BUSINESS PHONE NEWS

Dollars Spent on Communication Technology Lead to Better Business Marketing

By Dan Baldwin, Editor
951-251-5155 email

Everyone loves to get a "two for one" deal when it comes to parting with their hard earned dollars. I got married on Valentines Day and now every year I get a two for one deal when I take my wife out for our anniversary dinner.

Business owners can get a two for one deal when they invest in upgrading their communication technology because they will quite often discover that improved business communications leads to improved business marketing results.

Following are just a few examples of how better communication technology tools improve a firms normal operations as well as their marketing.

 

More & Better Phone Numbers

Years ago one of the most important annual decision a business owner would make is "Do I change my Yellow Pages listings?"  Now instead of printed directory advertising business decision makers are deciding where to invest in on-line advertising. 

To determine which on-line advertising buys are pulling the greatest response, savvy business owners use a different phone number for every different on-line ad. SIP phone numbers are a new technology service that allows any phone number in the world to be answered by any phone in the world.

With SIP phone numbers and their advertising business owners can decide how to move their advertising dollars around on a day to day basis by monitoring which phone numbers are being dialed through a web portal. No need to wait for the phone bill at the end of the month.

 

Cloud Blogs & CRM

If you've been thinking about which of your on-site computer applications are best suited to by moved to "the cloud" take a look at your blog and customer relationship manager or "CRM" software first. While it's difficult enough to maintain working in-house computers for your employees it can be harder still to maintain separate in-house computers for individual applications like your company blog or CRM.

With "cloud" services applications like TypePad.com, WordPress.com for blogs and SalesForce.com and Zoho.com for CRM's, getting your marketing applications off of old in-house computer equipment and onto a cloud solution with all the latest upgrades has never been easier.

 

Who Can You Call to Get a 2 for 1 Technology / Marketing Deal?  Call Us!

We started in the phone business and phones have always been a marketing tool. Now we're in the "cloud business" and the cloud is certainly a marketing tool.  Give us a call so we can share with you how we've been able to help many clients just like you get improved technology AND improved marketing all the the same dollar.

Following is a short video that shares additional ideas for using technology to improve marketing.

 

Photo credit: iStockPhoto.com # 19431199

Hot Holiday Party Techno Chit-Chat: What to know in advance of your next business cocktail party...

By Dan Baldwin, Editor
951-251-5155 email

Business owners and managers are kind of funny when they get together for drinks during the holidays.

For whatever reason, after reviewing the big deals that were won or lost over the past year, people seem to want to talk about the latest ways they're rolling out and using all the coolest new office technologies to bring in much more business in the new year.

So that you're not left in the lurch when someone turns to you and asks, "So what new office technologies are you leveraging next year?", following are some recent office technology headlines that will help you carry your end of the "my smartphone's better" holiday party techno chit-chat.

 

Here comes the Windows Phone Hail Mary! by CNN Money  

If you're a business owner that is "all in" with Microsoft as your business productivity platform then read this article to learn that industry critics think Microsoft has finally rolled out a winner in the smartphone marketplace with the Windows Phone 8. Read this article for a big picture "office suite" understanding. Here's a couple YouTube videos to help: Windows Phone 8 Rant, Windows Phone vs. Android

 

Samsung Galaxy S III Dethrones iPhone as World's Top Seller by CNN Tech

Yes, this is the phone in those mocking TV ads about Apple groupies, obsessing over their impending purchase while a happy Galaxy S III owner saves a place in line ... for his parents. In the 2012 Q3, The Galaxy S III shipped 18 million units worldwide, compared with 16.2 million for the iPhone 4S.  For more info view the "Wirefly Smackdown" on Youtube.

 

Killing the Market for Stolen Cell Phones  by CNN

Recently several U.S. wireless carriers implemented the first part of a national strategy to deter cell phone theft: a joint "blacklist" database of identifying information about cell phones reported lost or stolen. As of now, cell phone dealers are supposed check this database before honoring requests to reactivate allegedly "locked-out" phones, in order to prevent people from using stolen phones.

 

Feast Your Way through Google Business Tips  by Google & Your Business Blog

Apparently your business can use Chrome, Gmail, Google+ and Google Calendar in a sophisticated business manner and this blog writer wants to show us all the tricks. More Google business tool tips.

 

Google's "Get Your Business Online" Free Websites for Businesses  by Google

Seriously, if your business is one of the 50% of US businesses without a website by now then there's something seriously wrong with you or your business (or both). Google is giving away business websites and showing you how to put them on the web with their GYBO initiative. Click here to do it now!

