Richard's GlobalTmail Blog

Disappointment and Triumph

First, The Disappointment:

Here’s a quote from the email I got from Jeff Wilson, our CIO at 2:33 a.m. today:

“Ready to go in India translates to…  Not quite ready to go.”

He goes on to provide a technical analysis of things that must work, that don’t work yet, which are all essential before we can actually make the system operate.  The issues are correctable and are all related to the fact that a control file we must upload is not being read properly by the program written in India.  The two programmers will iron out those problems today (hopefully).  Unfortunately, Jeff was not able to really focus on the issue until after midnight last night, so he didn’t get to work on it at all yesterday during the day.  This is, of course, frustrating for me and all of us because it sets us back yet another day.  But it’s the price we must pay to get the GroupCaller^TM functional.  We remain 99% complete … and “almost” ready to make calls, but that’s not good enough to actually run the system yet.  Keep your fingers crossed that today is the day we can actually make some calls.

In the meantime, Abhishek asked for my layout of the Call Summary Report that  he’s making available to us in real time during campaigns.  This report is essential to successful operation of voice broadcast whether we’re doing it internally, or whether a Client is doing it for themselves.  I sent him a layout very similar to the pie charts you saw in January when we did the test calling.

Next, The Triumph!

On a much brighter note, yesterday we acquired our first bonafied commercial Client for the GroupCaller^TM!  It’s a political organization out of the mid-west who has hired us to make 100,000 calls to promote their political viewpoint in their area.  Since we aren’t yet ready to actually make the calls, I gave them a deeply discounted rate (2.5 cents per call).  Also, they joined and paid cash for their Silver Membership, which automatically qualifies them for the lower rate.

This is very significant!  We have waited more than 5 years to be able to say we have “real” Clients, and we deliver a viable and valuable service to them.  Now it has finally become a reality!  Maybe today should become a national holiday for GTM? Anyway, they mailed a check to us that I expect to receive this weekend.  We’ll be able to run their campaign concurrently with ours, so it won’t interrupt any of our own efforts to locate new AMG members.

Webinar Tonight – New Presentation

We’re doing a webinar tonight at 7:00 pm for some new people interested to join us.  It looks like we’ll have a pretty good crowd since I’m introducing a new presentation that’s focused on a demonstration of the GroupCaller^TM.  Even though we can’t do the demo tonight, I’m going to still roll out this presentation. 

If you want to attend, please either send me a personal email or make a comment on this blog (below) indicating you want the invitation email.  I’ll send you an email that allows you to register for the webinar.  Hope to see you tonight!

GroupCaller Is Ready For Testing Today!

I had a lengthy chat session online with Ab in India early this morning. He reports the dialer is ready to use.  This is true, however only an experienced programmer (like Jeff Wilson) can use it at this stage. I can’t. 

Jeff Wilson must write a separate customized program for each calling campaign we wish to conduct.  Once the program is written, it must be uploaded to the dialer and tested with a “test” calling list (a CSV file filled with call parameters and phone numbers) before the actual “live” campaign is started.  After the test is successfully completed, and all non-working elements are debugged (this is normal when testing a program, even one as simple as a PHP calling script), we will be able to run a “live” dialing campaign.  For now, this lengthy and confusing process is what must be done for each and every dialing campaign. 

In layman’s terms, this means that if we wish to acquire GroupCast^TM and/or GroupCaller^TM Clients other than ourselves, we must manually set up and configure each and every group call they wish to send.  This is, of course, too labor intensive to be profitable unless the Client is going to make hundreds of thousands or millions of calls in a mass advertising campaign.  Until we can create a reasonably simple calling campaign user interface for me or other users, we’ll have to restrict Client acquisition for Group or Mass Distribution of calls to only ourselves and possibly some very large Clients (like mass robo-calls for political campaigns).

At this stage, there is no neat-and-tidy looking Graphical User Interface that lets a non-programmer run the dialer .  That will come later as we progress through Phase I of our marketing strategy and gain sufficient cash flow to re-hire our previous programmers and add new programmers, web designers, engineers and analysts to the staff.  As you know, we’ll begin adding these personnel AFTER we have reached the goal of 400 paid & paying AMG members.  Only an appropriate programming, design and engineering staff will be able to make the GroupCaller^TM system a tool that can be used by our Clients without programmer assistance.  However, we “WILL” be able to use it for our own purpose of running our outbound dialing campaign, which is designed to locate prospects for AMG memberships.  As of this posting, I’m very optimistic that we’ll finally be able to start our own calling campaign no later than Friday and possibly as soon as tomorrow.

