I had an interesting conversation with a newly minted channel manager this week. He was leaving a CLEC to return to the cable business.
There is a huge difference between the two businesses.
One is Demand. Cable is a monopoly most often, a Duopoly the rest of the time. What other service provider could say THIS? That monopoly supplies Demand for services. And that demand is there despite the poor customer service!
Cable has brand recognition. CLECs do not.
CLECs (or whatever they are calling themselves these days) have to create demand for their products.
We are at a point where the CLECs all look the same again – like in the days of the Integrated T1. The Integrated T1 was the best thing that ever happened to CLECs (after UNE-P). SD-WAN, UCaaS and even security are the 3 business lines that EVERY single company is offering. The noise is incredible. The fluff will choke a partner.
UC isn’t a price issue as many channel managers like to say. The pricing is all over the map. Anyone can shop it down if they want to. It’s about telling a good story and service delivery. It’s about knowing what benefit your brand of UC delivers and how. I’m not certain many channel managers can explain that. If you can’t, go find out NOW!!!
Jeffrey Gitomer used to say that car dealers were lazy. It was all about the price of the car. Buy here and save $1000. No car dealer talks about what it is like to own the car. What’s the customer lounge like? Ferman Mazda (when I had my RX8) had a customer lounge with donuts, coffee, water, TV and internet! And they were quick. And they washed the car each time. Get the picture? If not, maybe you should go work for cable.
It really comes down to the Story. Every sale, every customer is another chapter to that story. What was the outcome? Why did they buy? How was the service delivery?
You can sit at your desk and complain about pricing — and many do — or you can put together a story about why the value is more than the price. If not, you won’t be making quota but you will be making excuses.