A question worth a grand!
Do you want to know how I saved £960 for one of my client by just asking just one question?
While analyzing their telecom set-up, the question that I asked was, ‘do you use your burglar alarm’? The answer was ‘no, we don’t use our alarm as we have another monitoring system’.
So I advised them not to renew the telephone line that was connected to the alarm, while signing their new contract.
The figure of savings for them for that telephone line over the 5 year period (with existing supplier BT) came to £960.
Obviously, they didn’t renew their contract with BT but signed up new contract with us. We saved even more in the process by providing reduced tariffs etc.
We even installed a new telephone system without them paying any extra for it, as we adjusted that cost against the saving that they made. It was simple question that brought great results!
Do you know if your business has got any unnecessary telecom setup waste? I’ll be very happy to help in identifying it!
About the blog author:
Raj Deokar, is the director of Pink Connect (Northampton) Ltd. Raj has got over 15 years experience in Telecommunications.
You can reach Raj Deokar on 01604 217271 or email him at northampton@pinkconnect.com
How to Track Your Advertisement Effectively
Many businesses pour money on advertisements without knowing if it’s working or not. Be it Google pay-per-click, newspaper / magazine advertisement or yellow pages, if people are calling with enquiries, it’s difficult to manage tracking of enquiries that such advertisements are generating.
Will it not be good to find out if certain advertisement is working or not? And if it isn’t working then either stopping it or changing its copy, design or offer to make it work!
Recently, I applied a simple tool for advertisement for a business to figure out what’s working and what’s not. We then stopped what wasn’t working and saved literally hundreds of pounds per annum. Instead, we took small amount from that budget and invested it in what we found was working. The business generated more enquiries, got in control of their marketing budget and saved money.
The tool I am talking about is our “Inbound” telephone numbers (some call them as tracking or virtual numbers). You get such numbers starting from £5 per month plus the cost of inbound calls. You then point these to your main number (or even to a mobile number). Then you use such Inbound numbers in your advertisements.
The beauty of these numbers is that when your customers call you using these numbers, call details logged on to a web based system where you can get call statistics. It helps you to identify which geographical area your calls are coming from, are there any specific days / time you get more calls on etc. But most importantly it helps you to calculate your return on investment (ROI)!
Raj Deokar, who has 13 years of experience in Telecom, is the Director of PinkConnect (Northampton). Raj helps SMEs in Northampton area to improve efficiency and reduce cost.
Great testimonial for Great Service
BNI TESTIMONIAL
RAJ DEOKAR – PINK CONNECT
We was in the process of reviewing our company mobile phone package, our existing supplier had submitted renewed costs and we also acquired a number of other options from direct suppliers (Vodafone, o2 etc) Pink Connect had one advantage of visiting and listening to what we personally all wished to have, the quotation was submitted professionally and quickly—the proposal gave us a saving from previous and a better service to suit our needs.
Raj has personally helped set up the phones and has answered any queries we have experienced, I would have no hesitation in recommending Raj to any of my contacts requiring a review of their company mobile phones.
Kind regards, Mark Brown
DATS Print Services Ltd
UK Mobile users wasting £4.9bn a year on the wrong tariff!
According to the latest report by ‘billmonitor’, created and run by Oxford University mathematicians, UK Mobile users are wasting £4.9bn a year on the wrong mobile tariff!
At Pink Connect, we have always said that 82% of business mobile customers are on the wrong tariff. Billmonitor says this percentage is 76% for all mobile customers. Since it doesn’t take data and text into consideration this figure could have been higher!
Due to fear of going above the allowance offered in their tariffs (named as “bill shock”), customers typically bought FOUR times more talk time that they actually used.
The report claims that if everyone used the right tariff, the UK could stop wasting £4.9bn a year that is being spent on wrong tariffs. The task of choosing right tariff is difficult as there are over 8m contract permutations available to mobile customers!
You can read full story on this on BBC website by clicking on the following link:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-12996175
At Pink Connect, we offer FREE mobile bill analysis and advice to select the best suitable tariff for your business. We are committed to bringing down the wasted £4.9bn spent on wrong tariffs!
About the blog author: Raj Deokar, is the director of Pink Connect (Northampton) Ltd. Raj has got over 13 years experience in Telecommunications.
You can reach Raj Deokar on 01604 217271.
The Truth about Bluetooth
Raj Deokar, Pink Connect Northampton, was recently speaking to a friend who had just got a new mobile phone. The proud owner of this new piece of kit told Raj, “it has got all sorts of new features including 
Bluetooth” and Raj replied, “well that’s really cool, what do you use it for?” to which the answer was, “it enhances my mobile signal but I don’t use it specifically as such!
