Better than phone tree at LRMHV

If you are of a certain age, you may remember the "phone tree." You know, your kid's practice was cancelled, you get a call from the coach, and you call the next three parents on a list.

The concept made manageable the dreary task of mass phone-calling, and it worked reasonably well when only a dozen calls were needed. But what about when 50 or more members in a resident-owned community need to be contacted? Not as easy a task.

Lakes Region Mobile Home Village (LRMHV), a 100-unit ROC in Gilford, N.H., can attest to this.

"We wanted to be able to get messages to everyone at the same time," says board vice president Jane Sharpe. The board began looking for better ways to reach its 100 members in cases of emergency, cancellation or a special meeting.

Enter the Call Multiplier.

Here's how it works: Jane calls into the service and records a message in her own voice. It may sound something like, "Hi, this is Jane from the board of directors, and I'm calling to remind you that the garbage collection will be two days late due to the bad weather."

The message can be re-recorded until satisfactory. Once completed, the message is sent to the list of members' phone numbers in a file the board created and keeps updated. Members then receive a phone call and hear the message.

ROC members typically receive a packet containing the date and time of the annual meeting, but busy families sometimes forget. A quick phone reminder can remind households a few days before the meeting.

"We have been able to achieve better attendance at meetings by using the call multiplier," said Jane. "There have been no negative comments about the phone calls, only thank yous."

Jane likes a feature that sends her an email listing all the phone numbers that picked up the call and heard the message. 'That way, our board knows that our members are being informed,' she said.

"We have used it for a variety of reasons, about 12 to 15 times a year," said Jane. "We don't want to bombard members with messages, but it's a great way to let folks know about upcoming meetings, special events, and things they need to be aware of."

Subscribers can choose to pay Call Multiplier by the month or by the message. Visit www.callmultiplier.com for more information.

Kelli Cicirelli is a ROC-NH™ Organizational Development Specialist.

ROC-NH™ is a program of the New Hampshire Community Loan Fund, Inc. and a ROC USA^® Certified Technical Assistance Provider.
ROC-NH is a registered service mark of ROC USA, LLC.