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Even though business people increasingly rely on mobile phones, the fact remains that the smart ones know that being at the beck and call of every prospect and client is inefficient. They know that every job takes longer and mistakes are far more likely if they allow themselves to be constantly interrupted by a ringing phone.

So the smart operators would rather have their phone calls answered by someone else. The problem for small businesses is that paying for a full time telephonist or secretary is just not economic. What they need is a telephone answering service manned by human operators. And it is this need that presents an ideal business opportunity to those who want to set up a business at low cost.

Operating a telephone answering service from home on behalf of local small businesses is one of the simplest and least expensive home businesses to set up. It is very suitable for those who are housebound for whatever reason. It’s also a business that can be operated by people with a disability who either find it easier or have no choice but to work from home.

Large office based telephone answering services use sophisticated and expensive computer equipment. When the phone rings, the software knows from the dialled number which client is being called and displays the client details on the operator’s computer screen.

In the past the only way a home-based answering service could compete was by having a separate phone line for each client so that calls could be answered in the client’s name. This was not only cumbersome but meant that only one call could be answered for each client at a time. And the only way to expand the customer base was by buying more phone lines.

But now there is another way made possible by the recent introduction of virtual switchboards. These are phone systems that are an integral part of the telephone exchange and that offer the same facilities as expensive switchboards but without the attendant cost. In fact, many virtual switchboards are often offered for a small fee and many, especially in the UK, are free to the user.

Each client is allocated a virtual switchboard phone number that is used by the client as the main business number. Alternatively, the client can use call forwarding to send calls to it from an established number.

Calls to the virtual switchboard number are answered automatically and placed in a queue. Each call is then immediately forwarded to the landline number of the telephone answering service. For those just starting out in the telephone answering business, this could even be their home telephone number. That’s because each call is announced. When the operator answers a call they hear “You have a call for ABC company. Press any key to accept”.

The virtual switchboard doesn’t just send calls to one number. It can send them to several in succession if they are not immediately answered or are engaged. This is great for those starting out who can either install more lines as needed or outsource overflow calls to others they recruit to also work from the comfort of their own home.

Of course, virtual switchboards include other features such as voicemail messages delivered by email and notification of missed calls by email. But it is the essential ability to have calls announced and sent to multiple fixed value, which has never been easier and more convenient for workers at home, to start selling voice services to business.

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Many large insurance companies in California provide medical insurance. It is provided by a large number of carriers that vary from general insurance companies to specialists like Health Maintenance Organization (HMO) or Kaiser. Due to the high cost of health-care, the State of California also has a large number of assistance programs.

Specialist medical providers have also entered the market to cover higher risk segments like dental and vision care. The stability rating of the insurance company, size of membership and degree of control in service delivery affect the price at which an insurance product can be purchased. Medical insurance can be purchased by individuals or can be provided by an employer as part of employee benefits.

California health insurance options are substantially different than those in Texas, Georgia, or other states. California medical insurance has been a topic of political as well as economic debate. This is because of the significant increase in the number of uninsured people in California State. Statistics reveal that in 2002, 18% of the state’s population was not covered by medical insurance. The reason for this is the high immigrant population in the state, which accounts for approximately 27% of the total population. In May 2005, the California Health Insurance Reliability Act was introduced, which guaranteed health insurance coverage for every person in California. It involves a single-payer system with a non-profit insurance plan.

The increasing costs of medical assistance in the State of California and the plight of consumers who do not have insurance, has snowballed into a political issue. This has caused political turmoil, with politicians demanding that concerted efforts be made to cover larger sections of the populace under insurance.

The California Health Insurance Act is aimed at making medical insurance in California reliable, affordable and efficient. This means that people Insurance is based on residence rather than employment. Therefore, people do not lose their insurance, even if you lose your job or change.

Tags : account receivable collection

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Accounts receivable factoring is an excellent way for businesses to generate money for both maintenance and growth. All companies need cash. This is business basics 101. There will be times when a company can wait and other instances where a quick influx of cash is needed.

A company may not be able to wait and require money immediately to stay afloat. Those who invoice their clients are often more prone to these types of cash flow problems, then those that do not.

Because they often don’t get paid right away, they have to rely on the money they have on hand. If this doesn’t amount to much, this can be quite problematic. Accounts receivable factoring is an ideal option for many companies. In this article, we will discuss why it might be a great alternative, specifically for cable installers and cable sales companies.

Cable installers and cable sales companies must put up the money for jobs they service. They have to purchase all of the materials and pay their workers before they invoice their clients. It may take anywhere between 30 and 90 days before they receive payment.

This can cause a great deal of financial strain. Not only must a cable installation or sales company come up with the money to complete a job, they also have fixed expenses that must be paid. With no or very little money coming in, it can be difficult, even impossible, for a company to meet all of their financial obligations without going into debt.

This may be the case when a company is only considering traditional ways to handle a lack of finances. One option that is often overlooked is accounts receivables factoring. This is an excellent option for many cable installers. It allows them to earn money from their receivables without having to collect on them.

