A Simple Action You Can Take Right Now to Trim Your Monthly Spend:
Almost every company leader I’ve spoken with this month is spending a lot more time pouring over their vendor agreements, tech subscriptions, payroll and such, thinking about how they might effectively decrease their company’s AP foot-print. Do you have workforce that is currently working from a home office, and paying a residential ISP (like Comcast, Centurylink, etc..), for their internet access and telephone service?
If that’s a Yes, you are likely helping your at-home employees with reimbursement for such expenses. This can add up to potentially be a HUGE NEW EXPENSE! I would like to offer a method for coaching your home-based employees through the following process to help you to hang on to some of your hard-earned dollars that you come through the Covid-19 pandemic successfully and ready to thrive:
PROCESS FOR LOWERING YOUR INTERNET/HOME OFFICE BILL BY 25-50%
*READ THIS BEFORE YOU BEGIN: The person who is the account owner at the ISP (your employee) must make this call. No one else has the authority to make the desired changes to the account.*
*EMPLOYEE: The most important thing you can remember throughout this process is that you should treat the customer service reps with absolute grace and respect every step of the way. Partly because they have a hard job (especially at this moment), but also because people tend to bend over backwards to help someone who is kind, has a smile in their voice, and who will listen to them. So, ask them how they are doing, and REALLY LISTEN to them when they tell you. You want to win them to your cause in a short time, and this is how it’s done.
1. Call the ISP customer support line (Comcast: 800-934-6489Centurylink: 1-800-244-1111 are two most common in my area) and inform the call center rep that your reason for calling is that you think you have to discontinue your service with them. (You are not actually going to discontinue service, but this will put you on-track to speak with a part of the company that more often than not, has access to special promotions and discounts for you that the main helpdesk rep may not be able to offer.)
2. The rep will most likely do one of two things: A. Ask you why you are looking to discontinue service, and then will start to review your account, to see what promotions might be added on, or what extra services you might consider dropping, in order to lower your bill, or B. Transfer you to the department that handles service cancellations.
3. If it’s A, you want to share with them that you are facing financially tight times, and you need to find ways to cut family expenses.
4. If it’s B, you will have this conversation with the person in the disconnection department.
Remember, in the end, you’re not looking to actually cancel your subscription (unless you want to), only to ask for some help for you and your family to get through some tough times. If, in the end, you are offered no discount, then at least you have tried. In my experience, ISPs offer promotions and/or discounts MORE OFTEN THAN THEY DON’T, so give it a shot.. you know what you have to gain.. what do you have to lose?
For those who don’t know me, my name is Julian Schrenzel, and I run the Acumatica Recruitment Assistance Program (ARAP) with Acumatica (ERP). With this blog post, my aim is to provide some possible value to companies that comprise the Acumatica ERP ecosphere (Partners and their customers.) Through the ARAP, my company (DyNexus Recruiting) helps Acumatica partners, and those customers that Acumatica and their channel of partners recommend to us by providing Senior Acumatica-experienced consultants, sales, accountants & controllers, business analysts, implementation professionals, developers and support & training professionals to them on an hourly, by-project, and as-needed, contract basis, as well as helping them to find super-star full-time, permanent talent for their business needs.
Wishing you peace and patience as we get through this time.