Home Office Telephony

Your Telecom Advisor Press Release

(Thought I'd share my latest press release with you.)

(PORT ST. LUCIE, FL) March 29^th, 2008 – It’s easy for home based businesses in today’s global economy to suffer from image issues. Unfortunately for budding entrepreneurs, consumers often equate bigger with better making it difficult for the average solo-preneur to compete with large corporations. However, it is not only possible for a small business owner to present a bigger, better, and more polished image, it is extremely affordable to do so. This can be done simply by exhibiting a more professional phone presence.

Victoria Santiago, founder of “Your Telecom Advisor”, encourages her clients to study their current telephone image as if they were a potential client making contact for information about their company. “I have found that most home based business owners don’t put much thought into the impression their callers receive when they dial their number,” says Santiago. “On top of that, most hate being interrupted by their ringing telephone, and many feel tied to their desks when expecting an important call. These interruptions can wreak havoc on an already tight schedule, and who wants to sit around waiting for the phone to ring, which may or may not happen when you expect it to?”

For those business owners too busy to thoroughly assess their current image and or research new services that could improve their communications, Santiago offers Phone Image Makeovers. Through a series of consultations, she studies her clients’ existing communication services and provides detailed feedback and recommendations for services.

In addition to her popular phone image makeovers, Santiago has prepared a special report entitled ‘How to Sound Like A Fortune 500 Company Without Spending a Fortune’ which is now available as a free download at her website: www.YourTelecomAdvisor.com. This report explains how implementing a VPBX (Virtual Private Branch eXchange) in your business can improve your image while increasing your efficiency.

For more information, visit http://www.YourTelecomAdvisor.com, call 1-800-377-7454 or Click Here to Email Santiago.

Article about Virtual PBX’s in PC World

I just came across this article by Kathryn Vercillo of PC World discussing Virtual PBX's and wanted to share it with you. It gives a clear explanation of how these systems work and their benefits to small businesses. Read the article by clicking here: "Virtual PBX Puts a Professional Spin on VoIP".  

 

Ode To Ringcentral

 

"Ringcentral, how do I love thee? Let me count the ways." Following are the reasons why I remain faithful to Ringcentral as my virtual phone system:

Their Call Controller software rocks! - This little piece of genius software turns your computer into Mission Control. It allows you to:

• Screen your calls by showing you the caller ID or playing the caller's name.

• Answer your call from your computer.

• If you decide not to answer, you can type up a quick text response which the system will convert into a message the caller hears.

• Send the caller immediately to voicemail with the click of a button and retrieve the call back while listening to the caller leave their message if you decide to take the call after all.

• Record incoming calls. I use this (with the caller's permission of course) when I'm doing phone consultations and I want to review what the client said at a later time.

• Integrate with Microsoft Outlook so all my Outlook contacts are loaded to my controller and the system recognizes my contacts numbers and displays their name.

• Fax electronic documents straight from my computer to the recipient.

Super simple web-based control panel – RC has the most robust and easy to navigate control panel. You can add and delete numbers and extensions, route your calls to your land line and/or cell phone, access your voicemails and faxes from any computer with internet access, record your greetings, view your call history real time and much, much more.

"Ring Me" Website Button – Allows my web visitors to call me without having to pick up the phone. Feel free to check mine out on my About Me page. You give the system your phone number and it will call you and then connect you to me.  

Flexible Caller ID Options – I can choose which number to display when I call out from my system (my toll free or my local number) which helps me keep my home number private. I can also choose which number I want to see when someone calls me – the caller's number or the number the caller dialed. For example, if you have multiple businesses each with its own phone number you might want to look at the caller Id and see which one of your businesses is getting a call rather than who is calling.   

And don't forget, they offer a 30 day trial with 60 minutes included so check them out. Click here for your free trial.

The Cure For The Holiday Hangover: Get Busy!

At the end of each year many business coaches and self-development gurus encourage entrepreneurs to do an assessment of how their business fared that year. Did they reach their revenue goals? Did they control their expenses? Did they keep their promises to their clients?

But, really… during the holidays, who has the time? For the home based business owner the holidays are usually the time of year when it is toughest to separate your business life from your personal life. With visiting relatives, children off from school or daycare and all the social engagements that must be kept it's amazing if we get any work done at all – let alone do things like assessments and goals review.