Accounts receivable factoring works like this, a company sells their receivables at a discounted rate, typically between 70% and 90%. This money is paid up front and in cash, providing companies with the money they need to meet whatever obligations they have. Instead of waiting until their customers receive their invoice and then pay it, they are able to get money even before any work is completed.

This allows companies to purchase materials and pay for manpower prior to starting a job. This can be extremely helpful for cable installers or sales companies. Receivables factoring provides them with the money they need to buy cable and pay for service men (or women) without going into debt.

While debt can be helpful and many times is seemingly necessary, when a company doesn’t have to borrow money, they shouldn’t. Debt carries risk and if it can not be repaid may result in the repossession of assets, lawsuits and even the failure of ones business. Accounts receivables financing allows companies to raise money without the additional burden of debt.

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INTRODUCTION

The biggest management challenge in the new millennium of liberalisation and globalization for a business is to serve and maintain good relations with the king-the customer. In the past, producers took their customers for granted because at that time customers were not demanding nor had many alternative sources of supply or suppliers. Since he was a passive customer, the producer dictated terms and had little customer commitment. But today there is a radical transformation. The changing business environment is characterised by economic liberalisation, increasing competition, high consumer choice, enlightened and demanding customer, more emphasis on quality and value of purchase.

All these changes have made today’s producer shift from traditional marketing to modern marketing. Modern marketing calls for more than developing a product, pricing it, promoting it and making it accessible to target customers. It demands building trust, a binding force and value added relationship with the customers to win their hearts. The new age marketing aims at winning customers for ever, where companies greet the customers, create products to suit their needs, work hard to develop life time customers through the principles of customer delight, approval and enthusiasm.

WHAT IS CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT ( CRM )

The process of developing a cooperative and collaborative relationship between the buyers and sellers is called customer relationship management shortly called CRM.

CRM aims at focusing all the organizational activities towards creating and maintaining a customer. CRM is a new technique in marketing where the marketer tries to develop long term collaborative relationship with customers to develop them as life time customers. CRM aims to make the customer climb up the ladder of loyalty.

CUSTOMER FOCUS IN BANKING SERVICES

As the intense competition becomes a way of doing business, it is the customer who calls the shot in deciding the nature of products and services offered in the market. The customers are becoming demanding, dominant and selective. In fact the perceptions and the expectations of the customers have undergone a sea change, with the availability of banking services to the customers at their door steps through the help of technology.

Marketing of customer services aims at two important goals: prosperity to the bank and satisfied customers. Banks offer tangible services like loan schemes, interest rates and kinds of account and the intangible services like behavior and efficiency of staff, speed of transactions and the ambience. The banks may need to include customer oriented approach or customer focus in their five areas of businesses such as Cash accessibility, asset security, money transfer, deferred payment and financial advices.

There are four strategies available to customer relations’ managers:

o To win back or save customers

o To attract new and potential customers

o To create loyalty among existing customers and

o To up sell or offer cross services.

The future of banking business very much depends upon the ability of the banks to develop close relationship with the customers. In order to develop close relationship with the customers the banking industry has to focus on the technology oriented innovations that offer convenience to the customers. Today customers are offered ATM services, access to internet banking and phone banking facilities and credit cards. These have elevated banking beyond the barriers of time and space.

MARKETING OF BANKING SERVICES

Marketing of banking services means organizing right activities and programmes in rendering right services to the right people at the right place, at the right time at the right price and with right communication and promotion. Marketing of banking services embrace the following unique features

o Intangibility-they cannot be seen or possessed physically but can only be experienced.

o Inseparability-their production and consumption occur simultaneously.

o Variability-they are highly variable depending on the merit of customers.

o Perishability -they cannot be stored.

GLOLBALISED SCENARIO

“Change” is a continuous process and banking industry is no exception to this natural law. Change in the Indian banking industry is inevitable due to the implementation of the financial sector reforms and policies in the country. The main objective of financial sector reforms is to promote an efficient, competitive and diversified financial system in the country. Indian banking industry has undergone tremendous transformation after liberalization and globalisation process initiated from 1991. These changes have forced the Indian banking industry to adjust the product mix to effect the rapid changes in their process to remain competitive in the globalised environment.

COMPETITION FROM FOREIGN BANKS AND NEW PRIVATE SECTOR BANKS

The entry of more and more foreign banks and new private sector banks, with lean and nimble footed structure, better technology, market orientation and cost effective measures, have intensified the competition in the Indian banking industry. Financial Institutions have also started entering into the domain of banks. In recent years, the share of business of public sector banks has declined considerably. So there is a compelling need for the Indian banking industry to modify its marketing strategy to attract the customers and to withstand the stiff competition from foreign banks and new private sector banks.

TECHNOLOGICAL ADVANCEMENT

The advent of technology both in terms of computers and communications has drastically altered the methodology of banking business. In the banking sector, the technology has opened new vistas and in turn has brought new possibilities for doing the same work differently and in a most cost-effective manner. Technology helps to have 24 hours a day banking, all seven days in a week. Tele banking, Internet banking and E-banking have opened new business potentials and opportunities which hither to remained unexplored. All these technological advancement may pave the way for home banking rather than branch banking.

