Five ways to cut the cost of your business phone calls

Last updated at 18:02, Monday, 18 February 2013

Phone calls can be a big expense for small businesses, but if you follow Toby Evans's advice you could make some useful savings on telecommunications.

1. Pence Per Minute Most telecommunications companies will provide a summery sheet along with the bill, this should display: Type of call, duration & cost. Divide the cost in pence by the duration in seconds – this will give you a pence per minute rate – compare this with other suppliers (Eclipse Office Technologies rates start from 0.8ppm local & national 5ppm mobile)

2. Connection Charges Scrutinise a bill for a call lasting only a few seconds, for instance if a mobile goes straight to voicemail and you decide not to leave a message. Many companies will charge a connection fee meaning that the few seconds the call was connected could be quite costly. Look for a supplier who bills ‘per second’ meaning you only pay for the time you are connected. (Eclipse Office Technologies will never charge a connection fee or minimum call charge)

3. Services
Check through the bill for services that may be unused. These range from 50p to £5 with some suppliers. There is little point in paying for unused services such as 1571, caller display, call minder, call diversion etc. As the demographic of you business has changed over the years some of these may have become surplus to requirements.

4. Line Rentals
Ensure that line rentals represent value for money, as well as checking every line is still in use and needed. It is surprising how many clients we save money by finding unused lines and services

5. Admin & Billing Charges Check through the bill for ‘other’ charges. Many companies charge for things you would not expect including, but not limited to: Billing (yes, some companies charge you for billing you) Payment (again, some companies charge you for paying them) Check for items such as ‘others’ ‘recurring costs’ ‘billing’ ‘admin’ etc - Eclipse Office Technologies will never charge any admin costs.

For a free no obligation analysis of your current bills pleases contact: Toby Evans via info@eclipseofficetech.co.uk or 0844 887 5050