Dial 411 call center could employ hundreds

A headquarters and call center that Dial 411 is setting up in Meridian could employ as many as 300 people within a year, company President and CEO Randy Shuman said.

Starting July 31, operators there will provide residential and business phone numbers, and business referrals, to callers in 10 southwest Idaho counties for free, he said.

Dial 411 (or in phone-number form, 342-5411) charges client businesses an annual membership fee – which varies by type of business and number of headings desired - and per-call transfer fees of $1.65 to $5.50 depending on business type.

Hiring operators is slated to start early next month, with more brought on as demand warrants. The company plans to pay the operators around $10 an hour to start, and offer full health and retirement benefits, he said.

Dial 411 will start with 17 customer service representatives, and add a full team of about 15 each month thereafter, said Call Center Operations Vice President Stan Coombs.

“By 2008, we should be employing upwards of 300 call-center operators in this location,” Shuman said.
“Our intent is to take this nationwide in the next five years,” he said. “All inbound calls regardless of location (of origin) will come into this facility.”
When Dial 411 enters its next market, it will use the toll-free number 800-Infofast, Shuman said. That means adding businesses to its referral network, as the company already has a nationwide database of business and residential phone numbers.
Dial 411 is an alternative to the traditional telephone directory with white-page listings and yellow-page listings and ads. Operators will deliver all information live, including concierge-style business referrals with details such as market niches and as specialty offerings, history and organization memberships. Operators will mention the referral service at the end of each call.
Keys to its anticipated success, according to Founder and Senior Vice President of Sales Matt Lopez, include free constantly updated information, and that more people are using cellular phones and thus don’t have handy access to phone books.
Last year, calls from Treasure Valley landlines to directory assistance services totaled 12.7 million, at $1.25 to $3 depending on the telecom carrier, he said. Officials expect Dial 411 to pick up many of these landline callers, many cell-phone callers and a number of calls from people who wouldn’t have used information service at all if it weren’t free, he said.
Dial 411 also figures to help businesses save money now spent on calls from workstations to directory assistance services, Shuman said.
Lopez said that while Dial 411 will be convenient and constantly updated, the big challenge is replacing the phone book. Numerous directories are available in southwest Idaho.
“No one has ever been able to replace it, and few have tried,” he said.
Another competing mode is the Internet search engine.
“We understand we’ve got to market this to change peoples’ paradigms,” Lopez said.
He said Dial 411 is spending large sums on advertising and promotion, and has signed up to sponsor key events in the Boise area including the Snake River Stampede rodeo, the Boise Metro Chamber of Commerce Small Business Awards, the Better Business Bureau Integrity Counts awards and charity golf tournaments.
So far, Dial 411 hasn’t had trouble finding management and technical employees despite the tight labor market in Ada and Canyon counties, Lopez said.
Dial 411 will have a competitor as it goes national, the automated 1-800-Free411.
The four Dial 411 owners are Shuman, Lopez, Darin Ritz (senior vice president of operations) and Darlene Roman (senior vice president of finance and administration). The management team has more than 60 years of combined experience in the yellow-page industry.
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To contact the author, e-mail brad.carlson@idahobusiness.net.