Your Phone: Your Money & Lifeline- Take Care of It

Posted on September 18, 2014 by Wayne Brown, One of Thousands of Business Coaches on Noomii.

By Wayne N. Brown
TimeWellInvested.com

Of all the decisions you need to make, after committing to open a business, which phone service provider would seem to be as important as who does the cleaning. Do the agreed job for a fair price, and please don’t let me see the garbage involved with the service provided.
This morning, I discovered that phone service is not such an easy choice. When I was researching phone service for my office, I had a business friend who highly encouraged me to get a hard-wired phone line, and his reasoning made sense. No loss of service during power outage, or if the Internet Provider has a problem. Unfortunately, there are economic realities to consider when starting a business, and hard wire lines are super expensive, compared to cloud service. So I went cheaper…
And I paid for it, in the long run. It seems like, no matter how fast of an Internet speed you buy, it will never be adequate. And if you have multiple computers online, and multiple phone lines being used, all of a

sudden, phone calls can feel like you are engaging in hand-to-hand combat on an ice rink, armed only with chopsticks.
This morning, a local company lost out on an easy sale from me because their Internet Provider had an overnight outage. While doing my morning routine, as my pregnant wife and toddler lay sleeping, I noticed bees surrounding me. With young lungs in the house, it was essential to me that I get an expert, and I not attack them with a can of bug spray and lots of hopes of not getting stung.
I went to the Internet and searched for “bee extermination and my zip code.” The first names to come up were the national chains, but I have a policy about shopping locally whenever possible, so I scrolled. Halfway down the page, I saw a company I recognized, and Bingo! Their office is minutes from my house! Perfect! Let me dial and rectify the problem before the family arises. “Were sorry, this customer is currently experiencing technical difficulties.” Damn. So I called number two local, only to get the same message. Sigh… Number three provider said they could squeeze me in next week. Really?! So I flipped back to national, and they of course grabbed the business. Happily, the sale closed in one phone call. Sadly, my money is traveling out of state.
As an aside, and an article for another day, but a little heads up for your small or medium-sized business: if you are going to provide real estate on your website for emailing questions or service requests, consider

routing it to a generic email where multiple people can have access: gmail, yahoo, etc. Number 1 company had such an email section on their website, and I sent them with a most urgent email. I got a form email back… three hours later telling me the person was on vacation this week. The three-hour delay told me that the email went through the same Internet Provider who didn’t deliver my phone call this morning. This mistake probably cost the company a $300 sale- in addition to getting their magnet on my refrigerator for future animal-induced frights.
When budgeting for your business, new or old, phone service should be one of your tiptop priorities, at least if you are planning on having customers calling you. And hopefully you are planning on having your customers and potential customers reach out to you. Make sure you spend valuable time on the telephone decision. Think about it… would you be satisfied with a web host who kicked your website out of service any time they are having a rainy day?

Nine things to consider with your business’ phone service:
Hard Wire. Check it out. See if you can swing their prices. While the service is a little dated, you know your phone will be on, even if your competition’s phone might be out. Do some quick research. If it’s price prohibitive, just move along. But definitely worth putting the info into the mix.
Reputation. While I am the first to buy local when ordering a meal, or working with a service technician, when shopping for my business’ ability to communicate fluidly with customers, work to get the biggest, baddest service providers.
Price for the Cloud. Any cloud you consult with, they will give you the best price they can, and hide as many costs as they are able to. Ask directly for an estimation of installation costs. If you are not at the property where hardware will be installed, make another appointment. Installation can quickly run into the multiple thousands of dollars.
Call Forwarding. If their network goes down, can it be preprogrammed to forward calls to another number? Or what technology do they have to make sure your customers can still contact you? Don’t think your customers prize your business card with your cell number, any more than you prize the million cards you have received.
Ask the tough questions upfront. It is far easier to get your tough questions answered BEFORE your name is on a contract. Number one, what happens when primary service goes down? It will. Where is their backup? How quickly does it get rerouted? Will my customers be able to leave voice mail? If they say yes, ask how. If they cannot explain adequately, move along.
Make your list ahead of time. Build your list of all issues that are important to you. If the sales rep’s answer is inadequate or suspicious, keep walking.
If your customer can’t reach you, they might reach out to your competitor. And who needs that?! Make sure you have as many ways as possible to keep seamless contact with your customers. Remember, Mr. or Ms. Phone Person, that is how we pay your bill.
Customer Service is always best before you start service. After the wire is laid, the phone is ringing, and service is running, your phone sales rep is on to the next sale. You will likely never see them again, unless it’s somewhere in public. Take care of ALL your concerns before they move along. No matter how nice the agent is, and how much you get along, after the business relationship has started, you are going to be fighting for their attention. Make sure everything is spelled before you are losing sales to a bad phone line.
No matter how well you plan, technology will fail at some point. Just remember that you need to be reaching out and touching your customers before the spit hits the fan. It increases the likeliness they will forgive and forget. No one likes the significant other that only buys flowers when they know they are in trouble!

Wayne Brown is President of Time Well-Invested, a Coaching and Mentoring Service for Businesses, Not-For-Profits, Startups, and Organizations of all sizes.