Telephone Systems

[tirengolf]

I have been doing some research on telephone systems for my shop. My 3 phone lines with a on-hold program is running over 250 a month. I have looked at some VOIP systems, I really think I am spending to much on phones at this point. I think I could buy 3 new cell phones or just forward all calls to me and my employees cell phones. Anyone have any ideas how to keep this rather simple, I still want to stay a little on the personal side, I feel like that is important in my business.Technology is changing so fast it is scary. I can exit my phone contract at this point. One other issue is the phone number to our location has been used since 1961. I sure do not want to change that. Thanks for any help. I have not been around the forum much lately, my father is having a few minor medical issue's , although he is getting back in the swing. On more small procedure this week and maybe we can get back to the forum some. Again thanks for any opinions, i am always up to a better mousetrap.

 

 

[Charlie]

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[tirengolf]

Charlie we are really streamlined, I got to make a investment in a new phone system. We have to many unanswered calls, I am just trying to make it better. My older system is antiquated.

[Charlie]

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[Charlie]

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[tirengolf]

Yes i do although, I have really grown the last 10 years. I am slowing it down a bit and raising my ARO numbers. We are fortunate and have worked hard to get a good base. Ethical business always pays. We are on a new CRM and really aiming for the good client that see's it as a 2 way street. We are booming. Lots of hard work over the years. My dad opened in 61. I like to think we do it right. I just want to stay ahead on this phone deal.

[mikerisich]

I have been doing some research on telephone systems for my shop. My 3 phone lines with a on-hold program is running over 250 a month. I have looked at some VOIP systems, I really think I am spending to much on phones at this point. I think I could buy 3 new cell phones or just forward all calls to me and my employees cell phones. Anyone have any ideas how to keep this rather simple, I still want to stay a little on the personal side, I feel like that is important in my business.Technology is changing so fast it is scary. I can exit my phone contract at this point. One other issue is the phone number to our location has been used since 1961. I sure do not want to change that. Thanks for any help. I have not been around the forum much lately, my father is having a few minor medical issue's , although he is getting back in the swing. On more small procedure this week and maybe we can get back to the forum some. Again thanks for any opinions, i am always up to a better mousetrap.

 

 

 

Hi David,

 

I hope everything works out for you and your father. Best of luck!

 

As for phone systems, we have a solution that might help. It may help with the amount you’re paying a month and also provides additional benefits that your current phone system doesn’t.

 

Pro Call is the name of the solution, and with it you can see who’s calling before answering the phone, and also see:

 

· all vehicles owned by the customer

· each pending service recommendation - for each vehicle on the account

· the average money spent per each vehicle on the account

· the total money spent by the customer

· the total amount of times the customer has visited your shop

· directions from the customer’s location to your shop

· and call logs of all your phone activity

 

This all shows without having to switch back and forth between screens to help the customers, and is fully integrated with your shop management system. There are other benefits as well, but in an effort to not sound too promotional, I’ll leave it at that.

 

If you want see a live demo of all the benefits, give John a call at 610-400-1019 ex. 122

 

Hope this helps.

[lmcca]

My research showed VOIP phone systems are totally unreliable in service (lots of latency). The cell phone idea scares me, $250 per month for 3 lines sounds reasonable and definitely don't give up the old phone number.

when did you do your research? VOIP companies have monetary guarantees of 99 or better up times. I think it would be harder to find analog systems these days. We have been on voip system lines since 2003 or 2004 and wouldnt ever consider analog again.

[PAPShop]

I was interested in this thread, we need to do something about our phones.

 

Here is some good information for research: http://www.businessnewsdaily.com/6780-best-business-phone-systems.html

This article doesn't give you enough information to make a firm decision, and the "questionnaire" is a lead generator. I have received 3 phone calls from salesmen in the 2 hours since I answered the "questionnaire".

[mmotley]

Voip

[andresauto]

 

Hi David,

 

I hope everything works out for you and your father. Best of luck!

 

As for phone systems, we have a solution that might help. It may help with the amount you’re paying a month and also provides additional benefits that your current phone system doesn’t.

 

Pro Call is the name of the solution, and with it you can see who’s calling before answering the phone, and also see:

 

· all vehicles owned by the customer

· each pending service recommendation - for each vehicle on the account

· the average money spent per each vehicle on the account

· the total money spent by the customer

· the total amount of times the customer has visited your shop

· directions from the customer’s location to your shop

· and call logs of all your phone activity

 

This all shows without having to switch back and forth between screens to help the customers, and is fully integrated with your shop management system. There are other benefits as well, but in an effort to not sound too promotional, I’ll leave it at that.

