Has your definition of service changed with regard to your Internet and phone services over the last 10 years?

I had an interesting discussion with a friend a few weeks ago about customer expectations for voice quality.   He told me that with the use of cell phones and VoIP services most people don’t care as much about solid, clean sounding and reliable phone service as they once did.  He said, “if you’re disconnected, just call back – not a big deal”.  I had to agree with him.  It’s been quite a while since anyone’s called me to say that they had crackling sounds on their phone.  Usually if you get a bad connection, you hang up and redial.  The days of ongoing, and recurring back round noise are gone.  In the late 80′s and much of the 90′s when many of the carriers were upgrading their networks, random noises, echos and crackling were common place.

How good your service works is key, but how’s the customer service you get for these services – do you think anything’s changed in the last 10 years with this?  As a business owner, I am continually bombarded with offers for higher speed Internet and new phone service.  99% of the time this gets thrown in the trash.  The services I now have at my office have been in place for more than 4 years.  The bill is automatically paid via credit card each and every month.  I haven’t had to make a service call for my Internet or phone service in that same period of time.  How about you?  I truly believe that most businesses are exactly the same.  The only time they really look or think about who they use and work with for their voice and data service is when their contracts expire and need to be renewed or grown.  Do you like the people you work with when you go through this renewal process?  Are they making suggestions to upgrade your service and give you a better price, or just renewing what you already have?  These are things you want to consider as you begin this process.

One belief that I have is that every business owner needs a phone person in their contact list – someone you trust, someone that can advise and steer you in the right direction with your carrier and product selection and help you make the best decisions for your business.  Just like you need a banker, an insurance person and an accountant that you trust – make sure you have an IT/phone person you can trust.  The service and loyalty you’ll receive from this person will be much higher than if you worked with different people every time you need help.  Business relationships matter!  Nothing is worse than going to tier I toll free support when you have an issue.  Check out a carrier agnostic firm as they’ll have no alliances to any one particular carrier and will be looking out for your best interest.

Who’s your phone person?  Who’s that person that’s there each and every time you need help, or need advice on what to do?  That’s the person you should be working with.  Give them your business and get the level of service you deserve.

PHOTO CREDIT

* SIP Trunking – what is it and who can help provide answers?

* Carrier Agnostic Telecommunication Agencies – what advantages are there for working with these guys over going directly to the carrier rep?

* The Missing Link – if you don’t want a T-1, but need more than a DSL, what are your options?

* Get a telecom Tune-up. When is the last time you evaluated your voice and data network?

* Why is TW Telecom worth a look?  Ethernet deals galore….check up for newest offerings.

* Internet Access – Have you been looking to increase your bandwidth?

* Thoughts on WAN – Have you been considering an MPLS or ethernet solution for your office to office connections?

* How can you find the best carrier to work with? Is AT&T, Qwest, and Level 3 the best choice for you or is a solution from XO Communications, Comcast, Integra, Paetec or Telesphere a better option?

* VoIP – Integrated T-1 Service – Is this for your company and which is the best carrier to go to for this service?

* Classics – analog lines, and conference calling – Every company needs at least one POTs line for their alarm line.  When’s the last time you used or priced conference calling?  There are many options for both of these classic offerings.

PHOTO CREDIT

DSL is tricky – there are times that it is extremely good, and times when it’s not.  Placing a service onto 100 year old copper lines and expecting it to work flawlessly is a difficult thing.  Fios is Verizon’s answer to this – at least for many of the home users in its region.  See a cute Fios video here.  It’s my understanding that if you’re a business that happens to be in the way of Fios (between two neighborhoods) you can also take advantage of the new fiber infrastructure.  In the 14 state region of Qwest’s, you’re out of luck.  To my knowledge they never developed and marketed a product like Fios.  Hopefully with the Qwest / Centurylink merger, small business and home users in that 14 state territory will see some new product sets to fill this gap.  Running their service over a new fiber infrastructure when it makes sense will draw in more loyal business and consumer customers.

It’s my experience that Comcast is a great alternative – when you can get them.  Their infrastructure is relatively new compared with telephony alternatives so the possibility of downtime is minimal in most cases.   The fact that they continue pushing out greater and greater bandwidth alternatives to their existing base of consumer and business customers is amazing.   For small business customers you can now get 25 Norton Security licenses for free as part of your service.  Along with that they’ll throw in some productivity tools from Microsoft.  Check out promos here. 

So my advice to Comcast is to expand your footprint so that more small businesses can take advantage of your service!

My advice to Qwest/Centurylink is to expand your product offering for consumers and small business customers!  Push your fiber out to the home and industrial complexes more.

Sometimes it seems like there are way too many choices.  If you do your homework and talk with some of your neighbors or fellow business people you should be able to make the best choice for yourself.