This is why I prefer to do such things the first week of the year. There is something about the optimism of the new year that makes the sins and foibles of the previous year somehow easier to take. Since the topic of this blog is telecommunications, here are a few items I suggest you check out that may have had a big impact in your communications expenses:

• Check your cell phone plan – Take a look at your cell phone bill. Actually, it is usually best to look at 3 consecutive months since usage can vary greatly from one month to the next. Compare your usage to your included plan minutes. Are you consistently over? Consistently under? Many people assume that when they sign a term contract with the cell provider they are stuck with whatever plan they signed up for. With most carriers that is not typically the case. You can usually upgrade or downgrade your plan without a penalty. If you are consistently going over plan, it might be worth it for you to upgrade to the next level up. Overage minutes tend to be outrageously expensive. The same holds true if you are significantly under plan every month – could you maybe downgrade your plan and save some money?
• Check your home/business line bill – Do you really use all those features you are paying for? Do you need that second line for your business or could you get away with using a virtual pbx plus your home line?
• Check your long distance usage – Are you paying more per minute than you should for long distance calls? How do you know if the rate you are paying is the best out there? Easy. You use one of the many calculators available on the internet. With bill in hand, plug in the number of minutes and the dollar amount and these calculators will calculate how much you are paying and if there are plans out there that could save you money. I use one by Cognigen. Click here to access it: Best Rate Calculator. It is my affiliate link so share the love if you feel so moved.
• For heavy Long Distance Users – Although I've had a love/hate relationship with voip solutions, you can't beat their unlimited plans. There are two things you should do before you look into subscribing to a VOIP service. The first one is to test your broadband connection to make sure your speed can support voip calls. There are many speed checkers out there. I use MySpeed PC VOIP. It's a downloadable application. There are web based ones available out there as well. The second thing you should do is read as many user reviews as you can for the companies you are considering. A couple of really good review sites are VoipReview.org and WhichVoip.Com. If a company continually gets bad reviews from users take heed. If you don't have the right broadband speed or don't want to use Voip, check with your local phone line provider to see if they offer and unlimited LD plan. Most do.

Of course, if you are too busy or would rather not deal with all these details sign up for a Phone Image Makeover and I will make sure you are not paying too much for your telecom services. Click here to request more information about the makeover. Hope you have an amazing 2008!

Top 5 Virtual Phone Service Companies: My Personal List

In the spirit of the traditional end-of-the-year countdowns here are my 5 favorite Virtual PBX companies in order of preference. Ranking is based on who, in my opinion, best serves the needs of home based business owners and independent professionals in North America. These companies provide the best pricing, best set of features and easiest customer interface. I am currently working on a Buyer's Guide which will include more details on these and other companies in the marketplace. It will also cover guidelines on how to decide which service is right for your business. Keep reading this blog for more details. (Some of the links below are affiliate links. If this information is helpful to you please share the love.)

Top 5 Virtual PBX Companies for Home Based Businesses

1. Ringcentral – This company has the most user friendly interface I've seen for the most reasonable monthly rate. I use Ringcentral for my own business (feel free to call my toll free number to check it out – 800-377-7454) and I love them. 
2. Phone.Com – By far the best pricing I've seen for a virtual phone system. Having just launched their company on December 11^th there is not enough service history to judge their quality but I believe it is worth checking them out. They offer a 30 day free trial.
3. 800PBX – The web interface for this company is not as user friendly as others that I've seen but the pricing is hard to beat. Also, they advertise themselves as a "fully managed" option. Meaning they assign you an account manager and set up your virtual pbx for you. However, I must mention that when I signed up for a trial account no one contacted me as they say on the website they do. I never pushed the issue since I do not require that kind of service but I thought that was a glitch in their customer care. If you decide to try them out make sure you e-mail them about their account set up services if no one contacts you.
4. OneBox – If you want an apples to apples comparison, their OneBox Receptionist service is their true virtual pbx service and that pricing is a bit higher than the first three on my list. However, their Receptionist service includes 2,000 minutes of traffic which is the highest I've seen for that price point. This service is best for those of you who have heavy calling traffic.
5. GotVmail – This company has a great reputation in the marketplace. They have received write ups in PC Magazine, Inc 500 and Business Week Online to name a few. Their pricing is competitive but their lowest plan (which is $9.99 a month, the lowest of all the companies I've reviewed) only includes 50 minutes so be careful which plan you choose. If you go over the plan minutes they charge .074 cents per minute (for their cheapest plan) which is the highest rate of all of them. They also charge a $25 activation fee which most other companies waive.

