While addressing the nation last night, President Barack Obama asked citizens to call their legislators and ask for an end to the debt ceiling debate. When the President asks, people listen. I can vouch for today’s reports that the Congressional Switchboard phone line is jammed to capacity – the first three times I called I got a busy signal.
An e-mail from the House Call Center shortly before 10 a.m. says House phone lines are near capacity, leading callers to sometimes get a busy signal. (via Politico)
As somebody who has spent hours upon hours of my time asking people to call their elected officials, I know how frustrating it is to see a supporter’s call wasted because they reach an overrun switchboard, hear a busy signal and hang up.
That call should have counted!
It’s for days like today that Mobile Commons has an entire suite of tools make every phone call count. Here’s how they work:
Automatic District Matching
Using a single phone number, callers will be automatically connected directly to their elected official’s office, avoiding switchboard bottleneck. You can even specify whether to send calls to the Rep’s district or capitol office. And, just to give you even more power, you can specify which specific Senators to target.
For example, if you know one Senator is already a “yes” vote (or never will be) and you don’t want to waste calls on him or her, you can send all calls to other Senator whose vote may be influenced.
Failover on Busy Signals
When the lines get jammed, callers may get busy signals or just ring and rung. Mobile Commons automatically detects this and lets you customize what happens, such as sending the that caller to an alternate phone number. Foe example, if you are routing them to their Representative’s DC office, you could indicate that if the phone rings for more than 45 seconds you want them to be routed to the district office (where perhaps they have more chance to get through).
Built-in Voicemail
On especially busy days, not only can you not reach a live operator, but even the voicemail fills up! Mobile Commons has built-in voicemail that lets constituents leave an audio message for their officials. These audio files are available for download as mp3 or transcribed to text and you can send them all straight to the Representative’s office
With years of experience processing millions of advocacy phone calls for hundreds of organizations, Mobile Commons has the tools to make sure that every call counts. Your supporters actions are invaluable – we make sure they make a difference.