machine to call from 668-0000 to 668-3999, then 668-5000 to 668-9999. Then your machine will not dial any of that hospital's numbers.
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- Don't Call Numbers. You may not want your system to call certain numbers in a prefix, as the police department, emergency services, fire department, irate people who have previously asked not to be called again, phone numbers of previous leads, phone numbers in a phone book with a dot beside them which let's you know that it is against the law to call them with a commercial solicitation, etc. What you can do is create a file of numbers which are labeled "don't call numbers" and as the system goes through the prefix and it encounters that particular number, it will simply skip over it and go on to the next number. Your system will hold 50 prefixes. Of the 10,000 numbers in a prefix, 9,999 can be "don't call numbers." When you have a short block of numbers you don't want the system to call, start with a beginning number, as 668-2000. Press Enter and the system accepts that number into memory, and it will not dial it during its routine calling efforts. Then press + and 668-2001 appears on the screen. Press Enter, then + and Enter and the numbers keep increasing until you're finished with that block of numbers.
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- Interval-Program Dialing. You can record 2 messages into memory. It is then able to make telephone calls in Interval Dialing for one time period, in one day, and deliver the first message in memory, and Program Dialing for another time period, the same day, and deliver the second message. Let's say that you want your system to make calls from 9:00 AM to 8:00 PM in Interval Dialing, on both lines, to locate new prospects for your business. Then at 8:00 PM it can start to call phone numbers you've entered into memory in Program Dialing with a relevant message to existing customers, as "Thanks for your business", "Happy Birthday", "Merry Christmas", "Your policy is about to expire", "Please call me about an important matter", "I have something that may interest you", "When would you like us to ship", etc.
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- Lead and time. When you listen to the leads and see the phone number of the lead on the screen, the time and the day the lead was recorded is also shown. This feature will save you endless hours of frustration when you're trying to make contact with the person who left their name. If they're home at 3:00 PM (the time they left the lead on Communicator I) they'll probably be home at 3:00 PM the next day when you make your follow-up call.
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- Remote Retrieval. You may call your system and retrieve your leads from another phone. The names and addresses and other responses of the leads are played back. In addition, the time the lead was recorded and the phone number of the lead is audibly given to you. You can easily stop the system from playing the next lead by the push of a button on your phone, in order to have time to write down that lead. Or you can have it repeat a lead, or go backwards or forwards, and finally you can erase all the leads once you're confident you've written down all the information correctly.
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- Safeguard Override. Most States only allow you to make calls from 9:00 AM till 9:00 PM. Therefore a safeguard is built in which won't let the system call after or before those hours. However, an override is included, so that you could actually make calls 24 hours per day. You can use this feature when you need to get in touch with business contacts after hours, or when calling long distance to different time zones. You decide when you want your important messages to be delivered.
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- Consent calling. In certain States a ruling exists that
says that you have to ask permission of the called party to play them
a commercial message. After the called party answers the machine might
say "Hello, I have a short message on how you could save up to 30% on
your car insurance. If you would like to hear this message, kindly press
#1 on your touchtone phone." If they say nothing, or if they don't press
#1 within 5 seconds, or if they Hang up, Communicator I disconnects immediately
and makes the next call.
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- Screen call status. As the system is making its dialing
calls, the 2-line screen will tell you the status of each call. When it
makes a call it will show the number it's calling. Once it senses an answer
it will either show "talking", while it's delivering a message, or other
responses to the call, as "modem", "fax", "answering machine", "business",
"operator"--which indicates that it reached either an operator intercept
or tape recording telling it that that phone number is not in service.
If it reached a human who said "hello" and then delivered its message
and the called party wants to talk to a human attendant, "waiting" shows
on the screen to indicate to the human attendant to grab the line and
"close" the sale. Music plays during this "waiting" time. Finally, the
result of that call, as "busy","no answer", "Hang up", or "lead" flashes
on the screen, briefly, before it dials the next number. You'll discover
what speed and efficiency is all about when you watch this system work.