Being an expert in telecom and mobile, Raj was shocked by his answer! So he thought of putting together some of the many ways one can use Bluetooth:
- One of the obvious uses of Bluetooth is to connect mobile to your Bluetooth headset – flexibility and handsfree talk
- Connect mobile to Bluetooth enabled car handfree systems – handsfree talk, handsfree dialling (if mobile accepts voice dialling)
- Connect PC/Laptop and Mobile – data exchange, synchronize calendar and contacts
- Connect to other mobile device – data exchange, play games against another person’s device
- Connect devices to Bluetooth enabled printers – send data to printers without wire
- Connect devices to Wifi systems, TVs – audio / photo / video transfer (Bluetooth high speed technology) without wires
- Use PC devices such as keyboard, mouse, headsets wirelessly – flexibility without cords
- Connect Bluetooth headset to Landline phone and Mobile phone at same time – flexibility of having just one handset for landline and mobile
- Marketing use – some already use Bluetooth as a marketing tool. E.g. A retail unit transmitting message over Bluetooth about discount offers that can be received by mobile devices of people passing by.
- Some other uses include in camcorders, hi-tech devices and various other industries – there are literally thousands of devices that make use of Bluetooth technology.
More facts about Bluetooth®:
- Bluetooth is a wireless technology (uses r-waves in 2.4 Gigahertz range). It’s secure (as pairing is required), low energy consuming and one of the inexpensive ways of connecting and exchanging information wirelessly between devices. It allows Bluetooth enabled devices to talk to each other over short distances (PAN – Personal Area Network – range up to 33 feet).
- Bluetooth brand and technology is promoted by a non-profit group called Bluetooth SIG (Spec. interest group) so no single company owns the technology.
- The kind of technology that Bluetooth uses dates back to discoveries pioneered by military in 1940s.
- The name ‘Bluetooth’ is from 10th century Danish King – Harold Blatand or Harold Bluetooth who was instrumental in uniting warring functions!
Are you using your Bluetooth enabled devices effectively?
PS. At Pink Connect, we provide range of mobiles with Bluetooth and fully installed hands-free car kits that are great value – all with our friendly customer service!
Beat bad weather in new year with Inbound!
Bad weather makes it difficult for many organisations to operate as normal. Whilst employees struggle to reach their workplace, desk phones are ringing unanswered as customers and suppliers try to place orders, reschedule appointments or seek customer service. Due to this, business profit can suffer heavily.
With “Inbound” service, you can have one or more numbers mapped to your existing landline or mobile number. These “Inbound” numbes can be geographic (starting with 01 or 02) or non-geographic numbers (starting with 08 or 03 etc).
“Inbound” service enables you to do following:
• Online portal enables instant redirection of calls by you – so if you or your staff can’t make to office due to bad weather you can receive calls on any number by using online portal
• Ease of use means changes can be made to multiple numbers simultaneously
• A host of extra features – send calls to a recorded announcement giving advice or information
• Network based call queuing to deal with excessive demand
• Call tracking gives precise information to measure your marketing activity along with giving answers to following questions:
- Where are my Customers located?
- How many Customer calls are getting through?
- When are my busy hours?
- What are my call trends?
So whatever is the weather, our “Inbound” service means that these calls will be answered, even if no one makes it into the workplace!
PS. You can see more information on our ‘My Inbound’ service by clicking here: http://www.pinkconnect.com/my_inbound.html
Rialto delighted with 50% saving!
Rajendra Deokar of Pink Connect Northampton has helped Richard Alton of Rialto Health & Safety make a good start this new year:
Richard says, “Raj explained the cost savings in simple terms and showed the comparison against my existing supplier.The 50% saving was a very pleasant surprise. The switch over was trouble free and there have been no problems so far at all – excellent service!”
Friday Night Congestion
As it heads towards that time of week when our roads and our broadband clog up with sheer weight of traffic and everything runs slow, Raj Deokar (Pink Connect Northampton) has some words of advice on how to improve your broadband connection speed.
There are many factors that affect speed of broadband. Some of the key ones are:
Pink Connect (Northampton) in the News
Raj Deokar, Pink Connect (Northampton) has been featured in the August edition of Business Times. 
In the article, he mentions how businesses often complain about spending money on upgrading telephone set-ups but says he can offer solutions which are investments rather than expenditures, with low monthly instalment options.
Says Raj, “We have actually saved businesses enough on landline and calls so they can afford new a telephone system at no extra cost. How do we achieve reduction in landline and call cost? It’s not a rocket science. Corporate companies are charging business customers all sorts of fees with call charges like call set-up fees, connection fees and reconciliation fees etc.”
“We get rid of all such fees and offer standard simple call charges. That way we are saving more than 40 per cent on call charges than the corporate companies.”
Speaking about Pink Connect, Ian Cooper, who runs a consultancy advising businesses on strategy and finance said: “The main difference with Pink Connect is its customer service. It is totally focused on you as a customer. It’s a good friendly service and it has definitely saved me time and money coming up with a lot of proactive solutions to problems I hadn’t even thought of.”
To contact Raj, go to www.pinkconnect.com/northampton
email northampton@pinkconnect.com
Tel 01604 217271 / 07714 679820
