Al, i'm not in the bakery equipment business. I own a small manufacturers rep/engineering firm specializing in industrial ventilation and air cleaning. My father started the business back in 1974 and I officially took over in October of '97.
We sold the distribution side of the business in December '96 after we started to lose market share to large national players. The writing was on the wall and sold out to one of these national firms, when they made an offer we couldn't refuse. We were like the small independent gas station on the corner trying to compete with the big boys.
I bought Nextel phones for my sales crew (all of three) a couple months ago. Since then I have experienced first hand the value of their service.
We were paying about $450 a month for pagers and cellular. Since buying Nextel, we dumped the pagers and signed up for the $69 a month plan which includes 400 minuters of cellular and unlimited direct connect. Now our total monthly bill is about $300, and because of the direct connect communicate more freely. I can't claim that sales have increased becasuse of the switch, but we do save $'s.
Since using Nextel, I realized the following:
1) Because of the large "home" area, we can use Nextel INSTEAD of our land line and save additional dollars on long distance. We can call Detroit, Kalamazoo, Lansing, with our 400 minute allowance, with no roaming or long distance charges. This is particually atractive for myself, because I normally would not use the 400 minutes of cellular, and can stay in touch with my sales guys with direct connect.
2) as our customers and venders come on line with Nextel, the savings will increase because of direct connect.
3) when the National direct connect becomes available (sometime in '99) those cellular long distance charges will be gone.
4) it's just pain cool to carry a walkie talkie, fullfilling a childhood fantasy.
There's more but I gotta head for the airport! Back next week.
On the road again,
Ron |