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- Hello Chip, Business Chip. The "hello chip" allows the system to deliver its message to people who only say "hello." If you use the "hello chip" it will only deliver its message to homeowners and will, in most cases, disconnect on businesses, answering machines, modems, fax machines, operator intercepts, and numbers not in service recordings. If you use the "business chip" for calling it will deliver its message to "hello" and to businesses, but hang up on all the other responses on the phone line.
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- Adjust response time. People in the South talk slower than those in New York. You have the ability to adjust the "set" time for the "hello" and "business chip". Adjustments can be made in 1/10th second increments so the system can be fine-tuned to your particular calling area.
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- Number Files. After your system completes a call it puts
that number into different categories or files, depending on the result
of the call. Thus after it completes a day's dialing it will have files
or groups of numbers of a. numbers that were busy, b. no answer, c. numbers
not in service with a 3-tone signal or "You have reached a number not
in service" recording, d. modems, e. fax machines, f. answering machines,
g. those that listened to the message but didn't respond to any questions,
h. leads, i. hang ups, and j. business numbers. You can separate the different
files of numbers and decide which ones you want to keep to re-dial right
away or upload into a host computer for re-dialing in the future, or which
sets of numbers to erase from memory. You can have any of these files
printed out for a visual record. When you want to call that same prefix
again you can download the files you've selected into Communicator I's
active memory. If you want a "clean" file to redial you can leave off
the numbers of the leads from the previous session or any other category.
The system can also make phone calls and not deliver a message but, instead,
quickly hang up on whoever or whatever answered the phone. It will know
who or what answered the phone. This is valuable for companies that want
to find lists of phone numbers in different categories, as business numbers,
homeowners, faxes, modems, answering machines, etc. All number files must
be uploaded to the floppy drive or used as desired before 9:00 AM the
following day. At 9:00 AM the files are automatically erased from the
day’s dialing of two days before and all files from the day before are
written to the floppy.
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- Statistics. The system provides statistics or a compilation of the results of the calls for each category, as listed in #19, above. That is, how many numbers were busy, how many no answers, etc. In addition, the system can, on command, print out the amount of people who hung up after each second of the outgoing message. This way you'll know how many people hung up on the message after 2 seconds, how many after 3 seconds, how many after 4 seconds, all the way up to 60 seconds. If you see that 75% of your prospects hung up after the 11th second, then it's high time to change the wording of your message.
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- Starting and stopping time sessions. You can set three "start and stop" dialing time periods for each day of the week. Once you've made your selection, the system will start and stop dialing according to your settings until it runs out of numbers. You can also tell it not to dial on certain days or certain hours of any day.
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- Pre-dialing. In a prefix of 10,000 phone numbers there are usually thousands of "bad" numbers, that is, numbers not in service, operator intercepts, modems and faxes. To abide by most State regulations you must run your system only 12 hours per day, or from 9:00 AM to 9:00 PM. But in a new prefix there may only be 2,000 good, working numbers, and so your system may spend most of the day simply making calls to non-working numbers. You, of course, want it to deliver its message to homeowners and to reach as many prospective buyers as possible. To overcome the drawback of wading through lots of non-working numbers you can use pre-dialing. Program your machine to make pre-dialing calls 1 or 2 hours before the start of the regular dialing session and possibly 1 or 2 hours afterwards. Or you can select lots of hours on the weekend, on Saturday or Sunday, to do your pre-dialing. In pre-dialing the system makes a call and will allow the phone to ring, at the most, for 1 ring. If it has reached a "bad" number, (non-working phone number, a fax or a modem) it puts those numbers in the "bad" number file, and when the start of your regular dialing session arrives, it dials only good, working numbers. Using pre-dialing your system can probably be twice as productive. However, we as a company, do not make any claims as to the legality or wisdom of using pre-dialing. This feature is included. You, our customer, must decide if it is in your best interest to use it.
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- Polling feature. Press 0 for yes, 1 for no. A total of 5 questions can have yes/no responses as, 2 for yes, 3 for no, 4 for yes, 5 for no, 6 for yes, 7 for no, 8 for yes, 9 for no. The printer can print out the phone number and the results after each call. These statistics are automatically compiled for you at the end of the day's dialing session. You can also give the called party multiple choice questions. "On a scale of 1 to 9, 1 being very poor and 9 being very good, how would you rate Representative Young's performance?" You can even ask the called party all the polling questions, which the system tabulates, and then at the end of the questions ask for their name, which it records, and ties to the responses. Political or market polling can be done very efficiently and cost effectively.