 

If you want see a live demo of all the benefits, give John a call at 610-400-1019 ex. 122

 

Hope this helps.

Is PRO Call an Internet/telephone service provider or an add on to your software and/or Internet/telephone service provider?

[mikerisich]

Hi Andre,

 

Pro Call is used in conjunction with your phone provider. It’s meant to increase the capabilities of the provider.

 

Please let me know if you have any other questions.

[andresauto]

Hi Andre,

 

Pro Call is used in conjunction with your phone provider. It’s meant to increase the capabilities of the provider.

 

Please let me know if you have any other questions.

Hi Mike,

 

Thank you for the response, a few more questions of interest below.

 

Does it record incoming and outgoing phone numbers and dialogue?

 

How far back does the phone number registry go?

 

Does it keep statistics on new customers and can someone manually label whether the phone number that called in was an advertisement, inquiry, appointment, job applicant, or quote? If so can notes be added along side?

 

Can you set up a virtual receptionist?

 

Can messages be remotely accessed?

 

Conditionally, how much storage is there for messages?

 

What is the lag time of message left to message left visibility?

 

How many incoming phone calls at a time can it handle?

 

Does it work with Ooma?

 

Is it a completely wireless system?

 

Can I call customers directly from a cell phone via Pro Call so the shop number shows up instead of a personal number?

 

Conversely, can it forward from the Pro Call program to a cell phone showing customer data? And if so can I set up appointments through a cell phone?

 

If it can forward, how many phones can it forward too?

 

This system would have immense value for me if it can record all incoming and outgoing phone calls while recording all dialogue and simultaneously keeping statistics on the purpose of each phone call whether automatically or manually. And if appointments can be set any day and anytime remotely through a shop cell phone from one central program.,

 

I'm trying to differentiate it's cababilities and limitations in relationship to the phone provider while assigning value to who for what.

 

 

With interest and enthusiasm,

Andre

[alfredauto]

I run one phone line and a message machine. if its busy they can call back. Anyone too impatient to call back in a few minutes or leave a message I don't really want to deal with anyway. I make a point of limiting phone conversations to less than 2 minutes. They call, I address the concern, make their appt. Done. I don't like getting put on hold, I assume nobody else does either. Parts get ordered through internet so thee line isn't busy with the parts stores.

[mikerisich]

Hi Mike,

 

Thank you for the response, a few more questions of interest below.

 

Does it record incoming and outgoing phone numbers and dialogue?

 

How far back does the phone number registry go?

 

Does it keep statistics on new customers and can someone manually label whether the phone number that called in was an advertisement, inquiry, appointment, job applicant, or quote? If so can notes be added along side?

 

Can you set up a virtual receptionist?

 

Can messages be remotely accessed?

 

Conditionally, how much storage is there for messages?

 

What is the lag time of message left to message left visibility?

 

How many incoming phone calls at a time can it handle?

 

Does it work with Ooma?

 

Is it a completely wireless system?

 

Can I call customers directly from a cell phone via Pro Call so the shop number shows up instead of a personal number?

 

Conversely, can it forward from the Pro Call program to a cell phone showing customer data? And if so can I set up appointments through a cell phone?

 

If it can forward, how many phones can it forward too?

 

This system would have immense value for me if it can record all incoming and outgoing phone calls while recording all dialogue and simultaneously keeping statistics on the purpose of each phone call whether automatically or manually. And if appointments can be set any day and anytime remotely through a shop cell phone from one central program.,

 

I'm trying to differentiate it's cababilities and limitations in relationship to the phone provider while assigning value to who for what.

 

 

With interest and enthusiasm,

Andre

 

Hi Andre,

 

A lot of the things you’ve mentioned are handled through the phone provider, assuming they offer those features.

 

What our solution does is give you much deeper insight into who the caller is at the moment a call comes in and their current status and value to your shop. You’ll immediately be able to see any recommendations for any vehicles on their account, and be able to schedule a service appointment right then and there, without switching back and forth between programs.

 

Any changes to the account during the call will be instantly transferred back into your shop management system without any effort on your part.

