7 QUESTIONS YOU MUST ANSWER BEFORE BUYING BUSINESS TELEPHONE SYSTEMS

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1 Here is a list of 7 Questions I believe are crucial to have clearly answered before you buy a new business phone system, along with a simple scale I made up to help you see whether you can be looking for a very basic phone, or whether you need to be thinking about something a bit more robust. Here s how the scale works: Circle the number the most closely represents where you are on a particular need. At the end of the analysis, add up your points. Look at what category of phone system may be best for you (ultimately, only you can decide) How Important Are Phone Calls To Your Business? Now, this may sound like a really stupid question to ask, but hear me out on this: For some companies you know who you are phone calls are not that big of a deal. In fact, I ve had clients who down right hate phone calls and couldn t care less if they missed them or not. Most companies are more towards the center, where they are an important part of their business and also their ability to serve customers or communicate with vendors. Then there are companies who make their numbers off of phone calls call centers, sales organizations, places with really high levels of customer service. When these organizations miss calls they lose money and sometimes lots of it. And the use of their phones goes beyond just calling. They use them to track billable hours, customer service times, and employee production levels. These are cases where the phone system has to be much more than just serviceable. So it s important that you are clear as to where you are on the need scale: THE NEED SCALE

2 Is It Important For People To Get Their Voic Right Away (VRA)? For some companies, especially with sales people that are in a competitive industry, being able to get your voic s immediately is crucial. Other companies don t care. Does it matter to your company? THE VRA SCALE Will You Need Call Center Capabilities? Phone systems today do amazing things. This is fairly simple: either you need a call center or you don t. If you do, you have the option to get significantly powerful tools in a phone system that will greatly enhance your center s efficiency and most likely deliver a significant R.O.I. THE CALL CENTER SCALE Will Calls Be Answered By A Receptionist or By An Auto Attendant? Some companies believe that an AA is the kiss of business death. Others swear by the efficiency and the load it takes off of their receptionist/secretary. If used properly, the AA can really empower callers. With a simple, Thanks for calling our business. To speak to a real person right now, press 0. For a list of other options, press 5. I can t imagine anyone hanging up on that, but that s what makes the world go around: we all have different opinions. In any case, what I think is moot. What does your company believe is best? THE AA SCALE

3 Do You Want To Integrate Your Phone System and Your Computer/CRM? We re at the point where some of the best phone systems on the market are completely software. Even those that are traditional PBx are still able to completely integrate with your computer. What does that mean? It means you can manage all your calls from your computer, click to dial from a web browser or Outlook, track info in your CRM, record calls, log everything, fully manage every extension from a browser, track presence, empower mobility and it goes on! Now, trust me, these features are uber cool. Question is, are the uber necessary? If not, they may just be another expensive (but unnecessary) gadget. THE COMPUTER INTEGRATION SCALE Should You Consider Voice Over IP? Elsewhere I have written on this. I have also done a video on it. The bottom line is that there are specific needs present for businesses that need VoIP. It is currently not the free phone calls system that it s made out to be. (Maybe at your house sure. But not for business. At least, not yet.) Suffice it to say for now, if you don t have multiple locations, please take a minute to go get my whitepaper on this issue. Because without multiple locations, you ll need some other hefty reasons to go VoIP lest it be a moneypit for you. THE VoIP SCALE

4 What Does Your Monthly Phone Bill Tell You About Your Calling Patterns and Expenses? This can be confusing especially if you use AT&T. AT&T has never cared about clarity in their billing, and it doesn t seem to be a rising priority now or seemingly in the near future. Nonetheless, here are a couple criteria to determine if your phone system could be able to lower your monthly expenses for phone services. It may not even effect the type of phone system you buy in terms of features, but if you can find some money to save here in your services that makes the total cost of your new system less. (Subtract any advertising billing from your total.) Look at your total monthly cost (TMC). This should include any long distance as well. Take your total bill, divide it by the number of phones you have. If it comes up to more than $50, you re most likely out of alignment. Look at the taxes on your bill. If they account for more than 12% of the total bill, that s a problem. Look at your Long Distance. Are you paying a lot of money for LD? If so, there may be a way to get you into a better rate plan or some other solution to lower those expenses. Are you paying for local toll calls? Nobody should have to do that any more ever. Are there any charges on there you don t recognize? Find out what they are they may be wrong or unnecessary. Is there a voice services charge? This is usually voic that AT&T provides. I have not yet met a person who uses it everyone has voic with his or her phone system. I have, however, seen a lot of people unknowingly pay it every month. What a waste. (If you need help understanding your bill or determining if you are wasting money on it, go to the TTM website and contact us. We ll evaluate your current expenses for free!) Now, go back and total up all the scores from your scales. Once you have a total, write it here: (Total score) Turn to the next page

5 Find the range of your score, and read where you are. It s ok if you disagree, or if you don t want to follow the advice. This is purely to stimulate a thoughtful process in purchasing a phone system You are going to need a robust, full featured phone system. It will help your business in so many ways you ll be overwhelmed! Money will feel like it is falling from the sky, and you ll finally be able to bring back Margarita Monday for the employees every Monday Most likely you don t need call center capabilities, but you have a mobile sales force or intense customer service department. You also know that there are significant productivity tools available to you that will pay a significant R.O.I. Don t skimp on your phone system, and it won t skimp on you You are in a good spot. Phone systems today come standard with so many features, and yet you will be able to get by with out adding on some of the more pricey options. I say pricey because for you, they most likely won t help with productivity or sales You just need a dial tone and the ability to transfer calls to the boss. With phone system costs coming down, you re good to go Think used Nortel. They re cheap and available all over the place. (We can find one for you, easy ) It is my sincere desire that this helps you in the process of buying a new phone system for your business. If there are other issues that you need help with, please feel free to reach out to me, and best of luck! Scott (408) scott@ttmcommunications.com