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FastCall411 to Provide Next Generation Local Search

Posted on: Monday, 19 March 2007, 09:00 CDT

Declaring that it's time to fix the problems inherent in the local-search based pay-per-call model, FastCall411, Inc. today announced the launch of the company and Q2 availability of its first product. The company made the announcement at the Kelsey Group Conference Drilling Down on Local '07, at the Santa Clara Marriott through March 21.

FastCall411 is the first product to make the merchant's availability and willingness to accept a call "right now" as central to creating a quality local search experience for consumers. "There are a lot of ways to deliver a better consumer experience -- and enhancing the consumer experience is FastCall411's reason for being," said Richard Rosen, founder and principal of FastCall411.

Until now, the pay-per-call model has benefited the pay-per-call provider first, the merchant second, and the consumer third. "We believe that by flipping that model there is a real business to be built and a real need to be met," Rosen said. FastCall411 seeks to solve the problem of the already-busy consumer weeding through disconnected numbers, busy signals, unanswered calls, and merchants who are just too busy to respond to important needs at the time the call comes in.

Rosen said FastCall411 will go live within the next 60 days and will include a built-in business model that goes well beyond what exists in the industry today. "Too many local searches on Google and Yahoo! right now result in an unsatisfactory result for the consumer," he said. "We'll be working with search sites to improve this for their customers."

After years of developing expertise in interactive local media, call measurement, pay-per-call and local search, FastCall411 has created a service that has a real potential to transform the local search industry, according to Rosen. "We know that most local searches for service providers in a wide range of categories -- merchants who are your typical Yellow Pages advertiser -- will result in a phone call," he said. "There is no shopping cart at the end of these transactions. There is a call, then appointment, then contract. FastCall411 will represent a significant departure from this frankly unsatisfactory status quo."

The company will also master the art of selling local merchants. "The industry understands that the SME market will not rely on a self-service approach to satisfy their advertising needs," Rosen said. "It is also understood that a large premises sales force is not the likely answer for the search industry." To address these issues, FastCall411 plans a summer roll-out of the industry's most scalable, effective and efficient local advertising sales program.

FastCall411 is currently in talks with potential investors and partners. For more information, Rosen can be contacted at richard@fastcall411.com or at (323) 799-4777.

About FastCall411

FastCall411 was founded by Richard Rosen, a recognized leader in local search and pay-per-call, with more than 20 years' experience in the media and telecom industries. Rosen has pioneered developments over the last six years in phone-related applications for Jambo, Callsource, EyeCron and Move, Inc.

Source: Business Wire

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