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GrandCentral Called And I Answered

By
Services for Real Estate Pros with RealSatisfied

grand central logo2Sellsius 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. :)
Rochell Heininger
Yellowbook - Pittsburgh, PA
Sounds cool, but I'm not as popular as you so I don't need this...yet!!  And I will beware of the #4 button when we talk so I can't be blackmailed!  ;)
Mar 20, 2007 02:31 AM
Nick M.
Certified Residential Appraiser- West Palm Beach Real Estate - West Palm Beach, FL
Realtor-Appraiser in West Palm-South Florida Real Estate Appraiser

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! :)

 

Mar 20, 2007 02:36 AM
Jeff Turner
RealSatisfied - Santa Clarita, CA

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? 

Mar 20, 2007 02:48 AM
Jeff Turner
RealSatisfied - Santa Clarita, CA

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!

Mar 20, 2007 03:15 AM
Jim & Maria Hart
Brand Name Real Estate - Charleston, SC
Charleston, SC Real Estate
This sounds like an awesome tech toy.  I'm off to check it out.  Thanks!
Mar 20, 2007 03:25 AM
Jeff Turner
RealSatisfied - Santa Clarita, CA
Jim & Maria, so far I'm digging it. I can see some real potential for this as a way to post testimonials. Since it records your messages to mp3 and makes every message available in an embed format for posting, it's perfect.
Mar 20, 2007 03:32 AM
Nick M.
Certified Residential Appraiser- West Palm Beach Real Estate - West Palm Beach, FL
Realtor-Appraiser in West Palm-South Florida Real Estate Appraiser

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.

 

Mar 20, 2007 04:14 AM
Jeff Turner
RealSatisfied - Santa Clarita, CA
Nick, let us know if you run into any hiccups. So far, I'm liking all of their features. The ability to transfer from my cell phone to my office phone without losing the connection at the touch of the "*" key is nice.
Mar 20, 2007 04:21 AM
Christina Ethridge
The North Idaho Dream Team powered by SKE Realty Group - Coeur d'Alene, ID

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! 

Mar 20, 2007 06:37 AM
Fran Gatti
RE/MAX Integrity - Medford, OR
Managing Principal Broker - RE/MAX Integrity

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

Mar 20, 2007 08:09 AM
Jeff Turner
RealSatisfied - Santa Clarita, CA
Fran and Christina... sorry to hear they are not in your area yet. I'm going to email them right now to increase the load of requests for both of your areas.
Mar 20, 2007 08:30 AM
Sharon Simms
Coastal Properties Group International - Christie's International - Saint Petersburg, FL
St. Petersburg FL - CRS CIPS CLHMS RSPS

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.

 

Mar 20, 2007 11:58 AM
Nancy Ruben
An Assistant On Call - North Augusta, SC
REVA, CRESS

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.

 

Mar 20, 2007 01:00 PM
Desiree Daniels
RE/MAX Tri County - Robbinsville, NJ

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.

Mar 20, 2007 02:58 PM
Craig Bartels
The Indy Realty Shop - Indianapolis, IN

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...

 

 

Apr 04, 2007 03:12 PM
David A. Podgursky PA
THE PODGURSKY GROUP @ Re/Max Direct - Boynton Beach, FL
THE PODGURSKY GROUP - Make the Right Move!

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

Apr 05, 2007 02:54 AM
Steve Volkers
SVG Real Estate Firm - Grand Rapids, MI
Grand Rapids Real Estate

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

Jun 19, 2007 08:54 AM
Jeff Turner
RealSatisfied - Santa Clarita, CA
Steve, I still use it and love it. It is the main number I now give out in my email communications. It rings both my cell and office at the same time, so it's perfect. And... the voice messages are delivered to me via email. 
Jun 19, 2007 12:20 PM
Maureen McCabe
HER Realtors - Columbus, OH
Columbus Ohio Real Estate
I just signed up.  I've been on a waiting list since July when Joe and Rudy visited Ohio on Blog Tour USA.  I had obviously ignored their March post about Grand Central.  Jeff, Maggie etc. are you all still using Grand Central?
Sep 14, 2007 05:59 AM
Jeff Turner
RealSatisfied - Santa Clarita, CA
Maureen... my grand central number is the only one I typically give out now. It works great!
Sep 14, 2007 06:24 AM