INNOVATION

Another important force of change in the Indian banking sector is innovation. Banks are innovative, pro-active now-a-days and offer top class service to customers. They play a dynamic role not only as a provider of finance but also as a departmental store of finance. As a result of this, new products like merchant banking, mutual funds, leasing, factoring, forfeiting, corporate advisory services and venture capital are emerging. These innovative services may augment revenue with cost effective measures.

DEVELOPMENT OF THE SKILLS OF BANK PERSONNEL

To meet the new challenges, banks have to devise novel ways of meeting the customer’s demands. To help the banking staff to get sufficient exposure to technology, suitable packages relating to hardware and software applications in relation to their works are to be provided. Further, a separate marketing wing may be created in every bank to market their banking services. They must be trained suitably to keep pace with the changing environment. In order to meet the challenges, the Human Resource Department in banks have to prepare appropriate manpower plans and strategies.

CONCLUSION

The recent trend of globalisation and liberalization has posed serious problems to domestic banks. The entry of new foreign banks and private sector banks with their advanced knowledge base of automation in the banking operations and aggressive marketing strategies has pushed public sector banks to a tight corner. Potential customers have started moving towards foreign banks and private sector banks. To survive and succeed, banks must identify their marketing areas, develop adequate resources, convert these resources into healthy and efficient services and distribute them effectively satisfying the manifold tastes of customers.

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I’m a retired AT&T employee that has Medicare as their primary insurance and my secondary coverage is through AT&T. This year my selection process did not indicate what company would carry my secondary insurance. The options were labeled AT&T Standard and AT&T Option 1 with the Opt. 1 allowing you to “buy down” the out of pocket expenses.

My secondary coverage for the last 4 years had been Cigna and since AT&T provides my secondary coverage I selected the AT&T Standard plan.

After the close of the enrollment period I received a new medical card in the mail indicating I was now United Healthcare. I carefully went back over the enrollment information which at that time was only around 4 booklets and didn’t find United mentioned anywhere.

Packet after packet began to arrive from Caremark which clearly was stated as replacing Medco mail order pharmacy with co-pays of $8.00 for generic; $17.00 for preferred and $35.00 for non-preferred 90 days supply. I promptly get online to set up my new account in which to track and reorder refills only to find that two of the four drugs on file had not come over from Medco.

My next visit to the Dr. I request they send the two medications to Caremark that are not showing available for refill which they did. A couple of days later I receive a call regarding a refill of a drug that previously cost me $66.00/90 day supply that will be $318.20.

It is at this time that the customer service person advises I have an $1100.00 deductible that must be met of medical and pharmacy costs out of pocket. Yes, for the first time the deductible for medical and prescription drugs are now tied together.

Being a primary Medicare patient I have a $100.00 medical deductible per year and I would never have another $1000.00 in medical visits within the year to pay this deductible so it will be all prescription drug deductible.

After now looking for this clause in the enrollment it is in the fine print that the medical deductible must be met before the co-payments for prescription drugs are in effect.

Looking further I now see under the AT&T Standard and AT&T Option 1 is the United Healthcare link that is not allowed in this article with “my” in front of it in very small letters or “My United Health Care” web site which is the only indication prior to enrollment closing to give a clue as to who the medical coverage is provided by. At the time of enrollment and before getting the UHC card in the mail this web site meant nothing to me.

Meanwhile, my husband’s Blue Shield plan for the federal government enrollment has closed and I could have been added to his cheaper than this deductible.

I now have a stack of books, some marked SBC, others marked AT&T some of which look to be duplicates of one another but have different stock numbers.

I am replacing my Nexium with OTC and taking the drug list from the Walmart Pharmacy to my doctor to determine what $4.00 generic drugs will replace my other three medications. I don’t give Walmart credit for much, but they have used their bargaining power to the overall good in the bargaining of prices on generic drugs, a lesson our government could use.

Essentially I do not have prescription drug coverage now and I’m sure this was an overall plan that in my case is working.

I dread to find out what maybe lurking in this stack of books that has yet detect.

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A 24/7 Answering service is pretty self-explanatory. When a business or individual is on-call all hours of the day every day of the year, it is sometimes necessary to outsource this answering service to a provider who has the staff to supply a human response. What is not really obvious about this service is that it can really save a business or government agency a lot of money.

In October of 2009, Juan Gonzalez reported for the NY Daily News about NYC’s mismanaged plan to upgrade emergency system 2 years late, $700M over budget and perhaps after cutting through all the red tape, they could have saved money by outsourcing the project to a professional 24/7 answering-service and call center, set up to handle emergency dispatching.

As demonstrated in this article, it is very expensive to set your organization up and organize your business procedures to become a 24/7 answering-service. Obviously this is extremely important for emergency response teams, but also important for any business that misses a call because someone is not around to receive the call.

For this reason there are many business owners who use an answering service, and regard the expense as a cost savings!