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- Printer. Communicator I has a very fast and efficient, built-in printer. It will, at the end of the day, automatically print out the phone number of the leads, the time of day of the lead, the last number it dialed at the end of the day and a tabulation of the statistics as mentioned in #20. It can also print out all the other settings you've entered into memory and if you desire it will print out the phone number, the result of the call, and the time of day of the call, after every call it makes. You can also tell it not to print anything at all if you don't need a hard copy of the day's dialing activities.
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- Call transfer. If it makes a call and gets a "hot" one who wants to talk to a human attendant about the offer, Communicator I can immediately call you at another number and connect you with the interested party on the other line. Music plays while they're waiting for the call transfer. Once you've "closed" the called party, simply press 0 and the machine disconnects and makes the next call. The second phone line is used to make the transfer call.
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- Click detect. This feature makes it possible for the system to detect when the called party hangs up. In our testing it worked close to 100% of the time. A federal law requires that all dialers be able to hang up within 5 seconds after the called party hangs up.
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- Hang up detect. In case the click detect is ever disabled,
the system will still hang up by another, innovative method.
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- Screen. Communicator I has a 16 character by 2 line, full alphabet and numerical screen, which clearly details instructions and programming choices. Everything is menu driven. You make your choices from selections shown on the screen.
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- Battery Backup. If your power goes out, a fully charged built-in battery will store and retain all the voice, that is the outgoing messages and the incoming responses, or leads for over 3 days. Another battery backs up the entire programming, phone numbers and times to call, etc., for up to 2 years. The lead acid battery for the voice is sealed and leak-proof. If this battery ever leaks and causes damage to your unit, we will either replace your unit or repair it free of charge.
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- Busy re-dial. If your system reaches a busy number it will attempt to call again every 15 minutes. You also have a choice to have it re-dial that number up to 9 times or not have it re-dial at all.
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- Answering Machine. You can choose to have the system pause from 1 to 99 seconds in between making outgoing calls, to receive incoming calls. In other words, your system can also be used as a sophisticated answering machine. You can ask up to 5 questions, as "who's calling, the phone number of the calling party, purpose of this call, best time to call them back, etc."
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- Access Code. When calling your system to get your leads or other vital messages, you must first enter your personally selected security code. Your code can be up to 16 digits long and you may change your code at any time.
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- Answer Ring 1/3/5/Don't Answer. When someone calls the system it can answer the phone on the first ring, the third ring, the fifth ring or if you select "Don't Answer" it will not answer the phone when someone calls the number it’s hooked up to.
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- Number Redialing. You can choose to let Communicator I re-dial the busy and no answer phone numbers for a certain portion of the dialing period. Your system defaults (is set to) re-dial during the last 10% of the dialing period, whether that period is 2 hours long or 12 hours--from 9:00 AM to 9:00 PM. You can have 3 dialing time periods as explained in #21 and you can set the system to re-dial from 0% to 100% of the time of a time period. During the first two periods you may want it simply to dial number after number. For that you'd set the re-dial time to 0% for both time periods. If you want the third time period to be used for re-dialing you'd set it to 100%. Then it would spend all of that time period in only re-dialing the busy and no answer numbers from the previous two time periods. If you have only one dialing period per day you may have it re-dial during the last 15% of that time period, or whatever percentage of that time period you choose. Communicator I gives you an incredibly vast array of programming possibilities, which allow you to fine tune your system for maximum efficiency.
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- Rental Protection. You may want to rent time on your system to other businesses, political parties, etc. We offer built-in protection, so that the system will not operate, except for the time period you specify--day, week, month, etc. This way if they don't make their payment on time, the machine shuts off and never runs again, unless you call it and program it, over the phone, to run for the next time period.
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- Phone Line Adjustment. If necessary, you can easily adjust the line sensitivity to compensate for noisy, staticky phone lines.
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- Volume Control. Volume is controlled by keyboard keys. You can monitor the outgoing message and the incoming responses on line 1 or line 2 or both lines at the same time. Turn the volume control off and your system runs completely silently. Through the speaker you can listen to your leads and monitor the system as it's making its solicitation or message delivery calls or as it's receiving calls.
