The notion of picking a phone system is a good news / bad news combination for managed service providers (MSPs). While there are plenty of options to accommodate diverse use cases for small and medium businesses (SMBs), it can make finding the “right” system daunting. So, before you set out to determine the best phone system for your potential customers, here are some factors to keep in mind.
Considerations for Picking the Right Phone System for a Customer
As the lifeline of a business, choosing a phone system for a customer becomes very important. With some good thought and planning, though, only several key questions emerge to help you find the right solution for your customer.
What’s already in place? Knowing what type of phone system your customer is currently using will give you insight in terms of cost and functionality. A premise-based system screams a hefty capital outlay with on-going maintenance costs for enterprise features. Customers with key systems have a less costly system that has less functionality. Those who have adopted VoIP systems likely have a robust set of features and are probably paying for ones they don’t want or need.
Does the current phone system meet the needs? This is where a technology needs assessment uncovers the customer’s vulnerability and establishes relevance for you as the MSP. Understanding how customers use their phone systems allows MSPs to tailor custom packages and upsell features. The competition makes millions doing this.
What’s the budget? Here’s the challenge! When selling your own phone system, you need an “apples-to-apples” comparison for the total cost of ownership. This means getting a copy of your customer’s current phone bill along with any other related costs. Hardware costs vary depending on the system in place. The range is hundreds of dollars to thousands of dollars.
What to Do When You Have Questions About Picking the Right Phone System
When you’ve asked the questions but are still confused, we’re here to help. So get in touch with us at D3UC. We’re telephony experts and have a white-label, cloud-based phone and unified communications (UC) solution that helps MSPs meet their customer’s needs. We sell exclusively to MSPs to rebrand under their own name, and we provide the support to our MSPs at no additional cost. So, when your customers say “phone”, let us know. We’ll help you design just the right phone system.
