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"American Idol" Shows Agents & Partners How to Sell
VoIP, SIP & IP-PBX
 The
"best" solution doesn't always beat the "safe" solution
Why Agents & Partners Fail When Taking Prospects Out of Their Comfort
Zones
by Dan
Baldwin, TA Founder & Executive Director
I have two teenage sons. One listens to as much
music as a 30-gig iPod can hold. The other never listened to a single song
in the 17 years until a month ago when I heard music coming out of his
room. I stopped and asked, "What's that?" "The
coolest song I've ever heard," he replied.
That
was my introduction to the TV show "American
Idol" (I guess I don't watch enough TV) which theoretically picks the
nation's "next best singer". Well as America learned this past week, the
show doesn't pick the winner - America does - and America will pick the
person (or telecom solution) they feel the most comfortable with (no
matter what
Simon
Cowell thinks!)
Just as conventional TV wisdom suggested that Adam Lambert would win
American Idol last week because he was the best singer, so too do many
telecom providers and distributors think VoIP and SIP will sell on its
excellent technical merits. Not so.
When America's
uncomfortable, like in the middle of a recession, lead with safety.
When America's uncomfortable...lead with safety
The concept of "leading with safety" when selling SIP and VoIP was
excellently summarized by
Gary Kim in his recent
IP Business Magazine article where he quotes Savatar's
Mike Ahearn and Meta Switch's
Chris Carabello.
"The
single biggest mistake retail providers make when trying to sell hosted IP
telephony to small and mid-sized businesses is that salespeople start with
features, when they should start by reassuring buyers that 'it is a
reliable phone system,'" Ahern says.
The sales pitch has to begin with “it’s a high-quality phone system that
is reliable and lets you keep your phone number,” Carabello follows.
"Only after those two positioning efforts should sales personnel then add
that hosted IP telephony 'makes your life simpler,'" Kim summarizes.
Say, "VoIP is a safe PHONE SYSTEM" (and then shut
up)
My own recent VoIP selling experience certainly mirrors Kim's analysis
that business decision makers want to buy a "safe" phone system - not a
VoIP or SIP or IP-PBX phone system ...
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