Phone Burner Review

Phone Burner, aka phoneburner,  is a leading internet tool that does a lot of different things. In a nutshell Phone Burner is a program that takes your leads and uploads it to an automatic dialer that speed dials numbers. Now this might seem simplistic but understand that if you have hundreds of phone numbers to call the physical time it takes to dial a number, wait for it to pick up, listen if it's an answering machine, hang up, and then dial the next number. Phone burner does this hands free. Submit leads with phone numbers and it will dial them for you. If you get used to the phoneburner system it will even mute the dialing sound so you can be doing chores around the house and it will just connect you when a live person is connected to.

PhoneBurner Skipping Calls

The secondary power of PhoneBurner is the ability to skip voice mails and answering machine. So you record in your own voice your message you would like to leave. When the phone burner system detects a voice mail box it automatically switches you to another line and starts to dial while it leaves your recorded message on the previous caller. What this does is prevent you from having to leave hundreds of the same voice message personally. It will free up time by not having to listen to someone's voice mail and the system will leave your pre-recorded voice message an auto pilot while your waiting for the system to connect you to the next line. This works amazingly well.

PhoneBurner Third Bonus

The Third bonus is being able to send out an email to the ones you leave a message to. The ability to contact your leads in multiple ways and doing it on autopilot is a real time saver. The email will be stored and when a voice mail is detected the phoneburner system sends the email plus voice message on autopilot while the system switched you over to the next line. This takes place quickly and allows most to rip through leads who are not at their phone.

But not all is peachy with Phone Burner. So the question is…

Should You Buy Phone Burner?

First there is the issue of cost. There are multiple plans but most will need to max their account. The basic plan is $67.50 for only 7.5 hours. If you get leads that are talking your head off the timer is rolling. Your gut is telling you to get off the phone as the timer is ticking. Now the entry level plan does allow for roll over minutes but most using this plan won't have carry over since if the leads are worth anything you will be speaking with a couple leads that will more than take up your time. If your good with getting off the phone then this could be a good option but most understand building a solid relationship could take time and first impressions are very important. The unlimited is $149.00 and works well but over time that starts to stack up. At this price range other services start to come into play that one should start considering.

For most, the decision to buy phone burner boils down to time and cost. I mean that is the only reason why someone would use a service like this. To save time and money. When you start looking at the numbers and time spent one has to feel time really isn't saved, right? Screening and edifying yourself isn't the strong suits for PhoneBurner.

Issue Of Calling Leads – Does Phone Burner Help?

Second there is the issue of calling leads. Calling leads can be fun for 2% of the population. It's not exactly a cold call if you have solid leads but as a society there are some serious issues with people in general. You can buy opportunity leads that are fresh and call them only to be yelled as for spamming. You can even generate your own leads and they will question why you have their information even though you have it noted that they requested information from you just a day ago. When you speak to enough people the majority of purchased and self generated leads are not qualified to spend time with you. This is why call centers and telephone sales agents are outsourced. Over time this approach will burn you out! Just by looking around how many successful home business owners rather be on the phone calling luke warm leads? Most would rather have an assistant screen the call.

Screening Calls with Phone Burner

This is the main missing ingredient. Screening doesn't take place early enough in the call process and what this does is allow tire kickers and time wasters to speak with you. It's one thing if your a super closer but those are very rare in our industry, and even those don't like to speak with unqualified leads. The ability to sift and sort out the leads is the best use of your time. Would you rather be doing other tasks like generating more leads than speaking with broke prospects? Phone burner puts you on the front lines which in my own experience will drain your time with poor prospects. Not to say all of your leads will be poor prospects but if time is money it's better to follow suit as large companies do. Only speak with qualified and pre-screen individuals.

Having Used PhoneBurner

So this leads me to where I went from there and the main point of this phone burner review. After using Phone Burner for months and spending countless hours with tire kickers I decided to move to a professional call center. A virtual assistant did come across my list of potential outlets but most virtual assistants with fluent english are extremely expensive for the hourly rate. Over seas virtual assistants are a not desirable. So instead I went to a using something called My Phone Room which takes care of all the issues and on top of that added a ton of benefits.

PhoneBurner Fast Enough?

If you value your time and understand you are not the chef, the bus boy, the hostess, the dish washing attendant, the manager, and the owner of your so call business then you understand the need for outsourcing. I'm not saying don't speak with your leads but speak with leads that are pre-qualified and in the process get edified during the screening. What is more powerful than having a lead who speaks with a native english speaker in the United States who is interviewing your leads to determine if they qualify for your time. That is a huge benefit in your favor to be put on a pedestal as the saying goes “no one is a prophet in their own town”.

The PhoneBurner Cost

The true phoneburner cost lies in the fact it takes time. I mean sure it's a tool better than the phone but one could make an argument that writing a report on paper is just as good as writing it on a typewriter. I'm going to go as far as relate the phoneburner cost in relation to time like writing a book with paper and pencil. While using MyPhoneRoom is like writing a book in relation to time like using a computer.

