i agree about the systems having alot of the same features and the importance of the company that sells & supports the equipment. I'd like to take a different tack here---what I do as a small business owner is to pick my customers. Sure, some of them pick me--and I go along with doing business with them---but in reality, when it's not a good fit---I walk away. JS--who is maintaining your present system, and why aren't you just going with them?? I maintain a trusted relationship with most of my customers, and am asked all sorts of questions, because they trust my opinions. I would really be suprised if one of my better customers would make me go into a bidding war with 3-5 other commpanies. I feel I can stop by or call up anytime and present a new idea, without having them look at me like I'm trying to steal their money from them. They are truthful with me, and have tried to the best of their ability to understand my business, and the technical terms of my business, so that we can communicate in a coherent manner. There are customers who willingly pay for everything to be done--and others who want to do things themselves so want to be trained. Either way, we both win.
I am very leery of prospective clients who just want the "basics" but end up talking of IP, DIDs, PRIs, Voice Mail, outgoing page notification, answering positions with cordless phones, external call forwarding --etc. Not that we can't provide those features-it's just that I get a feeling that the client is wanting something for nothing right off the bat. I also try to find out why he is leaving his present vendor. That question really gets me a lot of information ---so that I can make MY decision. So, JS--would you make a good customer???
"We are a very busy office.------" ALL of my customers, 100 circuits or 2 lines ALL think that their phones are important to them--and they are---but if the phones are important why are there only two options for you after 5 years of good service--1. Pay 80.00 to fix something or 2. Not be able to run your business. I would think that after paying for (after all it's not free)a five year Warranty --(probably that's really a service agreement)--80.00 to repair a phone(or a problem) is not really that bad. I mean, afer all, on one hand you say that your phones are going to get an extreme amount of use, but you don't expect anything to ever go wrong with them. Maybe that's not what you mean, but some of your statements would make me think twice about picking you for a customer. Please take this in the way it is intended; ---a relationship is two-way. You have to bring things to the table too--not just a demand for quality equipment but a realization that this will be sort of a marriage---you're going to be stuck with each other for 5-7 years or more. Hopefully you & your vendor pick each other by seeing something in the other that you really like. The vendor--not just the salesman, not just the phone system--but the whole package. Good Luck.
