Renee Smith, veteran network services sales professional, was not only over quota for the year but was awarded top salesperson for DataTel Communications in Meridian Idaho. It should be noted that this performance was achieved in a very difficult year for the telecommunications industry.
According to customer surveys conducted by Mitel® using a process validated by Walker Information, up to 98 percent of Mitel customers are satisfied or very satisfied with the care they receive through their relationships with Mitel. The quarterly surveys measure customer satisfaction in three key performance areas: issue resolution, customer care center experience, and field services/technician interaction. The results show that alongside Mitel’s award-winning unified communications solutions, Mitel also provides an excellent customer care experience.
Read More: Mitel Achieves Over 98 Percent Satisfaction Rating From Customers
Profit Creek
“There are great applications for VOIP technology. This post isn’t meant to be a technical discussion of VOIP technology itself or to discuss all applications for VOIP. It is limited to VOIP conferencing specifically. You should work with a telecom professional – like our friend Cyn at DataTel – to help you make the best choice for your phone usage and goals. ”
Read More: http://profitcreek.wordpress.com/2009/12/02/voip-conferencing/
What is PPC – Pay per Click? “PPC is an Internet advertising model used on websites, in which advertisers pay their host only when their ad is clicked. With search engines, advertisers typically bid on keyword phrases relevant to their target market. Content sites commonly charge a fixed price per click rather than use a bidding system.”
How does this Work: Simple PPC Keyword Research
Pay per Click keyword research is one of the fastest ways to drive traffic to your web site. The three major companies where you can do pay per click advertising include: Google AdWords , Microsoft Ad Center and Yahoo Search Marketing with AdWords being my favorite.
To be successful you must have the highest amount of click through to your web site while staying in the budgeted amount for your campaign.
To do this means that you must do effective keyword research to find those keywords that have just enough searches for them to be worth your time yet the price that you are paying for the click through remains reasonable. Below are some tips and links to help you do effective PPC keyword research.
1-2-3 PPC Success!
Step One:
Let’s say you own a restaurant in Boise and you want to find some keywords to target, then you use this: Google AdWords Keyword Tool
Copy all your keywords in a text file and get ready for the next step, but just to make things easy to understand let’s say this tool returned 3 main results:
boise restaurants
restaurants in boise
best boise restaurants
Step Two:
Estimate the traffic that those 3 keywords can send you, to do that, you take for example your first keyword : boise restaurants, and go here: Traffic Estimator
Type your keyword inside the box between brackets [ ], don’t use quotes, if you use quotes Google will return some broad results, it will count every possible keyword combination that contains “boise restaurants”, which you won’t want, so use [boise restaurants]
You will now see how many AdWords clicks you can get for this keyword, take that number and multiply it by 20 to have a realistic idea on the amount of traffic that you will get from a natural search. Note: Google estimates that 5% of its users will click on the AdWords ads.
You can do this again for all your main targeted keywords and you will get an idea about the global traffic that you should get.
Read More: Pay per Click PPC Secrets Revealed
Copyright © 2009 DataTel Communications. All rights reserved.
How does Raving Fans apply in the workplace rather than directly to clients/customers…?
1. Decide What You Want:
2. Discover What the Customer Wants:
3. Deliver, plus one:
Following simple steps to create Raving Fans in the workplace will build relationships and understanding.
No doubt, the effect will be clear to your clients and customers.
Copyright © 2009 DataTel Communications. All rights reserved.
Well, you can. And we agree. However, what if all of your “real people” are busy handling other callers? Do you want your callers to think you aren’t there or don’t care?
If you have a Mitel® Voice Mail system in place, you already have the flexibility to have a full or part-time Automated Attendant at no addition equipment charge.
Some businesses use the Auto Attendant feature 24 hours a day 7 days a week. We call this Full Time Auto Attendant.
Many small to mid-sized business, use the Auto Attendant to pick up calls during the day if the office staff are unable to answer with in 4 or 5 rings, then, when the office is closed, have the Auto Attendant pick up immediately. We call this “Part Time Auto Attendant.
The Auto Attendant not only gives your customers information about your hours, website and/or how best to contact you, it also allows them to leave you messages anytime AND it allows YOU to leave and RETRIEVE your messages anytime day or night.
Copyright © 2009 DataTel Communications. All rights reserved.
I am an account executive with DataTel Communications in Meridian, ID. I specialize in voice/data telecommunications – an industry in which I have two decades of experience. I am an authorized network agent for Qwest, Time Warner, Integra, etc throughout the USA. As a broker for all of the carriers, I am able to assess my clients’ needs and truly find the best deals available. Even if a business is satisfied with their existing dialtone and data/internet configuration and/or under a contract, I can review the invoices to ensure the company is receiving the best possible rates. Best of all, there is no charge for this audit! Whether it’s two lines or two hundred, the services should always be offered at the most competitive fees available.
I would truly appreciate the opportunity to review existing voice/data/long distance accounts. In today’s economy, every savings possible should be pursued! (…especially when all recommendations are free!)