Almost all of these companies offer free trials so you can try before you buy. Leave me a comment if you would like to share your experiences with any of the service providers above or if there's a company you think I should have added.

The Importance of Great Customer Service

In the beginning of this month I wrote a post about the things I hate about VOIP. In it I talked about my disappointment with Ringcentral's Digital Line product. Well, little did I know that my post would be read by Emily Call from Ringcentral. She sent me this very nice e-mail:

Hi Victoria,

I saw your recent post about the challenges of VoIP and in particular, your disappointment with RingCentral's new VoIP service, DigitalLine. Would you be interested in taking a quick meeting with our product support manager to see if we can work out the kinks in your DigitalLine service?

Please let me know a day/time that works for you and I will set up a conference line.

Best,
Emily Call for RingCentral

Now, that scored BIG points in my book. Here is a telecom company that actually cares about what the users are experiencing and want to hear feedback that will help them improve the product.

I took her up on her offer and had a series of phone calls and e-mails with one of their technical gurus. Turns out the reason why my digital line was not working had little to do with their service and a whole lot to do with my bandwidth and pc memory not being sufficient to work with their softphone. They solved that by sending me a pre-configured IP phone which works like a charm. I am thrilled. Calls through the IP phone are clear and crisp – no voice lag, static or echo. I get free calling in the US and Canada and I can have all my incoming calls go through my virtual pbx.

To be fair, Ringcentral's Unlimited Plan is pricier than Vonage or AT&T. They have a promo where you pay $24.99 a month for the first 6 months but then the price goes up to $49.99. However, if you compare all the features you get with their virtual pbx and their outstanding customer service I think it's worth it. If they can continue to impress me in those two fronts I will stay a customer even after the price goes up. To me great service is worth it's weight in gold – especially when it affects my ability to communicate with my clients and prospects.

If you want to learn more about Ringcentral's products and services click here.

Excellent Presentation About Virtual Telephony Services

I have just stumbled upon a webcast that PC Magazine held earlier this year titled: "Reap Big Cost Savings with Virtual Telephony Services". The event was sponsored in part by VirtualPBX and it discusses various telephony technologies for the small business market. The presentation is a little under an hour long but it is well worth your time if you want to learn more about Hosted PBX's, VOIP and other web communications services that can help your business stay connected with clients and prospects. Hope you enjoy it.

Virtual PBX V.S VOIP

Last week I had the pleasure of giving a talk for the Virtual Assistant Revolution organization on the topic of Virtual PBX's. After the presentation portion was over we had a lively discussion about several communications technologies available in the market today including Skype, Vonage and GrandCentral. From the questions I was getting it became apparent that there seems to be some confusion about the differences between Virtual PBX and VOIP technology. This did not surprise me since I had the same confusion when I first learned of them. To make matters worse, service providers that sell VOIP have also begun selling VPBX's and vice-versa further blurring the lines between them.

Here are the main differentiators as I see them:

• How the call is delivered to the end user – Voice Over Internet Protocol or VOIP primarily delivers call traffic – as the name would imply – over the user's broadband internet service. This bypasses the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) which is the network of "hard" lines that come into your physical location. This is why you are able to make free and/or very inexpensive calls using VOIP. The providers don't need to pay the owners of the PSTN to transport their traffic through their network. Usually VOIP providers offer free calls pc to pc (which does not use the PSTN at all) or they charge a small rate for you to initiate the call through VOIP and terminate it to an actual phone (land line or mobile phone).

  Virtual PBX calls are delivered using the PSTN. Here's an example of how VPBX's handle calls: a prospect calls your toll free number. That call first goes to the service provider's servers (their PBX) where, depending upon the answering rules you have set up, will be either terminated in your voicemail or routed to the phone you have designated, which could be your home line or your cell phone. This call is transported through the PSTN.

• Equipment requirements – VPBX services require no additional equipment since the calls are delivered to an actual phone. You access all the features and controls through a web based interface. Some, like Ringcentral, provide a soft phone that you can use to monitor your calls on your computer but that would be the only software required. With VOIP you can also use a soft phone but my experience with such devices has not been the best. The soft phone is vulnerable since it depends solely on your computer to be running smoothly.

