CallFire Tutorial Making calls with CallFire: The biggest difference between making calls with CallFire and other calling you may have done is that rather than you picking up a phone and manually dialing phone numbers, you will connect your phone with the CallFire system and CallFire will connect you with live voters! The result is that you will talk with many more people during the phonebank - the downside is that there s a little more preparation needed than just pulling out a cell phone and a list of phone numbers. This guide should get you started and walk you through the system. Before starting to call, you will need: -a computer w/ internet -a phone (can be a cell phone, a Skype number, or a land line) -your campaign name and password (given out at the phonebank) Logging in to CallFire: 1. Go to www.callfire.com 2. Click on Agent Login
Logging into your campaign: 3. Enter the Campaign ID: This will be given to you at the phonebank. 3a. Your campaign may have given you a special link with this info filled in. If so, use that! 4. Enter your phone number. (This is the number that Callfire will call you at. It will not show up on caller IDs). 5. Enter the passcode: This will be given to you at the phonebank. 6. Enter your email address (This is your unique log in, and lets organizers know who is making calls in case there are questions. Your email will not show up or be used). 7. Select your hold music to listen to while you dial. When someone picks up, the hold music will end. However, the music you choose may be played when you transfer a caller, so please consider this when making your choice! Agent ID: 8. Click next. The system will call you and give you an Agent ID number. Answer your phone and follow the audio instructions to get your Agent ID. Each time you log in, the system will give you a unique ID. Go ahead and enter the number it tells you. Do not hang up your phone. Now stop! Once you hit log-in, you will be live with voters. Please read through the rest of this guide before proceeding in real life!
Making calls: 9. Once you enter your agent ID, the system will connect you with the CallFire system. You should start hearing your hold music. Do not hang up! Listen to the hold music and let the system connect you. Your screen will look like this: Who you are calling: Script: Where you mark answers to questions:
Talking to a voter: 10. The system will call 2-4 numbers at a time (you will see these numbers cycle down like Tetris blocks in the upper right). When someone picks up, the music will stop and their name will appear in the box in the upper right corner. Because the system is dialing for you, the recipient has already said hello, but you will not hear it. Say hello right away and start on the script. Mark the answers using the radio buttons below the script. It may be helpful to have a paper copy of your script as well. First name Last name Other biographical information ID # (for internal use) Mark your answers here, scrolling down as needed.
Finishing a call: Do not hang up! A. If you are simply recording what the voter said: 1. Hit end call. 2. Record your answers and any notes. When you are ready to talk to another voter, hit next call. B. If you are using smart drop with an answering machine: 1. Hit smart drop. 2. Hit next call. C. If you are transfering a caller: 1. For the first transfer, type in the phone number they will be transferred to (on the subsequent trans fers, that number will be remembered by Callfire). 2. Hit transfer. 3. Record your answers and any notes. When you are ready to talk to another voter, hit next call. C. A. B.
Hanging up: 14. When you are finished calling, you can hang up your phone. You will get a prompt to log off. If you accidentally hung up, you have the option to reconnect. Please send comments about this guide (or suggestions on how to improve it) to Erin@FuseWashington.org