Another advantage to a 24/7 answering-service is that it operates out of another location than your business. This is great because scheduling, and messages will not distract your receptionist as she handles your patients or visitors. Answering services pick up your phone calls via call forwarding and can answer your calls as if they were one of your employees, take a message, and notifying you immediately if the message is urgent or forward that message on to you if it is not.

Recently there have been many cutbacks in city and state funding effecting emergency services, and municipal services. An example is in an opinion article in the Milwaukee Wisconsin Journal Sentinel about public cut backs where the author states that “Public safety should not be excused from taking a hard look at spending; taxpayers should get the best service at a reasonable cost.” Perhaps by outsourcing answering-services we could manage to afford police, emergency personnel, trash pickup and street repair? Perhaps looking at areas of cost savings does not mean cutting personnel in key positions… perhaps it can mean outsourcing functions that can probably better be handled by experts like 24/7 answering services.

Lots of other types of businesses can also benefit from a 24/7 answering-service. Take for instance medical professionals who have to not only schedule regular visits but also have to handle emergencies. Their patients health could weigh in the balance of a missed call. Attorneys, home health care providers and insurance agents can also benefit from a 24/7

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How well does your company do at collecting past due accounts? The answer will vary widely depending on your discipline, your tenacity and perhaps even your region of the country.

Fortunately, few regions of the country use credit as a tool for any other purpose than customer convenience. However, some regions do use credit as a marketing tool. And in others, sometimes dozens of years ago, companies began to allow customers to use them like most professional customers use a bank. And a long history of practices like these are always difficult to eliminate.

Among the ways credit management is generally measured:

• Average accounts receivable collection days.

• Bad debt expense as a percentage of sales.

• Recoveries as a percentage of outstanding balances.

• Turn around time for processing credit applications.

• Service charges collected.

We have good statistics on average collection days, which in the most ideal circumstances run from the high 30s to mid 40s. And many well managed firms are able to hold bad debt expense to under ½% of charge sales.

What is your system in your company? Consistency in following a system is essential to achieving optimal results.

One owner I met recently, has reduced his collection days to the low 30-day range by mailing an invoice to his customers immediately following each delivery. This is somewhat of an unusual system, but it is innovative and it works for him. He says that he is surprised at how many customers pay their invoices upon receipt.

The following is one system that works for many dealers:

Step One: Assign accountability to one person in your business for collections and establish measurable standards for this individual to achieve.

Step Two: The credit manager should place a phone call to customers whose checks have not been received three to four days following the due date and find out when they intend to pay. Meticulous notes should be taken to remind the credit manager what was promised so these notes can be referred to if follow up phone calls are necessary.

Step Three: Using customer contact software, a calendar box or some other type of follow up system, call the customers who have not done what they promised to do. Past-due customers must know that they cannot get away with merely stalling or holding up payment, so consistent follow up is critical.

Step Four: Visit customers who don’t pay and who don’t live up to their commitments. Find out what is preventing the past-due customer from paying. If the payment is in dispute, find out what sort of concession the customer wants before he is willing to pay up. In collections like in life, it’s the squeaking wheel that often gets the grease. Past-due customers must realize that collecting your accounts receivable is a top priority for you.

Step Five: If you have not already cut accounts off who have not given you a satisfactory response, do so immediately and turn the account over to a third party for collection. Do not take this step, however, without advising the customer that this is your next step. Also make sure you understand and agree with the collections tactics used by the collections firm you choose. Even though it’s a third party, your company will be identified with the outside firm’s tactics.

Step Six: Insist on each past due customer paying service charges. One owner told me recently that he tells his customers this: “I have to pay for capital, so if you don’t pay me on time, I have to borrow more money and pay more interest. Unless you can show me someplace I can get capital for free, you’re going to have to pay me a service charge when you don’t pay your account on time.”

The owner or GM should follow up with the credit manager on a pre-determined basis to make sure that he or she is following each step in the collections process.

The key to an effective collections policy is to avoid being guilty of wishful thinking. No matter how much you hate collecting, someone in your organization must meticulously follow up according the plan you have designed.

In recent years, many companies are turning over their credit function to an outside organization. One such firm is Charlotte-based Blue Tarp Financial. (www.bluetarp.com).

Why would a company outsource credit? The owners I interviewed in preparation for this article shared with me some of their reasons:

• We’re not a bank, yet many of our customers treat us like a bank. We’ve never been really good at credit, so we decided to turn it over to an organization that was an expert at it. We’ve not had a bad debt since.

• We outsourced credit to improve our cash flow. Blue Tarp offers us the option to pay us either every 30 days or for a few additional basis points, every 15 days. This enables us to take all of our vendor cash discounts and frees up cash for other capital expenditures.

• Our credit manager was freed up to perform functions she never had time to do before we outsourced credit. While she did her best, she was not a credit professional. Now I feel as if our credit is for the first time being handled by professionals.

• I [outsourced credit] for selfish reasons. I operate in a relatively small town and I have a difficult time turning down a customer I grew up with. As a result, I have suffered some significant credit loses from time to time. Now, I just tell my customers that it’s not my decision.