Again, there is no cost to the business. Yes, I am a salesperson, but there is no “catch”. I am paid by the carriers, never by my clients. No – the rates aren’t higher to utilize me. (The rates are tariffed.) In the future, if my clients have a concern or a change, they have the peace of mind of knowing they can contact the same person (me)…not a call center.
I am happy to send references upon request.
Send me an email — I want to earn your trust and save you money! cyn@datatelco.com
Copyright © 2009 DataTel Communications. All rights reserved.
“Cyn is an asset to any organization or business! She is compassionate, articulate, a hard worker, and dependable. Cyn as a Idaho Meth Project volunteer and member of the Mayor’s Anti-Drug Coalition (MADC), has been involved in our community and spoken to many students in our schools. One of our officers remarked that she has more impact on those students than anyone he has seen in a classroom. She is credible and inspirational; I have the highest regard for Cyn!” September 8, 2009
Tammy de Weerd, Mayor, City of Meridian
Copyright © 2009 DataTel Communications. All rights reserved.
I review carrier invoices on a daily basis, looking for ways to save potential clients money on their telecom bill. There is one service I almost always opt to cancel for them: WIRE MAINTENANCE.
Wire Maintenance is a monthly charge (by the carrier, usually Qwest) as an “insurance policy” on your internal wiring.
While it may be beneficial for residential customers – who have no desire to replace the cable/jacks in case of failure – it is almost always a needless expense for business customers. The repair/replacement of internal cabling is often warrantied by the PBX hardware provider as part of their maintenance agreement; in newer buildings it is often under warranty by the original installer.
Even if no warranty/agreement exists, the reality is cable and jacks rarely fail.
The wire maintenance fee is several dollars each month ($7+ in our area). It is also assessed by line. To cover an entire business, the fee is usually attached to every line.
So…if a business has five lines, and they’re paying $7 per line each month, they have an annual expense of $420. for coverage in case of a problem with an internal component. Conversely, a new cable and jack can usually be installed for under $200 on the rare occasion something is amiss and no other coverage exists. Given this information, most of my customers have no hesitation in canceling this coverage.
This is but one example of the “nominal fees” that business owners incur each month that they probably could avoid. Stay tuned for others…or contact me offline for a free audit of your invoices!
Copyright © 2009 DataTel Communications. All rights reserved.
First let me say that I think hosting a phone system remotely is a viable alternative in some business cases. That’s not what’s bugging me. Statements like this bug me…
“Traditional business phone systems cost thousands of dollars to set up and maintain. By eliminating the need for complex hardware, lengthy installation and technical expertise, small businesses get the functionality and flexibility to easily connect with customers at a fraction of the cost of a traditional PBX phone system.” – Fox Business Article
What they don’t tell you is all this “revolutionary business phone technology” is riding on another provider’s network. I don’t care if its “cloud-based” or whatever based. That’s just how it works.
Examples
We just experienced a hosted provider failure that “forgot” to pay Qwest millions of dollars for the right to ride over their network. Qwest pulled the plug and guess what… customers had no options. They were sitting there with phones they bought that were now useless. They didn’t own the phone system. No dial tone, No long distance, nothing. They had put all their eggs in one basket. Bad for business.
I am currently working with a customer that was proposed a hosted solution with an upfront cost, phones, plus a monthly fee. I can offer them a CPE (customer premise equipment) solution for slightly more upfront and they can get their Dial tone, Long distance, DID’s, Caller ID, SIP trunking, etc. from whoever they want with whatever services they want. They also own the phone system. If we go away… they still have a working system.
To combat the upfront phone costs many hosted providers are “advising” their potential customers to buy them used off eBay. Now there’s a bit of sound business advice. Who’s going to support this customer with phone issues? I am pretty sure not eBay and it looks like the hosted provider is bailing as well.
Misleading
Going back to the above statement “eliminating the need for complex hardware” really is misleading. What are they using… two cans and a string? Their system needs as much or more complex hardware as the next phone system. How about the hardware to power the VoIP/SIP phone? What about configuring these phones on your LAN (Local Area Network)? QoS (Quality of Service), PoE (Power over Ethernet) just don’t go away because they are using “cloud-based revolutionary phone technology”.
Eliminating the need for “technical expertise” is quite a statement in itself.
No offense folks but as important as my phone system is in doing business, thus keeping the doors open and making payroll, I want technical expertise. I don’t want someone, in who knows where, answering my questions and resolving my pain. We all have experienced this with our cell phones… do you really want to go there?
Trash Talk
For some reason hosted providers feel the need to trash traditional phone system providers. I’m not sure why. Maybe because thousands of interconnects are successfully servicing clients and are offering state of the art solutions every day. They’re local, quick to respond, and you get a live person. Relationships and trust are still great business tools last time I looked. My two cents.
Resource: lottspace
Copyright © 2009 DataTel Communications. All rights reserved.
