Cut Lines to Cut Cost and Save $720 Annually

Over and over again one of the number one questions I get asked is how to cut costs. It makes sense that there are some things a business must have and are simply the cost of doing business. However, they simply want to go to the horse's mouth and say, "what would you do?"

Simple: Remove a land line.

Phone line that is. Most businesses have their lines set and really have no choice in the matter. However, times they are a changing. No longer does one need a dedicated line for their credit card machine. They just need the internet. This makes sense for businesses that are all cell phone and don't need a hard line at all, and also for businesses that have everything through their internet. Some businesses just need to remove one of their land lines. Either way, the savings are real.

One example is that of a mall style kiosk. For them to have a phone line, the phone company will charge them a minimum of $60 a month before any calls are made. They can simply use a wireless terminal. Most companies are not in the mall in the middle of the aisle, but instead have a hard and fast location. In this case, use a splitter and run the credit card terminal and the fax though the same line (both are considered seldom use items compared to a phone).

One can also route their credit card terminal through their internet connection. This is not hard to do, but you must tell your provider that you want an internet setup and you will need a piece of Cat5 or internet/ network cable (Cat3 is a regular old phone cable). This can be bought at Wal-Mart, Best Buy or where ever for $10 (better yet, ask the group that set you up to bring you the cable and set it up for you. We do it for our clietele, and yours should do it for you....) Then, simply plug your credit card terminal in to your switch or hub and you can have the old phone line removed or used for another system or phone.

If you really want to spice it up, remove the terminal altogether and get a virtual terminal that resides on your computer. If you are retail you will need a mag-swipe (magnetic stripe credit card swipe). It's about the size of a candy bar and plugs into the back of your computer. Using this method, one doesn't even need to plug into the switch/ hub, the computer does that and your virtual terminal sits on the computer.

It's cheap. It's easy. It leaves you with more money at the end of the month.