Hi. I’m Paul Champaneria.

In 1990, I was just 16 years old, a little wet around the ears, and chomping at the bit to have my own successful business.

I was working for a network marketing company at the time, and was looking for a way to leverage my marketing so that I wouldn't have to spend endless hours on the phone with my prospects and distributors.

That's when I discovered 24-hour recorded message hotlines.

And what a revelation!

By utilizing this great marketing tool and taking advantage of its incredible leveraging power, I was able to at least quadruple my productivity and have a LOT more time to do all the things one needs to do to make money in the direct sales business…

…and in the process I was able to build a huge distributor team that not only got great results, but also showcased me as one of the top distributors in the whole company.

This was all done in a relatively short time, at the “ripe old age” of 16 years.

And it was only the beginning.

You see, I became so impressed with what 24/7 recorded message hotlines had done for my direct sales business that I realized ANY business could benefit from them.

That’s when I decided to start my own company – a company built entirely around getting this amazing marketing tool into the hands of as many small business owners and sales professionals as possible.

And with a flat-rate, unlimited-minutes package price that anyone can afford.

I'm glad you asked.

24/7 recorded message hotlines are a type of voice-mail system that allows you to record messages that your prospects can listen to 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year.

Your prospects simply call your hotline number and receive your message(s).

After your prospects have listened to your message, they normally have the option to either leave a message for you (with their contact info) or be connected/forwarded to a live person.

Using a 24/7 recorded message hotline lets you educate your prospects in an automated, robotic way about why they should do business with you.

The quickest way to put 24/7 recorded message hotlines to work for your business is to use a simple 2- or 3-line ad that offers important and useful information and then closes with your recorded message hotline number.

Here’s an example of how it might work for Bob, who owns a home contracting business.

Bob runs an ad in which he states:

A 24/7 recorded message hotline enables you to reach out to your prospects, customers and clients around the clock in a non-threatening and credible way.

Many people are hesitant to call and speak to a live person for fear of getting a pushy salesperson on the other end with a high-pressure sales pitch. But with a recorded message you allay those fears, since a recorded message is not threatening.

At the same time, you increase your business's credibility, since a recorded message is accessible to everyone.

Studies show that a publicly accessible recorded message is perceived by callers to be much more believable and credible than a live salesperson delivering a pitch.

In addition, using 24/7 recorded message hotlines saves you huge amounts of time, since the system sifts, sorts and screens out prospects who do not have a high level of interest. Because of this built-in screening process, you are assured of getting pre-qualified, warm prospects rather than time-wasting "tire kickers" who are merely window shopping.

Moreover, 24/7 recorded message hotlines are a surefire way to recession-proof your business by branding yourself as an information provider. When you position yourself in this way, you not only differentiate yourself from your competitors and get out of the rut of doing the same old thing everybody else is doing, but you also build rapport and trust.

As Dan Kennedy mentions in his book No B.S. Business Success:

"Offering additional information to prospective customers via a free recorded message compared with requiring prospects to call a regular business number and talk with a live salesperson almost always boosts response. At the same time, the recorded message lets you, the marketer, run ads, send out mailings, and handle all the initial response without any significant staff requirements and without having to take calls personally."

And this great marketing tool is perfectly suited for use by small business owners and independent professionals from every walk of life, including, but certainly not limited to, Retailers, Carpet Cleaners, Plumbers, Carpenters, Home Contractors, Chiropractors, Lawyers, Dentists, Musicians, Artists, Information Marketers, Consultants, Politicians and even Clergy. The list goes on.

Actually, I have yet to see a business that wouldn’t or couldn’t benefit from using 24-hour recorded message hotlines!

In order to get the most out of 24/7 recorded message hotlines, you need to apply proven direct marketing strategies and tactics. Here are 10 insider tips that I have found to be extremely helpful and which are based on my own nearly 20 years’ experience with this great tool:

1) Long messages can work well

Many people believe that recorded messages must be short, but this is a myth. Long messages work amazingly well, provided they are not boring. As long as you have interesting information to share, people will listen to it, even if it takes several minutes. It’s extremely important to test and adjust. A good 24/7 recorded message hotline system lets you review your call reports to find out what percentage of your callers are leaving a message or connecting directly to you. By using these reports, you’ll be able to quickly tell if people are hanging up mid-message and whether or not you should change or edit it.