If Jeff has enough time this morning to create a call script, we should be able to begin making a few test calls using the first call flow we created last week.  You can see that call flow chart on my March 22 blog post.  Those of you on our beta test team will likely get a phone call from me late today or sometime tomorrow … or if I don’t have time to call everyone personally, I may just have to send an email.  At any rate, whether I call you or not, don’t be surprised if you get some calls from the system late today or this evening. 

The good news in all this is we now have a VERY powerful, fully functional voice broadcast system capable of making outbound calls on as many concurrent channels as we designate, and running as many different campaigns as we designate … all at the same time.  Naturally, we cannot really make “unlimited” calls for “unlimited” Clients at this point.  That’s because we are limited by five things:

1. The number of servers in use (about 400 concurrent calls can be made on a single computer server), and
2. The bandwidth available for outbound calls (i.e. the UPLOAD bandwidth).
3. Time.
4. Personnel.
5. User interface allowing non-programmers (whether internal staff or Clients) to use it.

These limitations are relatively simple to overcome, but will take a lot of work to accomplish.  We’ll need sufficient funds available to buy  more equipment and pay for more bandwidth.  That money will come from the sales we’re making as the result of running our own dialing campaign.

Our current bandwidth will allow us to make 20 to 30 concurrent calls.  An easy upgrade to the bandwidth will increase that to hundreds of concurrent outbound calls without the need to invest in more equipment.  We don’t wish to run more than about 10 to 20 concurrent lines initially because we need to do substantial testing and monitoring of these calls during the first few weeks to ensure that the system is stable, that no bugs are present, and that our system is capable of compliance with various laws that regulate the actual operation of the software and equipment (as an example, the law requires that we must allow a phone to ring a minimum of 4 times or 15 seconds before hanging up, it also requires that the called party be able to press a key on their phone to be automatically added to our internal Do Not Call list at any time during the call and then have the call terminated…and there are even more regulations, but this will give you an idea of what I’m referring to).  We can’t begin “LIVE” calls until we can verify that these legal requirements and all other aspects of the program work flawlessly.

Whew!

Sorry for the long article, but this is a very, very big step forward.  Now, I’m depending on Jeff to prepare us for the first test calls.

GroupCaller Update

I didn’t receive any other updates yesterday from Abhishek Singh or Jeff Wilson with respect to having the system ready to use, despite sending a couple of messages to them.  I called Ab this morning on his cell phone and office phone. I was encouraged when his office phone was answered at about 8 pm India time and the guy who answered seemed to know who I was.  He said Ab would return in a couple of hours and that I should check back; I’m expecting Ab to find me on Skype of Google Talk (our normal methods of communication) late this morning. 

So far, I am very impressed with Ab and his staff.  They appear very professional in their manners and competent in this technology. Also, they seem to have a work ethic similar to many others who are making this company into what it should be.  Ab and his team appear to work as much as we do.  Many of us work very long hours, often staying on the job 16 to 18 hours each day for weeks and months at a time.  We do this for little to no pay just for the chance to build this company into the billion dollar multi-national firm that we envision for the future.  We all think it’s worth the sacrifice because not only will GlobalTmail^TM provide a stable financial future for  ourselves, but the project itself is worthwhile so many other ways as well:

• We’re making a world-class communications system available to even the smallest company. With our unique concept of a one-stop-shop for all the technology-based ads and message delivery and very low cost, even the smallest company can benefit from the combination of message delivery techniques we offer, even with a budget as low a $10 at a time…or even $0 when using our many free advertising and promotional methods.
• Ambitious people from all over the world will finally have a business opportunity that costs exactly $0. Although we sell the AMG membership, purchase is never a requirement for earning money. In the future, when demonstration of our systems becomes the primary “sales tool”, this will become even more true.  And 3rd Party Income, our own patentable “invention” will drive the world-wide expansion of our system.
• Consumers will have the best tool available to bring together all the online content they like the most. We don’t attempt to replace their favorite websites like Facebook, YouTube, eBay, Amazon, Yahoo Messenger, Skype and the list goes on and on. Instead, we’re providing a method to consolidate many of these services and drop messages inside the services they like and use the most!  And that includes any telephone on earth, with voice, text and email messages delivered with the option of a voice call instead of “only” text-based communications.
• Advertisers, organizations and individuals will get more sophisticated online advertising absolutely FREE than anywhere else! We’re actually giving away the kind of advertising that most giants of the online world depend on for their revenue, such as search advertising, “Ad Words” and “Ad Center functions, coupon development, online message delivery to our entire database (in the Members’ mailboxes), online streaming audio message delivery, free auction postings, free classifieds “WITH” link and media streaming service (something NOT available from most other free or paid classified services).

