ESTABLISHING CONTROLS, A CELLULAR SUCCESS STORY

 

 

A prominent medical manufacturer was losing major deals but it couldn’t figure out why.  In addition to $600,000 product support contracts, the company had lost several sales valued at more than $300,000 apiece.  Total losses to a single competitor in one region exceeded $2.1 million.

 

Management had to reverse the trend.  But there was no logical reason why the company was loosing deals.  An answer proved elusive until Bill Correctors Inc. (BCI) was hired to manage monthly telecommunication bills for the company’s headquarters campus and several hundred field personnel nationwide. 

 

“The company had no control over the phone accounts of their field-based employees,” recalls Bob Schwartz, vice- president of BCI. “And it had no way to redirect calls when those employees left the company.”  What BCI discovered was that a former sales representative, now working for a competitor, was steering the company’s business to his new employer.  “The company lost millions of dollars in potential revenue all because one sales person was left to manage his own cellular telecommunications services,” observed Schwartz.

 

The problem has become widespread as corporate sales and service personnel become more mobile and geographically diverse.  Schwartz explains, “To save money, this client required field employees to set up their own cellular telecommunication accounts and recover costs through irregular expense account reimbursements. Many employees established residential accounts, with family plans, and received frequent flyer miles.” Further, says Schwartz: “Employees did not like being ‘out-of-pocket’ waiting to be reimbursed, and management lost site of the line item expense.”

 

Consider your company; what happens the next time a customer or a prospect calls the cellular number of a former field employee? Will the customer reach a person now working for a competitor? If they do will that person redirect the call to his former employer or try to convert the caller?

 

The manufacturing company certainly didn’t want to lose any more business.  So BCI instituted a series of safeguards to stop the “leakage” and ensure it wouldn’t happen again.

 

• BCI designed and implemented a standardized ordering and approval process for validating new service requests assuring timely delivery of appropriate phones and accessories to authorized personnel. 

·        BCI combined all telecommunications services into managed corporate accounts.  This allowed the employees to avoid out-of-pocket expenses and reduced the potential for abuse.

·        BCI issued customized monthly reports detailing costs by user, cost center, manager, vendor, and monthly charge while implementing timely a method for managers to oversee and question their staff expenses.

·        BCI negotiated more-favorable rates for cellular phones accessories and services based on the total volume of the combined accounts, while adjusting rate plans periodically according to actual historic call volumes.

·        BCI initiated a system for re-directing calls to former sales and service staff so that client contact is uninterrupted.

·        BCI reviewed and managed the accounts to ensure the company was getting the best possible rates, that errors and overcharges were corrected, and that the best use was being made of cellular, toll-free, dial-up, broadband, and access lines.

·        BCI returned control of field telecommunications services to the Client.

 

With the realities of cellular number portability upon us, BCI stands ready to help businesses regain control of cellular services, reduce unit costs, and streamline ordering procedures while taking full advantage of the new regulations in all domestic markets.