2) No need to ask for your caller’s phone number

With a good 24/7 recorded message service, there is no need to ask for your prospect's phone number. Why? Because a good service will have an unblockable Caller ID feature that will automatically gather the caller’s phone number when they call. You only need to ask for their name and address and/or email address. Studies have shown that response goes up when people are not required to leave their phone number.

3) Give hot prospects the option to connect directly to you after listening to your message.

You normally have a choice about whether or not people can connect directly to you after listening to your message, and you should always give people the option to do so. With features like Enhanced Call Forwarding and Find Me, 24/7 recorded message hotline services make it easy for you to take the call, no matter where you are.

4) Make your business card a direct response magnet.

Put an ad for your 24/7 recorded message hotline on the back of your business card and see how much more powerful your business card becomes.

For example, Bob could put a shorter version of his ad for his free report “The 7 Questions You MUST Ask Before Inviting a Home Contractor To Your Home” on the back of his business card:

This turns your business card into a genuine direct response ad and increases its marketing power exponentially.

5) Get feedback and gather testimonials.

Put your recorded hotline number on all your products and use it as a 24/7 feedback line. You can also use this feedback line to solicit testimonials from satisfied customers.

6) Increase response from your Yellow Pages advertising.

Make your Yellow Pages ad at least 10 times more powerful by using a 24/7 recorded message hotline and including your hotline number in your ad. Moreover, a good 24/7 recorded message services allows you to easily track response from your advertising, so you can see just how much response you are getting.

7) Include your hotline number, even if you have a lead generation Website URL, in your advertising.

There is still a percentage of the population that prefers to do business over the phone – especially Seniors. So it makes good sense to include both your 24/7 recorded message hotline number and the URL/Web address of your Website.

8) Survey your customers.

A good 24/7 recorded message hotline service provides a Q&A feature that allows you to perform surveys and find out exactly what your customers think about your company, products, services, etc. This is a great tool for Quality Assurance. You can also do new product surveys to find out what kinds of products your customers want from you.

9) Track Return on Investment (ROI) for your advertising.

Save tons of money on advertising by tracking ROI through the handy Ad Tracking feature provided by your 24/7 recorded message hotline service. This tool allows you to see exactly what the response is for certain ads and to adjust accordingly.

Here’s how it works in a nutshell:

Bob wants to track which specific ads are bringing in the calls to his 24-hour recorded message hotline. So he simply assigns an ad tracking code for each ad and/or promotion he is running and includes that ad tracking code in his advertising.

For example, he gives his newspaper classified ad code 1300, his trade journal classified ad code 1301, his direct mail promotion ad code 1302, etc.

When callers first call in to Bob’s hotline they are directed to dial the specific ad code from the ad they saw. In the event that Bob wants to make things slightly easier for his callers, he could instead have separate phone numbers for each of his ads, rather than one number with separate ad codes.

By assigning each of his ads a dedicated ad code or phone number, Bob will now be able to look at his call reports and see exactly how much response each of his ads is generating.

10) Include the words “Free Recorded Message” in your ad.

Our studies have shown that response is much higher when these three words are included, in your ad.

The iTeleCenter™ 24/7 recorded message hotline service gives you a host of advanced prospecting tools under one convenient roof and saves you huge amounts of time and effort.

Here are just a few of the great features you’ll get when you add iTeleCenter™ to your marketing arsenal:

1. Personal Toll-Free or Local Number

Your very own toll free number accessible from anywhere in North America or a local number accessible from anywhere on the planet. No dedicated line required. Get a professional, high-profile, big business presence – even if you’re a one-person work-at-home company

2. 24/7 Informational Mailboxes

24/7 recorded message hotlines to massively increase the effectiveness of your marketing. 24/7 Prospecting and Lead Generation. Great for hosting audio overviews of your products and services, testimonials and more. 24/7 presence ensures prospects get the information you want them to have – no matter when they call.

3. Multiple Extensions

Multiple extensions you can designate for any purpose you choose. Great for creating recorded information about your products and services.

4. Ad Tracker

Track your return on investment (ROI) down to the last penny with the handy and powerful ad tracker. Track callers from your ads to determine your return on investment (ROI). Assign an Ad Code for each promotion and see exactly how your advertising dollars are working!