If you have an impulsive personality, then there is a good chance that you do not put much value in comparison shopping, and instead rely on your gut when it comes to making any purchase decision. Although this approach can indeed work, and work well for some people, it is often met with buyer's remorse by most individuals as they soon realize that the could have saved a lot more money, and ended up with a much better product or service, if they had taken the time to comparison shop.
Here are a few different ways to shop for VoIP deals:
Let's assume that you understand the benefits of VoIP and have decided that it is a service that your company wants to switch to. The biggest reason is often the huge cost savings that are associated with changing service. You are now at the stage where you are trying to narrow down the thousands of different options that exist and determine the best VoIP company for your businesses particular needs.
It is often stated by businesses that referrals are their best source of customers. When you think about this further the reason for that is likely that customers who have been referred to them have often already made their decision to purchase and do not need much convincing. So a business can often charge a list price as opposed to having to negotiate. Additionally, if you base your decision on a referral from a business colleague, you are making an assumption that did their due diligence in the first place. So referrals are great for the business or VoIP provider that is on the receiving end but maybe not so great for the actual buyer.
A couple of good examples of this are Accessline and Vonage. You see Accessline prominently displayed on the Costco magazine every month as the business phone solution of choice. Likewise, it is hard not to catch a Vonage advertisement on TV. These companies are paying a lot of money for this brand recognition and they will likely get a good return on the investment through new customers for their services. So you tend to feel good knowing that you are going with a service that everyone has heard of and lots of businesses use. So who can blame you for making that decision? Trouble is that you are not going to get the best price and package possible as you do not have much info to compare their services to and create a baseline for negotiations.
This is a pretty decent approach if you have done a lot of the necessary due diligence and comparison before contacting this particular provider. There is a good chance that they will offer you list pricing though. If they ask you if you are considering any other service then the answer should always be yes and you should have the comparison data at the ready to use for negotiating.
This is a great method to get the required pricing information that you need. When you complete a quote request form (see form on right side of this page), you are often contacted by multiple pre-qualified providers depending on the information that you have submitted. These providers will quickly get in touch with you and provide customized quotes for your consideration. The providers are very aware that you completed a quote request form, so are going to immediately offer you the best deal possible, as they know they are competing with other providers for your business. As with any approach, there is a downside in that it takes time to evaluate multiple quotes, and determine which is the best option. It is however very unlikely that you will find a better deal than what is offered by these providers seeking your business. They often go below list prices if it becomes a deal breaker. So what ever happens, be sure to negotiate as there are literally hundreds, if not thousands of VoIP providers who could offer you service.
When you have your pricing information and are feeling comfortable about making a decision and signing on the dotted line, pause for a minute be sure that you have considered the following:
Now you are ready to go ahead and start enjoying the benefits of VoIP without experiencing any buyers remorse, as you should be fairly confident that you are getting a good deal based on the VoIP quotes and pricing information that you have on hand.
Businesses can save a lot of money by switching to VoIP. The actual dollar amount that they save will depend on which provider they decide to switch to. As providers will in most cases negotiate, it is critical to visit provider sites and understand different price breaks, as they can vary considerably depending on the size of a business. It is also ultimately a very wise decision to seek multiple quotes for comparison pricing purposes.
Provider* | Highlights | Startup | Reviews | More Info |
---|---|---|---|---|
|
Free Trial |
Read Reviews |
||
|
Cancel Anytime |
Read Reviews |
||
|
Free Trial |
Read Reviews |
Since 2005, we have helped educate millions of users about VoIP technology and helped thousands of companies save well up to 80% on their phone bills by switching to a small business VoIP solution.
Over the years we have forged partnerships with many of the industry leading service providers in the Voice over IP industry. This enables us to provide you prompt and FREE, no obligation, comparison quotes for all of your phone service needs. Fill in one simple form to get free pricing quotes, it takes only 1 minute to complete the form. (Your Privacy is very important to us and we will only use your details to facilitate the quoting process.)
If you are a provider, check out our advertising options or if you are a webmaster check out our Partner programs.