12 Feb
This blog will help you outline the process for how you should analyze your business communications. That includes, vendor, technology, features, and price.
Understanding what you have now, If you have a business and that business has customers, more than likely you have a phone system. The simple truth is that your customers have to be able to reach you. Today there are more and more avenues for that. Sure your customers can email, text, message you over social media platforms, but they also want to be able to call you. Most businesses would tell you that their phones are the lifeblood of their business. So, don’t you think it would be wise to make sure that you are getting the most out of your phone system?
There are a few things that you should be looking at when reviewing your telecommunications. Here are a few items to get you started.
Contract
Most telecom services are tied to a contract. You will want to know when you signed the contract, how long the contract is most importantly how does it renew.
Evergreen Clause
Not all but most telecom contracts include an evergreen clause. That simply states if you don’t notify the carrier by a certain date the contract will auto-renew for a year. Some evergreen contracts even go as far as renewing for another three years. This is very important to understand. We tell our customers to negotiate that those clauses be removed all together.
Do You Have What You Need?
The key metric here is understanding if your customers are reaching you or getting busy signals. For example if you only have 5 lines how many times do you have 6 or more customers trying to reach you?
The Technology
In todays world you need to be taking full advantage of the technology offered. When it comes to your business phone system that might include the latest features like call recording, call metrics, and voice mail to email. Technology is meant to make us better and more productive so use it.
Being Able To Work From Anywhere
Can you easily work from home with your current system? If we have learned anything from 2020, we know the importance of being flexible in business. That means having to work from just about anywhere and still be able to reach your customers and have them reach you with ease.
The Vendor
Are you an expert in business phone systems? If you are then great. If not then you are going to want a vendor that will keep you talking. Things to consider here is are they local to your business or are they in another city, state or country. Is all the support included in the monthly fee or are they going to nickel and dime you to death? Do they provide onsite installation and training. Again, are you a phone expert? Do you really want to be responsible for installing your own phone system?
It’s important to take a look at your contract at least once every three years. Pricing tends to stay the same over a three year period. Depending on the age of your current contract and the type of technology you are currently using there could be some real savings on the table. In our experience customers that have not reviewed their telecom services in 4-5 years could save up to 50% a month.
If you’re ready to take a look at your current telecom situation Magic Apple would love to be a part of that. Please contact us at 615-425-7474 or visit our website at www.magicapple.com
