10 years ago it was SO much easier to choose between the small phone systems available. Solutions offered less and it was more about what extras you had to pay for with one brand versus another. Now you have a multitude of brands as well as different technologies available and it can be VERY confusing. The problem of which small phone system to choose is further complicated by the fact that many systems now include almost everything that small business owners need straight out of the box.
Perhaps the biggest issue faced by customers is they simply don’t know what technology is out there. Unfortunately many sales people feel loathe telling them because it just complicates the sale. So time and time again we see new customers come to us that have a potentially great small phone system solution and absolutely no idea what it is truly capable of. The other company chose not to tell them.
So what can you do to simplify buying a small phone system solution?
- TIP 1- Ask about all the current features and ascertain which ones could benefit the way your company works. Make sure you really dig deep here because more advanced technologies often provide the greatest productivity enhancements.
- TIP 2- see how much money moving to a VoIP small phone system can save you. Don’t dismiss VoIP off hand until you understand how good current VoIP offerings actually are. Plus, don’t just take a salesman’s guestimate but rather ask for a proper savings analysis to be based on a recent phone bill. The savings can be astonishing and they can also be non-existent depending on how you use the phones in your office.
- TIP 3- Ask the company to explore both hosted and hybrid solutions and explain the pro’s and con’s of each.
- TIP 4- Ask the company you choose how they actually go about installing the small phone system solution. There’s no point getting a potentially great solution if they aren’t going to spend the time to tailor it to your individual needs. Equally important is how their training is conducted so your staff can get the most from the small phone systems they implement.
- TIP 5- What are your payment options. Many phone companies disguise the actual price of small phone systems in rentals and offsets. It may look good on the surface but you could still be paying through the nose for the actual solution. Many times we’ve seen systems quoted at up to 3 times what they’re worth simply because the company was able to offset the system price with call savings. Ask for an outright purchase price so you can easily compare.
These are the basics and if you follow these 5 tips you are a very long way to ensuring your next small phone system will be the right one for today as well as the future.
Before you go, make sure you check out the full range of small phone systems available.