 

It does keep a log of all incoming and outgoing calls, and will tell you if the caller is a customer with a work in progress, a former customer and so on.

 

It can handle up to 8 phone lines and up to 30 voice channels.

 

It works with both analog and VoIP, as long as the data isn’t privately encrypted.

 

There’s a bunch more to mention, but this forum asks that promotion be kept to a minimum.

 

If you’d like, give us a shout and I’ll have my crew give you a live demo of all the ins and outs and how it generates revenue and efficiency. We’re at 610-400-1019.

 

Hope this helps.

[flacvabeach]

We recently switched our analog two line phone system bundled by our cable provider to Vonage VOIP. They provided a low-priced package of IP desk phones (five for each of my two shops). All five phones at each shop can receive calls simultaneously. All ten extensions look like a single system, so people at one shop can transfer calls to the other shop with a three digit dial. It has great after hours/busy answering functions. After some initial configuration of my LAN, quality and reliability are great. Support is great. Any extension can be configured to ring a cell phone through their app. They guide you through the process of porting your existing phone number. You can turn call recording on and off on a monthly basis. They also offer fax service. We recently added cordless handsets that have amazing range. After some initial fumbling learning how to transfer calls, everybody is happy and that doesn't happen very often .

[meowpox]

Every shop has different needs but this is how we've saved money on our phone system. We're a small shop: 4 techs + me and this is what we're on:

 

-Google Voice: Free phone number

-Obi202 VoIP Phone Adapter with 2 Phone Ports & Fax: $63

-This phone with 2 handsets: $130

-No monthly fees

 

So we're running on 2 lines, 1 phone number. Everything is super clear but that will depend on the quality of your router and internet. Fax DOES NOT work with Google Voice, but fax can be easily done online for free...or pay for a fax line. Our phone has an answering machine. If no one picks up in the office, my boyfriend has it set up to ring on his cell (you can disable this on Google voice or have it set to screen first).

 

Hope that helps. Everyone else's setup sounds nice too. Pro Call sounds amazing.

[mspecperformance]

Victoria, does your google voice phone number have a local area code?

[meowpox]

Victoria, does your google voice phone number have a local area code?

Yeah it does. It lets you choose from tons of numbers that are available...you can sort by desired zip code. Most of the time it's available. But one time when I wanted a personal number, I had to pick a neighboring city's area code.

 

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[chasauto]

We use Comcast for phone (4 lines), internet & tv. It's about $300 a month for everything. We use an outside answering service to handle overflow calls durning the day, after hours calls and weekend calls. We found we were missing lots of calls because people do not like leaving a message on a machine or voice mail. The call center doesn't give the caller much information about the shop, we get an email message from them and we return the call.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[John Fabrega]

Although this is an old thread, I thought I would join the conversation while getting my feet wet in this forum.

 

I've had quite a bit of experience with phone systems and services over the years. One of the biggest things I've learned is that to a great extent, you get what you pay for. You 'can' find cheap or free services out there just like you can find cheap auto shops and brother's-in-law that might fix your car for free.

 

It has always been my opinion that if a business depends to any degree on communicating with customers via phone they need to try to make it the best experience possible. Cell phones and to an extent VoIP have made us all more accepting of less than optimum call quality. Yes, many customers will call from cell phones, but adding another cell phone or sometimes VoIP on your end can make the overall call quality poorer than it could/should be.

 

I'm not saying VoIP is bad. In fact we use VoIP in our offices. It 'can' be great but it can likewise be poor depending upon a number of factors:

• Quality of the internet connection. If your VoIP service has issues, it could likely be due to your internet provider -who doesn't care a lick about the quality of your phone service. In fact, it might sound pretty good most of the time. But sometimes the audio quality might be good although latency (delay) is high. It doesn't sound bad, but affects the rhythm of the conversation. You know how on some calls it seems like the other person is talking over you? That's often caused by that change in rhythm.
• Quality of your internal network. If the calls route over the same network as the regular internet traffic, you network needs to be QOS optimized for voice. (Gives the voice internet traffic priority over the regular internet traffic because the timing is more important.
• Distance from you to your VoIP provider. Your physical phones could be hundreds or thousands of miles away from your service providers switch. Even a call from across the street has to travel there and back. Not a big deal in speed of light internet sense, but it can be an issue if there are too many 'hops' along the way.
• Level of Support. Many VoIP providers come from the 'data' world (no disrespect intended) where there is simply a lower sense of urgency or acceptable level of availability. If my phone service is down, I want to talk with a human and not wait 24 to 48 hours to possibly hear back from an email or trouble ticket.