Regardless of whether you handle credit in-house or outsource it, someone must take credit seriously and handle it professionally. Owners and managers who take credit too casually almost always end up paying a big price for their inattention to detail.

Tags : account receivable collection

For midsize businesses, a time will come when they will be asked about moving to a Voice PRI with their next service provider change or phone system change. How does a business decide if a Voice PRI is right for them? Let’s take a look at some of the unique benefits of PRI, and what they can mean to your business.

Let’s get technical for just a moment to define PRI:

The primary rate interface (PRI) is a telecommunications standard for carrying multiple DS0 voice and data transmissions between two physical locations. All data and voice channels are ISDN and operate at 64 kbit/s. North America and Japan use a T1 of 23 B channels and one D channel which corresponds to a T1 line. Europe, Australia and most of the rest of the world use the slightly higher capacity E1, which is composed of 30 B channels and one D channel. Fewer active B channels (also called user channels) can be used for a fractional T1. More channels can be used with more T1s, or with a fractional or full T3 or E3.

Each B-channel carries data, voice, and other services. The D-channel carries control and signaling information. The Primary Rate Interface consists of 23 B-channels and one 64 kbit/s D-channel using a T1 line or 30 B-channels and 1 D-channel using an E1 line. Thus, a Primary Rate Interface user on a T1 line can have up to 1.544 Mbit/s service or up to 2.048 Mbit/s service on an E1 line. PRI uses the Q.931 protocol over the D-channel. The B and D channel sizes are dependent on the Framing format of the T1 circuit. ie. Super Frame (SF) is a 56kb channel and the Extended Super Frame (ESF) is a 64kb channel. Nearly all US carriers provide PRI via ESF format and B8ZS line coding.

In English?

The Voice PRI is a high capacity communications line designed to give the business user more features at a more competitive price with greater flexibility. The service is carried via T-1 line, and gives the user calling capacity of 23 simultaneous calls for each T-1 PRI line. This service is practically a must now for any company with 20 users or more depending on call volume.

Are there costs associated with a PRI?

Yes. In order for your phone system to interface or “talk” to the PRI circuit from your T-1 carrier, your phone system must have a digital PRI card. Not all systems have the ability to handle a PRI card, but most do. PRI card prices can range anywhere from $500 to upwards of $3,000 depending on the age of the system and who the manufacturer is. Add installation costs, and it’s a decision that is carefully weighed against the benefits.

What are the benefits of a PRI?

In comparison to an analog environment, the benefits of a PRI are many. Hunting groups, DID’s, call tracking and call reporting, CTI, out of rate center DID’s, pulsed digits, call routing, less taxes and reduced costs are all chief reasons to consider Voice PRI.

1. Hunt Groups: In an analog environment, it is typical to have a linear or circular hunt group for all incoming calls, and possibly for outgoing calls. All incoming calls start from the top of the “hunt group” and work their way down to the bottom. A ten (10) phone line hunt group would allow an organization to have 10 simultaneous incoming calls with a single main number. Outgoing calls would then pick up the last of the ten (10) lines in the “hunt group” and work their way up towards the main or first line in the hunt group. The goal obviously is to have a large enough hunt group so that the incoming calls and outgoing calls never cause you to use all of your capacity. This is called “line pooling” in an analog environment.

If you have multiple businesses or departments, you will often have separate “line pooling” hunt groups. Changes in configuration and capacity have to be made through your carrier. Private lines are typically left off the “hunt groups” at additional costs. With a PRI, you can have multiple hunt groups all programmed from your phone system. Your basic rule is that you can make or receive a total of 23 simultaneous calls in whatever configuration you want per PRI, and they can be bonded. Do you want 10 different hunt groups for 10 different departments? No problem. Need a dozen private numbers? No problem. You don’t even have to call the carrier, as the programming is done at the PBX level.

2. DID’s: Direct Inward Dial numbers are key for any growing organization. Direct Inward Dial numbers are typically assigned in blocks of 20, and are designed exclusively to work with digital voice circuits like PRI. Most carriers limit the number of DID’s per PRI circuit to 200, but we’ve seen some rare cases where 400-600 have been allowed. Did you catch that?

“I have 23 channels on a PRI for simultaneous phone calls, but you can give me 200 phone numbers?”

Yes, that’s right. You literally can assign everyone in your organization their own phone number AND their own fax number if you want. Phone numbers run around $5 a month per block of 20.

“Why would I want all those numbers?”

Do you consider service a priority? Then perhaps you insist on your clients not having to deal with automated attendants. With DID numbers, your incoming caller can bypass the automated attendant and have their call routed directly to your representative of choice. In a world of automation, large companies wouldn’t do without it. Is your receptionist inundated with calls and a professional call transferer? Bypass the need by routing the call directly to their party.

With the ever increasing capabilities of desktop fax server applications, it is also possible for every employee to have their own fax number that delivers .pdf or other common format attachments to their desktop via email application. Send and receive faxes from the desktop without getting up, and without paying for additional dedicated fax phone lines.

