In the corporate landscape, a contract with your telecom carrier will usually last about 3 years. Since you’re contractually obligated to pay a pre-determined rate, your carrier’s goal isn’t to proactively find you the lowest rates. Their job is to keep you paying what you’re paying, plus entice you to sign up for more products and services along the way.
So, if your carrier isn’t accountable for keeping your costs down, who is responsible? The simple fact of the matter is that the responsibility to keep your telecom expenses in check falls on your organization.
Telecom Knowledge
Outsmarting your telecom carrier is ultimately about leveraging knowledge of the telecom world to your advantage. We know from long experience that a few phone calls or conversations with your telecom representative could save your organization tens of thousands of dollars a year.
Telecom Pricing
Acquisition
An important concept to understand is the difference between acquisition pricing and retention pricing. Acquisition pricing is, as its name suggests, the discounted pricing that a carrier can offer as an incentive to get you to sign a new contract with them. This introductory pricing usually lasts between 12-18 months, or approximately halfway through your contract.
Retention
Retention pricing, on the other hand, is the long-term price you end up paying your carrier once the initial offer has concluded. Retention pricing is rarely as competitive as acquisition pricing and almost always significantly increases your annual spend. Often, carriers assume that you’ll continue paying the retention pricing for many years because of your satisfaction with the service, or simply because of the work it would take to switch to another provider. If you can get your telecom provider to realize that you don’t plan to continue paying retention pricing without asking a few questions first, you can usually get them to sweeten the deal.
[author_bio username=”Ken” name=”yes”]