 

Google Cancels Christmas (and all of December) by CNN

Is Google in a hurry to get 2012 over with?  Probably not. But that didn't stop the snarky headlines after it was discovered that a buggy app in the new version of Google's mobile operating system omits the month of December.

How to Access Avaya, Adtran or Samsung Business Phone Solutions Through the Tech Vendor of Your Choice

By Dan Baldwin, Editor
951-251-5155 email

Can separate technology equipment vendors really work together successfully to provide business end users with critical productivity applications that require integrated telecommunications solutions?

Not usually (or not cheaply).

Over the past decade a serious problem has occurred to the "interconnect" businesses across the US that have always been available to help small businesses keep their PBX phones running. The problem is many of them have gone out of business and the ones that are left have little interest or time for multi-vendor integration projects that don't have very fat margins.

 

If Your Phone Guy Won't Sell You IT, Get Your IT Guy to Sell You Phones

Right after "We want it to cost less", the number two request of most business owners of any communication technology integration project is, "I want just one throat to choke!"  For many businesses, this second request is really the first such that they'd actually pay more for a solution if they can get a single vendor to "own" the whole solution.

Enter the ICP or "integrated communications provider".

ICP's can be phone guys that now help their customers with their IT networks or IT guys that now install phones. This ability to "single source" integrated communication solutions that mix phones, computers and smartphones makes business customers more competitive (and their ICP vendor more profitable).

 

How Hard is Selling & Installing Business Phone Systems?

Not that hard if it's done through NTS Direct.  Despite their name, NTS does not sell Avaya, Samsung or Adtran phone systems directly to business end-users, but they do help design, sell and support these business phone system installations through almost any sort of technology company that may have customers asking for single source solutions that will include one of these three phone systems.

As phone systems become just "one more application" on a businesses integrated voice and data network, business customers that like the Avaya, Adtran or Samsung phone system equipment solutions can stick with these phone systems AND get them installed and serviced through the tech vendor of their choice - through NTS Direct.

Click here to download a whitepaper interview with Scott Davis, President of NTS Direct and read how their Avaya, Samsung and Adtran affiliate program works to help business customers single source integrated communications solutions through the tech or IT vendor of their choice.

 

The Best of Both Worlds? Yes!

Multi-location businesses in the US have significant existing investments in Avaya, Adtran and Samsung business phone system equipment equipment. For one reason or another though many no longer have a relationship with the business phone system interconnect company that initially sold them their phone system.

Now, through NTS Direct, any business that has Avaya, Adtran or Samsung phone equipment (or wants it) can access it through the local tech or IT vendor of their choice so that the customer can have the "single source solution" that they want for their converged voice and data telecom solution.

If you don't yet have a preferred ICP or "integrated communications professional" to be your single source solution, click here to find a recommended Telecom Association solutions partner in your local metro area to help you. You can also contact me for a customized referral.

Gadget Review: Plantronics' CT14 Headset Phone Connects Your Home Based Call Center Employees For Less

By Dan Baldwin, Editor
951-251-5155 email 

One of the big cost-saving benefits for businesses when switching their phone system to a VoIP based solution is they can instantly allow their "desk based" call center employees to work from a home office.

This saves the company the overhead of maintaining an expensive office cubicle and opens up the potential labor pool to a whole lot of qualified U.S. based call center employees who are glad to "do a quality job for less" so long as they can work from a home office.  

This single benefit is one of the biggest reasons many businesses are bringing off-shore call center jobs back to the U.S. that had, in past years, been outsourced to India, the Philippines or some other far away land where they "kind of speak English" but not completely -- and not to the satisfaction of your upset customers calling into your call center.

 

Do Home-Based Call Center Employees Need an Expensive VoIP Phone? No!

The big purchase decision question for businesses trying to properly outfit home office employees so they can tap into the new VoIP enabled office phone system is "How expensive of a phone do home workers need?"

Well if the home-office employee is the CEO of the company, then the most expensive phone that Polycom sells. But what about your call center employees that don't have stock options?

Many VoIP and SIP phone vendors will tell you that you don't need to buy your home-office workers a phone at all, saying "the beauty of our VoIP phone solution is all your home office people need is our 'soft phone' that appears right on the screen of their computer".

Well, in theory, soft phones work just fine -- until the soft phone user has opened up 27 browser windows on their computer or you get confused about using the keyboard and mouse for both their phone call and order fulfillment on their computer at the same time. 

Combining your computer and phone keyboards or trying to get your computer to be a phone is really a recipe for inefficiancy and "angry at the IT guy" home office employees.

 

Split the Different for WAY UNDER $200!

