When talking with customers, we find they have many expectations when choosing a phone system for business. Whether they are looking for a specific set of features, high system performance or the best available pricing, expectations are often higher than what's attainable for small business.
Priorities in Choosing a Phone System
When you get down to it, regardless of what it is that you are selling to your customers, customers want solutions that are better, faster and cheaper. That is, they want:
- Better (products)
- Faster (customer service/implementation)
- Cheaper (EVERYTHING!)
When working with a technology provider, customers want a product or service that is better in terms of performance than that of the competitors. They want those products and services provided to them in the most expedient way possible. And, of course, everyone wants to save as much money as they can, particularly when making a purchase for their small business. The problem is that you really can’t always expect to have all three at once, given the challenges of a business.
Below are a few examples of the priorities that some small businesses express and compromises that may need to be made when choosing a phone system.
Priority #1: Better Products
Let's say you own a company whose phone system has crashed and you are looking to replace it. Obviously, you need a system that is better, since your current system has proven itself to be unreliable. (Jump over to our related blog post here to read about the benefits of new phone technology.)
You also need this new phone system quickly, as every minute your phones are down is a minute that you are not using them to run your business. If you are choosing a phone system that is better than the one you already have and it has to be installed immediately, it is a safe assumption that you will pay a little more for this premier product and responsive customer service, right?
Priority #2: Faster Service & Implementation
Using the same scenario, assume that you need your phones up fast, but you also need to get the cheapest option available. A cheap product that is readily available will not necessarily perform better than the phone system you are looking to replace.
Time is an important factor in the critical process of researching, evaluating and planning the implementation of a new system. This may be a trade-off you'll need to consider.
Priority #3: Cheaper EVERYTHING!
Lastly, if you must have a system that performs at the highest level and it has to be inexpensive, you will quickly learn that this is a hard thing to find. You are going to spend a lot of time looking for this system, and therefore, you can’t expect to get it fast.
Meeting Customer Expectations
In a perfect world, all three priorities above would be attainable when choosing a phone system for your business. One of the most important discussions we have with any potential customer is geared towards defining what of these three options is most important to them and their business.
Through this discussion, realistic expectations can be set for a customer. In this way, your product's quality can be effectively represented, your level of service clearly explained and the costs associated with doing business justified.
Check out our resource below for details about phone system options for business.
Image credit: business phone
