My wife wrote about this a while ago, but I think it's worth a re-visit, since we have had so many new ActiveRainers sign up since then.

This post is about the Vanity Telephone number.  I think any mortgage broker or Realtor is going to find this post very useful.

So imagine that somebody wants to recommend you to a friend-- wants to give you a referral.  Of course, the former client doesn't actually have your card on him, so he tells his friend that he'll look you up and call and...

We know where this is going.  You never get the referral 75% of the time.

But then...wait!  The client tells his friend that he remembers your telephone number, because he would never forget it-- it's 877-777-TONY.

I'll explain the best way for you to get a number like that, within five minutes of reading this article.  And it's cheap:

Visit the AT&T toll free number look-up tool and you'll see the following:

So-- and this is really the best way to do it-- take the bare minimum at first.  In other words, if you would like the number 800-ASK-TONY, try starting out with just Tony.  If you get results back (available phone numbers), then you can narrow it down further.

The asterisks are wild cards.  Use asterisks when you are open to anything.  So because I only care about the word Tony right now, I'll use asterisks for the rest of the number.

Here are the results:

Now this is important:  At the very most, you will get back ten hits.  So, because our search results already kicked out the maximum number of choices (10), that means there are many more "Tony" phone numbers.

I notice that they all start with 877.  Let's get a little more selective.

Let's try putting in 877-77*-TONY

Maybe we'll get lucky and take home 877-777-TONY.  But I put the asterisk, so I could see more options.  Remember, just keep narrowing it down...

And that gives us:

Only four results.  So 877-777-TONY is not available, because it would be here if it was.  Remember, we used the asterisk (*) wild card in third position.

But I will tell you what:  If I were a Realtor named Tony, I would snatch up 877-770-TONY.

So how much will all this cost?

Pennies.  Practically nothing in the big picture-- especially if you advertise the heck out of it.

About SIX CENTS per minute, plus a small monthly fee (I think it's about $15).  You can have all calls forwarded to your cell phone.  And remember, you only pay for the calls that come in on that number.  So worst case scenario, you spend $15 per month to keep it active and give it some time to saturate your local public.

Plus, I think you have the added bonus of looking more professional, with a big-shot national toll-free number.

Here's the link: http://businessesales.att.com/products/lookup_toll_free_results.jhtml

And one more tip:  Let's say you have a name with seven or more letters.  So you want "1-800-MICHELE" of course.  But, let's be honest, you probably aren't going to get it.

You could always try 877-77-MICHELE.  In reality your number will be 877-77M-ICHE, and everybody might dial two extra digits to reach you, but they'll remember 877-77-MICHELE whether its two digits too long or not.  So get creative!

And if you get a good one, please come back here at make it known to all.

~Michael George

P.S.--

Comment by Judi Abbott:

Great idea!  Just ordered mine 877-770-JUDI routed to my cell phone. Super easy!   Took maybe 10 minutes and month to month service is cheap.  Can't wait to plaster it all over the place.  Th!anks so much for the tip