Everything You Need to Know About … Talk It
With the added concerns of confidentiality and how to store such documents securely—and in a place where they are readily available—this everyday necessity can become a daily nuisance.
Enter Talk It, a mobile service that enables users to dictate into a phone whatever they need transcribed and receive an emailed copy—as a Word attachment, within the body of the message or both—within eight business hours.
The application (app) is designed for those in sales and financial services and comes from Mobile Assistant, a professional voice-to-text service provider in Verona, Wisconsin. According to Mobile Assistant President Corey Westphal, for every hour of dictation, Talk It users save an average of roughly three to four hours of typing. The company is compliant with the Gramm–Leach–Bliley and Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Acts (HIPAA), meaning all documents are kept private and secure; the service also integrates with some customer relationship management (CRM) providers, including Advisors Assistant, Ebix SmartOffice and Redtail Technology. Only one person can use each Mobile Assistant subscription account, however, and the service does not transcribe recorded phone calls or webinars. For a write-up with multiple people, as at a meeting, advisers may call 888-373-1916 for a per-line quote.
Talk It does not use automated transcription software; its U.S.-based transcriptionists are trained in financial industry terminology in order to supply accurate, high-quality documents. Advisers can keep meeting notes that are time- and date-stamped, which may help them refer to a particular development within one of their plans and thereby soothe any compliance concerns that arise.
Talk It Out
To use Talk It, an adviser may call in to the service via a toll-free phone number—866-745-3381—or use the app, available for download in the iTunes and Google Play stores. Next, the user must speak notes clearly into the phone, ideally in a quiet place. If on an unregistered phone, the user must enter his Facility and Author identifications. A welcome message will then play, but pressing the “4” button at any time during the session lets him skip this feature in the future.
According to the Talk It “Quick Start Guide,” several other keypad functions can help advisers to navigate their recordings: Press “1” to pause and resume; press “2” to rewind and play; “6” will save and create a new note; and “7” rewinds and plays the dictation from its beginning. To set a title for the emailed document, simply say, “Subject title is …”; you may also opt to have the email delivered only to certain contacts by saying, “Send to [these email addresses]”—the transcriptionist will send the final product only to the individuals specified. There is no time limit per call, and when you have finished your recording, you may save it and listen by using the key commands or hang up to end your session.
After the document has been transcribed, a copy will be delivered to the adviser’s email inbox and/or to his CRM. Users may also opt to view their saved documents right on their smartphones, for mobile access. All documents will be stored for free for the duration of the user’s Mobile Assistant subscription, and voice recordings remain available for replay for 30 days. A subscription costs $72.50 a month and includes 1,000 lines, or roughly 100 minutes; there is a charge of 12 cents per line over the monthly limit.
As an adviser, if you are interested in saving your ideas on the go, Talk It can free up precious time ordinarily spent taking down notes, so you can focus on what really matters to your practice.