It's a whole new world out there.

To save time and money, a Los Angeles-based businesswoman begins the day in her office, then reviews the latest product designs with her New York consultant before moving on to advise new clients in Seattle about recent industry trends-and all before lunch, thanks to video conferencing.

A Houston business owner brings together his two partners for an emergency strategy meeting. One partner is in Chicago. The other is backpacking in the Ozarks-30 miles from the nearest pay phone, but equipped with an advanced cellular telephone.

A salesman from Atlanta is awakened by a phone call originally dialed to his office but automatically routed to his Oklahoma City hotel room. On the line is a customer who needs supplies quickly. Using his cellular modem, he checks the current inventory with his portable computer and guarantees shipment at daybreak.

All of these scenarios are possible because of what industry experts call the "telecommunications revolution" - new uses of technology that are unleashing and enhancing the power of small firms. "Every line of business in the whole arena of information, communications and entertainment is likely to change," predicts William H. Gaik, national practice director for telecommunications at Deloitte & Touche Consulting Group.

This revolution has already produced an enormous array of services, equipment, computer hardware and software, and a proliferation of telecommunications providers. They are literally changing the way America does business.

The largest U.S. and multinational corporations were the first to begin harnessing this new power to improve efficiency and responsiveness. Now small businesses must work to catch up and find the most effective ways to invest their resources for maximum competitive gain.

A Daunting Challenge

· Fourteen percent of the companies surveyed had no computers at all.

· Only thirteen percent said they have employees who regularly connect to computer systems from remote locations.

· Just eight percent said they have employees who telecommute from home.

Because these technologies can significantly improve operations, it's likely that an investment in new equipment and services would pay off. But the choices are admittedly daunting-more players and more options exist than ever before.

Not Just Telephones

On the hardware side, many telecommunications companies manufacture equipment ranging from simple pagers to mobile office packages to Internet service and high-speed connections.

What makes today's world more complicated is that so many people are trying to sell so many different things. To make informed decisions and derive the most from your investment, be sure to do your homework and find vendors you trust.

What to Invest in Next?

ISDN lines are high-capacity lines that can transmit computer data such as large files and images, video, voice communications and faxes much more quickly. The advantages:
· Faster service for computer users at a relatively low cost
· More services from a single telephone line
· Provides a foundation for future telecom technology

Video conferencing is a "video phone call" during which users see people and products from their computer screens, in addition to being able to speak back and forth. The advantages:
· Eliminates travel time and expenses
· Instant conference capability
· Promotes a professional company image

Cellular modems and faxes are equipment that make it possible to transmit data or images from a wireless base rather than through regular telephone lines. The advantages:
· Eliminates back and forth office trips by salespeople
· Instant processing of sales orders

Voice mail and automated attendants are answering services that can direct customers and organize messages. As time and day are provided for each message, you'll know exactly when callers tried to reach you. The advantages:
· Frees customer service reps from repetitive calls
· Stores and secures office messages during business and non-business hours
· Can be linked to pager notification upon arrival of messages

Internet services provide a connection from your office computer to the Internet, which can be a powerful tool for marketing and commerce. Choices range from high-speed dedicated access for Internet-intensive businesses to dial-up access for modem users. The advantages:
· Round-the-clock access and sharing of resources
· Global information and sales opportunities
· Inexpensive communication with customers and vendors
· Reduced promotional costs

Network assistance connects your computers so they can communicate with one another and share files. The advantages:
· Reduces the number of filing errors
· Instant sales order processing
· Easier to make changes on sales orders

Auto faxes and mailboxes automatically distribute a variety of general or specific information to calling customers. The advantages:
· Frees customer service reps from repetitive faxing and mailing
· Effective and inexpensive marketing tool
· Twenty-four hour customer service

Pagers let you know when someone is trying to reach you-no matter where you are - by callers dialing a single telephone number. Can also be linked with voice mail for additional control and flexibility. The advantages:
· Eliminates missed messages
· Rapidly returned calls to customers
· Ensures accessibility even if away from a phone

Getting the Knowledge You Need to Make Informed Decisions

Learn from the Experiences of Others

To make things more complicated, you probably haven't even thought about other available business services like voice mail, caller identification and priority ringing. How will you decide if any of these services are a wise investment? And do you want to buy your voice mail from your telephone company - using its equipment - or run it off your PC? As you can see, telecommunications decisions can become complex quite quickly.

