900 Numbers
In
the early 1980's when my buddy called me and left a message to
call him with a Sex line 900number, I thought it was pretty funny
and I left a half dozen of the the same messages for other friends
and we all had a big 900 number laugh...
For
a while, 900 numbers were the hot new thing going around and
we all enjoyed it. Then a lot of people got into the act and
the novelty wore off pretty fast. Mr. 900 number, Don Lapre,
was a big factor in the business and Dionne Warwick had a Psychic
Hot Line 900 number.
I
even heard of a guy who made it big by sending out 'spam' on
the internet asking if you were....
a) In favor of ... OR... b) Opposed to 'spam'.
Then
you were to call a 900 number to *vote* on whether you were in
favor or against spam. The idea, of course, was to get all those
people who were irate about 'spam' to immediately dial a 900
number to register their protest vote which was then promised
to be forwarded to the legislators in Washington D.C. as well
as the major Internet Service Providers. When the respondent
dialed a 900 number and was immediately charged for his 'vote'
... who knows whether their information ever reached the politicos
in D.C. or not.
Like
most novelties... the 900 number program worked very well at
the outset... but after someone had received their third message
to send in their vote it broke down quickly.
Don
Lapre's big promotion was to set up all the various 900 number
lines and the 'content' part ... chat, sex, or psychic lines
and pass individual connections on to a large group of distributors
who paid him around $500/mo. per line.
He
picked up these 900 number distributors from his weekend TV infomercial
, a half hour show, where he sold you on his marketing ability
with the aid of the rapturous Cindy Margolis who by all reports
is the 'Most Downloaded Girl' on the internet.
Cindy
was so exciting, we all forgot we were trying to make a business
decision and we went for the bait.
What
the heck... it was only $39 and it could possibly change our
lives. Operating various 900 numbers was a popular way to deliver
information and make a ton of money in the process. The advertising
of the number was a word of mouth thing in the beginning until
so many people got into the business that competition was hectic
and big time advertising was required to stay in the game.
Some
major companies with half million dollar ad budgets are still
going strong with millions of 900 calls a month, but the bloom
is off the rose. The Dionne Warwick company went bankrupt and
it is rumored that Don Lapre filed for bankruptcy last year.
One would think the psychic's would have warned her... or maybe
they did... but possibly too late.
In
theory 900 numbers are a great way for people to make money.
You get your own 900 number, start advertising the line and presto,
you are making millions. However, the need for a large advertising
budget has pretty well squeezed out the little guy.
The
major problem with 900 numbers is that after the initial introduction
into the market place and the excitement of fooling your friends,
the vast majority of folks were not dialing a 900 number... for
whatever reason. When was the last time you dialed a 900 number?
Was it 15 years ago? For lack of a better explanation, it was
a novelty, and novelties wear out. Remember the 'Pet Rock'? How
long did that last...
If
you had a great business idea or way to make money, 900 numbers
would be least attractive way to market your product. How many
friends do you have that call 900 numbers each month? You must
analyze these things when you are going to start a business.
If you don't use the service, why would anybody else?
Not
many people would tell you this. .Certainly not someone who wants
you to think that 900 numbers are big cash cow so that they can
sell you one already set up.
You
need a lot of money to really get a 900 number going. Certainly
not $500 a month.
A
half million a month is more like it.