3. Call Tracking and Call Reporting: Along with DID’s, the enhanced capabilities of your phone system to track your data with a PRI can be vital to your operation. (Software often required) Ever wonder just how many outgoing calls your sales reps are making? Need to know how many incoming calls came in to customer service to assist with staffing decisions? How many calls did you get on that last advertising campaign? With DID level call tracking and reporting, you can create a myriad of tools for your business to streamline operations like never before.

4. Out of Rate Center DID’s: Some areas call them exchange numbers, foreign exchange numbers, Remote Call Forward numbers, etc. Essentially they are numbers in neighboring markets outside of your local phone company office that are forwarded to your location. The local phone company will often charge a monthly line charge in addition to any call volume charges and mileage charges associated with the number. Those costs can be astronomical for businesses that need a local “presence” in other markets. Locals in a market prefer to deal with someone who is also local, so having that local number is essential. With a PRI, you can turn your out of area number into a DID and avoid mileage and forwarding charges. For the right company, this can mean a difference of hundreds or thousands per year. It also opens up the ability to go after additional markets and have that “local” presence.

For companies that relocate, their local phone company will often tell them they cannot take their number with them. By using a CLEC, it is often possible to take your number with you to another market and not incur the high costs formally associated with doing so by forwarding or telebranching. .

5. CTI (Computer Telephony Integration): Many sophisticated business operations integrate their voice and data infrastructures, and they require the ability to route calls based on database lookups. Using DID’s and the Caller ID of the incoming caller, your system via PRI can actually look up in your database which one of your representatives has been dealing with this customer, and route the call directly to their extension in a moment’s notice. The user than can see a screen popup on their computer informing them of the status of this customer or account before they even answer the phone! This feature has limitless applications, but you must first determine if the protocol between your database and phone system is compatible. Common protocols are TAPI, TAPI 2.x, TAPI 3.x, H.323, and others.

6. Outgoing Caller ID: In large corporations or organizations with several companies under one roof, it is imperative to have separate outgoing Caller ID appearances. With PRI, you can assign an individual company name and number pulsed out by phone or phone group level, all while leveraging the same telecommunications PRI circuit.

Do you want all calls to go through the switchboard? Then assign the same Caller ID to all phones as the main outgoing Caller ID for your company. All callers returning calls will have the calls routed as you program. With PRI, you maintain total control, and can make programming changes as often as needed or desired. (Programming typically must be performed by a trained technician)

7. Reduced Cost: Growing businesses choose Voice PRI for all of the above reasons, but perhaps most importantly for cost reasons. If you have been operating in a similar capacity analog environment, but without the benefit of all of the above features, your scenario would look something like this:

23 analog lines monthly charge each: $30 (23 x $30 = $690)

Service Line charges per line: $6 (23 x $6 = $138)

Features charges: ??? Caller ID is often extra, but comes with PRI

Additional taxes: ??? Depends on carrier and Bell region

Calling charges: ??? Depends on carrier, region, and negotiated rates

$690 for 23 analog lines

$138 for service line charges

$828 before features, taxes, and calling charges.

Most T-1 carriers we deal with now offer PRI for around $500 a month plus a line charge equal to 5 channels of the PRI. (Around $30) PRI has Caller ID included automatically, although some carriers charge an additional fee for Caller ID Name and Number. So for $530 per month, you get all of the above mentioned features, typically more competitive calling rates, reduced taxes and line charges, and a bottom line difference of around $300 per month. So…..

When should I move my business to a Voice PRI?

When it costs less to be digital over analog, or whenever the benefits of the additional features outweigh all additional costs associated with the service. Additional options are now available with a fractional scheme PRI, integrated circuits for voice and data, PRI, and options for compression of high-capacity voice, that the services available to most companies. Your professional telecommunications can help you choose the option that suits you.

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1. Merchant Accounts: What are the Visa, MasterCard & Amex Discount Rates?

- Every Payment Processing Provider will have this fee. Discount rates can vary on from as low as 1.59% right up to as high as 5.0%. The Discount Rate is really not a discount. It is a % of your sales that the Credit Card Companies charges the Business Owner to be able to offer their customers to pay with their Credit Card. (Example: If you did $10,000 in Visa sales in one month and your Discount rate was 2.5% then you would pay $250 in fees to Visa that month.)

- Rates vary and are dependent on your Business Model, Business Volume, Average Sale per Customer, Type of Product & Service your business offers, the way you process payments for your products & services: online, telephone, mail-order, or in-store all affect the Discount Rate your business will qualify for.

- Usually High-Risk Business will have higher rates. Businesses that have higher ticket prices, Businesses that process payments via: E-commerce, Telephone (IVR), & Mail-order usually fall under the High-Risk Umbrella.

2. Are ‘keyed in’ Visa, MasterCard & Amex Discount Rates at a different rate then swiped?

- Most Payment Processing Providers will have a different Discount Rate for transactions that are keyed in on POS Terminal instead of being swiped across the POS Terminal. However, there are some exceptions for some businesses that have reoccurring billing.

