Customer Acquisition Specialist

Other people would describe it as a B2B Sales position, but I like to think of it as a Customer Acquisition Specialist. Why?

Because the main goal of this position is to bring in new customers. To close one sale per week.

To do this you will have to give them product training. Also, a specific territory to hunt in. They will need a sales engineer for some support, collateral, business cards, forms, contracts, and a laptop with a office suite and CRM. (Ideally, you will have all this waiting on Day 1 -- or you are wasting money.

On-boarding a new employee is where you can either get the new employee excited about the company - or start him off on the wrong foot. No desk. No one to orientate him. No business cards. He feels slighted on Day 1.

Of course, he or she will need to provide some skills and tools of their own, like time management skills (so they aren't driving 30 miles per day between appointments, wasting gas and time); a devoted sales process, because it demonstrates that they know how to sell; CRM savvy because you want to monitor the sales activity, the funnel, sales revenue, contacts, etc. regularly. Read BearonBusiness for ways to do this).

The candidate will also understand the value of networking, relationships, referrals, and open ended Questions.

I have them answer one question along with their resume. No answer means no consideration.

See an example of a job listing here.

A Little Bit of Business

While speaking at the FISPA meeting this week, I kind of focused on sales and marketing. One point that is important is that ISP's are NOT selling Internet Access. ISP's are selling reliable, dependable high-speed access to Facebook, YouTube and the rest of the websites and Web Apps that people desire to use. SAAS and VoIP means that ISP's need to be cognizant of the fact that if you keep selling Internet Access you will relegated to a dumb pipe. Instead, you should be offering not just the access but also some of those Apps. (That's what the RBOC's want to do).

ITSP are NOT selling replacement phone service. They are selling business productivity and efficiency through a new, reliable and redundant platform for voice service. It's NOT about saving someone 10% -- it is about understanding how the business uses the phone (and other communications services) to interact with prospects, customers, and employees.

The last piece of the puzzle is Scale. It's not about how many - it's about Who. (Ask Seth about Scalejacking). As a service provider, you want the highest margin clients that you can get. It is easier and more cost effective to have 100 clients you make a $100 each than to have 1000 that you make $10 on. You can stay connected to a couple of hundred, but most SP's don't stay in front of clients. At the FISPA meeting during the marketing session, I asked how many had a newsletter. Maybe 3. Why? I have no idea. RAD-INFO offers a service that makes it easy to send out a Newsletter. We give you the content monthly, you slap it into ConstantContact or iContact, and send it out. That's one way to stay relevant to your clients as more than a dumb pipe line item on their monthly bill. It's also a way to upsell and to prove you are the Expert. The deeper you get into a customer, the higher margin they are - and the higher the Lifetime Value of the client is. (Important numbers).

Michael Tague did a session on SWOT that included how to calculate churn. If your churn value is higher than 3%, you are in trouble. You can calculate how much trouble here. But at 4% churn, you will turn over your entire base in 2 years.

A little scattered of a posting but I wanted to write down some important points that were delivered at the meeting.

How To SELLECOM Digital Voice

How to SELLECOM Digital Voice Services to Small Business will be a session at the FISPA Meeting in Nashville. Slide deck:

Marketing in a Nutshell - FISPA June 2009

I will be in Nashville next week (June 24-25) to moderate a couple of CLEC Therapy sessions. I will also be presenting Marketing in a Nutshell. Here's the slide deck.

What's different about this one is that I have embedded two ads in it. One about the Newsletter Marketing package that we offer. And another about Hiring a CMO or Marketing Advisor to help you with your marketing.

RAD-INFO, Inc. will be taking on just 4 clients as a Marketing Advisor this year. What do you get?

• You get access to past and future tele-seminars.
• Find out what other superstars are doing that is working – and implement something similar in your market!
• Training for your sales team.
• Planning for marketing events or design of your campaigns.
• Dissect what you are doing to tweak it for improvement.
• You get RAD-INFO, Inc. for 5 hours per month for just $1000 per month

Limited to just 4 clients!

Call 813-963-5884 today to be one of the 4!

Marketing Preso 1Q09

Since I have a lot of speaking slots coming up, I will be sharing the slide deck with you before hand. Comments welcome.

Those that know me know that I do not use a slide deck during my presentations. So why create them? It gives my notes or an outline of what I want to talk about. It gives the audience a take-away.

Ways to Market in 2009

Cloud Computing Today

Two really good articles on Cloud Computing today.

One is a NYT magazine story about the data center and the cloud. Really comprehensive.

The other is about the terms of service on the cloud. Good read if you offer cloud services - or buy them.

Outsource It

Outsource or Do-It-Yourself? In this TMC article the quote I like is:

"Most companies I talk to understand outsourcing customer service is likely a better solution for them. Yet they continue to pay unnecessary overhead costs, take whoever they can get for employees, and pay for less effective training because: (a) They are afraid of losing control, and (b) They don’t know how to do it any other way.

