Saturday, May 17, 2008
You get what you pay for
A friend reminded me the other day of an adage we have both used when consulting to clients. It goes something like this: "Your accounting system is how your business eats and your telephone system is how it breathes."
In this age of multiple communication options, this adage still holds true. Even if you have a completely web-based business, I suspect you would be hard pressed to do away with your phone. No one would scrimp on ensuring they could breathe properly, but I am constantly amazed at the length some business people go to get a minimal telephone system. Sure, a basic system will give you 80 % of your needs, but it that missing 20% that makes all the difference.
There are not very many of businesses that have more than 20 percent margin over their competitors, and while a telephone system that only does 80% of the job does not equate directly to the bottom line, one thing is for sure: Running a small business AND trying to make a reasonable profit does not come easy to many people. The little extra you pay over 3 or 5 years to gain least-cost routing, Caller ID linked to Outlook (or some other database back-end), even VoIP, will make a big difference in your ability to provide superior customer service.
I remember my first Skype international call. The money I saved covered the cost of the el cheapo headset many times over. Now this is an obvious example of using technology to save money, and I understand that cost savings are not always evident at the point of purchase, BUT there is another adage that my old accountant used to love to repeat to me - "Your first cost is the least cost".
I reckon a good general rule of thumb for any business purchase is to buy for the future.
In this age of multiple communication options, this adage still holds true. Even if you have a completely web-based business, I suspect you would be hard pressed to do away with your phone. No one would scrimp on ensuring they could breathe properly, but I am constantly amazed at the length some business people go to get a minimal telephone system. Sure, a basic system will give you 80 % of your needs, but it that missing 20% that makes all the difference.
There are not very many of businesses that have more than 20 percent margin over their competitors, and while a telephone system that only does 80% of the job does not equate directly to the bottom line, one thing is for sure: Running a small business AND trying to make a reasonable profit does not come easy to many people. The little extra you pay over 3 or 5 years to gain least-cost routing, Caller ID linked to Outlook (or some other database back-end), even VoIP, will make a big difference in your ability to provide superior customer service.
I remember my first Skype international call. The money I saved covered the cost of the el cheapo headset many times over. Now this is an obvious example of using technology to save money, and I understand that cost savings are not always evident at the point of purchase, BUT there is another adage that my old accountant used to love to repeat to me - "Your first cost is the least cost".
I reckon a good general rule of thumb for any business purchase is to buy for the future.
Labels: Business, Technology
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