3. What are the Transaction Rates?

- Transactions fees are sometime called IDP Transactions. Every Payment Processing Company has at least a Transaction fee for Debit and usually for Credit Card Transactions too. It is become more common that any Transaction that is made on your POS Terminal will be considered a Transaction and a fee will apply, whether is it is a void, debit, credit card, refund, batch close, etc.

- Transaction fees can range from 0.05 cents up to 0.50 cents and can be different for each type of transaction, although typical POS Terminal Transactions fees are between 0.08 cents to 0.15 cents. IVR, PC, & E-commerce Transactions fees are usually much higher ranging from 0.35 cents to 0.50 cents.

4. What is the monthly cost for the Point-of-Sale Terminal?

- Most Bank Payment Processing Companies offer: only Rental Program for POS Terminals. Rental costs can range from $20 right up to as high as $100 a month dependent on the type of POS Terminal your business requires.

- Private Label Payment Processing Companies usually only offer: Lease-to-own or Buy-out Options on their POS Terminals. Lease-to-own usually run on 48 month leases with a 10% buy-out option at the end. Lease-to-own POS Terminal prices range from $30 – $80 dependent on type of POS Terminal. Buy-out POS Terminal prices, typically run from $999 – $1800 dependent on type of POS Terminals.

- *** Two very important questions to ask before buying a POS Terminal: A) What are the warranty conditions? B) Is the POS Terminal Smart-Card Ready?

- PROS & CONS of Renting Vs. Owning:

PROS: When renting a POS Terminal if you require a new POS Terminal is usually will be fixed or replaced at no cost to you.

CONS: Rental only: You pay rent forever. If you have been renting a POS Terminal for $40 a month for 5 years, then you just paid $2400. If you have been renting a POS Terminal for 10 years at $40/month then you just spent $4800 & no asset in your business. When you can own a Basic POS Terminal for as little as, $1000 and now have another Asset in your Business.

SIDENOTE: Most Private Label Companies will offer some type of life-time warranty, sometimes at no extra cost, sometimes for an additional fee. However, it always comes back to the question of whether it is better to Own or whether it is better to Rent…? – I will let you decide!

5. What are the Set-up Costs?

- Every Payment Processing Company will have set-up fees, some more then others. Set-up fees can range from $50 – $300. Usually the set-up fees are one-time only set-up fees for Visa, MasterCard, Amex, & Debit Cards – usually around $25 per card. Some Companies also charge an initial set-up fee for programming POS Terminals or a fee for Initial Training. Set-up Fees can greatly vary from Company to Company.

6. Are there any application fees?

- Not all Payment Processing Companies have an Application fee, however, some Companies do. This is usually a non-refundable fee, whether you are approved or not. Applications fees can vary from non-existent to $300.

7. Is there a Statement Fee?

- Not all Payment Processing Companies have a Statement Fee, however, some do. The average Statement Fee is usually around $5 or free if you are willing to receive your statement coming to you via E-mail. I am not sure if this is a nickel and dime fee or if it is Companies trying to go green…? I let you decide!

8. Is there a Settlement Fee?

- All Payment Processing Companies have a Settlement Fee. Settlement fees can range from 0.05 cents – 5 dollars.

9. Is there any Minimum Processing Fees?

- All Payment Processing Companies have Minimum Processing Fees, ranging from $5 – $25. Often there are Minimum Processing Fees for each type of card you intend to have processed. Basically, what this means is if you do not do enough business to have high enough fees you will still pay a minimum every month.

- For example: Let’s say your Discount rate 1.85% on Visa and your do a $1000 worth of sales on Visa that month and your minimum processing fee is $10. Well, 1.85% X 1000 = $18.50 in fees that month on Visa. Therefore, you have cleared your minimum of $10 and you have nothing to worry about. Now if you take the same rate and minimum, but you only made sales $250 that month on Visa. Well, 1.85% X 250 = $4.62 in fees that month on Visa. Therefore, you did not make you minimum and would be required to make the difference up of $5.38.

10. Is there a Gateway Fee?

- Most Payment Processing Companies usually have a Gateway Fee, but usually only for IP POS Terminals, PC, & E-commerce Payment Solutions. Gateway Fees can range from $5 to $45 a month.

11. Is there a Monthly Maintenance Fee?

- Some Payment Processing Companies have a Monthly Maintenance Fee others do not. If they have it, it is usually a Fee that is with IVR, PC, & E-commerce Solutions, however some Companies have it on POS Terminals solutions too.

12. Is there an Added Value Fee?

- Some Payment Processing Companies have a Monthly Added Value Fee and some do not. This Fee usually ranges from $5 – $10 a month.

13. Is there a Low Achievers Fee?

- Most Payment Processing Companies have a Monthly Low Achiever Fee. Low Achiever Fees can range from $5 – $20. This is why it is important to get your monthly/annual estimate of total business volume correct on your Visa, MasterCard, & American Express Applications. Most Merchant Account Providers have 25%-35% error lenience. If you are not sure it is always better to under estimate your monthly/annual sale amounts when applying for Credit Card Merchant Accounts.