And the list continues.  Many of us have a real passion for what we’re building and that’s why we’ve had programmers, analysts and sales people stick with us through thick and thin, even during times when they worked for months on end with no pay.  I personally appreciate all the efforts of these good people. 

We’re all taking a risk here. But we all think it’s “worth it” because we see what’s coming once all these various services are fully deployed.  We believe we’ll be changing lives all over the world for the better.  People who never had a real opportunity for advancement will finally have it when we come to their area, whether in the USA or abroad. 

And GroupCaller^TM provides the foundation that makes it all possible.  Check back later today.  I think I’ll have more good news before the day is completely over.

New Webinar Presentation Posted–Includes Live Demo!

Sorry I didn’t get the presentation uploaded by 4:00 pm yesterday as I had planned.  I had a technical problem here with 2 of my monitors that took about 4 hours to resolve.  When combined with the other normal interruptions of the day I just couldn’t edit and proof-read the whole presentation in time.  As  usual, the re-write took much longer than I had hoped. But it’s done now and online.  You can find it by dropping down the Associate Tools menu and selecting Sales Materials from the Member Area after you log on to your account.

You’ll notice some significant differences in this presentation.  In the first place, it’s 20 slides instead of the former 32 slides.  But that doesn’t necessarily mean the webinar is shorter.  It still takes a little time – in this cast about a half hour – to build a $6,000 value in the minds and hearts of the audience.  But the way we’re doing it is far different than before.  Here are two of the biggest differences (other than dropping lots of details):

1. Focus On Dashboard: The Dashboard slide is on the 3rd page.  It takes about 6 minutes to explain this slide.  Most slides only take 30 to 60 seconds.  That’s because the Dashboard is really the control console and the focal point of our service.  So rather than breaking down each element of the Dashboard on several slides and explaining the various services one-at-a-time, I opted for showing the Dashboard in its entirety, how it’s used by both Members and Clients, and explaining the services and benefits from the context of how they’ll really be used.  You’ll notice some very big differences in the manner of making the presentation of of the several services we’ll be introducing.  I eliminated virtually all the graphic representations, and just show what users will see in the future when this Dashboard becomes functional.
   
2. Live GroupCaller ^TM Demonstration:  The longest portion of the presentation will be a live demonstration and thorough explanation of our voice broadcast system.  I hope to do this presentation in two parts the way I explained in yesterday’s post.  However, I’m not going to know for certain exactly how the demonstration will work until I know whether the multi-campaign feature is included with the first build of this upgraded system.  I’m assuming it is, because it’s essential that we are capable of running campaigns for thousands of Clients simultaneously in the future.  Also, I notice in one of the GUI’s created by Abhishek Singh, it states a multiple campaign capability.  That’s necessary if we’re going to call everyone attending the meeting (that’s ONE campaign) while simultaneously showing the call progress screen of our lead-generation campaign (a SECOND concurrent campaign).  Since we’ll be running the IVR and/or the Call Transfer campaign 12 to 15 hours a day, we should be able to show the call progress report screen and explain what they are seeing.  This will reflect the system actually finding new leads that the attendees could be receiving while they’re watching the slide show!  It’s a little like showing money being earned as they watch.  I can’t think of a more effective method to convince people that we’ve got perhaps the most efficient and dynamic method for them to make money ever created!

Although I remain hopeful of our ability to demonstrate this system in Thursday night’s meeting, I’m not yet certain of it.  Even if I cannot do the live demo of voice broadcast, I still plan to show the new presentation, dubbed “Version 8” as you will see when you download it from our website.

Webinar Presentation Slide Editing Completed

I have completed editing slides for the new presentation that I’ll begin using as soon as we’re engaged in the voice broadcast campaign for new AMG members.  I expect that will happen tomorrow or Wednesday judging from Ab’s comments in my previous article.

