Call Porter Review: Pricing, Features, Competitors, & More!
Feb 12, 2022Even though real estate is one of the most lucrative industries, the immense rewards it has to offer don't come for free. Real estate investors and agents must constantly juggle house showings, marketing, client paperwork, closing deals, and finding new wholesale properties for themselves and for their clients.
Add in all other related and unavoidable tasks, and the job can quickly be overwhelming. This is why REI investors should consider outsourcing tasks like call answering.
Here’s how Call Porter, a live answering platform helps investors and agents ease this particular task.
- What Is Call Porter?
- Call Porter Software Features & Benefits
- Call Porter Alternatives
- Call Porter Software FAQs
- Best And Worst Call Porter Reviews
- Is Call Porter Worth It?
What Is Call Porter?
Call Porter is a US-based real estate investing call center designed to feature live answering services and a string of other inbound call management features for real estate investors.
The company is based in Sheridan, Wyoming, and was created by Ryan Dossey, a full-time real estate investor and licensed broker who, after being frustrated by similar services, teamed up with his brother, Justin Dossey, to create a live answering service specifically for REI.
To prevent user-frustrations, Ryan Dossey hired a team of local-only call center reps and created a proprietary call center script and selling system that would ensure uniform quality and a smooth-sailing experience for each prospect during calls.
Today, the Sheridan-based company manages inbound seller leads for more than fifty real estate investing companies across the country.
Call Porter Software Features & Benefits
As a call center designed specifically for REI, www.callporter.com packs a range of features that make inbound real estate call management a breeze. These include:
Customer Relationship Management (CRM)
Even though Call Porter has a team of professional call center agents to handle all your inbound calls, tracking leads who called in for networking purposes is still paramount. The platform makes this easy as well, thanks to its proprietary CRM.
The CRM records and displays all inbound call data on a private dashboard, so real estate agents can easily identify when a prospect called and the property they were inquiring about. Real estate investors and agents can then tailor personalized experiences with this data, ensuring utmost client satisfaction.
What's more, all calls are recorded, which is ideal for new users as they can use these recordings to gauge the quality of service offered by professional call reps from Call Porter during calls with prospects.
Live Call Answering
One of Call Porter's main and most impressive features is live call answering. The Ryan Dossey Company has a team of professional call center agents on standby from Monday through Sunday and operating 24 hours a day, ready to answer all inbound calls from leads in real-time.
This facilitates better client experiences as home buyers and motivated sellers are always assured of response whenever they contact your enterprise. Reps provide the personal touch clients need when they contact a real estate enterprise meaning more satisfying experiences. Call Porter live answering services also ease the to-do list for real estate professionals.
Instead of being on the phone with prospects all day, they can focus on more important tasks such as following up on leads, listing appointments, showings, and client paperwork.
Call Services
Besides a live answering service, Call Porter has a slew of other call services to ensure a streamlined and personalized experience whenever each lead calls in.
For instance, whenever an agent receives an inbound call relating to your enterprise, the software recognizes and notifies them who's calling even before they answer. As a result, the agent can better prepare for the conversation, ensuring a personalized, smooth-sailing lead experience on calls.
Beyond answering calls, Call Porter agents will also run the extra mile by scheduling appointments for real estate agents and professionals. This means a smooth-sailing experience for the lead from the moment they first call in until the end of their conversation.
For the REI professionals, it means all the heavy-lifting is out of the way, and all they need to focus on is preparing for the appointment. It also increases the probability of closing the deal as appointments are often scheduled with qualified sellers and not just any lead.
With their operating hours running 24/7, you’ll never miss out on any important call or message, even if it's sent at 3:00 a.m. in the morning.
Professionally Trained Call Center Agents
A call center’s efficiency is highly dependent on the quality of service offered by its agents, a factor that Call Porter’s founder, Ryan Dossey, knows firsthand, thanks to his poor past experiences with live answering services.
