As a small business owner, your telephone needs are going to be a little different than they were as an individual. You may need multiple lines to handle the number of calls that your business gets, as well as a dedicated fax line. You may need to have phone numbers and service that provide you with some mobility so that you can access your phone and messages away from your physical business location. Here are three qualities that you should look for when securing a business phone provider.
#1 Quick Installation
The first thing that you are going to want to consider is how their installation process works. If you need to have phone service set up for your business, you are not going to want to wait a couple of weeks for installation to happen. You are going to want to have your phone service installed as quickly as possible. Ideally, the installation will also be free or discounted if you sign up for a certain service package or contract. In the long term, the phone company is going to be able to make money off of you and should be able to provide you with a discounted or free and fast installation process.
#2 Fair Long Term Rates
A lot of phone companies offer great promotional rates for the first six months to the first year or two of your service contract to get you in the door. What you really want to look at though is what their regular, everyday pricing looks like. You don't want to have a phone system installed and get used to using it, only to discover that you can't afford the everyday rates once the promotion expires. Make sure that the everyday rates are affordable before you commit to the phone service, because those are the rates that you'll end up paying the longest, not the promotional rates that get you in the door.
#3 Accessible Technical Support
If you are going to be running a business, you need to have a phone and internet support that can help you out twenty-four hours a day, not just during normal business hours. Be sure to look into the level of technical support that you can access. Do they have a phone line that you can call? Do they offer online technical support? Can they send a technician out to help you without a long wait time?
Make sure that the phone and internet service provider that you choose can provide you with the technical support that you need to keep your business running with little to no down time.
Whether you opt for a spectralink phone system or any other type of phone service, these considerations will help.