The current presentation has 32 slides and a live demo showing the Port Income Calculator.  This new slide show has only 20 slides plus the live demo of the Port Income Calculator. The biggest difference other than reducing the details presented, is that I inserted a live demo of the GroupCaller^TM system. 

I’m planning to show two demonstrations.  The first will be a demo of setting up a calling campaign under which we’ll call everyone who’s watching the slide show.  Their phones will ring almost simultaneously, whether we have 2 or 100 people in the call;  we’ll deliver a demo message.  This will be a powerful method of demonstrating the power and effectiveness of GroupCast^TM .  We’ll actually begin promoting GroupCast^TM as soon as I start using this new presentation.  Beginning today, I’m asking all Associates to recruit GroupCast^TM Clients and encourage all Members and Clients to set up their calling groups and begin using the system.  At first, it won’t be a “do-it-yourself” system.  The GUI for that has yet to be developed.  We’ll create the GroupCast^TM GUI after we recruit our first 400 AMG Members.  The second demo will be a call progress screen on which I’ll be able to show the “live” call progress of our current massive AMG recruitment campaign.  While showing the demonstration, I’ll be able to discuss the powerful nature of calling millions of American small businesses and how that will positively impact the earnings of every Associate who decides to join the AMG so they can benefit from the leads generated.

All that’s left to do now is to re-write the “NOTES PAGES” for this slide show and upload it to the website.  I’ll do that today and should have it ready for all of you to to download and read by the end of the day.  Please log in and go to Associate Tools/Sales Materials to find the PDF for download.  I’m comfortable in making a commitment to have the new slide show ready for download no later than 4 pm.  There’s a chance it will be ready by noon today so if you want to check back early, please do.  I’ll leave the current version of the slide show in there too.  After we’re using the new slide show, I’ll delete the current version.

Weekend Voice Broadcast Upgrade Progress, BUT…

. . . we’re not quite there as of this writing.  However, the comments below show significant progress. Software development is a time-consuming, tedious, labor-intensive process.  We’ve been developing software for more than 5 years now, so it’s nothing new to us.  But if you’re not accustomed to it, the process can be very frustrating.  Here’s my most recent conversation with  “Ab” (as we call our programmer in India) from last night and this morning:

Richard: Do you think we'll be able to start testing the dialer tomorrow?

Please leave a message; i'll return about 7:00 am my time Monday

Sent at 10:12 PM on Sunday

abhishek.singh: Yes, I am putting both things to a GUI

Sent at 10:39 PM on Sunday

Richard: Very good. How is your progress coming along?

Sent at 8:05 AM on Monday

abhishek.singh: not bad, i am done with calling via scripts

Richard: ah. good :)

abhishek.singh: but they read from a csv file

and the web-page integration still remains

Richard: OK... I'll be here all day...

So as you can see, last night he answered “Yes” to my question whether we’ll be able to start testing today; but then this morning, he says “…the web-page integration still remains.”  That means “yes” it’s working, “no” you can’t actually USE it until I make it available through a web page.  We’re well aware of these things, but I want to bring those of you who are following this progress closely up to date as much as I can.  Actually, I interpret the comments above in a very positive light.  We have come so far over a very long time frame, that when viewed in the context of our over-all development history this project is progressing at lightning-fast speed.

I’m sure I’ll be in contact with Ab and Jeff throughout the day today as well as tonight.  And, for those of you who don’t already know, when he says “…I am putting both things to a GUI…”, the acronym stands for “Graphical User Interface.  It’s a fancy way of saying “web page”.  When he refers to “both things” at the beginning of the script above, he’s talking about (1) the interface that allows us to set up and run a calling campaign, and (2) the real-time reporting module that allows us to watch the call progress “live” as calls are being made on each channel (phone line).

The good news is that there is little doubt that we’ll be “dialing for dollars” by the end of this week.  Creating GUI’s is a very difficult process, much more complex for projects such as this than the average person realizes. However, Ab is an expert and well-experienced in this field so I expect he’ll have something useable tonight or tomorrow.  I plan to be showing the results of his work in our newly minted presentation… which is the subject of the next article.  

