Hey Randy, using a 800 for me is very effective.  Whenver I hand out my business card people are impress and want to do  business with me.  The 800 number give you a status, like you are in the big league with large firms.  My current provider is ringcentral. Good luck...

I use proquest and I love it! I don't put a price on any of my flyers at a listing and I get 20-30 calls a weekend on those homes. 20-30 potential new buyers that are now no long on the DNC list - Gotta love it.

Here is a link to an audio post card and if you sign up for the 12 e-mail courses you can get some great ideas for free on how to use it.

I've sold 2 of my own listings in the last 3 months without even having to put them in the MLS. Sold them both within an hour thanks to sign calls.

http://www.proquest-tech.com/postcard.asp?sc=21169

Good luck!

I have used http://www.Kall8.com for the last 6 years. It is $2.00 a month for the 800 number and you forward it to any number you want. You are charged about .07 a minute for any calls and they email you when someone uses the service and give you all the call information, including the caller ID. They recommended not using 800 numbers but one of the other ones, like 866 or 888 since you may get an old number that gets a lot of wrong numbers depending on who had the number before you.

I think there are a lot of benefits to this low cost service if you are trying to pull from a national market. It is money well invested and the low cost puts in a range with anyone’s marketing budget.

I use proquest also. I don't have it completely up and running yet, but I am impressed so far. In Boston, people like the fact that they would be calling a local 617 number we use our team number 617-894-9494 and forward it to the 800#. The nice part is that you get the best of both worlds. Use the 800# for any national advertising and the 617 number for local.

With the advent of cell phones is the need for 800 numbers fading away?  Most people can call nationwide for free on their cell phone.

Are you using 800 numbers solely as a marketing tool?

Instead of needing multiple phone numbers on signs etc., is it not better to use a single number?  

Ric...the 800#'s we use through Proquest is a lead capture and information system. It captures the information of the caller and allows them to hear what a particular property is about. Check out Proquest.com. Not just an 800#. And there are those frugal people out there that still need the 800#. Whether it is a mindset or they don't have a cell phone or long distance...who knows.

Another really good one is http://www.excal-com.com.  They give you the 800-number and go with extension for listings.  Each listing can be faxed or transferred to your phone of choice.  The cost is a minimum of $9.95 per month, ad $.35 per minute.  They capture the phone number, name and address if possible.  They notify you with an email and a message to your cell immediately.  They also have scripts for all situation, will give you an url for the recording, and can create a voice message for you by typing it in instead of recording your voice.  The message can be by a female or male voice.  I have used them for 7 years.  They are in Canada.  They are cheaper than Proquest.

I've been using 877infoline.com and they are about the cheapest and seem to do what the others do.