{"id":48778,"date":"2022-02-10T12:11:51","date_gmt":"2022-02-10T20:11:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/?p=48778"},"modified":"2022-02-10T12:11:57","modified_gmt":"2022-02-10T20:11:57","slug":"key-to-success-in-unified-communications-lies-in-value-selling","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/feature-articles\/2022\/02\/key-to-success-in-unified-communications-lies-in-value-selling\/","title":{"rendered":"Key to Success in Unified Communications Lies in Value Selling"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

One of the truisms in business is that providing a product or service that lends itself to commoditization presents a challenge for the dealer\/reseller. Commoditized products frequently see a large pool of providers, many of which are driven by price.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thus, it can be said that while phones have become commoditized, unified communications (UC) systems are not. Certainly, price plays a role on some level, but for customers that crave the rich feature sets that UC offers, this presents an opportunity for technology purveyors to truly differentiate themselves from the pack.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While Verticomm doesn\u2019t offer the cheapest solution, Mike Gilly\u2014the firm\u2019s division manager, communication services for the division of All Copy Products\u2014believes the value points settle on the product, the reliability of the cloud and how the company supports it. He feels selling the value of your system is critical to maintaining margins and having a healthy business.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Mike Gilly, Verticomm<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Connecting with clients, especially through support channels, is a significant differentiator for Verticomm. \u201cClients aren\u2019t calling a 1-800 number, they\u2019re calling into our dispatch,\u201d he said. \u201cWe answer calls live and don\u2019t leave people on hold for 30 minutes or an hour, as with some of the providers in the market. Our engineers are responsive and we develop a rapport with clients. We tend to assign the same engineers to clients so that they get a personal level of support. Plus, it\u2019s local support.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another dealer that doesn\u2019t bill itself as the cheapest option available is Coordinated Business Systems of Burnsville, Minnesota. Company President Kirk Studebaker believes that \u201cwhat you sell will determine how you sell it,\u201d and for Coordinated, that consists of a stable platform and a full-service experience for the customer. And for the ideal, target customer, the lowest price won\u2019t always win the day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Kirk Studebaker, Coordinated Business Systems<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt is very important for our salespeople to understand who our customer is and who our customer isn\u2019t,\u201d Studebaker said. \u201cThey can buy the same platform for less money, but they will have a different experience.\u00a0 If consistency in personnel, rapid response and quick decisions don\u2019t matter you probably aren\u2019t our customer.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While many providers push cloud-based offerings to their clients, Studebaker sees the value of providing the on-premise option. In some cases, the choice is less philosophical and more practical.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSome places just can\u2019t have a reliable cloud experience, either based on where they are located or the age of the infrastructure they are dealing with,\u201d he added. \u201cIf the investment to upgrade infrastructure is similar to the investment in on-premise, that is the direction we will take them. If for whatever reason the infrastructure can\u2019t be brought up to an acceptable level, we will move to on-premise.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Melissa Confalone, Fraser Advanced Information Systems<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

For a company such as Fraser Advanced Information Systems of West Reading, Pennsylvania, value selling is the cornerstone of its business. Identifying the challenges, frustrations and pain points associated with a prospect\u2019s current vendor allows the dealer to stand out from the price-driven crowd, notes Melissa Confalone, vice president of sales.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the subject of cloud versus on-premise, Confalone sees more acceptance\/higher comfort levels in the market for cloud-hosted solutions. \u201cEven if they have a working premise system, they are willing to discuss the issues with such a system,\u201d she said. \u201cIf they are already working with a cloud provider, we find customers are willing to share their poor experience with support and customer service they are experiencing. By sharing information, we can work with them to build the solution that best meets their needs.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One of the truisms in business is that providing a product or service that lends itself to commoditization presents a challenge for the dealer\/reseller. Commoditized products frequently see a large pool of providers, many of which are driven by price. Thus, it can be said that while phones have become commoditized, unified communications (UC) systems are not. Certainly, price plays a role on some level, but for customers that crave the rich feature sets that UC offers, this presents an opportunity for technology purveyors to truly differentiate themselves from the pack. While Verticomm doesn\u2019t offer the cheapest solution, Mike Gilly\u2014the firm\u2019s division manager, communication services for the division of All Copy Products\u2014believes the value points settle on the product, the reliability of the cloud and how the company supports it. He feels selling the value of your system is critical to maintaining margins and having a healthy business. Connecting with clients, especially through support channels, is a significant differentiator for Verticomm. \u201cClients aren\u2019t calling a 1-800 number, they\u2019re calling into our dispatch,\u201d he said. \u201cWe answer calls live and don\u2019t leave people on hold for 30 minutes or an hour, as with some of the providers in the market. Our engineers are responsive and we develop a rapport with clients. We tend to assign the same engineers to clients so that they get a personal level of support. Plus, it\u2019s local support.\u201d Another dealer that doesn\u2019t bill itself as the cheapest option available is Coordinated Business Systems of Burnsville, Minnesota. Company President Kirk Studebaker believes that \u201cwhat you sell will determine how you sell it,\u201d and for Coordinated, that consists of a stable platform and a full-service experience for the customer. And for the ideal, target customer, the lowest price won\u2019t always win the day. \u201cIt is very important for our salespeople to understand who our customer is and who our customer isn\u2019t,\u201d Studebaker said. \u201cThey can buy the same platform for less money, but they will have a different experience.\u00a0 If consistency in personnel, rapid response and quick decisions don\u2019t matter you probably aren\u2019t our customer.\u201d While many providers push cloud-based offerings to their clients, Studebaker sees the value of providing the on-premise option. In some cases, the choice is less philosophical and more practical. \u201cSome places just can\u2019t have a reliable cloud experience, either based on where they are located or the age of the infrastructure they are dealing with,\u201d he added. \u201cIf the investment to upgrade infrastructure is similar to the investment in on-premise, that is the direction we will take them. If for whatever reason the infrastructure can\u2019t be brought up to an acceptable level, we will move to on-premise.\u201d For a company such as Fraser Advanced Information Systems of West Reading, Pennsylvania, value selling is the cornerstone of its business. Identifying the challenges, frustrations and pain points associated with a prospect\u2019s current vendor allows the dealer to stand out from the price-driven crowd, notes Melissa Confalone, vice president of sales. On the subject of cloud versus on-premise, Confalone sees more acceptance\/higher comfort levels in the market for cloud-hosted solutions. \u201cEven if they have a working premise system, they are willing to discuss the issues with such a system,\u201d she said. \u201cIf they are already working with a cloud provider, we find customers are willing to share their poor experience with support and customer service they are experiencing. By sharing information, we can work with them to build the solution that best meets their needs.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":166,"featured_media":48779,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1650,82,87,1638],"tags":[1637,741,2738],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48778"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/166"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=48778"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48778\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":48781,"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48778\/revisions\/48781"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/48779"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48778"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=48778"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=48778"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}