6 Applications that are Still Hot with 900 Numbers

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There’s an anniversary of sorts this year! 900 Numbers will be 20 years old!

Bob Bentz 900 number book

Well, not exactly, because 900 numbers were first used in the Reagan-Carter debates in 1980, but 1989 marked the year that 900 numbers became available to the masses. It’s the year that a new medium was launched to a national audience.

While many 900 numbers have been replaced by other mediums like the internet, mobile marketing, and premium SMS, premium rate numbers still are a major force in the marketing and communication budgets of many still progressive companies.

Before we take a look at what 900 numbers can do for your company, let’s take a look at what 900 numbers are not. First impressions are hard to shake we guess, but the major carriers banned the billing of 900 numbers for adult services over 17 years ago.

1. Computer Technical Support via 900 numbers — Many companies are inundated by customer service calls for technical support. The companies still want to provide good service and not outsource their telemarketing overseas, but who can afford to do that anymore? Consumers don’t mind paying for technical support if they know they are going to get the right answers now in a timely fashion. A 900 number for technical support provides those answers and offsets some of the costs of the technical support and even makes technical support a profit center.

2. Bank check verification 900 lines– Banks also spend a lot of time with costly inquiries regarding the validity of a customer’s check. Often, such inquiries are even for customers who don’t do their banking with the bank getting the inquiry. Why not charge for such services via a check verification 900 number? It will cut down on nuisance calls and enable the bank to be rightly compensated for its time.

3. Fax 900 lines — We all get a lot of nuisance faxes that we’d like to stop. Take the family to DisneyWorld for $100. Even the local Chinese restaurant sends us their menus. This costs us paper and the ink to print on that paper for unwanted SPAM faxes. A 900 number that redirects to your fax machine can make fax inquiries a profit center and cut back on your wasted resources.

4. Voice Personals 900 Numbers – Dating is a recession-proof industry and personals on 900 numbers are still a big part of the industry. There’s no heavy breathing here; customers like The New York Times use voice personals via phone and many other newspapers and radio stations use online personals in addition to the older phone based dating services.

5. Internet Access 900 Numbers — Web Access continues to be a solid application on 900 numbers. Some consumers still are concerned about giving their credit cards over the internet. A 900 number that obtains a password to access the web site information works. It’s a great way to offer a free one-time trial to your internet information and make your web site more profitable.

6. Canadian 900 Numbers — In Canada, 900 numbers have been de-regulated recently. What this means for you is that it isn’t just the old provincial phone companies that are in the business. Now, entrepreneurial phone companies are involved in providing carrier service for 900 numbers in Canada. What this means for the Canadian 900 number market is reduced chargebacks and increased approval of programs including categories like psychic 900 numbers.

Bob Bentz is president of Advanced Telecom Services and a 20-year veteran of the 900 number industry. He has written the best-selling book in the 900 number industry, “Opportunity is Calling.”

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