And to ensure a satisfactory experience for Call Porter users, Ryan banked on his co-founder’s personal experience as a call center veteran to create a team of highly experienced agents.
Call Porter agents are often familiar with real estate investing techniques such as wholesaling, meaning they’ll respond to all REI questions and inquiries from leads like professional real estate agents would. As a result, leads are treated to a professional caller experience and all their inquiries are sorted out, motivating them to schedule appointments.
These agents can also identify a qualified lead from tire kickers based on the caller's tone and inquiries, thanks to their training.
That means they only set up appointments with qualified leads, saving you from the frustration of wasting time on unqualified leads. All Call Porter agents are local and 100% U.S.-based to ensure no lead is ever lost due to language barriers.
Call Recording
Call Porter also features a recording function for all inbound calls. This means even though an agent or investor could not receive a prospect’s call in real-time, they’ll essentially never miss another important call since they can always listen to the recording later.
The call recording function also comes in handy for future reference and quality management. For instance, should a lead complain, Call Porter users can pin down exactly when they made the call, and listen in to its recording, to gauge the experience and determine whether the complaint is legit.
Real Estate Scripts
Can’t come up with a script? No worries because Call Porter offers call control script templates that can be customized to fit your business. The company created the script template based on principles from How To Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie.
It's tailored to facilitate quality conversations that charm, and win over leads, conversely inspiring them to take action.
This, combined with the professional REI expertise of Call Porter agents, means that each lead is more likely to walk away with the answers they need and is satisfied with the conversation.
FREE Real Estate Wholesaling Cold Calling Script [PDF Download]
Custom Numbers
Real estate is a business of complex purchases and sales. That means most leads prefer talking to a qualified human professional over bots or a regular agent. To facilitate this, Call Porter offers all its users a custom phone number they can use as their official business number across all marketing materials.
As a result, whenever leads call in, they not only get the personal touch they want, but also will think they’re talking to a person in your office instead of regular agents, talking to bots, or being redirected to voicemail.
This promotes a satisfactory experience and their likelihood of signing up for an appointment.
Call Porter Alternatives
Here’s how Call Porter performs against its top competitors:
Call Porter vs PATLive
PATLive is a popular live answering service with awesome features. The company has a team of skilled agents to handle your calls 24/7. They also offer similar services as Call Porter, such as message taking, appointment building, lead collection, and custom script.
However, unlike Call Porter, PatLive also offers call transfers, even registrations, order processing, and multiple integrations with its CRM.
Also, with PATLive, your virtual receptionists are available 24/7, similar to Call Porter, where the agents are available 24 hours a day from Monday through Sunday.
However, Call Porter is still worth considering because it’s exclusively designed for real estate and has a team of professionally trained agents who’ll comfortably address any of your lead inquiries regarding real estate. PatLive’s pricing plans are also relatively expensive compared to Call Porter.
Call Porter vs In-House Receptionist
As the name implies, an in-house receptionist works live from your real estate office. Having one means you get to set the work schedule and control most processes.
Beyond answering calls and setting appointments, an in-house receptionist can also handle extra tasks such as copying files, verifying employee IDs, arranging your schedule, and interacting with customers who show up at your office.
But while these benefits are excellent, they are a lot more to manage than the convenience that Call Porter offers. The company assigns you a team of skilled real estate agents who would have been otherwise expensive to hire as part of your in-house team.
Leads from your advertising or direct mail campaigns are also assured of a professional response whenever they contact your office, yet you don’t incur the costs of having an in-house team.
Call Porter also offers excellent capabilities such as voicemail redirecting and lead capture tools that make outbound prospecting on social media platforms like LinkedIn seamless. In a nutshell, Call Porter offers more value for the money than an In-House Receptionist.
Call Porter vs Hiring a Freelancer
Hiring a freelancer to handle your lead calls is an excellent way to cut the costs of having an in-house team. It also allows you to hire from a pool of talented call agents across the globe, and with a single individual handling your calls, decision-making becomes a tad easier.