The real phoneburner cost is when you consistently start hitting disgruntled leads, leaving voicemails and having to follow up with that voice mail, speaking with tire kickers and not understanding when to hang up, getting phone call returns from those who refuse to listen to their voice mail and call you instead for the full scoop, and even the restricted time frame you must make your calls. When I was using phoneburner, the true phoneburner cost for me was that I had to use it part time. And the only time I could make calls was from the time dinner ended for me at 7pm to 9pm. The reason you need to stop calling is your not supposed to call people past 9pm their time. Since I'm central standard time there were daily instances I would keep missing my opportunity to call Eastern standard time prospects. This would be completely useless if I lived on the West cost, Hawaii, Or Alaska. By the time I could make my calls after dinner most of the Eastern prospects would be past 9pm and PhoneBurner wouldn't dial them.

So the true cost to PhoneBurner? I had to cut into family time to call people. This to me was a complete NO-NO. The reason I wanted automation was to free up time to be with my kids and my wife. Sitting down daily 2-3 hours a day to make calls after dinner was NOT my idea of being efficient. There had to be a better way to connect to my prospects, right?

I use something different that doesn't use my time anymore for the last couple years… are you using phoneburner or something that requires YOU to make the calls??


Lawrence Tam

Funny dude who grew up in Houston, and retired from Mechanical Engineering at the age of 33. Has 3 kiddos and happily married and marketing full time since 2012. Learn how to take control of your life and health through a simple challenge to keep you healthier one day at a time - Click Here to Learn More.

14 Comments

Scott Rosen · April 14, 2015 at 3:28 pm

HI, thanks for the info. What would say are the top five alternatives to phoneburner?

    Lawrence Tam · April 15, 2015 at 6:34 pm

    5… hmmm

    I’ve only used phone burner, myself, my assistant, and myphoneroom which I give my customers my custom scripts

    Chris · July 30, 2018 at 11:40 pm

    RIPOFF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ITS NOT EVEN A PREDICTIVE DIALER

spooon · October 11, 2013 at 10:21 am

@Michael Cushman thanks for that input… and another way to use it..

Michael Cushman · April 3, 2012 at 3:17 pm

I guess you have to have one comment to disagree. I look at phone burner a little differently. I don’t sell people who answer anything. I just want to verify their email address which I have. So, actually I hope they don’t answer.

I leave a voice mail that says I called to verify their email address and I’m sending them information they requested. Then I send the email. The email is short, not a sales letter and it sends them to a video that converts at 25%.

I used to bulk mail and develop leads well, but now that doesn’t really work. But I look at Phone Burner as a way to “bulk mail”, but with a better open rate, because they have gotten a message that they are getting an email in a few minutes, look in their spam mailbox in case it gets filtered as spam, and curiosity drives them to the video and they sign up without any other interaction from me. Great way to make some money and build a list.

If the system didn’t work so well, it wouldn’t be worth it. My Phone Room would be better. By the way, MLM List Builder’s aged surveyed or phone surveyed leads work fabulously for me. Most leads are worthless, but these actually are good.

    Marilyn Jenkins · June 13, 2016 at 5:50 pm

    I’d like to know more about: 1) your email that converts at 25% and 2) where to get more info on MLM List Builder’s list. Thanks.

Joe · December 8, 2011 at 8:41 pm

Phone Burner has been a decent product but really hasnt improved anything over the last long while. I have found that Cdialer.com is more reliable and easier to use. Cdailer is many steps ahead of Phone Burner and other dialers. They are also constantly improving their product with great support.

Karl · October 6, 2011 at 5:40 am

Nice information & the way of presentation. If you want automation in calling with lowest investment go for “Ytel ($50)” or “My Sales Dialer ($10)” one time fee!

Rics321 · May 18, 2011 at 6:01 pm

I just found mlmleadspecialist is now offering unlimited phoneburner for free. wow phoneburner must be desperate. 

    Lawrence Tam · May 18, 2011 at 6:05 pm

     interesting. for the vast majority people like to talk to “qualified” leads. phoneburner allows people to do the screening and that is NOT fun. talking to motivated qualified prospects is a totally different thing. Phoneburner has to have bad retention due to most just won’t continue using it. it burns you out over the long haul.

Dial · March 31, 2011 at 6:40 pm

The phoneburner website does create a false picture of how various laws are instantly violated and even use it as a plus point for lacking the ability to do recordings and predictive dialing. One could call that clever marketing to promote their product with scare tactics.
I would have preferred to hear the real issues and simply acknowledge that the product is not attempting to be a predictive dialer.

    Lawrence Tam · March 31, 2011 at 7:10 pm

    in a way it is but really it’s just a way to avoid talking to the answering machine. It’s fine for some but for most who don’t want to go through “screening” there are better options.

Anonymous · November 3, 2010 at 1:59 am

this is some awesome info Mr. Tam, I like the way you wrote this article bro.Thanks a million for sharing

    Lawrence Tam · November 3, 2010 at 2:00 am

    make sure to leverage your resources = time and money 😉 thanks for posting

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