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- Power supply. The power supply is UL and CSA approved. Your system will run safely for many years to come. You can leave your system on all the time. It uses only about 10 cents of electricity per month.
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- Lead recording. Only leads are recorded. You do not have to listen to the entire message when playing your leads back.
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- 1 Second Delay. When using some long distance services you need to first dial a local access number, then your security code, then the area code and number you want to call. In between each of these number segments you may need to have a 3 to 5 second delay. So every time you press the - (minus) key you put a 1 second delay in between the digits of your phone number. This is also useful when you have to first dial 9 to get an outside line, then the number.
- Escape key. No matter what the machine is doing, you can press the Esc key and it will go to the clock--the present time of day and day of the month. Then you can make it perform any other function you desire.
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- 1 or 2 or 3 no answer. If you select 1 and there is no response to the first question of your outgoing message, the system hangs up and dials the next number. If you select 2 it hangs up if there is no response after 2 questions. The same for 3. This is in case the other two Hang up detects have been disabled.
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- Rotary or touchtone dialing. Your system can dial in rotary pulse or you select different touchtone dialing speeds.
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- Set the clock. Press #1 on your system and you'll be able to change the time of day, day of the week, day of the month, or month, shown on the screen. The time of day is shown in military time--24 hour clock.
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- Recording and Editing your Messages. You can record your own outgoing or incoming message by using a microphone or you can download a professionally recorded message from a tape recorder or you can download a message into digital memory through the floppy drive. It is highly recommended that, for optimum results, you use our professionally recorded messages. These messages come to you recorded on a cassette tape or on a floppy. We recommend that you let us record your message and deliver it to you on a floppy diskette. That way the volume settings are all correct and the machine will function optimally.
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- Editing features. To make your outgoing message sound as natural and life-like as possible some exclusive editing functions have been added, so you can again, fine-tune your system for optimum results. Ask your sales rep for an explanation of these unique features and how they can benefit you.
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- Record Response. You can choose to record or not to record any response from the called party.
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- Beep Tone. After a question you can prompt the called party to start talking by a beep tone. But if you choose, you can eliminate the beep tone, and make the message sound as life-like and natural as possible.
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- Number Transfer and Verify. If you've entered numbers into the memory of the Communicator I you can transfer those numbers to a floppy diskette or host computer for storage and later re-dialing. Once you've transferred numbers to the floppy or host computer you can verify to see if your numbers transferred cleanly.
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- Download Numbers. You can download numbers which are stored on a floppy diskette or in a host computer, into the system's memory, and then have the system dial those numbers at any time.
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- Ringing time. When the system makes a call it can let the line ring for 15 seconds or more. You can increase this ringing time by 5 second increments, all the way up to 2 minutes.
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- Impress the called party. Someone calls. They hear, "Smith Investments, may I help you?" "Yes, is Mr. Smith there?" "I'm sorry but Mr. Smith is on his way to the airport. One moment please, I'll see if I can reach him on his car phone." After some beeping and buzzing, the woman "secretary" says, "I'm sorry, I'm unable to reach him on his car phone. Would you like me to have him call you as soon as I can reach him?" "Alright, please give me your name again." "What's the phone number where he can reach you?" "And a good time to get back to you." "Any other message for him?" "Thanks for calling and I'll make sure he gets your message right away." No beep tones are used to prompt the called party to make it sound as natural as possible.
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- Large battery. The large battery can hold the outgoing messages and incoming responses in memory for over 3 days. That means that we could program the entire machine for you including the outgoing or incoming messages. We'd ship the system to you UPS Second Day Air. You would receive it, plug it in, and it would start dialing and run for a year or longer. All you'd have to do is take off your leads, set the appointments and go make money. If you don't like spending time learning all about the intricacies of this system, then let us do the work for you.
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- Dialing pause to get leads. You can command the system to stop dialing and making outbound calls, for 2 minutes, every hour, so you have a chance to call it and get your leads or messages.
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- Out of numbers call. If the system runs out of numbers you can have it call you at another phone number to let you know that it needs some "attention."