Telecommunication companies have worked hard to spare you from relying solely on trial and error to discover the right telecommunications combination. Using a database of millions of firms, they conducted extensive research on various operational requirements. This data subsequently formed the basis of a listing of typical telephone needs for thousands of different businesses organized by type and size.

"Preset data puts history on our side, so we can tell a company, 'Here is a package of services that most businesses just like yours have found to be successful,'" explains Gene Milonowski, a joint marketing product manager at California-based Pacific Bell.

Service recommendations might not be the final answer, but they are an excellent place to start. Examine the recommended package. If you decide you would like to add or subtract services, the packages can usually be adjusted. If your company requires a more complicated solution, get in touch with experts who can work with you to fulfill your needs. "It is in everyone's best interest to make your small business successful," Milonowski adds. "Tell us what you plan to do with your operation, including long-term plans such as a new advertising campaign or a product launch that could overload your current capabilities. Based on this information, let us offer suggestions, and then you can make a final decision."

Consider Stopping at One Shop

"I expect that consumers and businesses will increasingly buy packages of services that include combinations of local and long distance telephone service, wireless service, cable TV service and Internet service - perhaps electricity and home monitoring services as well," predicts Dwight L. Allen Jr., associate national director for telecommunications at Deloitte & Touche Consulting Group.

The increased competition that deregulation will bring is likely to lower prices overall and allow much more flexibility in constructing telephone systems, not to mention a wealth of new products and services.

Be a Wary Buyer

Mona is alluding to the fact that competition is also expected to lead to a tidal wave of confusing and sometimes deceptive advertising as companies begin to cut into each other's markets. Although practices like slamming - or changing your long distance service without your explicit consent - have been outlawed, many marketing campaigns will be aggressive and hard to follow.

Beware of rates that seem too low, as they are probably only promotional rates designed to lock you into a long-term contract. Also watch for bills and mailing campaigns that make it sound as if you will have to buy all of your services from one company or lose your current service: this claim is patently false.

Finally, try to wait out the initial promotional onslaughts that will occur during the first six to 12 months of competition. Things are expected to settle down slightly as the public becomes more sophisticated about its options. The best advice is to examine your contract carefully and don't let yourself be stampeded into a decision.

Floral Service Conducts Business at 70 Miles per Hour

Whether shipped in from South America or grown locally, some of the best flowers in the world find their way to California's Santa Barbara County flower markets - and florists in arid Las Vegas with its year-round influx of tourists are eager to avail themselves of these choice blossoms. For the past four years, the father and son team of Dick and Courtney Young has used telecommunications technology to help bring fresh flowers from Santa Barbara directly to the hungry Las Vegas market in a highly cost-effective way.

"Our company has no warehouses," prefaces Courtney Young in describing his business, Gotcha Covered. "Therefore what we buy we have to sell within two and a half days." Taking most of the weekend, the Youngs drive a refrigerated truck from Las Vegas to Santa Barbara and fill it with flowers. Then they drive straight to the back doors of Las Vegas flower shops to sell their colorful goods right out of the truck.

Spending so much time on the road might have forced the Youngs to set up an office and hire employees to handle orders and customer service. Instead, the father and son use pager and cellular technology to avoid these expenses and pass on the money they save to their customers.

"Virtually every one of our customers has called us at some point while we were on the road," says Courtney Young. The Youngs use a pager and cellular fax machine to alert them to customer calls. That way they are able to quickly return the calls from their truck's cellular telephone. "Even if we are on the highway traveling at 70 m.p.h., this system enables us to respond to our customers' needs immediately," continues Young, who also carries a laptop with him to record orders and manage inventory.

Gotcha Covered has become so successful that father and son are already in the process of expansion. The younger Young admits he has his eye on budding technology that could possibly be used to help the business grow. "In the future we will always be looking for unique ways to make sales."

D&H Manufacturing Masters Paperless Transactions

At D&H Manufacturing in Fremont, California, the Wills family takes advantage of telecommunications technology in every possible way. Not only do employees have their own voice mail boxes, but they also use e-mail to communicate within the office and with outside parties.

"We can receive blueprints, quotations and any other necessary documentation over e-mail," says Tom Mills, materials manager at D&H. He finds e-mail to be more efficient and traceable than any transactions using paper and, he adds, "it is no secret that efficiency in every area is the key to our company's success."

D&H recently participated in an experiment with Lockheed Corporation that suggests paperless transactions are more than feasible in the business world. Every component from the project bid to the purchase order was exchanged electronically. Having successfully won a contract without producing a single piece of printed material, the staff at D&H plans on conducting additional business this way in the future.

