In our previous blog series on 3 steps to telecom success, we discussed a number of things that you can do to realize sustainable growth, increase your profit, and increase customer loyalty. One of the overriding themes was adding more cards to your deck – bundling more services into your existing offering.
Perhaps you have made the decision to add Unified Communications, mobility, or something else to your solution, but what’s next? How do we sell this new service?
Our next series is on “How to Sell…” We will cover UCaaS, Mobility, and Integration to start. If you want to learn about how to sell other services, please give us your suggestions in the comments below.
In the meantime, we’ll start with how to sell Unified Communications as a Service.
What is the main reason your customers do not purchase UCaaS? According to the research, it’s probably a lack of information about how UC will benefit their company and how to make the transition.
An Osterman Research study found that 48% of businesses do not understand how UC will benefit their business. They may understand and even want Unified Communications, but are unable to make the leap to the direct benefit to their business. Research also shows that “39% of businesses are intimidated by the migration process.” They may need a little hand-holding to get started. (Source: www.eweek.com).
In the face of these facts, your best tool will be education. If you want to sell UCaaS, you have to teach your customers about UC, thus assuaging their uncertainties and fears.
Benefits
Start by showing what UCaaS can do for your customer – what value will it bring to their business. Be careful not to confuse benefits with features. Features like presence and click-to-call and instant messaging are important and you will want to show those too, but not quite yet. Benefits are big picture values like:
- Saves time so you can focus on selling
- Eases stress in the office
- Supports productivity in workers
- Enables you to provide better customer service
These are all about how UC will improve the day-to-day lives of your customers. Put yourself in their shoes and consider what issues they face, where are they wasting time everyday, what frustrations do they express. They will identify with these benefits and instantly want to know how to attain them.
Features
Which brings us to features. You have explained what they will get from Unified Communications, now show them how they will get it. Go back through your list of benefits and add at least one feature that supports each. Those are the features that you will show your customers. Some examples are:
- Click-to-call
- Drag-and-drop conferences
- Presence
- Call transfers
- Screen-share
- Voicemail to email
- Fax to email
- Multichannel communication
- Video calling
The list goes on and on. You will know best what types of benefits and features your customers would value.
Transition
Finally, show a clear transition roadmap to your customers from the very start. You now know that they may have fears when it comes to migrating, so bolster their confidence right from the beginning. Take care of as much of the transition from your end as you can so that they have less to worry about. If you are confident, they will become confident as well.
With all three of these areas, demos will be your best friend. Rather than trying to explain the benefits and describe the features over the phone, get them on a free demo and illustrate it. Once they get started, they won’t want to stop.
As you go through the demo, use clear, specific examples to make your points – things that they will immediately identify with and latch on to. For example, you could say “Have you ever been on the phone with a colleague and needed the quick input of someone else? How did you handle it? Did you have to hang up and then come back to the call later? Shoot an email and wait for the response? What if it was as easy as grabbing that third person with your mouse and dragging them in to the call?” as you are doing just that in a demo. If they have ever faced that problem, they will be sold.
One more selling technique to consider: UC makes it so even the smallest businesses can act like enterprises. This is a huge selling point if they fully grasp it. Show your smaller customers that they will have the same capabilities and tools as large enterprises, leveling the playing field for the first time.
If you are interested in learning more about UC and/or selling, we have a few more blog posts that may be of interest to you.
- 5 Ways Unified Communications Saves You Time
- Unified Communications: Beyond Telephony
- 6 Unified Communications Features that Promote Collaboration
- Making the Next Sale: 8 Tips for Telecom Sales Teams
As always, feel free to reach out to us if you want to chat with an experienced account manager.
Stay tuned for next week: How to Sell… Mobility
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