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- Sophisticated Answering Machine. Your system can make outbound calls on one line and receive inbound calls on the other line. One line gives brief information (outbound calls), the other line (inbound) can enlarge on the offer. Or while you're out selling to a lead, the second line can take care of business for you at the office. It can ask the caller up to 7 qualifying or pertinent questions.
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- Programmable by Remote Phone. From a remote phone you can record a message, tell it what block of numbers to call and set the time sessions to make those calls. Or better yet, you can have our audio producer call the system, professionally record the message and make all the other settings, right over the phone. You do the selling--we operate the machine. What a team!
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- Hello, Business, Answering Machine—ABC feature. If you enable this feature it stores 3 separate, distinct messages in memory. When it makes a call and a homeowner answers the phone who says "hello" it automatically delivers the A message tailored for a homeowner. If it reaches a business it automatically delivers the B message which is tailored for a business. If it reaches an answering machine it delivers the C message specially worded for an answering machine.
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- ABX Feature. Using this feature the system holds the A (for "hello") and B (for business) messages in memory. When it reaches an answering machine during its day’s dialing it stores that number for redialing in the evening, when most homeowners are home and have shut off their answering machine. Then it delivers the A message.
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- Silent Mode. If you want to "stand by" the system and immediately "close" the sale if it has located an interested party, then set it on "Silent Mode." This way it will run completely silently until the machine has signaled you that the called party has indicated an interest in talking to someone about the offer. The called party indicates their interest by pressing 0 on their touchtone phone. Music plays to keep the called party on the line and also over Communicator I's speaker to alert anyone "standing by" to grab the line and close the sale.
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- Permission Mode. It makes a call. Someone says "hello." The system says, "This is the operator, one moment please." Then the line is silent for a bit. A little bit later it says, "Please keep holding." Then "This is the operator, please keep holding." Then, "Please hold the line while I connect you." By this time a human attendant should have had time to grab the line and ask permission to play a recorded message. The attendant might say, "Hello, I have an important message from Congressman Filibuster, may I play this message for you?" Or "Hello, may I play a message for you on saving money on your company's printing needs? This message, with a very special offer, is from the President of Galley Printing." If the called party gives the okay, the operator activates the recorded message. As soon as the original "hello" was recognized by Communicator I a beeper would go off alerting the human attendant to the call. This way one operator can man from 2 to 4 lines, or a secretary could be doing many other things and still "run" the machine. If, after hearing the recorded message, the called party is interested in the offer or wants more information, they simply stay on the line. Music plays to the called party, and over Communicator I's speaker, which alerts the attendant to get on the line and "close" them. Once the human attendant is finished, the system immediately dials the next number. Almost twice as many calls can be made by the use of this innovative feature than by humans who dial and make telephone solicitation calls. You'll possibly get more leads and those leads will be more qualified than if you did straight random dialing AND no dialer laws can restrict you if you use this dialing method.
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- Branching. Communicator I can make an outgoing call, make an opening statement and then allow the called party to choose which message they want to hear. "Press 1 on your touchtone phone for a message about life insurance. Press 2 for a message about car insurance. Press 3 for a message about home insurance. Press 4 for a message about health insurance." If the called party listens to one of these messages, he can then choose from another menu for additional information. "Press 1 for an explanation of the different life insurance plans available." Then another menu is given for greater detail yet. Finally the name of the interested party is recorded.
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- RS232 Port. You can download or upload phone numbers from or to a host computer. But what's even simpler is to download them from a floppy diskette.
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- Baud Rates. The system has baud rates from 110 baud to 2 mg baud to work with any host computer in downloading or uploading information.
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- Reads text. It’s able to pick out phone numbers from lines of text which are being downloaded from a host computer.
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- Sorts numbers. Can sort phone numbers in numerical order for printing out or storage and not in the random way they were entered.
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- Statistics to printer. At the end of a dialing session it can upload the statistics to a host computer which can print out those statistics for a permanent record. This includes information on what phone numbers received the message, numbers busy, no answers, disconnected numbers, etc.
Top - Escape key. No matter what the machine is doing, you can press the Esc key and it will go to the clock--the present time of day and day of the month. Then you can make it perform any other function you desire.