"We're finding that more and more of our customers are already faxing us by computer, so it shouldn't be a difficult transition when the technology is used for binding transactions," concludes Wills.

Real Estate Information over the Phone: Property Line

In the Kansas City area, one realty company is relying on more than signs to sell houses. Founded in 1978, Prudential Summerson Burrows opened its doors with just seven employees. Today it has more than 90 agents and the highest average of units sold per company of any realty firm in the county. Its customized audiotext system, Property Line, is a big part of this success.

"Summerson Burrows is always looking for new ways to provide information to buyers and sellers in a less intimidating fashion," explains Connie Farmer, vice president of marketing and career development. "Many realtors place print ads with very little data to lure potential buyers into their office so their sales people have the opportunity to aggressively pressure them into a sale," she continues. "Summerson Burrows uses Property Line to let the callers control the information process themselves."

Property Line works in conjunction with realty signs and advertising campaigns. The phone number is posted with every advertisement or for sale sign along with a four-digit extension referring to that specific property. Callers listen to a 45-second description and the asking price, and can also receive information about homes by city, price or school district, as well as obtain tips on home loans, tax benefits and other relevant subjects. At any point in the message, callers can ask to be connected with a Prudential agent.

Farmer describes the initial investment to buy Property Line as "substantial." Despite that expense, Summerson Burrows was willing to invest even more to make sure the system was a success. The firm hired professional writing and voice talent for its voice advertisements and used print, radio and even television ads to educate the public about this new informational service.

Today the system attracts more than 3,500 calls a month, with that number climbing to as many as 8,900. "Property Line offers us a real point of difference from other companies," Farmer asserts. "Not only can we offer advertisements 24 hours a day, seven days a week, but Property Line gives us the ability to provide much more information to customers than would be possible in a regular print ad."

Property Line is an integral part of a Summerson Burrows' marketing program, which also includes regular advertisements and a World Wide Web page. "Customers want information now and they want it at no charge," says Farmer. "Companies that provide that information are the ones who will win their business."

The Telephone Helps Link 52,000 Distributors

Karl Prazak has a lot of people to keep in touch with - more than 52,000 to be precise - and the number continues to increase. Since founding KARN Network, Inc., an independent distributorship of a network marketing company specializing in the sales of herbal food supplements and weight loss products, Prazak has found that keeping in touch with distributors has been his greatest business challenge.

KARN Network, Inc., located in Gig Harbor, Washington, conducts business with distributors in all 50 states. These distributors sell health products and also recruit other salespeople. Prazak began working as an independent distributor in 1993, and has subsequently grown a network of 52,000 distributors whose collective sales top one million dollars every month.

With so many people to work with, Prazak is constantly on the telephone. Distributors phone day and night to discuss everything from product information to training and regulatory issues. "My first call in the morning usually comes at 6:15," he notes. KARN Network also maintains a toll-free number to ensure that all distributors can call in at no charge to them.

To further facilitate this flow of information, Prazak arranges a conference call every Sunday night that can accommodate up to 113 incoming calls. Distributors and potential distributors can phone in, listen to experts on health-related subjects and ask questions.

Although KARN Network also uses other technologies to contact distributors, such as multi-faxing and a monthly newsletter, Prazak maintains that the telephone is his most valuable means of communication. "Not everyone has e-mail, or even a fax machine, but everyone has a telephone," he says. "Even when I'm not at home, I always have my cellular phone with me."

Telecommunications technology has enabled Prazak to make himself available virtually anywhere, 24 hours a day. "I have five telephone lines in my house," he admits, "and to be honest with you I could use more."

It's in the E-mail

E-mail can most easily be described as a hybrid between paper mail and voice mail. Like a letter, e-mail is a form of written communication. You can save e-mail messages in your computer just as with other word processing files and refer back to them at a later date. And because the message is written, it's often clearer than a voice message where, for example, the last digit of an important phone number might be cut off.

E-mail resembles voice mail in that the message is usually delivered immediately - although if the message is sent through an online service, it might take a few hours to reach its destination - and recipients can read it at their leisure.

For messaging within a company, e-mail software (popular versions include Microsoft Mail Server, Claris Emailer, Lotus cc:Mail and Novell's Group-Wise) runs over a local area network (LAN) with "remote" versions available that allow employees to access the e-mail system from their laptops while on the road.