Message From Team India Today; Major Edit To Presentation

Well, I finally heard from Abhishek this morning.  As I suspected, one of their other projects took all their resources the past couple of days so ours was pushed back.  But it looks like my assumption that we’ll complete it this weekend was correct.  Here’s the message I got from him this morning:

Sir, I am so sorry for having delayed this . We had unexpected work load in the last 4 days thanks to political elections in India where our team got engaged. The project is not yet finished. I shall work on your system tonight and finish it ASAP. regards, Abhishek xxxxx xxxxxxxxxx

 

 

Hopefully, this will put us back on track to begin making calls on Monday, at least for test purposes.  I fully expect to be operational this week and generating leads for those Associates qualified to get them. 

 

Also, after lengthy discussion with staff and active Associates this week, I’ve decided to create a major editing change to the presentation this weekend.  The new webinar presentation will be much shorter and will focus on demonstrating the GroupCaller and everything it can do for the new AMG Member, for Clients and for Associates.  This week marks the first time we’ve been able to do anything like this, so we’re going to take full advantage of it.

 

Everyone knows that demonstrating is far more powerful than explaining.  Therefore, the new presentation will focus on a demonstration of voice broadcast and what a powerful form of communication it is and has always been.  I’m hoping to use two different elements of GroupCaller^TM in the demo:  (1) The call progress report and (2) the campaign setup.

 

With the call progress report, I’ll be able to show the system operating “live”.  I’m assuming that normally, during the presentation we’ll be actively making calls.  Therefore, it should be very easy to show the call progress report on the screen during the demonstration, and even show leads being created in real time.  I can’t think of a more powerful way to convey the message that “this works” than showing it actually producing results.

 

If I can figure out a way to do the next part I will.  That would be a live demo of how quickly and easily I can set up and make calls to a group of people.  The “group” will be one, a few or maybe even all people on the webinar.  This will be a great demonstration to show what a powerful form of communication this will be for our GroupCast^TM Clients. 

 

Since our initial 8,000,000 call campaign is aimed at small business owners, and that’s our primary market for Clients, this should be a very effective way to show them how well it works and how valuable it can be as a tool to enhance their own companies. 

 

I should have the framework for this new presentation done by Sunday night, but it will take some practice and a few more days working with our new GroupCaller^TM before I can actually work it into the presentation.  We’ve got a Webinar scheduled for Thursday night and I’m very hopeful that we can make the first live demo presentation that night.

Second Spanish-Only Webinar Successful

Last night we hosted the 2nd Spanish-speaking webinar.  We gained at least 2 very good prospects from this meeting with whom Julio will follow up in the coming days.  After the meeting, Julio and I spent a couple of hours analyzing that meeting and discussing what can be done to improve future meetings.  We did have one technical issue:  My microphone didn’t work properly, so he had to conduct the entire meeting by himself.  He did a great job!  This is good news for all of us because it means we’ll soon have multiple presenters; something that will be necessary as we ramp up this massive nationwide voice broadcast promotion.

As you know, we’re constantly revising and improving the basic presentation. Our biggest struggle since starting to sell memberships is answering the question:  “How can it be simplified?”  There’s a fine line between over-simplification, and the need to build the true value of the membership into the presentation.  After all, we’re not selling a cheap product; we’re selling a very high-end membership valued at tens of thousands and possibly hundreds of thousands of dollars in some cases.  When the sales price is in the thousands of dollars, we can’t afford to skimp on the presentation.  By the same token, we need to make it as easy as possible for people to  understand … and more importantly, it’s got to be easy for them to repeat to others.  THIS is something we have continued to fail at since the beginning.  There’s  just too much information in the presentation.  That has been a continuing theme since we first introduced the concept of selling a membership in late 2009. 

Today, I’ll be editing the main presentation once again to incorporate some of the ideas we discussed last night.  I’ll send the newly edited presentation to Julio late today so he can translate it to Spanish and prepare for more meetings next week.  The new presentation will focus on a live demonstration of the GroupCaller^TM. Because voice broadcast is at the core of our plans to move forward this year, it makes sense to make this the focal point of the presentation. 

Of course, we can’t use this new presentation until we’re actually conducting our nationwide campaign.  But as I said in the previous article, I expect to be in dialogue with India over the weekend, so I have no problem in asking you to monitor this blog Saturday and Sunday for any updates.  The GroupCaller^TM upgrade continues to be our highest priority and we’ll stick to it until the system is fully functional.  I expect the newly revised presentation to be given next week at our webinars. 

