A Great Communications Tool for Health Insurance Agents (and it’s cheap too)

Last month when I opened my cell phone bill I was shocked.  I had went over my minutes by a few hours and my bill was well over $400 dollars.  I had been using my mobile phone for my health insurance business from home and had reserved the land line for personal calls.  I am also stuck in a cell phone contract that will not let me switch to an unlimited plan for several months, so I had a dilemma as to how to reduce my communications expense.

After looking for alternatives I decided to give Skype a try.  It was one of the least expensive programs out there and I could make unlimited calls through my computer for $3 dollars a month.  I downloaded the software and signed up for the $3 subscription and tried it out by calling several friends.  I also purchased a headset (I found a cheap one at Big Lots for $4, Wal-Mart and Best Buy have nicer ones starting at $15).

The first thing I noticed was how clear the calls were.  The headset also cut down on the background noise and left my hands free to use the computer.  One of my friends made me aware of one problem though, when I called my number showed up on his caller ID as unknown caller, so he had now way of calling me back.  After looking at my account at Skype I saw what I had missed.

I needed an online number, which Skype provides for $30 per year or $12 per 3 months.  (you can choose any are code in the US so that it matches the area codes you are calling, and this also will give people a local number on which they can call you back at).  This also sets you up with an online voice mail in case you miss an incoming call or are on the line with someone else.

I then wanted to try this out by calling some of my leads.  When I opened up a lead in my in box the coolest thing happened…   The phone numbers on my leads were hi-lited with a little phone sign beside them.  I clicked on the number and Skype instantly dialed the number.  I noticed it was doing the same thing on websites I visited.

All being said, Skype is a very useful and inexpensive tool that is saving me both time and money.  I was actually able to reduce my cell plan minutes, and I can call more leads in a shorter amount of time.  Best of all is the reduction of neck pain coming from trying to hold my cell phone between my head and shoulder while trying to run a quote or do a presentation.

click here to download and sign up