February 2009 Archives

Business invoices can be sent electronically to cut overhead costs and to save a substantial amount of time and money.  And the best part?  You don't need any special hardware or software to do it!  Quite simply, whatever data you are sending to your printer, you just send to us and we'll process and deliver your invoices for you.  Your savings start on Day 1!  When you take advantage of our services you immediately begin streamlining your operation and statements like business invoices, purchase orders and variable documents are automatically converted and sent via fax or invoice depending on your customer's preferences.  it's fast, easy and convenient.  So if you are still using paper and postage to get your business invoices out, and you send more than 1000 a month, call us today for an appraisal and estimate.  Meantime, get more details by clicking on the Electronic Invoices link on the upper left of this webpage.  With the cost of postage going up again, you'll discover that faxing business invoices, or emailing business invoices, is the easiest way to dramatically cut your postage costs.

Colleges have been reaching out to alumni for years.  And now high schools are getting into the act.  The best way send announcements for fund raising or alumni event promotions and communications is over the phone with a phone broadcasting or voice blast service like ours -- it's the fastest and least expensive way to get the word out.  It also works great for alumni directory reminders and updates.  So, if you are part of a collegiate or high school education institution and are looking for a new way to reach hundreds of your contacts instantly, give us call here at OrangePoint Communications and we'll show you exactly how to save time and money and improve the effectiveness of your alumni campaigns.

Is it just our imagination, or is there really a new food recall announcement everyday on the news?  This past week, peanuts have been the culprit.  Who knows what tomorrow will bring.  If you are food manufacturer or retailer and are fortunate enough to have the phone numbers of your customers, phone broadcasting is the fastest, easiest and least expensive way to get the news out about a recall.  We just got a call from Sam's Club about a certain product they were recalling.  Sam's membership system keeps track of what each customer purchases, so a product look up and getting a customer's number is easy.  Some large retailers have Shopper's Clubs that may have customer phone numbers.  However, you compile your database of phone numbers, once you have it, it's easy to upload online and launch your broadcast.  We can call a 100,000 numbers in less than 30 minutes.

Since we at OrangePoint Communications are in the phone message delivery business, we know a little something about the topic.  Interestingly enough, it's not just about sending voice messages over the phone, but it's about receiving them as well.  Now, we don't care if people hide behind their voice mail because they will listen to the message we send them on our behalf anyway.  In fact, we make sure that we put in your Caller ID phone number (it's the law) so they can see it's coming from you anyway.  The beauty of phone broadcasting is that your messages are picked up at your contact's convenience, not yours!  If anything, it's actually more polite to leave an important message on your contact's voice mail than it is to interrupt what they are doing.

Speaking of voice mail, here are a few tips you will want to keep in mind when configuring your voice mail receiving system.  Again, these are tips about receiving voice mail, not sending voice mail.

It's advisable to ensure to record a personal greeting, as opposed to using default standard greeting or even having another individual record a greeting for you.  People can easily feel they lost a personal touch of communication with you from the start because of the voice mail.  It's vital to write down what is to be said in the greeting as you practice saying the greeting a number of times before the initial recording.  It's not a bad idea to include your name and department on the voice mail in your greeting so individuals will know they reached the right contact.  The regular greeting should entail the normal work hours; if you're going on vacation or leaving your office early, it's advisable to record an alternative greeting to inform the callers of this information.  The following are a few more voice mail tips to follow:  To reduce the amount of repeat calls, especially if your company has a high-volume of calls, state that you will return all calls within a 24 hour period or the time frame of your company's policy on return calls requires.  Make sure that you update your voice mail message when you know you're going to be out of town.  Remember to update your voice mail when you return to the office.  Make sure you return your messages.  There's nothing that aggravates callers more than companies that don't return calls.  And when you do return them, do it in a timely manner.  Like we said, it's all about manners.  And here at OrangePoint.net we strive to practice what we preach. 

A number of companies both small and big are constantly looking for innovative ways to diminish the cost of administrative corporate overhead. An extremely viable way to save money and time is choosing automated electronic invoicing over paper invoices.  For the majority of companies, invoicing is a severe cost.

Recent studies indicate an average of outbound paper invoices can accumulate to double the cost of automated electronic invoicing.  The price of ink or paper is not the cause of the increase in average costs, but the wages of administrative personnel handling paper invoices, and the postage involved.

The creation of the paper invoice and checking whether or not it has been paid results in a plethora of time-consuming actions, ranging from archiving, printing, placing the invoice in an envelope, mailing, sending reminders, etc.  We're talking about an average of 25 minutes per invoice-inbound and outbound.

Thus, one can save time and money with automated invoicing, otherwise known as electronic billing.  Automated invoicing, or e-invoicing, can reduce the handling time inbound and outbound to three minutes.  The incredible gain of the time equals revenue of a couple of thousands of dollars for a small entity, and several millions of dollars for a big enterprise.  These simple facts alone can help a business determine how much money and time is saved with automated invoicing.  At OrangePoint.net we're here to show how, and why, this can be the solution you're looking for.

