Jerry Sarno — Most Pulse Subscriptions Added 2010
Congratulations to Jerry Sarno as he accepts the award from Dennis Schooley and Beth McMillan for the Most Pulse Subscriptions within the Schooley Mitchell Consultants network for 2010. The award was announced at the Annual Awards Banquet and Dinner Gala at the Schooley Mitchell Conference held in Cancun.
Renegotiating Service Contracts
Case Study: Finding better pricing for Service Contracts (January 2011)
Our client, a Church with two locations, was paying $700 a year for a service contract for their Avaya Partner phone system. The maintenance firm was located about 1.5 hours away and very seldom had to make a service call over the previous lifetime of the service contract. The vendor contract auto-renewed for 3 years if not notified in writing 30 days prior to expiration, and each renewal added about a 15% increase in the annual price.
In the course of our normal analysis, we came across this contract and inquired. The Church administrator wasn’t really sure what it was and asked us to investigate. Upon doing the necessary research we were able to ascertain the details from the incumbent company. We then wrote an RFQ and sent it to local phone system vendors, soliciting bids. The winning bid, from a local company about a mile away, was for $30 a month. We asked for a discount to pay annually at the beginning of the year. The new vendor was awarded the contract for $300 a year on an annual basis for 3 years. Our client was very pleased that we did the diligence for them which resulted in a reduction of over 50% in their annual cost. This was in addition to the 50% savings we had already set in place with their recent telecom optimization.
Saving money with existing suppliers
Case Study: Saving money on cellular with existing carriers (April 2010)
Our client, a public school in Michigan with an enrollment of 2,200, was not sure we could save them any money, but their stated objective before signing the agreement with us was that they did not want to change cell phone providers. They were very happy with their provider and were using the direct connect minutes of their existing carrier as part of their business process, and many staff used more direct connect minutes than cellular. Add to this the fact that the school was receiving a hefty 25% discount on plans and services because they are a public school.
After our analysis, which they very quickly approved, told them we could save approximately 16%, we began making the changes and after the first quarter audit they were pleasantly surprised that we exceeded the original estimate and were in fact saving them 23%. Remember, they were already receiving a 25% discount from the provider.
Our results proved that we could do a better job of managing their plans and services than their own, dedicated account rep. We also saved them on text overages as a few of their employees were texting. We were able to catch the overages prior to the end of the month when they would be billed, thus saving the school several hundred dollars a month in text overages. We continue to monitor their accounts on a monthly basis to be sure the current plans are a fit.
Additionally about 6 months after our initial implementation, the school wanted to switch ½ the users to smart phones from another supplier. We coordinated that switch and had the dedicated account manager from the new carrier arrange for the new phones, switchovers and setting up the original plans for each user. After 3 months of monitoring usage, we were able to recommend cost savings in the range of 20%. Additionally, because our client is so busy with their day to day responsibilities, we noticed the “Friends and Family” plan had not been used. We did the analysis of the top 10 phone numbers called, implemented the changes and dropped an average of 1,000 minutes from their usage all by having the expertise to do this. Again, this is after a dedicated account manager was already managing the account. Needless to say, our client is very pleased with our services.
Saving money with existing suppliers
Case Study: Making the practice run more smoothly (June 2010)
Our multiple physician client had a conundrum: Re-sign the telecom services contract with their existing telecom supplier at a 40% discount and receive a few hundred dollars in signing bonuses, or let us do the research into better rates and plans to find if we could save them money. When first approached, one of the five physicians indicated they weren’t paying that much for telecom and doubted it would be worth the work but they signed with us because of our no-risk opportunity.
After our analysis into their existing telecom infrastructure we found they were paying triple the then thought amount across all their services. We quickly reduced their long distance rates with their existing supplier by more than 50%. We completely eliminated their ‘pay for every phone call made’ plan with the local service (dial tone) provider saving them 100% of that cost. Additionally, we doubled their DSL/Internet connection speed by switching to another provider (who was the incumbent for all the other services they have) for 20% less than they were paying for half the original speed. It also turns out that their existing supplier’s 40% discount was just simply a disguise for ‘rack rates’ as since they were going to be out of contract in a few months their incumbent carrier knew they were going to jack their rates up by 40% because they would be ‘out of contract’.
Further, we were able to drop one of two unused phone lines (out of 15), and moved their credit card machine from the fax line to the line with the DSL, eliminating the often said but never understood “I’m sorry ma’am, we have to wait for the fax machine to stop before we can process your debit card for payment”.
And possibly the most ironic result: all these new rates were negotiated with their incumbent carrier, saving over 70% from the previous rates. The physicians are very secure in their knowledge that nothing had changed except the price! Needless to say they are very pleased. And now they really ARE paying what they originally thought before we began work for them.
Family Physicians Reduces Telecom Expenses by 70%
“We would highly recommend Schooley Mitchell to any organization because of their professional and courteous service. Schooley Mitchell allows our medical practice to concentrate on our core business of keeping and making our customers healthy.”
Deb Quist
Practice Manager
Family Physicians of Saint Joseph, MI
Professional Hearing Services Obtains Clear, Concise Agreement
“Schooley Mitchell showed us where our former merchant services provider used confusing and ambiguous statements to keep us from having the knowledge to understand our monthly statements. Our new provider has given us clear, understandable terms, a three-year agreement, and Schooley Mitchell will audit our statements quarterly to ensure we are being charged correctly …”
Dave Kasewurm
CFO
Dr. Kasewurm’s Professional Hearing Services
Service Allows Tabor Hill to Stay Focused on Business
“Not only will we save money, they will audit our monthly services and make adjustments when necessary to save money. And, in fact, Schooley Mitchell did find overbillings in our local services area and started the recovery process within a few days of turning the local service billings over for review.”
Paul Landeck
Vice-President, General Manager
Tabor Hill Winery & Restaurant
Printek Trims Spend, Implements Virtual Terminal & Billing Solution
“… We know we can call on Jerry for assistance with other technology questions and needs. Our company is a leader is mobile printing hardware applications and we like doing business with the leading company in telecom expense optimization.”
Schooley Mitchell Uncovers Big Billing Error for Brammall
“In the process of working with Schooley Mitchell, they discovered that we had been paying for an old ISDN circuit which had been disconnected for over three years. Schooley Mitchell was able to negotiate with the carrier for a refund … which resulted in a check for over $5,600 and the discontinuation of the monthly charges moving forward!”
Autobahn Imports Saves 44%
“Not only will be save about 44% every month over what we were paying, they will audit our monthly services to be sure that we are being billed correctly in the future. Our rates are guaranteed and they have helped us with the processes to ensure we maintain the best overall rates for our merchant services processing.”