The VoIP solution we use is the best scenario as far as I have found. It is provided by a local company with a local switch who also provides the internet service over which the VoIP service travels. No hops, no latency, humans that I can actually see, buying local, etc. (Note: They only provide service in Tallahassee but there are likely similar providers in most markets)

 

It's really easy to become a VoIP provider and it's not very expensive to do so if willing to cobble systems together. Not all are equal by any means. If the price sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

 

Oh, and to address one of the OP's original questions... The phone number you have had since 1961 is a valuable asset and part of your brand. The good news is that these days you can keep that number pretty much regardless of where you move the service to. The provider that you change to would provide you with a porting package that would allow your number to be transferred from your old carrier. (Just don't cancel anything with the losing carrier until the number has been moved to the winning carrier or you might never get it back)

 

John

[HarrytheCarGeek]

Although this is an old thread, I thought I would join the conversation while getting my feet wet in this forum.

John

 

John, welcome to the forum! Great write up, hope to hear more from you going forward.

 

-Harry

[nge]

We actually just switched to Vonage business in October and it has been a good experience so far. We too had phone numbers that had been in use since the 60's and Vonage handled the porting over etc. We kept both phone lines and got 3 handsets. Each handset rings when either shop number is called and each set also has its own direct number so it's almost like we went from 2 lines to 5. The call waiting like feature is that you can receive several calls to your number at a time. I don't know the limit but I know we have received up to 3-4 simultaneous calls to the same number and it still rings all handsets. The one learning curve was with transferring the calls since you can't just put a call in hold and pick it up anywhere, it actually has to be transferred but that is no longer an issue. We have set up a hold system as well that allows users to continue holding or leave a message and we also have after hours prompts set up as well. You can also manage from anywhere so in cases of inclement weather etc you can record a temporary message. Overall the switch has been a good one. Unfortunately we had to keep 1 analog line since VOIP does not work with our state inspection machine which still goes through dial up in NC but for everything we have it is $120 per month and well worth it.

[flacvabeach]

Our experience with Vonage over our Verizon FIOS network has been great. One outage earlier this year when there was a denial of service attack that made national news. We just started using their call recording function to monitor the quality of our employees' phone "presence." You can turn it on and off on a monthly basis. It's always an eye-opener.

[John Fabrega]

... Unfortunately we had to keep 1 analog line since VOIP does not work with our state inspection machine...

 

Good point. I forgot to mention that VoIP doesn't play well with analog telephony devices like fax machines, credit card modems, etc. I've also seen issues with DTMF (Touch tone) reliability at times.

[Truett]

We switched to Vonage about a year ago. I have two lines, Internet fax service(love this) and call waiting and voice mail all for only $79.33 pre store per month. I have had Vontage at home for over 5 years and pay $9.95 per month for it. The only time it goes down is when we loose internet or like said before when the dos atack happened. If we have poor connections or any other problems they are there (real People) and they solve the trouble right then. I have fiber in one store and high speed cable ($59.95 per month each store) in the other so do not know how well it works on a slow connection.

[lmcca]

My research showed VOIP phone systems are totally unreliable in service (lots of latency). The cell phone idea scares me, $250 per month for 3 lines sounds reasonable and definitely don't give up the old phone number.

 

what the heck? This was the case back in 2004 but, sorry, this is completely wrong. In fact, it is becoming harder and harder to find analog lines, VOIP IS the go to technology.

[Jay Huh]

I have one phone line and was thinking about upgrading to 2. Instead, I got a business cell phone through Boost Mobile ($28/mo) and forward all busy calls to the cell. My service advisor keeps the cell and the techs and myself answer the shop phone. Worked out pretty well and we don't miss a lot of calls. If we do, the cell phone makes it really easy to check vmail and call back right away.

 

I guess if I was interested in a third line, I can always forward busy calls from the shop cell to my own cell.....

[mmotley]

Our experience with Vonage over our Verizon FIOS network has been great. One outage earlier this year when there was a denial of service attack that made national news. We just started using their call recording function to monitor the quality of our employees' phone "presence." You can turn it on and off on a monthly basis. It's always an eye-opener.