Connecting to the outside world is becoming cheaper and easier. Private network e-mail services such as AT&T Mail and MCI Mail give companies a number of mailboxes and charge them for each message. Another option - commercial online services such as America Online, CompuServe and Prodigy - have become popular with small businesses because they are easy to use and affordable, with rates starting at less than $10 a month. A third alternative is connecting to the Internet through an Internet service provider, known as an ISP.

Questions to Ask When Purchasing a Pager

- How many free messages are allowed? Some services offer unlimited messages, while others may restrict you to 500 free calls a month.

- How big is the coverage area?

- Is there an activation fee?

- Can the pager display letters? And pay attention to the display screen size. Some models can show four, 80-character lines, while others only show 15 characters.

- How many messages can the pager store? Even low-cost pagers usually store numbers from at least eight calls.

- Does the pager have a silent vibrating alarm to avoid creating a disturbance?

Buying a Used Telephone System

- Your needs. Do you need basic telephone service or state-of-the-art technology? "Be sure the system can grow with your company," advises Chandler.

- The age of the system. Optimally buy a system that is no more than five to seven years old.

- Brand name. Choose a system manufactured by a company you recognize or can at least research.

- Warranty. It's reasonable to expect a one-year warranty on a used system.

- Installation and training. Be sure these are included in the total price.

- Trade-in value. According to Chandler, "you may be able to negotiate a commitment for a certain trade-in amount if you agree to buy your next system from them."

What Can the Telecom Revolution Do for Sales?

Toll-free numbers. Once used almost exclusively by large companies or mail order firms, 800 numbers are now within easy reach of almost any small business owner. And, as Salt Lake City-based writer Alan Horowitz explains, toll-free numbers can definitely increase business.

He cites an AT&T-sponsored study, conducted by an independent research firm, which found that small business owners attribute an eight percent increase in their business, on average, to their 800 service. Firms with annual revenues of less than $500,000 said 800 service increased their business more than 10 percent.

Horowitz advises entrepreneurs to seriously consider getting an 800 number if:

·Your competitors have 800 numbers.

·Many of your customers are far enough away to incur toll charges when calling you, or you want to retain customers who move away from the area.

·You want to increase the number of calls from your customers.

·You want to improve customer service. An 800 number encourages your customers to call with questions about your products or services, which you can answer and then cross-sell, or complaints - which you can resolve and thereby calm them down. Horowitz also suggests using an 800 number to offer product information and for a quick and easy way to accept orders - which spurs demand and encourages impulse buying.

·You want to encourage communication with employees who are off the premises and with sales reps who are frequently on the road. Horowitz quotes Jerry Jaderholm, president of Norstar Sleep Products in Kent, Washington, who says, "If my reps had to pay for a call, they'd never talk to me."

·You'd like to enhance the image of your company as being large and substantial.

·You intend to expand your market geographically. According to Horowitz, an 800 number can be used as a low-risk way to test a new geographic market. Instead of setting up shop in the area, run a local ad with your 800 number. As customers there don't realize you're in a neighboring town, you can judge response and determine if it makes sense to open a new location.

·You want to target your advertising more effectively. To do this, Horowitz suggests contacting your 800 number carrier and asking the carrier to tell you where your calls are coming from - listing calls either by area code or phone number prefix. Once you know the exact location of your customer base, you can choose media outlets for your advertising that best reach this target group.

Pagers. While these are among the oldest and most economical of telecommunications technologies, pagers have also become more sophisticated with time. Some can work throughout the country, not just in a confined area. Some pagers can be connected to voice mail systems, so you will be notified whenever a message arrives at your office.

Internet advertising. Most telecommunications companies offer Internet and home page construction services that will allow your small business to use the Internet for true worldwide exposure. (See "Don't Get Left Behind: Making the Internet Work For You" in the list of articles for more detail.)

Cellular telephones. Most cellular phone users today are small business people who spend one or more hours per day on the road - including salespeople of all types who have found that cellular phones are getting smaller, their battery life is getting longer, their reception is getting better, and they are considerably less expensive than they were just a few years ago. And if the phone helps generate new business and service existing clients better, it will pay for itself in a matter of months.

Cellular phones come in four types - car phones, transmobiles, transportables and portables - each of which has advantages and disadvantages.

The car phone makes most sense for people who spend the majority of their time around town in their car. It runs off a car battery, and will provide the best grade of service at the lowest cost.

Those who use more than one vehicle might consider a transmobile or a transportable, self-contained units that can be moved from car to car. The transmobile has no battery and is plugged directly into the cigarette lighter, while the transportable contains a battery pack.

