Not even franchise or chain retail stores are immune to the effects of recession. This year, 2,415 Hollywood Video and Game Crazy locations were closed, 545 Blockbusters, 200 Borders, 149 F.Y.E.’s, 145 Men’s Warehouses, 177 Foot Lockers even the Gap closed 80 stores.  The number of retailers liquidating their inventory, laying off employees and ultimately going out of business is in the tens of thousands.

Read More……

There are those who seek opportunity, they consider themselves strategist. Analyzing  their market for the most profitable prospect. Coffee Shop? Dry Cleaner? Franchise? Other’s save and carefully plan. They have a dream, a special idea, a someday. When that “Some Day” turns into a real business plan and action, it’s like getting on a roller coaster. You know you’re going for a ride. You stand in line with a light feeling in your chest, your heart is racing. You watch others on the ride, some are laughing and having a wonderful time, others are sick and pale, getting off the ride and headed for the nearest garbage can. The light feeling turns into butterflies. Excitement, anticipation and fear. What’s at cost? What is the cost?

Read More…..

This week we will be adding a new commercial to the website.  We will be posting this around in a lot of places and we here at ACI Call Tracking are pleased with how it turned out.

Thank you Scott Adams for this marketing comic.

I need an honest opinion from any and all readers of this blog.  I’ve had a few people ask me if they could have a month free so they can test it and see how the system works and go from there.  A trial period so to speak.

With call tracking there is an inherent problem with a trial period.  All of our clients to date use these tracking numbers in advertisements.  The VAST majority of ads will have a life beyond one month.  So the issue is you will try a system for a month and pay for an ad that will have the number for longer than a month.  Now granted if you don’t continue using our services you can port the number to a new carrier but there is risk of the number being down.

So the question is this.  With the inherent risk would you still prefer the option of a trial period?

Your opinions matter and I appreciate your feedback.

The NFIB is the National Federation of Independent Business and we have the great pleasure of being considered one of it’s members.  For over a month now I’ve been calling and finding the right person to speak to in order to become part of it’s member services.  Member services is a great way for businesses to look and see what resources are out there to help a business succeed.

There are many avenues to allow people to see who and what you do.  I would like to get out there as much as possible.  We are growing and helping companies become successful.  We had one client that is scheduled to renew his adds with some marketing campaigns he is involved in and he is excited to see how they are doing to give the salesman the reports and justify why or why not they will be renewing. Our call tracking service has empowered him with the information he needs to make informed and profitable decisions.

It’s been a good year and I appreciate all the supporters out there.

Businesses are losing more money than what can be published in the quarterly or annual profit and loss analysis.  While competing business spend thousands, sometimes millions on advertising, turning phrases, making their product or service superior in quality, more convenient, more affordable, they can be oblivious to what’s costing them the most; their employees. Employers are not hemorrhaging money in wages or company property, but in the quality, or lack thereof, of the customer service being provided by its employees. The employees are not being held accountable for the mannerism in which they treat clientele. Call tracking and call recording are just two of the tools companies can use to keep their service and quality standards high.

Read More

I had the pleasure of talking to a potential customer today and we got talking about whether or not to use our services.  They have been bidding us out with other companies and in the end we didn’t come out to be the cheapest.  We are close but there are some companies who are cheaper.  We are not the most expensive.  The question was brought up why should they choose us when there are cheaper solutions out there.  I paused in the question and asked in return “are you the cheapest in your industry”?  The answer came back as a no they aren’t.  Their focuse is on customer service and that does not allow them to be the cheapest. 

This understanding lead the conversation in a new direction and I hope that soon we can start helping them.  In chosing someone to do business with I hope that price is not the only reason behind choices.  When you chose ACI Call Tracking you will find a company who is more willing to work with you and make sure that you and your needs are met.  A dedicated account manager, technical support, a company who will listen and accomodate your suggestions…. our goal is to help and support you. 

you can email our support team at any time at contact@acicalltracking.com and have your answers met.  call and leave a mesasge with Jared and he will get back to you.  Let us show you what we can do.

I’ve had the opportunity recently to help some people understand exactly what call tracking really does.  I have had some questions that have come up several times via email or a phone call.  Where call tracking can do many things here are some things we can’t do:

1) We can’t trace a call like you see in the movies, we rely on the caller ID information that is given by the phone companies.

2)  We can’t go into the past and trace phone calls that have already been made.

3)  Currently we can’t have a third person listen in on a call as it is being placed.

4)  The number to be tracked has to be part of our system, we don’t just put a tracking “device” or “tracking program” on a line.  But this does mean we can port(move) numbers over to our system.

5) Yes we can track and record the calls that come in on your daughters cell phone, wasn’t the intention when we started this but we can do it.

6)  We are not a reverse phone number look up.  If you have a phone call made from an unknown number we can’t help you figure out who it is.

Call tracking is a very powerful tool that is used by companies to track their advertisements to make sure that their money is being put to good use.

As we pass our one year mark of providing  services to help companies maximize their marketing potential, we have hope for the future and see ways we would like to improve.  Call tracking is designed to track where the business is coming from for companies.  It helps answer this basic question, “Are my marketing ads effective?”  I would like to pose this question as we shape our future, what can we do as a call tracking company that you, the business owner, would like to see us improve or add to the list of features we currently have?

Your feedback is appreciative.