Accepted is not delivered: the day 337 messages reached nobody
WRITING
For one whole day our software reported success on every send while not one message arrived. Here is what we got wrong and what we changed.
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Opinion from running our own desk, plain explanations of the things people ask about, and the number rules for the countries we actually operate in. If a post stops being true we take it down rather than quietly edit it.
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See what changes for youOpinion, plain explanations, and the number rules for the places we actually operate.
For one whole day our software reported success on every send while not one message arrived. Here is what we got wrong and what we changed.
Read itEvery vendor in this market says minutes. Here is what really has to happen, and why we stopped saying it.
Read itThe argument for putting the switchboard inside the CRM rather than next to it, made with the thing that goes wrong.
Read itRecording, transcription and summaries are means. The dated next action is the end, and most products stop one step short of it.
Read itWhat actually causes a caller ID to get flagged, and the four settings that stop it.
Read itA list of the things a buyer usually checks for that we cannot show, and what we offer instead.
Read itTwo hundred dials a day tells you somebody pressed a button two hundred times. It does not tell you whether the business is any closer to being paid.
Read itWhen activity is green and revenue is red, the activity target is usually measuring the wrong half of the job.
Read itIt is the most common disposition on most desks, and it is the one that quietly loses the most money, because it contains no date.
Read itEvery calling product records. Very few file. The difference is what the next person to ring that customer can see.
Read itTeams shop for connect rates and dialling speed. What actually stops a campaign is a rule nobody read until the notice arrived.
Read itOne number, a thousand calls a day, most of them unanswered. Every carrier on the route learns the same thing about you.
Read itEvery calling product demos well. The difference shows up on a Tuesday afternoon in the third week.
Read itThree minutes is the headline on most pricing pages. It is true for a handful of countries and a fiction almost everywhere else.
Read itThe press-1-for-sales menu. Useful when there are genuinely several places a call could go, and a tax on everybody when there are not.
Read itDeciding which phone rings. Everything else — queues, skills, overflow — is a variation on that one sentence.
Read itSame feature family, three quite different levels of interference, and one of them has consent implications.
Read itOne click at the end of a call, and it decides whether anything happens next. Most desks design the list carelessly and pay for it for years.
Read itSoftware guessing whether a human or a voicemail picked up. Useful, genuinely imperfect, and worth understanding before you rely on it.
Read itA phone that is software instead of hardware. Ours is the browser, which is a deliberate choice and not everyone's preference.
Read itGiving a person their own outside number without buying them their own phone line. It is older than VoIP and it is why extensions work.
Read itThe caller keeps their position in the queue and gets rung back. Cheap to switch on, and it changes the shape of a bad morning.
Read it+91, ten digits, first digit 6 to 9. Most of the mess in a CRM comes from the same four mistakes.
Read itIndia regulates commercial calls tightly, the rules are published, and “we did not know” has never been a defence.
Read itThe dialling itself is trivial. What people get wrong is the hours, the number they call from, and the rules at the far end.
Read it+971, drop the leading zero, and check what the TDRA says before you plan an outbound campaign.
Read it+44, drop the leading zero, and know the difference between 01, 02, 03, 07 and 08 before you pick one.
Read itTell us how many people are on the phone and what they are ringing about. We will show you that, not a generic tour.
Fourteen days, no card, and a person on the call with you while it is set up.
Start free — 14 daysEach of these is a service in its own right, with its own page, price and questions answered.
For one whole day our software reported success on every send while not one message arrived. Here is what we got wrong and what we changed.
9flg.com/call-post-accepted-delivered/
Every vendor in this market says minutes. Here is what really has to happen, and why we stopped saying it.
9flg.com/call-post-three-minutes/
The argument for putting the switchboard inside the CRM rather than next to it, made with the thing that goes wrong.
9flg.com/call-post-crm-beside/
Recording, transcription and summaries are means. The dated next action is the end, and most products stop one step short of it.
9flg.com/call-post-follow-up-date/
What actually causes a caller ID to get flagged, and the four settings that stop it.
9flg.com/call-post-spam-flag/
A list of the things a buyer usually checks for that we cannot show, and what we offer instead.
9flg.com/call-post-what-we-lack/
Two hundred dials a day tells you somebody pressed a button two hundred times. It does not tell you whether the business is any closer to being paid.
9flg.com/call-post-call-volume/
When activity is green and revenue is red, the activity target is usually measuring the wrong half of the job.
9flg.com/call-post-targets-empty-pipeline/
It is the most common disposition on most desks, and it is the one that quietly loses the most money, because it contains no date.
9flg.com/call-post-call-back-later/
Every calling product records. Very few file. The difference is what the next person to ring that customer can see.
9flg.com/call-post-not-on-the-record/
Teams shop for connect rates and dialling speed. What actually stops a campaign is a rule nobody read until the notice arrived.
9flg.com/call-post-compliance-costs-deals/
One number, a thousand calls a day, most of them unanswered. Every carrier on the route learns the same thing about you.
9flg.com/call-post-numbers-flagged-spam/
Every calling product demos well. The difference shows up on a Tuesday afternoon in the third week.
9flg.com/call-post-reliability-over-features/
Three minutes is the headline on most pricing pages. It is true for a handful of countries and a fiction almost everywhere else.
9flg.com/call-post-numbers-take-longer/
The press-1-for-sales menu. Useful when there are genuinely several places a call could go, and a tax on everybody when there are not.
9flg.com/call-post-what-is-ivr/
Deciding which phone rings. Everything else — queues, skills, overflow — is a variation on that one sentence.
9flg.com/call-post-what-is-call-routing/
Same feature family, three quite different levels of interference, and one of them has consent implications.
9flg.com/call-post-whisper-and-barge/
One click at the end of a call, and it decides whether anything happens next. Most desks design the list carelessly and pay for it for years.
9flg.com/call-post-what-is-a-disposition/
Software guessing whether a human or a voicemail picked up. Useful, genuinely imperfect, and worth understanding before you rely on it.
9flg.com/call-post-answering-machine-detection/
A phone that is software instead of hardware. Ours is the browser, which is a deliberate choice and not everyone's preference.
9flg.com/call-post-what-is-a-softphone/
Giving a person their own outside number without buying them their own phone line. It is older than VoIP and it is why extensions work.
9flg.com/call-post-what-is-did/
The caller keeps their position in the queue and gets rung back. Cheap to switch on, and it changes the shape of a bad morning.
9flg.com/call-post-queue-callback/
+91, ten digits, first digit 6 to 9. Most of the mess in a CRM comes from the same four mistakes.
9flg.com/call-post-indian-number-format/
India regulates commercial calls tightly, the rules are published, and “we did not know” has never been a defence.
9flg.com/call-post-trai-calling-rules/
The dialling itself is trivial. What people get wrong is the hours, the number they call from, and the rules at the far end.
9flg.com/call-post-call-india-from-abroad/
+971, drop the leading zero, and check what the TDRA says before you plan an outbound campaign.
9flg.com/call-post-uae-number-format/
+44, drop the leading zero, and know the difference between 01, 02, 03, 07 and 08 before you pick one.
9flg.com/call-post-uk-number-format/