While it has its perks, Call Porter might still be the better option because you get more than just live call answering. You get features like data collection, CRM integration, appointment scheduling, and even a personal account manager.
What’s more, you won’t have to scour through lists of freelancers to find a professional, as being a Call Porter subscriber automatically means you get a team of professional call agents working for you.
Call Porter Software FAQs
How Much Does Call Porter Cost?
Call Porter's pricing ranges depending on the package you choose. The Sheridan-based company offers four monthly subscriptions: Side Hustler, Solopreneur, Entrepreneur, and Corporate.
Side Hustler is the most basic package starting at $49 per month. It only includes message taking, and calls cost $4.50 per minute, making it pretty unreasonable. However, the other plans offer quite excellent value.
The Solopreneur plan goes for $249 per month and includes 25 call minutes to support 10-15 live answered calls on average. It also includes message taking, rapport building, data collection, appointment scheduling, CRM integration, and website lead capture & dial.
Entrepreneur subscribers get similar features, but with 100 minutes for 40 calls on average. For $1,249 a month.
Call Porter’s Corporate plan includes all features available on Entrepreneur, plus 500 minutes, a custom script, and a personal account manager. All four plans come with a 30-day free trial.
Does Call Porter Work?
Yes, Call Porter is an efficient live answering service for real estate investors, agents, and other professionals looking to simplify their operations.
The platform has over 200 verified users across the country and countless positive reviews on go-to consumer reviews platforms like BiggerPockets.
It has also been featured on trustworthy sites like Forbes, Entrepreneur, Time, and Yahoo Finance, meaning it's a platform you can rely on.
Does Call Porter Make Outbound Calls?
No. Call Porter doesn’t make outbound calls or perform any cold calling. But, they do offer website lead capture and dial service REI professionals can use for outbound prospecting.
How Do You Use Call Porter?
Call Porter has a relatively easy signup process and an intuitive interface. To get started, the Call Porter team will set you up with a custom phone number that you can use across your marketing mediums as your enterprise's official number.
From there, all your inbound calls will be answered by professional, U.S.-based call agents from the Call Porter team.
All call details are automatically recorded in Call Porter's proprietary CRM software, so should you need to check, all you need to do is log in and browse the private dashboard.
How Do I Cancel My Call Porter Subscription?
To cancel your Call Porter subscription, you need to notify their support team 30 days in advance so they can process your cancelation request.
Best And Worst Call Porter Reviews
Let us take a quick look at a few reviews Call Porter has had from some customers who have tried their service throughout the years.
Call Porter particularly has a number of positive reviews based on the services they have provided to those who have taken the chance to invest in them.
It definitely would not hurt doing as much research as needed to make sure that you are putting your money down for something that you are certain has been proven and tested by fellow investors and entrepreneurs.
You can always check out more reviews from their website or take a look at their Google page where you can see how highly they have been rated by other users and what they have to say about Call Porter.
Is Call Porter Worth It?
Callporter.com is a live answering service exclusively designed for real estate. It is handled by a team of professional call agents trained in real estate to ensure that each call is received on time and that the prospect's needs are addressed.
The agents have the skills to identify qualified leads from the unqualified based on conversations and will even go the extra mile and schedule appointments on your behalf, so you can focus on the important part: meeting clients to close deals.
To promote successful conversations, users get a script template based on a book full of principles and techniques on how to have winning conversations. Call Porter has a string of other impressive call services, including voicemail support and call recording.
So, even though the Side Hustler package doesn't make a lot of sense, the other subscription plans are certainly worth the money.
*Disclosure: Real Estate Skills is not responsible for the information provided by Call Porter or on its respective website. Call Porter is an independent company which provides real estate services to investors. Real Estate Skills trains on using Call Porter and the benefits of using the service but is not responsible for the content it provides.