by Garrett Smith
Thanks for returning. You're a very smart person.
A few weeks back TMCnet Executive Editor Richard “Zippy” Grigonis interviewed VoIP Supply CEO Ben Sayers (boss and friend).
I was on the call that day and it was great to hear Ben recount VoIP Supply’s history. It was good that Richard got to hear why VoIP Supply has been so successful.
What I found most interesting, however, was how difficult putting a traditional name on what VoIP Supply “does” turned out to be.
It’s interesting because VoIP Supply truly is a different animal. It’s supplier or VAR 2.0…at least I think (then again I’m biased).
I suppose Ben said it best though,
“Not too many companies out there are very similar to us, which is probably one reason that we’ve been very successful over the years – the emphasis for us [VoIP Supply] has always been, ‘Here’s what we offer: the ability for you to come to VoIP Supply and get everything that you need, and you can talk to somebody who knows VoIP inside and out. Our specific business model probably doesn’t have a name yet, but what I described is what we do.”
Largest product selection. Experts to listen and answer questions. Quick and easy to do business with.
When those are the pillars of your business the name for what you do doesn’t really matter.
It’s simply smart business.
by Garrett Smith
There is a lot to be said about first impressions. There are numerous sayings and hundreds of books on the topic. Simply put, first impressions (and every single one after) count.
Today at my local Subway, I got a real life glimpse into the impact a first impression makes for a business. I’m not talking about my local Subway (they do a great job), I am talking about the Talking Phone Book and the representative who was delivering the latest edition of the Talk Phone Book.
[click to continue…]
by Garrett Smith
I’ve got the return policy blues.
I suspect that many of you have had them before - so let’s hate on them for a couple of minutes.
Recently, I have been helping a colleague (who is new) work with many of the manufacturers and distributors in the VoIP space on returning defective or DOA products back to them. The experience, as a how has been eye-opening, frustrating and down right amusing at times. From disconnects between the return policies of a manufacturer and the distributor, to reseller agreements that force resellers to take back returns on things distributors and manufacturers won’t, to non-responses, run a rounds and even the total lack of anyone to process an RMA, it was enough to make me wonder why VoIP resellers even do business with some of these companies.
[click to continue…]
by Garrett Smith
I had a great experience this afternoon - I got out of the office.
It has been a while since I’ve been out of the office. We don’t really do much locally, so I jumped at the chance to help my step-dad do a site evaluation for a local classic car dealer looking to install an IP Surveillance system (actually, I didn’t really add much - pal Cory Andrews came along and well, he knows surveillance better than I). Even though it has been quite some time since my last face-to-face encounter with a small business owner in the seller-customer realm one thing didn’t change…
[click to continue…]
by Garrett Smith
I have been undergoing a lifestyle (re)design that last two months.
The past five years have been too much work, not enough play and far too much abuse of my pay - I’m not complaining - it was a great journey, but it is time for a change. One of the last things on my list of adjustments in none other than one of my greatest sources of enjoyment - my car. There’s nothing wrong with the car I have - it is in great shape, runs like the day I first got it and is quite the head turner. The problem? I want to downgrade and divert some of the funds to other pursuits - like traveling or a vacation.
[click to continue…]
by Garrett Smith
There has been a lot happening in the voice 2.0 space recently; and I like where many of the companies in this space are taking their service offerings. As with any relatively new industry, the voice 2.0 space (what I use to define the use of telephony in conjunction with other business systems, processes, services and or applications) is seeing its fair share of success and its far share of hurdles. There is no doubting the value and promise of voice 2.0, however there is a pattern of success emerging amongst many of these pioneering providers, one that has many similarities to LEGO’s, a childhood favorite of many.
[click to continue…]
by Garrett Smith
A few weeks after Vonage went public, I started to write a post entitled, “Could SIP Trunking Save Vonage?” I never ended up finishing the post because at the time I was still working with Vonage and knew that they had zero ambitions of getting into the true business VoIP marketplace. The basic premise of the post, though, was that Vonage has the infrastructure, brand and reach to offer a true business quality phone line (I hate the term SIP Trunking) service that would be a big enough win for the company that it could pull them out of the red and into the black.
After recently hearing about Vonage’s search for a product manager for VonagePro, I revisited my post and below I extrapolated on my thoughts from two years ago, on why VonagePro could save Vonage.
- Brand Name - Five years after starting my career in the VoIP industry, I still use the line, “Have you ever heard of Vonage?” to begin to describe what it is that VoIP Supply does. The brand name resonates with the mainstream and it is that name that would empower Vonage (and their VAR channel) to gain an instant foothold with business customers.
- Infrastructure and Technology - Offering a business phone line over IP (SIP Trunking) is not incredibly difficult. Vonage already have all of the infrastructure and technology to turn on this type of service. They don’t need to build out and scale-up like many of the smaller business VoIP providers…they are already there.
- VAR Channel - I speak to a lot of business VoIP providers. All of them are talking about building a channel. I talk to a lot of VAR’s who need a business VoIP provider and a driver of business with customers. Vonage, due to their brand name, gives VAR’s a better driver than smaller, regional plays and a name that resonates with customers. Vonage could easily build a massive nationwide channel.
- Lower Acquisition Costs - Vonage talked a lot about lowering customer acquisition costs during their recent Q1 reporting. Business services are typically not “directly marketed” such as Vonage’s residential and SOHO services, they offer through a VAR channel. In general, the channel is much cheaper in terms of customer acquisition costs, because Vonage will only pay out when a customer purchases.
- Bigger Market - Sure there are more residences than businesses in the US, but VoIP, in it’s current state, is better suited for businesses, than residential users (due to things such as 911). The recent consumer adoption rate slow down in Q1 is a sign that the second wave of adopters is taking a much more critical look at the technology. If overall VoIP adoption rate is slowing that means the size of the pie gets smaller. Vonage is already losing ground to the cable co’s, so a smaller percentage of a smaller pie makes being a residential pure-play provider a risky move. The business market place is still growing and will continue to do so because the limitations of the technology at the consumer level due not impact businesses as much.
Vonage has the potential to due for business VoIP what they did for residential VoIP. The business VoIP market place is much more fragmented and there is not one provider who can lay claim to being a true, dominant, number one. it won’t be easy for Vonage and their VonagePro service to become that number one, but they have all of the pieces of the puzzle to do so. Can they execute and put them together? That’s not something I can answer, but they did do one heck of a job with their residential service.