Today is the first day of spring and I thought I’d share these interesting links:

1.) Top 10 things to do in Spring – Ezine Articles gives some great practicle ides.

2.) If you’re looking for some trust this spring, read this.

3.) Activity Village – If you have kids at home check this site out for some great spring ideas.

4.) All small business owners should understand the benefits of an integrated T-1 this spring.

5.) Here’s 101 Nature Oriented things to do this spring - I think my son and I will go looking for insect pupae next week.

6.) Count your blessings this spring, you never know when you might wake up with a headache.

7.) Spring Cleaning - what to do with Grandma’s fur coat – enough said.

8.) If you need larger Internet service this spring – read this.

9.) Spring Break Destinations – Go here for some ideas…..

10.) If your business is looking at SIP this spring – read this.

11.) Spring Gardening Guide - If you have a green thumb and need to get that yard in shape, check this out.

12.) Voice and data spring clean-up.  Get a spring tune-up.

Why do some companies work with “x” carrier when they need a new phone or Internet service?   Do you have a shortcut to help you with this?

I think that the reason business people work with a particular carrier when they need (Internet, conferencing, voice, or WAN) services has to do with relationship.  I know as a business owner that it’s all about the person and my confidence in that individual.  Even if I think that I might save 10-15% by taking the time to look elsewhere, time is money so I’ll usually go back to that same cell provider, same drycleaners, same carpet cleaner, same electronics/computer store sales person….because I know exactly what to expect.  Wouldn’t it be great to have one place to go, a person or web portal that could list one or two, reliable and trustworthy vendors for whatever service I wanted?

As a proud BBB (Better Business Bureau) member I can tell you that these guys are getting close to providing this for us.  When I’ve gone to their site and opted to do business with one of their accredited businesses, I have not gone wrong.  Things change with vendors though over time.  The first time you use them they’re great, then a year later you go to use them again and they stink.  The same goes with telecom and Internet providers (carriers).  If I’m in the market for a new 3.0 Mb or 10.0 Mb Internet connection, where can I go to find out which one of the providers is doing a good job?  If you want to convert your old frame relay network to a new MPLS or ethernet WAN, what carriers have provisioning intervals down?  Just like being able to visit the BBB site you need someone on the inside that works with these guys day in and day out.  You need to work with a carrier agnostic group that works with all of the carriers and has their finger on the pulse of the industry.

In his book, “Be A Shortcut”, Scott Halford suggests that we all find what we do exceedingly well, and be the shortcut for others.  In the same breath he says, “To be a Shortcut, you must have and use Shortcuts”.  Use a carrier agnostic agency as your shortcut when you need to make the right decisions for your business.

* Change out all of the batteries on home fire/smoke alarms

* Replace furnace air filter and have at least one back up on hand

* Lube & oil the garage door so that it’s not so noisy and continues to work for us for years to come

* Evaluate family portfolio and make sure to rebalance funds/stocks if necessary

PearlofAfrica suggests that taking dancing lessons, and going a minimum of 21 days without one complaint should be part of everyones personal list for the new year.  I’ve taken dance lessons, but haven’t done the other. 

Here’s a few off my business tune-up list:

* Organize files and begin pulling all details together for 2009 taxes

* Evaluate all expense aspects of our business to ensure things are in line for 2010.  This includes Wireless service, computer hardware and software needs, insurance, payroll, etc…

* Goals for 2010, What will we target monthly as targets?  What strategies will we take on to accomplish our goals?  

These are just a few things that I’ve been thinking hard about over the last 2-3 weeks.  Getting things tuned-up for the coming year is critical for most business owners.  When’s the last time you had a “carrier agnostic” telecom professional provide you a free tune up on your voice and data service? 

There are many groups out there today that charge for a telecom tune-up, but I’ve found that it’s not necessary to pay additional for this service.  If you can find an individual or an agency that is “carrier agnostic” they can look at your existing set up for local, long distance, wireless, Internet, WAN and all other billable telecom expenses in an un-biased way to provide you solutions for reducing your total cost.  Why hire a consultant to run some “fancy smancy” software program then pay them 50% of your savings for six months when you can work with an agency that’s just as qualified to look at your existing billings and make recommendations to you for free.  If you work with a representative from just one of the carriers your only getting solutions from a single carrier – only one piece of the pie.  Most of the “carrier agnostic” agencies don’t charge for their advice, they get paid by the carriers they represent when they place new orders for services. 

If you had your druthers, would you rather have a part-time individual at H&R Block run your tax numbers through a computer, or have a Certified Public Accountant at Wilson Downing Group LLC go through your return line by line?  Times are still tough for many business owners - if you can get better service and a greater return by working with a “carrier agnostic” agency, you should get your tune up today!