“7 Secrets The Other Telco’s Don’t Want You To Know”
1. Firstly, they don’t want you to know when a better deal becomes available.
We’ve have lost count of the number of customers who say ‘Why has my ‘Account Manager not shown me these strategies?’… This is mostly said after we’ve spent just a few minutes showing them some simple strategies to significantly reduce call costs.
2. “Bundling” your telephone hardware with your ‘call spend’ cuts you out of massive savings.
The sales person gave you a great spiel – told you everything you wanted to hear.
i.e. “It’s Easy…Everything is on easy to read bill…you will save up to 16%… one easy monthly payment.” or perhaps “We’ll give you thousands $ to spend on a new phone system, just sign up for this fixed spend for 5 years”
Here’s the Real FACTS
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- ‘ Telco’s are primarily interested in your monthly call spend!
- ‘ Telco call rates have consistently dropped annually over the past decade
- ‘ A tiny discount (around 16%) on qualifying calls to lock you into fixed prices for 3 – 5 years. (Think about it this way…would you lock in a fixed Mortgage rate in a falling interest rate market?)
- ‘ In almost all cases the tiny Telco discount falls a long way short of off setting the cost of paying for the their re-branded phone system.
- ‘ Telco’s need to maintain revenue levels; they’re simply not concerned about reducing your bill. Instead offering purported FREE $ to spend on phone system equipment (only supplied by them). In return for your lengthy obligation of minimum monthly spend for the next 5 years. (would you sign a 5 year mobile phone contract? what’s more “would you consider an exyended period when the NBN is just around the corner?”)
3. How to avoid being forced to change your phone number.
We’ve witnessed countless times the “You’re kidding me!” look from customers after I say, ‘there’s an excellent chance you can keep your existing number at you’re new address’.… again they ask “Why didn’t my ‘Telco’ Account Manager not tell me?” I almost all instances numbers can be easily moved to other exchange areas within the same city.
4. Too many customers per account manager in most Telco’s
It takes quite a few (5+) years, continual training sessions, some technical prowess and raw feet on the street experience to have any genuine hope of understanding the technology in modern Voice and Data Networks. Typically telecom account managers are young and entirely sales focused hungry for their next commission cheque. This means that on the whole customers have to put up with unsuitably qualified, inexperienced account managers who are forced into reactive modes due to the high customer to account manager ratios.
Would you trust your business with an inexperienced Accountant or perhaps a 1st year Solicitor?
We’ve lost count of the times I’ve heard ‘we have an account manager, but we never hear from them and we can’t raise them on the phone’. What’s more when we manage to get a live person to answer we discover they’re new to the role replacing the former hard to find manager! Our experience over the last 29 years has noticed the average life of a telecom account managers to be around 12 to 18 months before they move on. In that time they feverishly sign up unwitting customers to lengthy 5 year contracts, mostly leaving behind a legacy of disgruntled uninformed and poorly serviced customers.
5. How To Avoid Being Trapped By Poor Quality VoIP
VoIP stands for “Voice Over Internet Protocol” … Not ‘Voice Over the Internet”
We have witnessed inexperienced sales people promise ‘perfect voice quality’ using highly contended low grade ADSL internet connections. The reality is you’ll need a dedicated ADSL from a quality provider using private IP connections.
VoIP technology works exceptionally well. It can deliver a secure, high quality and low cost phone service. To avoid being trapped by poor audio quality, discuss your options and strategies to fashion a purpose built network for voice communications.
6. High Commissions influence the recommendations made by Telco Account Executives
This removes the benefit of ‘independent’ advice that is best for your business.
Once again you get the great spiel…“Everything is on easy to read Bill… You will save up to 16%… We’ll support you – just call 1300 ??? ???… One Easy monthly payment.”
But here are the FACTS. The Telco Account Manager;
- ‘ Often decides which “Mate” he’ll get to sell you the telephone system purely based upon the “Mates” closing ratio (ie; the likelihood of the Telco Account exec getting their free commission).
- ‘ Is heavily influenced Not to discuss your Best available options allowing you to make an informed decision.
- ‘ Receives very high commissions on long term contracts Bundled with Telephone Equipment Hardware. Questionable integrity.
- ‘ Support = Call a Help Desk, wait in the queue, speak with a low qualified call centre operator, get passed around from operator to operator (sound familiar?) And all you want is to speak with the people who installed the system, but you have to go through this other process first. Sounds Hard – Because it is hard.
7. Reduce Line Rental Costs.
Your telephone number is your unique identity and very important to your business so avoiding line rental is not always possible, however the quantity and type of lines required to successfully operate your business is another story.
There’s a simple formula used to calculate the number of lines you’ll need. It’s based on your staff numbers and to some extent your industry.
With simple and innovative voice solutions, a medium sized office could expect to Save around $2500 – $3000 per year in Line rental alone
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