The first webinar scheduled for next week will be Thursday, 7:00 pm, MST.  If you know anyone who wants to attend let me know and we’ll send an invitation to everyone who wants to join. Don’t forget, this is the webinar where I expect to actually DEMONSTRATE our voice broadcast system.  (If it happens sooner, I’ll let you know.)  See you over the weekend!

Disappointment Thursday, But Not Disaster

Well, Thursday was disappointing to say the least.  I didn’t hear from Abushek in India Wednesday or Thursday. I have to assume he is working on the final  GUI for the bulk dialer and the real-time reporting.  These are the last 2 elements we need before starting calls to our beta testers.  Also, we aren’t the only people he works for, so it’s entirely possible he is engrossed in someone else’s project or emergency. 

Sadly, there are many Associates here (and several others at the company level) waiting for him to complete his portion of the work so Jeff Wilson can complete what he must do. It’s kind of a domino effect. One cannot execute without the other.  So as of this morning, I have nothing new to report as I had hoped for with respect to the completion of this upgrade.  It’s very frustrating to be so close, and yet there’s absolutely nothing we can do until the programmers complete their work. 

This condition is the direct result of under-capitalization. With sufficient capital, naturally, none of this would be an issue because we’d have a full time staff working around the clock on ONLY our own project. As it is, we have to cobble the software together with a conglomeration of contractors who (at the moment) cannot work for us full time b/c we lack the resources for consistent payment of salaries.

But I’m still not worried because I know very well the power of voice broadcast and its ability to bring us thousands of paying customers. With enough paying customers, the need for more capital is sharply reduced or eliminated entirely.  Right now, without additional capital, we have enough “excess capacity” to take on thousands of paying customers without investing one more penny.  That many paying customers provides sufficient cash flow to create substantial profits (i.e. new capital) for the company AND create a great deal of AFFLUENCE for numerous Associates!

We have ample reason for optimism. Although the last couple of days have been disappointing, it’s only because of a lack of communication with our India team.  This is just a very temporary issue and should not be seen as a major problem.  In the overall picture, we’re right on track and still well within the parameters to meet our benchmarks for 2011, which is to complete Phase I of our marketing roll out. 

Please check here over the weekend.  I fully expect to make up for the last couple of days’ lack of progress on Saturday & Sunday.  See you then!

First Spanish Presentation; Bulk Calling On The Way

Sorry I missed yesterday’s blog. Too many tasks, not enough time!  Last night we conducted the first online webinar in Spanish, thanks to Julio Nieto, one of our Hispanic Associates.  Julio is a long-time  (legal!) immigrant from Venezuela and has taken the time and effort to translate our entire presentation into Spanish.  A big “Thank You” goes to Julio! Thanks to his efforts, we can now present the GlobalTmail opportunity to those who don’t speak English.

Nathan, myself and Julio went to dinner after last night’s presentation, where I snapped this quick picture of Julio as we celebrated TWO “firsts” for the company.  Not only did we make the first Spanish-speaking presentation, but also, this was the very first time somebody other than ‘yours truly’ gave the entire presentation!  I expect to be handing over the reins of chief presenter to others in the coming months, but it seems that title has already been claimed, at least for the Spanish translation meetings, by Julio!  Once again, Thank You, Julio, for doing such an excellent job!  I really do appreciate your efforts.  We’ll be conducting another Spanish speaking meeting tonight at 7:00 pm.  If you know anyone else who would like to join, please let me know and we’ll send out an invitation.

On the “bulk calling'” front, I didn’t get any new information yesterday or this morning.  It’s about 8:30 a.m. as I write this and I have sent messages to both Jeff and Abushek asking for an ETA for the bulk dialer GUI (Graphical User Interface) as well as the real-time call progress report.  As of this writing I haven’t heard anything new.  I am quite certain I haven’t heard anything simply because they are both still working on the software.  I do expect a response sometime today and will report here as soon as I know more.  I am standing by my comments during the past week, that we do expect to be making calls by Friday (tomorrow!).  Please remember, that doesn’t mean well be in full production by tomorrow; it simply means we’ll be operating 10 concurrent outbound channels (phone lines), initially only calling our handful of beta testers. Once we’re confident that the call functions work properly, we’ll roll that into “live” database calls.  I don’t think we’ll need any more than a day or two of test calls before making the “live” calls. 

As we settle into our call distribution methods, we’ll start increasing the number of concurrent calls to the point where we are keeping all the trained and available Associates busy.  So it looks like March really is our “turn-around month!”