WHAT CAN THE TELECOM REVOLUTION DO FOR SALES?

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Nothing means more to the health and the bottom line of a small business than sales. By making your company more accessible to your customers and enhancing the efficiency of your salespeople, telecommunications technology can help increase your company's sales significantly. * Toll-free numbers. Once used almost exclusively by large companies or mail order firms, 800 numbers are now within easy reach of almost any small business owner. And, as Salt Lake City-based writer Alan Horowitz explains, toll-free numbers can definitely increase business. He cites an AT&T-sponsored study, conducted by an independent research firm, which found that small business owners attribute an eight percent increase in their business, on average, to their 800 service. Firms with annual revenues of less than $500,000 said 800 service increased their business more than 10 percent. Horowitz advises entrepreneurs to seriously consider getting an 800 number if: -- Your competitors have 800 numbers. -- Many of your customers are far enough away to incur toll charges when calling you, or you want to retain customers who move away from the area. -- You want to increase the number of calls from your customers. -- You want to improve customer service. An 800 number encourages your customers to call with questions about your products or services, which you can answer and then cross- sell, or complaints -- which you can resolve and thereby calm them down. Horowitz also suggests using an 800 number to offer product information and for a quick and easy way to accept orders -- which spurs demand and encourages impulse buying. -- You want to encourage communication with employees who are off the premises and with sales reps who are frequently on the road. Horowitz quotes Jerry Jaderholm, president of Norstar Sleep Products in Kent, Washington, who says, "If my reps had to pay for a call, they'd never talk to me." -- You'd like to enhance the image of your company as being large and substantial. -- You intend to expand your market geographically. According to Horowitz, an 800 number can be used as a low-risk way to test a new geographic market. Instead of setting up shop in the area, run a local ad with your 800 number. As customers there don't realize you're in a neighboring town, you can judge response and determine if it makes sense to open a new location. -- You want to target your advertising more effectively. To do this, Horowitz suggests contacting your 800 number carrier and asking the carrier to tell you where your calls are coming from -- listing calls either by area code or phone number prefix. Once you know the exact location of your customer base, you can choose media outlets for your advertising that best reach this target group. * Pagers. While these are among the oldest and most economical of telecommunications technologies, pagers have also become more sophisticated with time. Some can work throughout the country, not just in a confined area. Some pagers can be connected to voice mail systems, so you will be notified whenever a message arrives at your office. * Internet advertising. Most telecommunications companies offer Internet and home page construction services that will allow your small business to use the Internet for true worldwide exposure. (See "Don't Get Left Behind: Making the Internet Work For You" in the list of articles for more detail.) * Cellular telephones. Most cellular phone users today are small business people who spend one or more hours per day on the road -- including salespeople of all types who have found that cellular phones are getting smaller, their battery life is getting longer, their reception is getting better, and they are considerably less expensive than they were just a few years ago. And if the phone helps generate new business and service existing clients better, it will pay for itself in a matter of months. Cellular phones come in four types -- car phones, transmobiles, transportables and portables -- each of which has advantages and disadvantages. The car phone makes most sense for people who spend the majority of their time around town in their car. It runs off a car battery, and will provide the best grade of service at the lowest cost. Those who use more than one vehicle might consider a transmobile or a transportable, self-contained units that can be moved from car to car. The transmobile has no battery and is plugged directly into the cigarette lighter, while the transportable contains a battery pack. The portable (hand-held) phone is a self-contained, one- piece phone that can easily be slipped into a briefcase. A conversion kit can make most portables into car phones for easier use on the road. The best way to decide which company to buy a cellular phone from is to ask friends or colleagues if they were satisfied with the service they subsequently received. The reputation of the company and its willingness to take care of your needs after the sale is far more important than the price paid for the phone itself. * AT&T advanced wireless technology. Taking cellular phone communications a dramatic step forward, AT&T has unveiled an upgrade to its nationwide digital telephone network that gives customers calling, paging, voice mail and caller id on one phone. Using a technology called time-division multiple- access or TDMA (which offers better security and longer battery life than regular cellular phones), the giant long distance and wireless company plans to extend the nationwide service to more than 212 million people, or 80 percent of the U.S. population. While AT&T is currently the only company that can offer the nationwide service because it already has a network in place, this monopoly may be broken in the relatively near future. Competitors such as Sprint Spectrum and PCS Prime-Co are in the process of building their networks and addressing remaining technology hurdles. * Other cellular technologies. In addition to cellular phones, salespeople can use cellular faxes, portable printers and cellular modems to create virtual offices in the field. With a cellular modem, they are able to check inventory, modify production, or place orders right into their business network from a laptop computer. Using a portable printer, they can even print out receipts or invoices on the spot for their customers, saving themselves time-consuming trips back and forth to the office. * Video conferencing. Salespeople in small firms are increasingly using video conferencing as an inexpensive and effective way to make presentations and demonstrations to customers and clients across the country -- so much so that it is beginning to replace expensive business travel. "With video conferencing, smaller companies can now get the same benefits as a larger corporation," claims Jeremy Goldstein, author of "Video Conferencing" and "Money, Money, Money." And with desktop videoconferencing equipment prices falling (a good system can be installed on a higher-end personal computer for less than $3,000) and PC hardware getting faster, video conferencing is more affordable and efficient than ever. But just when should video conferencing replace business travel? Or to be more precise, when shouldn't it? "Travel doesn't automatically go away due to video conferencing," Goldstein admits. "You always need to create a personal connection initially with any business partner. But once you've established those bonds by meeting face to face, you can readily supplement travel with video conferencing -- a service that is considered a sign of professionalism by many business customers."

Excerpted with permission from "Small Business Success" magazine, Volume X, produced by Pacific Bell Directory in partnership with the U.S. Small Business Administration and the Partners for Small Business Excellence.