Providers of automated political robo calls are not the same and this article will point out some of the differences and qualities to look for when choosing someone to represent your campaign  and reputation.

Here are some questions that you should ask:

1) What is your connection speed the internet backbone?

Answer: Bandwidth should be at least 25 megabytes preferably fiber-optic connection. This is important to insuring good call quality. It is not worth saving a penny or two a call if your message sounds like a tin can and string telephone.

2) How long will it take for your service to deliver our calls?

Answer: 5k-200k Calls a day is normal. Most companies can bust to about 14 million a day if customer to client connections are not required because most company’s phone line will be saturated with incoming calls.

3) Can we get sued or fined using your automated phone calls like with automated faxes?

Answer: Yes and No. You can get fined by the FTC if your provider is not compliant with the latest Dec 1st 2008 ruling. MAKE SURE THEY ARE COMPLIANT because you can be fined $5000 / illegal call made. You cannot be sued by a private person or company like the case with automated faxes for typically $1800.00/ fax. This has been a way for lawyer to make easy money by sending a copy of the fax and a letter demanding money and is very common.

4) Does your company have the option to transfer calls when the call recipient hits a key to get more information and how much does this cost.

Answer: This should be a free option and the call cost for the time spent closing a sale or answering questions is often built into the cost of each call. So this feature should not cost anything.

5) Is there a delay at the beginning of each call and does the messages get left in entirety on all voicemail systems?

Answer: This would seem like a simple task but you would be surprised that many call providers just guess on the length of the recipient’s greeting and start playing the message with some of it being cut off or the machine hangs up because it does not hear anyone. Large providers have code that detects the BEEP and does not delay at the beginning of the call.

Remember the political robo call provider you choose should provide more value than just price because your calling campaign depends on it.