8 Mistakes to Avoid When Buying a Business Phone System

A phone system is crucial when it comes to your company’s success – it’s the most effective way to communicate with your customers, clients, and partners. However, when it comes down to buying a new business phone system, there are so many decisions to make and various factors to deal with, it helps to have some guidelines.

Here are 8 common mistakes people make when buying a business phone system, and more importantly, how to avoid them.

1.  Spending too much on a phone system

Small businesses need the best phone system at the best price they can find. Phone systems for small businesses can cost anywhere from $1000 to $5000, or more.  Make sure the phone system you select has the minimum amount of important features for you (such as cordless phones, intercom, call park, etc).  Then, make sure you aren’t writing a large check to purchase the system.  Look for providers who offer payment plans (some even offer 0% financing for 12 months). 

2.  Spending too much on phone lines

Buying a single traditional business phone line can set you back anywhere from $40-$60 a month. On the other hand, you can purchase a Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) business line for a fraction of the cost (typically $25-$30 a month). With VoIP’s ability to leverage your existing Internet connection, your monthly phone line costs will be reduced significantly. 

3.  Buying a phone system separately from the service

Many companies make the mistake of buying a phone system separate from the service. Consequently, they don’t realize that they have to figure out how to get the equipment to work with the service they bought, or visa versa. Look for a package deal where the equipment and service work well with each other. They are out there, and this will eliminate the finger pointing between your equipment and service provider.

4.  Purchasing too many phone lines

One of the easiest ways to lose money with business phone service is to buy one phone line for every phone you purchase. Phone systems can cut this ratio by 50%, 60%, or even more, with huge savings in your monthly service bill. For instance, if you have 6 or 7 employees, it is likely that 3 or 4 lines will suffice. If you have 16 employees, 8 phone lines should do the job.

5.  Settling for unnecessary costs

When faced with the prospect of finding an equipment supplier, finding a service provider, and getting it all installed, most small business owners throw up their hands and hire an “independent telco agent” to do it for them. These agents charge between $1,000 and $2,000 to install everything, on top of equipment and service costs. Find a provider who can offer the installation process to you at a fraction of this cost, or who has simplified and pre-configured their technology so all you have to do is plug it in. It’s a warning sign if they can’t do this, and insist that you hire someone or pay extra for the installation.

6.  Not having enough bandwidth on your broadband circuit

Make sure your network can handle VoIP. A typical VoIP phone call uses either 35k or 80k of bandwidth.  So, for example if you want 4 VoIP phone lines, you should assume (worst case) that you will need 320k of bandwidth for voice (4 x 80k).  If you primarily use your Internet connection for email and web browsing, simply double that number and you will know how much total bandwidth you will need. If you are a heavy user of Internet music and or video, triple that number.  If your circuit does not meet these requirements, you must upgrade your service from your broadband carrier or risk poor sounding phone calls. Keep in mind that depending on the number of VoIP phone lines you require, you may need to obtain more bandwidth.

7.  Not planning ahead

Avoid purchasing a system that can be outgrown too quickly.  Consider both the maximum number of phone lines as well as phones.  Also, ensure that you can easily add more phones and phone lines without incurring additional installation expense.  You may have as little as 3 people at your company today, but look for a system that can effectively scale up and easily allow more users to be added.

8.  Not knowing your usage profile

Do you make a lot of international calls?  How about long distance?  Are most of the people you call local to you?  Knowing this will help you purchase the right kind of calling plan with your business phone lines.  Most offer options such as unlimited long distance or special international rates to selected countries.  Take a look at a few of your last phone bills and understand your phone usage. 

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