The most important phone feature for your at-home worker is the ability to work hands free. Whether your home-based employee is a call center worker keying an order into their computer or your highest paid sales person just needing to wave his or her hands while giving an empassioned sales pitch, you'll likely not find a "work at home phone" that better splits the cost difference than the Plantronics CT14.

Does Your Business Telephone Number Show Up Correctly in a Google Search? Here's How to Check it (and Fix it...)

By Dan Baldwin, Editor
951-251-5155 email

The whole point of having a business phone number and a published listing is so people can call you and do business with you.

But until customers and prospects commit your phone number to memory or your business phone number earns a spot on their speed dial list, how do you suppose they're going to find your number?

Pull out the latest 10-pound printed phone book from their desk drawer - no.

They'll Google it, if course.  

But does your business phone number, your address and a little map pop up as the top listing when your business name is Googled by customers and prospects?

If not, you need to fix that. It doesn't cost anything and it's pretty simple to do

 

Google Business  Listings 101

To see an example of what a semi-proper Google listing should look like, Google search "ATEL Communications".  

Below is an example of what this search delivered the day I wrote this blog post. Click on the image to see it bigger.

Increase Sales & Appointment Setting 400% Without More Phone Equipment Using a Hosted Predictive Dialer

By Dan Baldwin, Editor
951-251-5155 email

Any company that frequently contacts large numbers of prospects or customers by phone can achieve four-fold productivity increases with a hosted predictive dialer.

A predictive dialer is an amazing call center "SaaS" or software as a service solution, and can be particularly beneficial to any business that relies on inside sales people, either working on site or from a home office, to identify new sales opportunities; gather information about their marketplace, their customers, or their competitors; generate revenue; schedule large numbers of appointments; and perform other tasks that require extensive outbound outreach via telephone.

 

Phone Activities Improved by Hosted Predictive Dialing Include:

• 
  Appointment setting
• Cold calling
• Qualification and prioritization of campaign responses
• Nurturing of “hot” leads
• Phone-based sales to new prospects
• Up-sell and cross-sell initiatives to existing clients
• Customer loyalty programs
• Satisfaction surveys
• Market research
• Competitive analysis
• And much, much more!

Without a predictive dialing software package in place, agents waste valuable time repeatedly calling number after number – only to receive busy signals, voice mail messages, no answer, fax machines, or disconnected numbers. This reduces the number of “live” conversations they can conduct, and prevents them from spending as much time as possible interacting directly with their target audience. 

Predictive dialing software helps companies overcome these challenges. Predictive dialer systems are proven to dramatically improve the speed and effectiveness of agents and reduce costs, while allowing a much greater volume of calls to be initiated and maximizing talk time. As a result, business can more rapidly achieve their goals by performing faster, more successful outbound outreach. 

Industries that use hosted predictive dialers include:

• Auto Agents and Dealers
• Banks
• Carpet Cleaners
• Caterers
• Charities
• 
  Churches
• City Municipalities
• Credit and Collections
• Dentists
• Fundraising
• Healthcare
• Health/Fitness Organizations
• Home Improvement
• Insurance Agents and Brokers
• Investment Firms
• Janitorial Services
• Mortgage Services
• Physicians of all types
• Political Campaigns and Polling
• Recreational Leagues and Organizations
• Restaurants
• Retail
• Schools
• Unions
• Veteran Organizations

 

How to Choose a Hosted Predictive Dialing Solution Vendor

Multiple vendors are in the hosted call center marketplace all competing for you to conduct a trial with them.  Vendors worth considering include Five9, SafeSoft Solutions, Avaya, TelStar Hosted Services, InsideSales, YTel, StrataSoft, Front Range, Vocalcom, Angel, Telax, Contactual, Kunnect, ConnectFirst, VICIdial's VICIhost and many others.

If you don't have a hosted call center solution in place then any of these vendors will get you on the right path to increasing the productivity as much as 400% over a call center that does not use predictive dialing (or maybe not).

As with any multi-vendor and multi-application solution, the seemless integration of your existing phones, dial-tone and CRM will be critical to ensuring any productivity gains. Choose the wrong hosted call center solution that does not integrate well with your CRM and who knows what will happen?

That's why you need to work with an independent telecom agent or channel sales partner that has experience working with several different hosted predictive dialer solutions. Only working with an experienced professional can you avoid creating problems that you didn't have before you started down a hosted predictive dialer trial.

To find a channel partner or telecom agent with independent experience helping business customers choose a hosted predictive dialer, click here and scroll down to the "Call & Contact Center" category.

If you are an independent agent or channel partner skilled at helping business end-users choose a hosted call center solution please contact us at Dan@BusinessPhoneNews.com so we can provide you with a complimentary listing in our Recommended Member Directory.

