Leaving Voice Mails On The Sly
Have you ever wished that you could just leave a voice mail for someone without risking them actually answering the phone? Well now you can, with slydial.
This free service somehow manages to put you directly into a person’s voice mail box without their phone ringing or displaying your phone number (most of the time, read below). All you have to do is dial the slydial phone number (267-SLYDIAL) and then type in the number of phone you want to leave a message on. After that just leave a message as usual.
What’s the catch? Well, there are actually two ways you “pay” for the service. First off, every time you call you have to listen to a 30-second commercial before being connected. Secondly, in order to access enhanced features like abbreviated dialing and web access (neither of which strike me as big benefits) you have to register with the site, providing a great deal of personal information including your phone number.
The slydial web site does a great job presenting examples of how and when to use the service. Like the chance to just give your side of the story without the other party having the opportunity to waste your time by giving theirs. Or checking in with your boss from the golf course without risking being assigned with a new task to complete before the end of the day. The potential uses are almost endless and some of the best are provided by users on the slydial blog site.
In testing slydial, I came upon an issue you should be aware of. Sometimes your call is not entirely stealthy. I contacted the company and received a very prompt email response regarding this apparent problem. According to Gavin Macomber of MobileSphere, slydial’s parent company, with some mobile phones
“…the recipient’s phone may emit an abbreviated “half ring” before going directly to voicemail (after all .. you did try to call them). In any scenario, rest-assured that the person you are slydialing cannot ‘answer’ your call.”
One last caveat: slydial only works when calling to mobile phones.
All in all, I think slydial is great and I’ve already saved it in my cell phone’s directory. Give it a try and then come back and leave a comment.
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What will they think of next? How about a sales call in which the prospect never sees you, but you are able to leave the contract and a dozen doughnuts on the conference room table?
Great idea John! I think you should get started working on that system right away.
Yet another zinger from Dr. Felker! (He is so ON when it comes to techno wonders that can make a person’s life easier!) He has introduced me to several golden nuggets like this over the years. For example, at his suggestion, I began to use Jott, and have continued to benefit from it’s techno-genious since it was early in its initial BETA testing phase, and have found it to be a fantastic service!!
I don’t know how you do it, Frank, what with all the things you have on your plate, but puhleeease… Keep em coming!!
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