In my experience, that is what I hear. Sure, you don't say Control, you say, "Cause no one can do it as good as me." Or something similar. Hogwash.

A number of companies that outsourced at first; built up a base; and then brought it inside.

Others feel that you can't do everything well and would rather have a partner provide service to their customer base to create stickiness as well as a new revenue stream.

CLEC Strategy

Latest discussion is about Copper Plant Access by CLEC's. ILECs are replacing copper plant with fiber. Access to Remote Terminals is very limited. What are CLEC's doing about this?

Well, for the most part, CLEC's have to change their strategy NOW. If you weren't paying attention during the UNE-P disaster in 2005 following the TRRO ruling when UNE-P was taken away, then you may repeat the same mistakes.

Copper plant within 3 miles of a Central Office will likely be available for a long time. If you are selling as low as you can and the UNE-L becomes Special Access, then your margins are shot and you are sunk. But if you are pricing it with 50% margin at UNE-L and Special Access comes along, you should be doing okay.

Your approach needs to be to deliver as many services as possible over as fat a pipe as available. All the way to the desktop with the handset.

The comparable model is Wireless. The tower is comparable to the colocated CO. Draw a circle around the tower or the CO - that is your target market. Period.

The other model is to say good-bye to access, buy Special Access circuits now at retail or volume buy rates and make your money on services that can still be delivered in a BYO Broadband world. Layer 7 is where the money is.

More thoughts on CLEC Strategy here.

Another Ad Hoc Group Forms

A big hardy welcome to Ad Hoc Coalition of International Telecommunications Companies, the Telecom Coalition, a grassroots organization comprised of both U.S. and non-U.S. wholesale telecom companies.

The ACITC supports a sustainable, effective Universal Service Fund that meets the goals of assuring affordable telephone service for all Americans. But the ACITC also believes the Fund should be fair and non-discriminatory to all participants, as Congress envisioned.

Some Free Services

The Internet still has some stuff for free.

102 Best Free Phone Services on the Web - faxing, conference, free VoIP on Your Cell Phone, Webcasting, Phone Lookup Services, etc.

Free Help Desk Software Manages Tech Needs. You might want to look at Spiceworks IT Desktop, Web Help Desk and SysAid.

Are You Using Newsletters?

Are you staying in front of your customers on a regular basis? Are you sending out a newsletter every month? I don't mean an advertisement or a press release, I mean a NEWS letter.

If not, RAD-INFO, Inc. has something to help you.

okay, first you need a platform to send out the newsletter. I suggest one of the following:

1. iContact
2. Constant Contact
3. MailChimp
4. Aweber.

Here's a 2009 Email Marketing Services Product Comparison. I used to use Constant Contact mainly because the software allows me to track the results. By that I mean, CC allows me to see the following:

• who opened the newsletter,
• which link was clicked
• when was it opened
• are there any email addresses bouncing

So you picked a platform. Next you need your email list of customers AND some prospects. Upload the list.

Use the platform's template to create a newsletter. I have an example of one here. It's not a beautifully designed piece. It was quick and dirty to give you the idea to put buttons in each corner that have Calls to Action, coupons, referral contests, contact info, an about section, etc.

The story of the month: that you can buy from RAD-INFO. I have a couple of profession writers to create content that is a good read for the general public. Every month you will get a general IT/Internet topic. The first 3 are: Spyware, Back-up and Windows Update. You also get a Cool Site of the Month and a Tip of the Month.

Sign up for the Marketing by Newsletter today!

SELLECOM is now on Amazon!

Okay! To me this a cool. My book, SELLECOM, is now available on Amazon! Just search for SELLECOM or visit sellecom.net. Get a signed copy in Nashville on June 25th.

Wiretap Lawsuits Dismissed

A judge dismissed many of the wiretap lawsuits against Ma and Pa Bell. [source]

The citizens of America seem to be happy to give up our Values, Privacy and Liberties for the notion of National Security. Crazy.

Exclusive Video Contracts Banned

I get asked about this often. The FCC ruling was upheld in Appeal. I like how they say it is a victory for consumers. It's not. It's a victory for Bell.

The mantra of the Bells has been, "Who's going to put in fiber if they have to share it?" Well, this is exactly the same thing. Who do you think pays to wire MDU's with fiber, cat6, etc.? Often it is NOT the developer/property owner.

From ARS:

"An appeals court decided to back consumers on Tuesday, unanimously upholding a Federal Communications Commission order banning exclusive cable video contracts in apartment buildings and other multiple dwelling units (MDUs)..... The court even smiled on applying the new regulations to current cable/realtor deals, noting that the FCC "balanced benefits against harms and expressly determined that applying the rule to existing contracts was worth its costs." The call is also a victory for telcos like AT&T and Verizon, both of which pushed hard for the FCC to make its decision."

Indiana CSP's

Are you a Communications Provider in Indiana? You are required to be certified then. (See letter from IURC here).