TechStars Start-Up Search-To-Phone Teams with Boulder’s Gold Systems
Search-To-Phone, a participant in the Colorado-based TechStars program for technology start-ups, today announced it has entered into a strategic partnership with Boulder-based Gold Systems to sell, support and enhance the Search-To-Phone service.
Search-To-Phone is a time-saving service designed to help consumers search for local products and services with one call. The service records a consumer’s search request then notifies every matching merchant or service provider in the local Yellow Pages in as little as 60 seconds. The caller is then connected to merchants who are ready to help without repeating their request or making multiple calls.
Search-To-Phone will be collaborating with Gold Systems, a developer of voice-powered software applications for Global 1000 companies, who will provide front-line product support, human-factors consulting and sales support for Search-To-Phone.
“The market for search, particularly mobile search, is hot,” said Terry Gold, CEO, Gold Systems. “Search-To-Phone has a unique service that is unlike anything I’ve ever seen, and the key is to roll it out nationwide in a scalable way. I’m thrilled that they chose Gold Systems to help accomplish that goal.”
Search-To-Phone isn’t just automating the directory assistance service or putting business directories online. Without Search-To-Phone, consumers are forced to look up or request phone numbers, often through multiple calls, and repeat their requests until they find someone that can help them. To find a plumber, for example, would entail searching for the telephone numbers of many local plumbers and calling each one, repeating their specific needs each time until the plumber who best meets those needs can be found. Access to the vast amount of information available on the Internet has managed to make finding the telephone numbers faster, but the time-consuming process of contacting each merchant has remained.
By contrast, Search-To-Phone automatically contacts every company in your local area who could possibly fulfill your needs with what you’re looking for in just 60 seconds. It’s like having your own personal search assistant who can listen to a problem and immediately find a solution.
“Let Your Talking Do The Walking”
Consumers begin their search online at www.SearchToPhone.com or by calling 1-800-547-2811. The service then guides each caller to create a brief recording of their needs, which might sound like this: “I’m looking for an authorized Acme plumber who can fix my sink before a dinner party at 7 o’clock.”
Then, simultaneously, all of the merchants who match the request get a phone call from Search-To-Phone and listen to the consumer’s search request over the phone. Those who can help pay a small fee (starting at 99 cents) and get connected to the consumer immediately, much like a collect call. This gives merchants a great deal of control over their advertising dollar – they only spend money on the search requests that best suit their company.
Though Internet advertising has been able to help merchants drive new customers to their Web sites, many local merchants don’t have sites, and many who do simply use them to get their phone to ring – often their preferred method of contact. Search-To-Phone brings Internet searches directly to the merchants’ telephones.
The Search-To-Phone service is free for users and weeds out wrong numbers, merchants who don’t pick up, busy signals and, most importantly, merchants who simply cannot help with a specific search request. The caller’s telephone number is kept private by Search-To-Phone. However, with each successful connection, the user’s caller ID will display and capture the merchant’s name and phone number for future callbacks.
Search-To-Phone is a patent-pending technology and is a registered trademark of WeBe Yellow, Inc., a privately funded enterprise based in Boulder and New York City. Gold Systems is a unified communications software company located in Boulder. Through its award-winning products and services, Gold Systems helps its customers identify where productivity can be improved with voice-driven solutions. The company’s unified messaging implementation services, as well as its self-service speech recognition solutions, allow businesses to improve productivity and profitability. Since 1991, Gold Systems software has automated more than 1 billion telephone calls per year around the world. More information about Gold Systems can be found at www.goldsys.com or by calling 303-447-2774 and saying "information."