The portable (hand-held) phone is a self-contained, one-piece phone that can easily be slipped into a briefcase. A conversion kit can make most portables into car phones for easier use on the road.

The best way to decide which company to buy a cellular phone from is to ask friends or colleagues if they were satisfied with the service they subsequently received. The reputation of the company and its willingness to take care of your needs after the sale is far more important than the price paid for the phone itself.

AT&T advanced wireless technology. Taking cellular phone communications a dramatic step forward, AT&T has unveiled an upgrade to its nationwide digital telephone network that gives customers calling, paging, voice mail and caller id on one phone. Using a technology called time-division multiple-access or TDMA (which offers better security and longer battery life than regular cellular phones), the giant long distance and wireless company plans to extend the nationwide service to more than 212 million people, or 80 percent of the U.S. population.

While AT&T is currently the only company that can offer the nationwide service because it already has a network in place, this monopoly may be broken in the relatively near future. Competitors such as Sprint Spectrum and PCS Prime-Co are in the process of building their networks and addressing remaining technology hurdles.

Other cellular technologies. In addition to cellular phones, salespeople can use cellular faxes, portable printers and cellular modems to create virtual offices in the field. With a cellular modem, they are able to check inventory, modify production, or place orders right into their business network from a laptop computer. Using a portable printer, they can even print out receipts or invoices on the spot for their customers, saving themselves time-consuming trips back and forth to the office.

Video conferencing. Salespeople in small firms are increasingly using video conferencing as an inexpensive and effective way to make presentations and demonstrations to customers and clients across the country - so much so that it is beginning to replace expensive business travel.

"With video conferencing, smaller companies can now get the same benefits as a larger corporation," claims Jeremy Goldstein, author of Video Conferencing and Money, Money, Money.

And with desktop videoconferencing equipment prices falling (a good system can be installed on a higher-end personal computer for less than $3,000) and PC hardware getting faster, video conferencing is more affordable and efficient than ever. But just when should video conferencing replace business travel? Or to be more precise, when shouldn't it?

"Travel doesn't automatically go away due to video conferencing," Goldstein admits. "You always need to create a personal connection initially with any business partner. But once you've established those bonds by meeting face to face, you can readily supplement travel with video conferencing - a service that is considered a sign of professionalism by many business customers."

Voice Mail: Stay Open for Business 24 Hours a Day

And while it can frustrate and annoy, many companies find that voice mail frees up employees for more detailed and less routine duties, and provides round-the-clock convenience and service for clients and potential customers. It is increasingly used to disseminate basic information, answer frequently asked questions, route callers to various departments, take confidential detailed messages, and assist in simple financial transactions. Industry analysts predict that the technology will be at least a $1.2 million market this year.

"Voice mail has provided the greatest productivity gains of any business communications equipment, surpassing even the fax, modem and e-mail," claims Deeanna Franklin of AT&T as quoted in Entrepreneur magazine. "Surveys show the spoken word is four to six times more effective than a written message, and voice mail systems save you 25 to 30 percent on your phone bill by eliminating telephone tag and the need for a dedicated fax line."

However, as even the most patient caller can testify, voice mail also has the potential to drive customers away if used incorrectly. To make sure it is working for you and not against you, and to encourage your customers to continue a call rather than hang up, remember these voice mail hints.

· Always give callers the option of speaking to someone during normal business hours. Along these lines, ideally do not use voice mail to answer the first call. It is far more palatable if a receptionist answers the telephone and then directs customers to voice mail boxes.

· Limit the number of menu options offered. Research indicates that three options yield a 94 percent satisfaction rate, and four options a 91 percent rate. Five options drops the satisfaction rate to the 60s, and six or more options drops the level to 50 percent or less.

· Frequently update your personal message, explaining when you will be able to return calls and why you are gone. Provide a coworker's phone number in case callers don't want to wait, or are dealing with what they consider to be an urgent situation.

If you decide to buy a voice mail machine (entry-level systems range from $1,000 to $4,000), thorough market research is essential. Read newspaper and magazine articles about particular machines. Also talk to business associates who have experience with specific systems and can provide an independent opinion to compare with company literature.

Another option is a voice mail messaging service, where you outlay no capital for a machine but rather sign up for a mailbox and pay a monthly service fee. The provider is responsible for all software and equipment maintenance, user training and support, and directory preparation.

Excerpted with permission from Small Business Success magazine, Volume X, produced by Pacific Bell Directory in partnership with the U.S. Small Business Administration and the Partners for Small Business Excellence.