Telephone bill savings tips.

By: Mark Evans, principal and founder, BottaBoom Consulting LLC

Do your eyes glaze over when the company’s telecom bill hits your desk? Do you even have a clue as to whether the charges are accurate or are what your contract calls for? Mark Evans, President of Bottaboom.com, a phone bill auditing company, shared some of the audit methods the pros at his company use to achieve savings for their clients. Here are just a few techniques telephone bill audit professionals use to save money for their clients. You can do these yourself to save your company money. (Some might also work on your personal telecom bills.)

• If your organization is tax-exempt make sure you are not paying unnecessary federal or state taxes on your phone services, as applicable.
• Look at the call destinations on your bills. Are calls going to countries or places you don’t recognize?  Investigate these calls with your staff. Examine the times the calls are made. Are calls being made when your business is closed? If so, you could be a victim of telecom fraud
• If you are currently on a long distance contract, check that the terms of the agreement are being honored by your provider. Ask your long distance sales representative to summarize the terms of your contract for you. Then compare the actual phone bills with your contract terms to ensure you are getting the proper rates and incentives. If you don’t understand how to read your bill, call your carrier and have someone explain the bill charges to you. 
• Call your long distance provider and ask if you are currently receiving their absolute best rate offered. You may be surprised at the results this simple call can produce. Your carrier will often do a free bill analysis and then offer you a better rate without your having to switch to a new carrier.