11/ 30/ 2007
by Emma Johnson
Cell phones have become a business requirement. But picking the best plan for your small business can create a lot of static.
During the past several years, the cell phone bill for Baton Rouge, La.-based Grady Crawford Construction (www.gradycrawford.com) has averaged between $5,000 and $6,000 a month.
When Hurricane Katrina hit the area in 2005, bills for the 60 or so employees who carry company phones spiked to $9,000 a month.
But the independent firm knew it had no alternative other than to keep paying the high bills, as it relied on hands-free walkie-talkies that were available only through Nextel. Before that, the company had tried using pagers, but those proved to be inconvenient for employees working in the field. Every time workers received a call, they had to stop what they were doing and drive to a 7-Eleven to find a pay phone.
Many small-business owners feel trapped by their costly cell-phone plans. To make matters worse, most of the consumer information available on choosing a plan targets individual or family users.
With larger companies, it often makes sense to outsource the management of a cell phone plan, says Allan Keiter, president of MyRatePlan.com, a Web site aimed at helping cell phone customers find the best plan.
Grady Crawford got in touch with Wireless Watchdogs through an advertisement. The Los Angeles-based company audits cell phone plans and uses proprietary software to maximize savings.
For the first six months after the audit, customers are required to pay Wireless Watchdogs 50 percent of what they saved on their cell phone bills. After that, customers are charged $5 per phone, per month for the group to manage their phone plans. On average, the company claims to save its customers 40 percent.
Customers don't have to pay a dime until they see their bill drop. The group helped Grady Crawford Construction save close to 50 percent a month on its cell phone bills. The best part? The firm didn't have to waste time wading through cell phone plans to find a great deal.
Call for Help.
Allen Keiter of MyRatePlan.com offers these tips to help small-business owners cut the cost and hassle of their cell phone bill:
First decide on your internal policies about company-provided cell phones. How often are employees permitted to use the phone for personal use? If the answer is some but not an unlimited amount, it might make sense for each phone-holder to arrange his own plan and have the company provide reimbursements monthly at a fixed rate.
Some carriers offer flat discounts for small businesses. AT&T, for example, extends a deal for companies requiring a minimum of six phone lines.
Keiter says companies that need 50 to 100 phones can usually entice a cell phone company to design a custom solution.
If some or all of your employees spend a lot of monthly minutes calling each other, it makes sense to explore plans with unlimited airtime between subscribers. Two-way radios can also be a good solution and are offered by an increasing numbers of carriers.
If usage varies greatly from month to month, rollover programs like those with AT&T and Sprint can be the best option.
Do not automatically buy phone insurance. Unless the phone is a pricey BlackBerry or iPhone, it might make more sense to simply replace lost or broken phones.
