Ifbyphone Blog

The EComm (Emerging Communications) 2008 conference is under way as of Wednesday morning and Ifbyphone, a silver sponsor, has been in the press quite a bit. Ifbyphone CEO Irv Shapiro gave a speech yesterday on the usefulness of Phone Mashups and announced Ifbyphone’s plan to give away 1 million minutes a month to developers to promote the creation of new third-party voice applications. Here are a few of the links. We’ll add to the list as more go live:

VoIP News

Information Week

Macworld

Thomas Howe Log on Ifbyphone CEO Irv Shapiro : Irv’s company, ifbyphone, looks to me like the phone mashup service provider that’s closest to getting it. His presentation was right on, his message clear, and the ifbyphone business model looks like it might be a winner. Pay attention to them.

 The VoIP Weblog

Allow me to introduce myself. I’m Khyle Keys, one of the new guys on the block at IfByPhone. I’m a Channel Manager here, which means that I work with our resellers. I’ve had a lot of experience working with companies that allow big companies the ability to better communicate with their clients. Big companies have been using automated voice systems to keep in better touch with their clients for years and years.

It’s easy for them to spend the money to have someone write custom apps that upsell their customers, let them know of special offers, interruptions of service, order shipments, any number of things. And using phones to keep in touch is simply good business practice. Even the best email communication program will be limited. You can’t really be sure how many emails got delivered. You can’t be sure how they are being viewed. Are the images showing up correctly in your customers email program?

The problem all along for small companies has been that there really haven’t been too many options to inexpensively use automated phone systems to keep in touch with their clients. Could a local Plumber afford to have a large company send out appointment reminders? Could a one or two person heating\AC company send out reminders to their customers that they should have their furnaces checked? The answer for a long time has been no. At least not in a way that is close to being affordable.

One of the many reasons IfByPhone is so…cool…is that we bring all of that functionality to the small business. We make it really affordable for them to use any number of different ways to keep in touch with their clients.

Nearly all small businesses realize the value of their website, and many are using advertising campaigns to draw traffic. With IfByPhone’s smart click-to-call, we can capture customers that would have otherwise moved on to the next site. With our Survo’s we can allow that heating company to create a simple reminder notice that will get them extra appointments.

We’re really providing a great tool set to small and medium sized businesses who want to gain that little extra edge.

Click here to talk to me.

“Not only has the company made many of its stores feel like gathering places, but the bright lights and equally bright acoustics create a buzz that makes customers feel more like they are at an event than a retail store.”

You’d think the above quote, with its jazzy words and tingling appeal, is describing a movie opening in Los Angeles or a cocktail party at some music executive’s mansion. Not so. Taken from a recent New York Times article, the author is describing an Apple Store in Manhattan’s meatpacking district just after midnight. At two a.m., while most of America was asleep, the Apple Store was glowing with the cha-ching of excited holiday shoppers (or, rather, the silent whoosh of the portable credit card swipers each employee carries with him to conduct business on the spot). Apple is not the first store to deck itself out in bright lights and cool colors in the big city – Nike, Sony, and other corporate giants have succeeded with this model. But as the article so clearly displays, no one has done it with quite the panache that Apple has. By allowing customers to linger for hours, check their email, or write a book (!) Apple has not built retail stores so much as it has invented a lifestyle. In a similar way that Starbucks made the $4 cup of coffee culturally ubiquitous by adding a snappy attitude to the morning’s dull routine, Apple has reinvented the computer and technology industry with its hipster cool and simple message: Apple is easy and Apple makes you happy.

But the point is not to be missed – there’s more to it than bringing aboard a rock star interior designer and a team of twenty-somethings with a quirky taste in music. The key to Apple’s success, as much as its products, is its service. Apple makes us feel good, light on our feet, pleased to be alive. And they encourage us to spend money (which we are doing at an alarming rate) because we feel so good. The business model of exceptional service is impeccable, and it’s exactly the type of paradigm that Ifbyphone subscribes to. We’ve all dealt with poor customer service departments –the mere term “customer service” is enough to make many of us cringe – who have made us feel stupid, inept, and much worse at the end of the conversation, even if our problem has been solved. Ifbyphone believes in absolute commitment to our customers. There may be companies who offer some of the services we do at a more economical price, but no one in the industry offers the level of service and reliability that we do. If you have a problem – or just want some help figuring the best way to implement the Ifbyphone toolbox – you know we’ll get back to you quickly and amicably.

When you sign up with Ifbyphone you receive a top-notch product, but more than that you become privy to a qualified crew of industry experts who act as your own personal team of voice tech consultants. And getting great support to compliment the technology that will help your business grow – well, that’s what buzz is all about.

This topic will contain interesting stories and notes about the team behind Ifbyphone.