The “Auto” button in the Caller ID settings activates a feature that can improve the probability the person you are calling will personally answer the call rather than send it to voice mail. When the button is Green the Auto-Match feature is active for every call. When it is gray the feature is not active.
When you initiate a call with this button set to “Auto” turboDial will attempt to find a number from your list of Caller IDs with an area code that matches the area code of the number you are calling, and if a match is found turboDial will substitute that number for the Caller ID rather than using the number that appears in the Caller ID selector.
If the area code for the number being called does not match the area code for any number in your Caller ID list then the call will proceed using the number in the Caller ID selector.
The status window in turboDial will display the Caller ID number that was used for a call when the call is answered. Also, the Call Note attached to the Contact Record includes a reference to the Caller ID number that was used.
Acquire Numbers to Improve Auto-Match?
Every inbound number you acquire in turboDial is automatically added as a Caller ID in your account. To help Auto-Match succeed in finding an area code match, you may want to acquire more inbound numbers to match up with area codes where your contacts reside.
Extended Auto-Match (North America only)
In many cases the number you are calling does not match on the area code with any number in your Caller IDs list and Auto-Match cannot make a substitution.
An additional option called “Extended Auto-Match” extends the match to look for any number in the same State. If you enable Extended Auto-Match then a number from your list of Caller IDs will be substituted as the Caller ID if it has an area code within the same State as the destination phone number. A Caller ID with the same area code will always by chosen first, but if none is found then a Caller ID from the same State as the destination number will be selected.
For example, you are calling 630-555-1234 and your Caller ID is set to 952-555-1234, and you have 312-555-1234 as an additional Caller ID number. That 312 number will be substituted as the Caller ID since it is from the same State as the destination, namely Illinois.
The Extended Auto-Match option allows you to improve your calling success by acquiring only one phone number for each of the States you call. It is not applicable for calling toll free numbers or non-North American numbers.
You can enable Extended Auto-Match using the Extended Caller ID Auto-Match Global Option.
Power Dial and Auto-Match
Caller ID Auto-Match can be used when you are calling a list using Power Dial. However, if you have Power Dial set to call groups of 2 or more contacts at once be aware that turboDial must use the same Caller ID for the group. That means the Auto-Match feature will choose a Caller ID to match the area code of the first number in the group of contacts being called. So, if you are using Power Dial to call 4 contacts simultaneously, Auto-Match will choose a Caller ID that matches the area code for the first, and the other 3 contacts will see the same Caller ID.
For that reason, better results can be obtained with Power Dial if you sort your list according to the phone number field before you load it into turboDial. That will increase the chance that all of the contacts in a group being called simultaneously will have the same area code.