  To get the best voice quality you will need to use a separate piece of equipment connected to your dsl or cable modem. Some service providers will give you this equipment for free as an incentive to use their service, some will allow you to buy a pre-configured device at the time you sign up or if you already have a device that is compatible with their service you may use your own device. In either case, if something happens to that piece of equipment your service will be severely affected, sometimes crippled.

• Call cost – As mentioned on item #1, this is where VOIP has a clear advantage over VPBX's. Due to the fact that VOIP is not entirely dependent on the PSTN, service providers can offer their services for little or per minute cost. VPBX service providers typically charge all traffic going through the VPBX – including faxes, voicemails & calls that are forwarded to your phone – by the minute. It is very important that before you decide what service is best for your business you take a close look at your call patterns – not just how many minutes you are using but where you are calling and where your prospects or clients are calling you from.

  Also, when you compare VPBX service providers make sure they don't double bill for calls. I'll explain. Let's say that you have your VPBX set up so that it automatically forwards all your calls to your cell phone. Some providers treat those as two separate calls – the incoming call that was answered by the VPBX and the outgoing call to your cell phone – and they charge accordingly. So for every one minute you spend talking on your phone you'll actually be paying for two minutes. Not all VPBX providers will be forthcoming with that information on their websites so you might need to call them to verify.

All these differences will at some point fade as the technology is moving towards all voice traffic being handled through IP based networks and equipment. Some say the PSTN is dying a slow death. Only time will tell.

If you have any questions about these two technologies feel free to contact me or leave me a comment.

Top 10 Benefits Of A Virtual PBX

On the last post I talked about what a Virtual PBX (VPBX) is. On this one I will list what I consider to be the main benefits of using a VPBX in your business. Here they are in no particular order:

1. Work from anywhere – A VPBX allows you to forward your calls automatically to your cell phone or any other alternate number. This means you no longer need to be tied to your desk to wait for that important call. The coffee shop, the airport, the beach, any place can now become your office. If you travel often you can access all your messages and faxes through the web as well as get notifications by text message, e-mail or pager as soon as you have received a new message.

2. Project a more polished, established and reputable company image – Your automated cyber secretary (aka automated attendant) will answer your calls, transfer your calls and take messages. When a caller hears "Please hold the line while I transfer your call to John Smith" they picture John Smith in a suit, sitting at a desk in his office. He doesn't need to know you are sitting in a coffee shop in your shorts and T-shirt – unless you want to tell him. Remember, perception is reality. And the most common perception is that someone in a suit and tie is more trustworthy than someone in a pair of shorts. Ask anyone.

3. Unified Communications - That's the fancy way to say you have one phone number that will handle all your calls, faxes and voicemails. Think of how much tidier your business card will look with just one number as your contact number instead of listing your business line number, cell phone number, fax number and pager number. You can maximize this benefit by using a "vanity" toll free number that spells out something memorable like 800-call-john. No prospect will ever forget that number.

4. Marketing information about your company available 24/7 – Prospects can dial an information extension and listen to a list of your products and services, or details on your latest promotions. They can also request the system to fax them a brochure, white paper or an article of interest to them. Your prospect can do all of this even at 3 AM while you are sound asleep. Your business can now be "open" 24 hours a day.

5. No software or equipment to buy – VPBX services are an add-on to your current services and require no additional equipment. Think of a VPBX as a system that ties all of your communications services together.

6. You can make changes to your system on the fly – With the local phone or cell companies if you want to make any changes to your service you have to call them, wait on hold until someone answers, request the change, wait for the change to complete and the pay them a service fee for that privilege. With VPBXs you can make any change you want at any time you want through their web based interface or through phone access. Adding and deleting, extensions, changing your greetings, activating features, setting up your call forwarding rules, anything you want to move, add or change can be done by you without any waiting or extra charges.

7. Easy and automatic disaster recovery – As I discussed in my previous post, you should always be ready for a disaster. VPBXs will provide business continuity through any situation that may face you. Being able to quickly and easily make changes to your system will ensure that no calls are missed and that prospects can continue to reach you – or at least your business.