When the customer picks up the telephone, our service will be on the other end and prepared to record the message.  You can record the message, and it goes out to a list of telephone numbers immediately.  Our service can provide that for you, or you can access the Internet controls yourself from your own PC, laptop or anywhere with wireless access.

To be sure, when you record your message with us, we call you on the highest quality fiber optic lines to insure the best connection possible.  That being said, you should be aware of what is called Voice over Internet Protocol or (VoIP).  This viable method works to make and receive telephone calls with the use of broadband Internet connection, as opposed to a standard landline telephone.  The Internet converts telephone calls into data through a high-speed Internet connection, like email.  Furthermore, it comes out like a typical telephone call from the other end.  The great advantage of this service is that you'll have the capabilities to call anywhere and anytime for less.  The use of the Internet connection as opposed to the telephone line is less costly.  More features come with the broadband service such as call waiting, caller ID with name, 3-way calling, enhanced call forwarding and much more.

Moreover, inexpensive international rates are available so you can call around the world for less.  The use of the broadband service wouldn't have any effect on the PC.  You can continue to surf the Internet, send and receive any email without dilemmas while speaking on the telephone.  Your PC computer doesn't need to be on the service to work-the Internet connection is used, not the computer.  Once you're connected, you can pick up the telephone and use it immediately.  Best of all, the individual you're calling doesn't have to subscribe to the same service or any Internet connection at the side.  Only a telephone is necessary as the telephone rings when a person calls.

Many times we hear businesses remark that "we have the technology in-house to accomplish that".  And yes, many of them do.  But the process involved to accomplish it in-house can be many times more expensive than outsourcing in the first place.  When businesses are making these decisions, they need to decide whether they want to hire, train, maintain and compensate the individuals who will do it, and also whether they want to make the technological investment in order to make it happen.

When businesses are struggling with the question to outsource or not, the very first question they should be asking themselves is "What is our core business?"  If your business is to provide communications services, then perhaps you do want to develop these processes in house.  If it is not, then outsourcing should be a serious consideration, particularly if the technology is available to you "off the shelf" but can be customized to meet your own needs.  When you outsource, you are outsourcing the headaches and responsibilities to someone else, and you can focus on growing your business.  By and large, you can outsource at a fraction of the cost it would take to accomplish it internally.

We specialize in helping companies outsource their phone broadcasting and electronic billing.  So give us a call and let us show you how we can assist you in your outsourcing efforts.

Most likely, your organization has invoicing software that you use to prepare bills you send to customers.  With our system, you can keep that software and instead of sending it to the printer to produce hard copy bills, you can just send it to us.

Once we get your data stream here at OrangePoint, we'll parse the variable information and properly place it on your electronic invoice -- either a fax or an email, to deliver to your client.  Now, we don't actually make a hard copy invoice to put it in a fax machine to send it.  Not even close.  Rather, we create it an electronic document and then fax that through our servers at the highest speed available with today's technology.

So, the easiest explanation of what we do is that we are an electronic document distribution service here at OrangePoint Communications.  The benefits are obvious:  We can improve your workflow, save human resources and postage, and send invoices dramatically faster to collect and recognize revenue sooner.

Why send out a 1000 or 10,000 hardcopy invoices and wait a week for your customers to get them in the mail?  The alternative is to fax or email all your invoices instantly and get your money a week earlier!  If you fax, your customers get a hard copy to file.  If you email, your customers can electronically file your invoice or print it out.  The choice is theirs.

SaaS stands for Software as a Service.  That's exactly what we do.  We don't sell you a software disk you install on your desktop.  We don't have anything for you to download.  Why?  Because the software we offer you is already installed on our servers and we give you online access to it.  Some fancy folks call it "in the cloud" technology, because the software is out there somewhere -- in a cloud.

There is a huge movement to SaaS, led by Google, that wants to make traditional software obsolete.  Google believes, and maybe correctly, that the era of desktop software is coming to an end.  Instead, you will be able to get whatever software you want, anytime you want, just by going online and accessing your private account.

Well, we must ahead of the curve, because we've been offering an SaaS business model to our customers for years.  There's NO expensive software to buy when you do business with us.  NO contract maintenance fees.  NO upgrades.  Nothing!  We handle the all the software stuff and you just access it online and perform whatever phone broadcasting or voice blasting, or electronic invoicing you want to do.  You save a fortune and your life becomes much less complicated.  SaaS is simply a smart and convenient way to do business.  So give us a try at OrangePoint and see for yourself how hassle-free your job can really become!

Oh, and if accessing our software online is too much for you -- we'll do it for you!  We can launch all your jobs at no additional cost.  Just give us a call.

Have you ever wondered how quickly you can reach clients, parents or any other group of contacts in the event of an emergency?  Call Blasting allows you to reach a large number of contacts immediately, and all at once.

The Call Blasting service is easy to set up.  You only need a personal computer with Internet access, and phone, and a list of phone numbers that you need to reach.

The benefit is that you don't need detailed technical knowledge to initiate call blasts or sustain lists.  And the process to record and send your messages is quite easy.