Should You Buy Your Next Business Phone System From "Scramblin' Fran" Tarkenton?

By Dan Baldwin, Editor
951-251-5155 email

 If it makes sense for retired boxer George Foreman to sell you a grill you can use indoors then I guess it makes sense for retired Minnesota Vikings football great "Scramblin' Fran" Tarkenton to sell you your next hosted VoIP business phone system. Right?

That's what Ari Rabban of Phone.com must be thinking as he's recently signed up with the former quarterback to secure Tarkenton's celebrity endorsement of Phone.com's hosted VoIP business phone system solution.

 

Does it Make Sense to Take Phone Buying Advice from a Retired Quarterback?

I admit it's kind of a silly question. Sure Fran's a great guy and some of my earliest memories of watching football on TV were of watching Fran make defensive ends and linebackers look silly trying to sack him in the backfield. 

But choosing a VoIP business phone system? I'm not sure.  If you watch the short video below that features Ari and Fran discussing the benefits of the Phone.com solution, at no time during the video does Fran say, "I switched to Phone.com's solution for my business a year ago and it's better than any other phone service our business has used in 30 years!".

Now if I found myself playing quarterback at a Deacon Jones family reunion I would certainly seek Scramblin' Fran's advice about how best to survive the event.

 

Ask Fran About QoS and the Differences Between Broadsoft, MetaSwitch & Asterisk Before Buying

When choosing someone to explain to my wife the difference between a "nickel" and "dime" defensive football scheme or how to throw a touchdown pass into a zone or man-to-man coverage, Fran Tarkenton is definitely my choice, especially since my wife hails from Minnesota.

But when trying to explain the benefit differences between Broadsoft, MetaSwitch and Asterisk hosted VoIP platforms and how to ensure appropriate levels of QoS ("quality of service") exist to prevent static and delay on my business customer's phone calls I'm going to suggest that my clients call me over watching football game reruns on ESPN Classic.

 

Fran's Phones Might Be The Best for Some Businesses But They Need to be Compared to Quality Alternatives

Don't get me wrong, just because I'm poking a little fun at Ari's celebrity pitchman does not mean that Phone.com's business VoIP phone system should not be taken seriously. I spent a bit of time talking to Joel Maloff of Phone.com about the pros and cons of Phone.com's offering and I believe that the solution is probably fine for a certain set of small business customers that need the most phone service they can buy for their business for next to nothing and with no guarantees of voice quality.

There are plenty of other similar competitors that offer a similar Asterisk based hosted VoIP solution. Before choosing Phone.com, a business owner needs to speak with their trusted telecom agent or channel partner about what other Asterisk based VoIP providers they like and why.

And before moving forward with a "no guarantees" Asterisk-based "BYOB" ("bring your own broadband") phone system solution for your business, ask your telecom agent about the benefits of looking at a Broadsoft or Metaswitch based VoIP solution and whether or not it's cost effective to guarantee the voice quality of the business phone calls by not using the businesses existing Internet connection and office network which often creates data problems for all the small businesses computer users.

 

Talk to a Telecom Agent About the Best Phone System for Your Business

If you don't have a telecom agent or channel sales partner you can trust to get quality office technology advice, click here or the link at the top of this page to find one.

Telecom agents are in the business of knowing how technology solution providers compare to one another and which ones do the best job of delivering on their promises.

Michael Burns Announces the Upgrade of Start-video, Desktop Video Conferencing Service

By Michael Burns, President
A+ Conferencing                                   

As President of A+ Conferencing, I'm proud to announce the upgrade of our desktop video conferencing service, Start-Video, software release version four. 

Start-Video features HD quality video, VOIP audio and all of the web conferencing tools, all rolled up into one recordable service in the cloud.  Anyone from anywhere in the world can access this service via the Internet.  All you need is a webcam and a good Internet connection.

Start-video is a multi-party video conferencing service, which will allow up to sixteen simultaneous, full motion videos operating at any time.  Now you can see the facial expressions of your conferees on your conference calls.

The full range of web conferencing services include PowerPoint presentations, desktop sharing, annotation tools and web touring. The service also comes in

Happy Birthday to Our New & Improved Blog!

Posted By Dan Baldwin
Editor, 951-251-5155 email

If you're a business decision maker for telecom or IT in the New York metro market then this blog is for you.

Tired of the "he said, she said" squabbling between your competing consultants, vendors and service providers?

Wish you could find a reasonably objective portal where you can access other real business customers, honestly independent consultants and high-quality, low-cost service providers?

This is it!

I've been in the voice and data telecom and IT business for over 20 years. I've got an address book with over 5,000 contacts in it. If you've got a problem, I can put you in touch with