Implement your changes

Because of their experience, professional phone bill auditors can easily find savings opportunities for their clients. They have done the work before; they know what to look for, so they can quickly recommend cost-cutting changes. But it is not easy for consultants to implement their own recommendations. Before making any changes, telephone companies always require the consultant to present a letter of authorization (LOA) signed by the client. The LOA functions like a power of attorney.

Consultants also have a reputation of bullying telephone company employees, and because fraud is so prevalent in the industry, phone company employees are very reluctant to work with consultants. Telephone company customer service representatives generally have a large number of orders on which they are working, and they are not happy to receive more work. When they are overworked, they make mistakes. Sometimes when you request a change to your account that will cut costs, phone company representatives instead make a change that increases your cost.

Auditing a $10,000-per-month customer’s bills may take 3 hours, but implementing the changes may take 3 to 4 months. Most consultants are paid 50% of the savings once they are realized on phone bills. But if a client is willing to implement the consultant’s recommendations on its own, many consultants would gladly reduce their fees. They may even cut them in half. As a consultant, I would much rather make $5,000 in 3 hours than $10,000 over the course of 6 months. If you have hired a consultant, you can cut his or her fees if you are willing to handle all of the implementation.

Once all the orders are placed with the phone companies, be sure to verify all implementation. After placing the order, call the carrier back to double-check that the changes have been made. Diligently check the next phone bill to ensure that the new pricing is in place.