Picking long distance.

• Author: Gilbert, Jo

Tips on selecting the right plan

Figuring out which vendor should handle your business's telecommunications can be frustrating. It seems as though every company has a plan and wants you. Well, if the plan can save you money and the customer service can keep you happy and your lines up, go for it.

You can either do your own research on the long-distance plans available or you can seek a consultant's advice.

Terry Ballantini at One Call Communications says business owners often don't have the time to check out their options. "Most often, folks who are looking at long-distance service don't understand the full scope of it. And it's not that they don't understand it--they don't want to understand it because they're too busy concentrating on their own business."

According to Barbara Pinzka of Cincinnati Bell Long Distance, a good consultant should be able to save a minimum of 10 percent of your bill, 20 percent to 30 percent if your calling patterns fit into a neat groove.

If you do the research yourself, you should get more information from the vendor than just price.

"Occasionally, people just call around and give you a call scenario," says Jeff Stapleton, senior sales representative of Cable & Wireless. "For example, 'What does a call cost from here to here during the day?' And that is definitely not a way to find a good vendor.

"We not only need to look at all of the current bills, as far as calling patterns, but also need to understand how the company operates internally and externally and how they communicate with their customers," he adds.

"I think common mistakes that customers make are one, they tend to look at just the promotions. They need to understand that promotions end at some point in time," says Dennis Huber, assistant vice president of product marketing at Sprint. "Two, I think it's very important they look beyond the price issue and really look at the service the communications provider is carrying. What's the quality of the lines? What's the quality of customer service? How proactive is that carrier in helping me solve my business solutions?

"Three, does that carrier provide all the features I need to run my business?"

Pinzka advocates "Know thyself" and become educated on what your calling patterns are. "What happens is there are different prices for different kinds of phone calls, and what happens to some customers, unfortunately, is that they see a price that looks very good. So they get a nice low price on a small part of their calling, but then they pay a high price for the calls that...