How does the call recording work? Does it cost extra? I just had a customer try to tell me I quoted him $1,000 instead of $1,600. Either I mis-spoke or he is lying. I would love to have the call recorded. If I mis-spoke, I'd happily honor the price, but I just can't see how I would have got off that much.

[flacvabeach]

You turn it on through your dashboard one month at a time. Last time I looked, I think it was $30/month.

[J.P. GLENN]

 

Good point. I forgot to mention that VoIP doesn't play well with analog telephony devices like fax machines, credit card modems, etc. I've also seen issues with DTMF (Touch tone) reliability at times.

 

I have been researching VOIP services and most have Fax capability included. Also, an up to date modern credit card machine should run through your internet, so a Voip phone system has no affect. I just wanted to make sure people are getting the correct info here.

 

 

.... VOIP IS the go to technology.

I 100% agree with this

[John Fabrega]

 

I have been researching VOIP services and most have Fax capability included. Also, an up to date modern credit card machine should run through your internet, so a Voip phone system has no affect. I just wanted to make sure people are getting the correct info here.

 

 

I 100% agree with this

 

I agree with the points that VoIP services often include Fax capabilities and newer credit card machines can directly connect to the internet. However trying to plug a traditional fax machine or an older dial-up credit card machine into an ATA (Analog Telephone Adapter) to connect to VoIP will likely have poor results and waste a lot of time troubleshooting. Most shops that I have worked with have both.

 

I also agree that VoIP is the way of the future. I use it myself. I was simply trying to point out that not all VoIP and not all VoIP services and service providers are equal -just like not all repair shops are equal. I don't provide VoIP services or have any financial relationships with any VoIP providers. Having been in telecommunications for the last 25+ years, I figured this would be a topic where I can lend some expertise and experience.

[Richard Ehler]

We purchased an "allworx" system in 2016. Very popular with doctors offices, small business, etc. 6 phones, plus 3 portables handsets. Takes a good vendor

and some setup, but all good since. Not sure about cost.

[J.P. GLENN]

jfabrega: I am sure everyone appreciates you adding to this forum. I do too as well. I learned quite a bit from your Jan. 6th post in this thread, thank you for that. Keeping up with technology can be challenging to say the least and some of us need more guidance than others.

 

I would like to point out that anyone using "an older dial-up credit card machine" potentially has a HUGE LIABILITY. If "most of your shops" do not have modern EMV (chip card) terminals then you could be doing them a disservice in helping them continue to use them. This technology was fully adopted in 2015 and I would assume it is hard to find a terminal that complies and doesn't support an internet connection. I am sure you know more about that than I do, I just wanted to point that out to anyone looking into this. Also anyone using their modern machine as dial-up should check with their processor about switching it to internet. We did this 2-3 years ago for free, all they had to do was reprogram the terminal. When using them through the internet they are considerably faster and don't tie up a phone line (that you may be paying extra for). It is a win win in my opinion.

 

As for faxing, I'm too young for that one anyway! Of course I'm joking and I do know a lot of business that still use them. I did a little research and found that most of the services that offer this want you to scan the document and use their "dashboard" on your computer to send the fax. So you are correct that the analog fax with Voip is probably not a great idea. But just like the terminals, it is going to be more efficient to use the internet.

 

(of course all of this applies to someone that would be interested in Voip and therefore has some faith in their internet provider)

[John Fabrega]

@J.P. GLENN: Great points regarding dial-up credit card machines and EMV terminals.

 

Your post reminded me that many older alarm systems still use dialup as well. I personally like the kind that use cellular because it avoids line cuts. A little more expensive though.

 

Regarding Fax... Yes it's dying. A young lady who became a receptionist in our building didn't even know that a fax was. Ironically due to HIPAA stuff, medical providers are the biggest hold-outs for fax. We currently electronically process over 300,000 fax pages per month between medical providers just here locally. That too will go away but it is kind of amazing.

[MINI4U]

On 11/14/2015 at 9:40 AM, chasauto said:

We use Comcast for phone (4 lines), internet & tv. It's about $300 a month for everything. We use an outside answering service to handle overflow calls durning the day, after hours calls and weekend calls. We found we were missing lots of calls because people do not like leaving a message on a machine or voice mail. The call center doesn't give the caller much information about the shop, we get an email message from them and we return the call.

What outside answering service do you use? That may help us with our overload of calls we have the same set up as you and like it. We pay $233

 

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[Transmission Repair]

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