8. Ability to prioritize calls - As an independent professional or home based business owner your time is extremely precious. How will you ever have the time to get any work done if you are at the mercy of your phone? Most VPBX's offer what they call a "whisper" feature. This feature allows you to listen to the name of the person who is calling and then decide if you'll take the call, send the caller to voicemail or transfer the caller to another extension (for example, a colleague or the info line extension). You could also place your system in "Do Not Disturb" mode which means all your callers will immediately get your voicemail without the phone ever ringing. Then you can answer your voicemails at your convenience. Aahh! A little peace and quiet can be so nice.

9. Have a local presence in a distant market - Aside from a toll free number which allows for anyone in the country to call you without them having to pay a dime, you can also get a local number in many areas that are not local to you. For example, if you are in Miami, Florida but you have a lot of clients in Los Angeles, California, you can get an L.A number that will terminate in your VPBX. This gives you a local presence no matter where you are located.

10. Pay only for what you need – VPBXs systems are scalable and grow as you grow. You can start out with a simple system and a limited amount of minutes and as your business grows you can add more minutes, more extensions and more features. All this without having to change systems.

Can you see why I love Virtual PBX's? Never have so many features and capabilities been available to micro businesses like ours. Take advantage of this great technology! I will soon add to this blog a list of my recommended VPBX companies but in the meantime just do a Google search and you will find the most popular. If you have any questions about them feel free to contact me.

What In The World Is A Virtual PBX and Why Should I Care?

In this post I would like to simplify a very technical sounding term: Virtual PBX (VPBX) . As an independent service professional or small business owner you may have heard that term here and there and maybe wondered if your business would benefit from having one. Some of you may have a VPBX and still not understand exactly what it is. Here is the regular Joe's (or Jane, in my case) bare bones explanation of a Virtual PBX.

To understand what a VPBX is, you need to first understand what a PBX is. You might not know it but you come into contact with PBX's almost daily; when you call your bank to get your balance, call your doctor's office to make an appointment, or when you call your insurance agency to ask about your policy.

A PBX (Private Branch Exchange) is simply a phone switch which routes calls within a private network – like an office building or a campus. In the olden days PBX's were huge pieces of equipment that resided in a business' phone closet and allowed calls to be received by one main extension (typically the operator or receptionist) and then transferred to other extensions within that network.

As technology progressed PBX's got smaller and smarter. The PBXs of today can do so much more than just transfer calls. They can take messages, forward your calls to outside numbers, put callers on hold, speed-dial and the list goes on.

Historically, only big corporations or government offices could afford to buy such systems. Little entrepreneurs such as you and I have had to depend on the local phone company to act as our PBX. We could get some of the features like Call Waiting, Call Hold and Call Forwarding but the choices were limited.

Enter the Virtual PBX. This marvel of modern technology provides you – the solo or small business owner – practically all the features of a conventional PBX for a fraction of the cost.

The main differentiator between a PBX and a VPBX is how the service is delivered. With a PBX you have to buy hardware that is housed in your place of business. Not only is this hardware extremely expensive for the budget of a 1 to 5 person business but it would take up quite a bit of space in your already crammed home office.

A Virtual PBX is mostly software driven and the service provider's servers that house this software could be located on the other side of the country (or the world) from your office – hence the term "virtual". The provider partitions a section of their pbx and gives you full control over it through a web interface.

Why should you care about Virtual PBX's? Because like it or not, home-based businesses competing in the marketplace still suffer from an image problem. Credibility is usually the biggest hurdle to overcome when you work from home.

Picture this scenario: a potential client surfs the web for a service he needs. He comes across two company's websites that appear to address his needs. He calls the first company and he is greeted by a very pleasant receptionist who takes his information, gives him some information about the company and tells him someone from the sales department will call him back. He decides to call the second company. The line rings several times before a voice answers the line with a simple: "Hello?" Click. Dial tone.

Now, I know most of you would not answer the phone that way (or at least I sincerely hope you wouldn't) but even if you answer with your most chipper, professional voice it does not quite have the effect of the first call.

For better or worse, consumers often equate bigger with better. I'm definitely not suggesting that you pretend to be bigger than you are. I don't particularly subscribe to that philosophy. I am suggesting that you set up a system that will give your caller a sense of security, a feeling of having reached a professional, polished, established business. Virtual PBX's allow you to do just that.

Stay tuned for my next post where I will share with you all the benefits of using a Virtual PBX for your business.