Most businesses are using a sophisticated fax service instead of the United States Postal Service for delivery of confirmations, invoices, postal orders, quotations, etc.  Faxes which are customer specific (faxed invoices for instance) are known as transactional faxes, and can be sent in bulk.  And, fax machines are a more suitable way to get information to a contact than postage to save money and time.

Faxing a hard copy invoice means it can be routed in an easy way and doesn't require any printing. There are still businesses that print out invoices and insert the invoices in envelopes. Meanwhile, the customers possess fax machines to print the invoices automatically. You can have the capability to send invoices electronically, and the information can be converted into a fax so customers can receive a hardcopy.  Not only is it the fraction of postage cost, but there's immediate delivery of hard copy and no printing or paper costs either.

Sales collections and purchasing cycles can be shortened with the use of a fax machine, because you eliminate the transit time that occurs when using regular mail.  And with full reporting, you always know exactly when your fax was received.

The purchase orders, which can be sent in bulk, allows instant buying; therefore, producing a crucial reduction in the inventory that has to be on hand.

When you do business with us here at OrangePoint, you'll find out quickly enough how many advantages there are when it comes to utilizing an "old" technology like faxing.  You'll be surprised at just how versatile it is to accomplish your everyday business functions.

Don't think for a minute that you are limited to sending voice mail to regular landline phones.  In fact, maintaining databases of cell phone numbers as a contact's primary touchpoint is becoming ubiquitous.

For example, we at OrangePoint.net recently sent out a voice message to a college age group.  Most of those were cell phone numbers, and yes, the message was delivered to both live answers and to wireless voice mail.  Recipients could pick up those messages at their convenience.

To enhance your business with your customers, members, students or constituents, with phone broadcasting, it's always important to remember some fundamental things about wireless or mobile technology.  Wireless may not mean "all access", but wireless capacity means a handheld mobile device may have the capability of being in sync with a desktop PC, exchange server, wireless Internet and network, although the functionality can differ between mobile models.

Not every handheld has mobile synchronizing capability. That means you may have to wait until you're at an office PC.  While this can hamper on-demand capabilities, it can also limit possible frustrations.  If the time outside the office is brief and unsteady, then this can be a viable strategy.  Otherwise, you may desire to see if the mobile device has traditional HotSync and wireless capability.  It's vital for you to remain energized and be efficient.  Power management is a factor that's most important in the success of handheld devices.

Most users of handheld devices don't realize that WEP access, synchronization functions, Bluetooth and other handheld device activities are serious battery drains.  Thus, it's important to be efficient and attempt not to have too many demands for the handheld device.  This procedure can extend the battery life and offer more time per battery charge.  If you're a consistent handheld user, then it's wise to invest in extended life battery or an additional battery.

Be courteous to limit possible frustrations for you and colleagues. Handheld devices have small screens, memory and keyboards; thus, common sense will certainly apply.  The next time you're inclined to send an text to another person's handheld device and want the person to read it, remember to consider what you'd do if you received that same message. 

In these troubled economic times, businesses are competing more heavily for customers and market share.  We're no different.  At OrangePoint Communications we have one hallmark that separates us from the pack -- our passion for Customer Service.  We admit we aren't the only ones who have the capacity to deliver quality phone blasts to thousands of people at once.  There are other companies that can do that too.  Our prices are competitive as well.  

But there is one area we don't take a backseat to anyone and that's providing our phone broadcasting customers with the best personal service and attention, period.  When other voice blast services let you struggle with preparing your lists, we'll be right in there with you -- working with you ever step of the way -- to make sure your lists are properly formatted and cleaned. 

Our approach and attitude is both enthusiastic and very simple:  We treat you the way we like to be treated when we're dealing with our vendors.  We don't like being lost in a phone tree and pressing numbers on a keypad for hours trying to find help.  That's why the person who answers the phone here is going to be the person who can directly help you.  We don't need to transfer you to someone else who's out to lunch.  We're here, we're ready, and we look forward to serving you.

That is the main reason why our OrangePoint customers stick with us and are happy to do business with us again and again.  Our surveys indicate that customer satisfaction is through the roof and it's a record we want to keep.  In fact, we hold our banner high and take pride in the attention our phone broadcast, email, and fax customers enjoy.  Isn't it time you put us to the test?

When considering the best quality in recordings for voice blast and phone broadcasting, it's important to be aware of the 5 important rules that add value to your messages.

1.  The first is, Keep it Brief.  Overly long voice blast recordings lose the attention of your recipients.

2.  The second is Record on a Land Line, not a cell phone.  This can not be overlooked.  Cell phone signals can easily be dropped and have more background noise, so parts of your message may be dropped or unintelligible to your recipients.

3.  The third is Introduce Yourself at the Beginning.  If you want to grab your audiences' attention, identifying yourself at the beginning of a voice blast message will go a long way towards focusing their attention.

4.  The fourth is Speak Clearly.  This should go without saying, but you'd be surprised how many people don't pay attention to this important item.

5.  The final is Be Concise.  If you try to deliver too much information in your voice recording, your recipients will be overwhelmed.  Decide what information is absolutely necessary to deliver and then stick to it.  Write yourself a script and then keep revising it until your message is as clear and organized as possible.