14. Is there a Chargeback Fee?

- Most Payment Processing Companies have a Chargeback Fee. Chargeback Fees can range from $10 – $50. A Chargeback is when a Card Holder holds a dispute on a Visa or MasterCard or Amex Transaction that came from your business. If the Card Holder wins the dispute, they will be refunded their money and you will be charged a chargeback fee – it’s a similar fee to bouncing a cheque.

- It is always the Merchant burden of proof to prove that the Card Holder had used or bought the product or services from your business. This is why is so important to check that on Credit Card Purchases that the signature matches the back of the Card Holders Credit Card and if it does not to ask for Photo ID.

15. What are the Technical Support Service Hours?

- Most Payment Processing Companies have a Help Desk/Technical Support. However, not all are 24/7. Some are better then others. The best thing to do is to get the Help Desk # and give it a call a few times through out a day to see what kind of service you would get.

16. How soon can you have a new POS Terminal in my Business if my POS Terminal is not working & can’t be fixed via the phone?

- Payment Processing Companies can vary on this. Some can have one to you within 24 hours others can take 2 – 4 weeks before they have a new POS Terminal to you. The question you have to ask yourself is how long can your business run without one in your business?

17. How long does it take to initially get set-up with full services?

- Most Payment Processing Companies usually take at least 2 weeks (sometimes as long as 4-6 weeks) to processed by an application to establish a trading account activities, POS programmed and shipped to your business ready for use. However, there are several processors that payment can be in your company in just five days.

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Everybody loves good service. It makes us feel appreciated when patronizing a company that meets our service expectations.

Businesses understand the need to satisfy their customers and take great strides to provide helpful, friendly service.

However, not only is implementing structured customer service practices smart business, it has the potential to reduce risk management issues.

By putting the following 9 steps into action, it’s possible to improve customer service and reduce costly mistakes and accidents. Customer service practices can be woven into policy and procedures so that good customer service is achieved when following company policy.

Step 1. Identify areas of service that need improvement as well as potential risk. Implement policies that address these issues. Ask for the input of management and staff to create an atmosphere of teamwork.

Step 2. Create a policy and procedure manual that is easily read and understood. To encourage employee interest, be sure to explain how the procedures will benefit employees. Distribute the manuals to each employee or department manager. Ensure all management is committed to the education of their department.

Step 3. Hold staff meetings to discuss the new policies and customer service expectations. Make the meetings a positive experience and reinforce the benefits of implementing the policies. This may be as simple as giving certificates of recognition or as valuable as a raise (an idea to increase the perceived value of certificates of recognition is to allow employees to accumulate and trade them for gift certificates).

Step 4. Create a culture in which employees and staff show the same helpful respect to each other as they do customers (teach that we are all each other’s customers). Empower staff to nominate each other for certificates of recognition. Invite customers to do the same.

Step 5. Ensure that each employee has read and understands the policy manual. Encourage its importance by having each employee take a written test and go over the results to fill in any gaps in understanding. Have the employee sign it and keep the results in the personnel file.

Step 6. Continually educate staff on the importance of each department and teamwork. Each month, choose one staff member to learn something new about another department and give a short inservice to the rest of the team (for example, have a payroll clerk take a couple hours to learn and share something about the shipping department). If employees have some understanding of the business processes, it will help staff identify ways they can indirectly help their co-workers in other departments.

Step 7. As time passes, continue to reinforce policies and good customer service practices. Look for ways to continue to involve staff (for example, form teams to create a new system, implement a new idea, solve a dilemma, etc.).

Step 8. Replace employees, according to termination guidelines, who continue to refuse to follow procedures. This will show your existing staff you are serious about the policies and you will help your staff by hiring employees that want to be part of the team.

Step 9. When hiring new employees, stress the value placed on teamwork and following procedures. Start during the interview process and make it a positive experience. Look for someone who can fill the position and is eager to learn. It’s easier to train someone that it is to change someone.

A few of the benefits of implementing these steps are:

Better Service: Employees who are knowledgeable about their responsibilities and follow company procedure are better equipped to serve customers and each other (thus improving the bottom line).

Loyalty: Employees who are empowered to teach and help implement procedures feel that their efforts are worthwhile and that they are part of the team (this encourages loyalty, improves job satisfaction and less employee turnover).

Financial Rewards: Employees who understand that by following procedures, decreasing risk, and improving customer service, financial goals will be met and have a positive impact on their payroll and benefits.

The implementation of simple procedures can have a major impact on customer service, improve the workplace culture, and decrease mistakes and accidents. By fostering a knowledgeable team atmosphere, employee accountability and awareness will improve.

Keep the procedures simple and easy to follow so they can be remembered. Don’t overload employees. Think of policies and procedures as guidelines. Hire someone to review your current policies and procedures and write a fresh manual that will speak to your employees and motivate them to follow procedures.

Company rules should be included and include employment/labor law, minimum wage laws and hours, State and Federal guidelines, safety issues, regulatory issues of harassment, privacy, and industry. Acquisition and post obligatory posters of employment and to consult with a lawyer if in doubt.

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