Cost Containment Questions and Answers 
Q. What advice do you have for a customer looking to hire a
provider like you?
A.
Be extremely cautious of the individuals
background, Verify their background via a LinkedIn profile, resume and or references. There are
others that play in this space that DO-NOT have background in the industry
whatsoever. It's not wise to trust these line items to someone who has a
background in Real Estate or marketing.
Q. If you were a customer,
what do you wish you knew about your trade? Any inside secrets to share?
A.
The industry is so complex and ever changing
that experts struggle to stay current. Many CFO's Love our service because they have no intimate
knowledge of telecom or technology and often continue to grandfather older working services
due to the discomfort of dealing with sales reps and complex contract language. They are aware that they
could benefit from class leading services and budget. There simply is not
enough knowledge available internally, Businesses need an advocate to act in their behalf.
Q. What questions should a business ask to hire the right service professional?
A. 1.
Does your firm have any carrier sales agreements directly or indirectly? (Many Consultants in this space are simply
carrier sales organizations who are recommending services that they must meet
quotas to maintain residual commissions. this is not in the clients best
interest because the client is vulnerable and will not get objective advise they are paying for.
Advise may influenced to meet the commitments of the Consulting firms books of
business with various carriers or vendors.
2. Will the firm outsource any of our accounts? Some consultants are match-makers and not pure experts or consultants. These
scenarios typically compound the expenses of doing business and therefore
increases the clients final expenses. This is not always a bad thing but should
be uncovered prior to the endorsement of
any consulting agreements.
Q. What important information
should businesses have thought through before seeking you out?
A.
The client needs to determine if they want to
source their need or if they are just shopping. If a prospect is just shopping or fishing for free consulting then they
may not qualify for our services.
An Ideal client knows there is gross
industry profit in their invoices and wants to bring these expenses to a more reasonable level without sacrificing quality. Businesses desire
an affordable expert to handle these processes. Collecting refunds, managing
technical issues, moves adds, changes, design, vendor selection, vendor
negotiation, multi vendor co-ordination,
monitor accounts, and make strong technology recommendations to help them grow
their business and drive ROI in a cost effective manner.
Setting the expectation.
1. Prior to contacting us the client should have all of their land-line,
wireless, cellular, long distance, internet, maintenance agreements etc.
invoices in paper, PDF format or Online access. Contract copies / maintenance
agreements for their the above mentioned are helpful. If
the business is relocating or maintains several locations we will have to gather
more specific individual site information. Total Telecom Consulting can obtain
most of this information with minimal client engagement.
2. The Client will learn that our model was designed to help grow their
business by improving P&L performance while advancing technology reliability
and performance.
3. Both parties should be prepared to endorse letters of agency and consulting agreement to complete the tasks and reach a timely goal. There will be
future documents that the client will endorse to satisfy vendor requests and
any orders.
Please don't wait till the last minute to engage us. The more
prepared you are the more we are able to meet your organizations needs and
often unrealized goals and benefits.