The last two weeks have provided me with reinforcement about our challenge as a company and as an industry niche'. Despite the successes we rack up - we are still largely unknown and not understood as a viable business model for many enterprises.
I've often said that a Cypress Communications sales executive has to succeed at two sales to gain a client. They first have to sell the idea that UCaaS (Unified Communications as a Service) is an effective business model and then also sell the customer that Cypress is the right UCaas provider.
We expend a lot of effort on the first sale - both at the individual client level and in our broader marketing endeavors. Last week, we held a well-attended webinar to spread the word. More importantly, we are sponsoring a significant educational event in New York City on May 19 to help educate the legal community about the benefits of the UCaaS model. It will include a panel of three highly regarded legal CIOs; a leading attorney that specializes in VoIP as a technology and a Frost & Sullivan analyst who is a n expert on VoIP and unified communications. While it is decidedly not a Cypress sales event, we win if we can help spread the word about the cost savings and efficiencies of UCaas, provide a forum for exchanging of ideas and allow people to experience the technology firsthand. An informed marketplace is a huge advantage for us, for our industry and for the clients we ultimately intend on serving. For more details on this educational UCaaS event, go to www.cypresscom.net/seminars/051909.
At the individual level, I've had two really positive experiences this week that hearten me for the ongoing battle to educate the world on UCaaS. The first was a call with a well-known brand in the home security business. One of our sales executives here in Atlanta had an introductory conversation with their CIO and successfully gained their interest. Our follow-up call together was the classic script of selling scenario we come across. The customer makes inquiries centered on their presumptions of why the UCaaS model won't work; and we respond with answers that prove just the opposite--that our model fits much better than business as usual. With UCaaS, you get new equipment--with no upfront CapEx spend, advanced unified communications technology, productivity and efficiency benefits from the multimedia and collaboration features, and business continuity with seamless automatic failover. Plus, you don't have to design it, integrate it with existing systems or manage it. And Cypress will even buy back all of your current telecom equipment. By the end of the call, the prospect is asking, "Why isn't everyone doing this?"
The second highlight of my week occurred with a NYC-based law firm. They clearly understood the UCaaS model and moved into the diligence phase quickly. And that's where Cypress Communications really shines. If you're a reader of this soapbox, you know I expound endlessly on the "two guys and a truck" phenomenon that negatively plagues our industry. Well, this NYC law firm has experience with evaluating offerings from the "two guys" plus their opposite, the BIG Carrier. The "two guys and a truck" were seen as trying to hawk VoIP as a quick easy solution and without anything capable of serving the needs of a complex enterprise. The firm discounted a couple of "two-truck" companies, the first a well-known NYC-based VoIP provider, the second a Seattle-based reseller of a Broadsoft-based platform who thought serving an international law firm over the public Internet was a good idea. (Yeah, right. NOT!)
But what I found even more interesting, the law firm also reviewed solutions from one of the BIG TWO Carriers in the U.S. that services the New York City area. The firm concluded that this BIG Carrier was not a credible provider of a complex managed service, such as UCaaS--especially when the BIG Carrier couldn't provide any references. So the law firm came to the same conclusion I always come to, that in the UCaaS market, Cypress Communications really doesn't have any competition. No one else does this as well as we do, the way we do it, and with the range of features and services we provide. While on some days that seems like a curse, today it seems like a blessing.
http://www.prweb.com/releases/Hosted_VoIP_Telecom/Unified_Communications/prweb2337554.htm
http://www.prweb.com/releases/Hosted_VoIP_Telecom/Unified_Communications/prweb2337554.htm
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