Telecom brokers are relative newcomers to the telecoms market. Basically, as with any other type of broker, they identify the best deal for a customer's requirements. The customer signs up with the broker and receives any bills direct from them.

Before seeing out a broker, ask yourself the following questions:

• how much are you presently spending on your phone bill?
• how often do telecom cold callers approach you?
• what telephone system do you presently have? Is it outdated?
• what are your long terms business plans?
• will you have to change equipment or upgrade your system? Will you be tied to the hardware provided by the alternative telecom provider?
• what are the general trends in the telecom market? (This is a good way to assess the credibility of the potential supplier)

Then follow the next steps:

• determine which companies you are going to review
• make telephone contact
• understand their specific service, possibly during a meeting, including their unique selling points (USPs), their differentiators and their inabilities
• get them to list the loss (or gain) of functionality you might experience against the saving trade-off
• if possible allow them access to your last bill and ask them to assess the savings they can offer
• list the evaluation criteria you will assess the suppliers by
• try some objective and structured scoring system before making a final choice