In an age of competitive business activity its nice to know there are benefits to the end user from this competition and in the communications industry in Australia there are now about 40 different telco companies operating. This brings prices down for the end user and also means the companies have to find new ways to impress the customer.

As most telco’s offer web hosting and internet services these are areas ripe for development. For example if your business is relocating can they organise to have that done for you with less hassle, fuss and so on? Can you get unlimited emails and unlimited tech support.

Perhaps your business is bigger and requires multiple lines or a PABX (in house exchange) ask if they can do that too. Add that to the internet services like big download allowances, only your downloads counted on the service volume and you are starting to get the picture of how you can save money and be provided with great services.

But in business its important to have that all important edge… How about 1300 or 1800 number set up for a low monthly fee. That’s would be it for me, the finishing touch in a range of services that benefit your business.

How about lost time? Time is our most valuable asset these days, and the measure of a good supplier is often what they do when something goes wrong, not just when everything is going well. Recently a friend of mine had an interesting experience. When a new neighbour moved in, somehow his fax line ended up permanently “crossed” with the new neighbours main incoming line!

Luckily for him he uses an independent retailer for his telco needs. With a single phone call the situation was resolved by his personal account manager who saw the issue through from start to finish. A single point of contact that meant less time explaining what the issue was, and a lot less grief! Of course, the independent retailers still have to deal with the big “T”, so we still can’t expect miracles…..

A lot of these advantages can happen by utilising an independent retailer with lots to offer, so haggle, ask lots of questions, find out more about ways to use the competitiveness to your advantage and you might just get more than you hoped for.

Stumble it!