Starting a new business can be a very daunting exercise, even with the system and support of a good franchisor behind you. For any small business getting the right tools for the job, which will deliver the desired results, is imperative from the word go.

But few novice business owners consider telecommunications until after they have signed a lease.

Telecommunications is the artery connecting you to the rest of the world. The construction, efficiency and bottom line of any fledgling business is paramount to its health.

There are important questions to consider before you make equipment purchasing decisions and these will have differing levels of importance depending on whether your business is sales or service based.

Niraj Akhil, senior business development manager, Telechoice suggests the following:

• How many telephone lines will I require?
• What technology should be employed for the telephone lines?
• Will I need a mobile phone?
• What capabilities will my mobile need?
• Do my staff need mobiles?
• What capabilities are needed on my staff’s mobiles?
• Will I need a phone system/PABX?
• What facilities do I require from my phone system?

Case study

“I had run an a la carte restaurant in the Eastern Suburbs of Melbourne for nine years before joining the telco industry,” writes Niraj Akhil.

My restaurant seated 60 patrons and traded for dinner and take away seven nights a week. I had just one telephone line, from which I received and made calls and operated an EFTPOS device.

“Yet my business heavily relied on our telephone number as a means of receiving bookings and take away orders, our primary source of revenue.

“One of the first tasks that I carried out when I joined the telco industry, was to look up my old restaurant telephone number on their billing system and find out how many incoming calls the business was missing out on. This can be displayed on your bill, if requested.

“This was solely due to the fact that the business had only one telephone line shared with the EFTPOS machine.

“I then calculated the average revenue value of a take-away order or a single diner, which came to $25. Approximately 80 per cent of all incoming calls were business related, and this meant the business was not receiving an average of 200 takeaway orders or bookings each month. This loss of potential income amounted to $460,000 annually and a massive $540,000 over the term of nine years.

“To counter the negative effects of mishandling calls, given a second chance, I would have implemented the following:

“Convert my existing telephone line (analogue) to a digital service (ISDN) x 10, allowing me to dedicate four incoming lines for the dining room, four incoming lines for takeaway, one line for the EFTPOS machine and one line for the fax machine.

“A six handset phone system would have been installed, with three dedicated to the dining room and the remaining three for takeaways.

“A feature of many newer phone systems allows you to implement an IVR. This is when a caller is greeted by a pre-recorded message advising to “Press 1 to make a reservation”, “Press 2 to place a takeaway order” or “Press 3 to speak to a staff member”. This would have guaranteed that calls are directed to the appropriate areas.”

Akhill’s three point plan

1. By consolidating all of your telecommunications under one account, you can benefit from free intra-account and service calls. Free calls can be made from your business lines to your fleet of mobiles, other sites and vice versa. Also free calls can be made between your mobiles.

2. The phone system extensions can be programmed with your mobile phone allowing you to have true mobility. This will also allow you full extension functionality via your mobile phone. For example; answer a call via your mobile handset and if needed transfer the caller back to the office.

3. The cost of the above is approximately $350 per month over a five year term. The cost being more than countered by the lower rates, free call benefits and increased revenue.

To ensure maximum return on your investment, it is imperative to engage the best technology and hardware the market has to offer – and that includes telecommunications. Engage the services of a communications specialist that not only recognises the above and delivers viable solutions, but partners with your business. Then your success becomes their success.