When I say that word - Differentiation - in a space like VoIP with 1100 providers, what does it mean?

Marketing is about stories. Not stories about your boring tech, but stories about what the consumer can do with your tech. For the most part, the technology works, but why would anyone use it?

Blackberries were the first prolific smartphone for business users. Execs thumbing away at the airport after listening to voicemails. A long comes Voicemail to email and Bingo no more typing, just forward the message with the attached wav file and delegate.

Tell me a story about how tele-workers or virtual offices can be managed remotely with call monitoring, call recording, and ACD stats with a Hosted PBX solution. Now I have a case study and I have something concrete to wrap my head around when talking to prospects. As a telecom sales agent, I need solutions not features. I need to know how any of the 130+ features of Broadsoft can result in productivity or TCO or ROI for a prospect. I need a case study. A story. Something specific. Like how you can monitor remote workers to see if they are making the calls and doing their job.

When you tell me that I can add a second business line to my cell phone for $5 a month, well, now I have a story to tell the small business owner. The light bulb has gone off in my head.

Taking a call on any phone I am standing near, being able to transfer my cell phone call to any landline, now that is a specific message I can carry to the marketplace. It's a cool tool for contractors who work for different employers. Now you have delivered a real follow-me number.

We are approaching the point when a phone number will call a person, not a location, desktop or home.  That's what Presence is all about, right?  Stop playing phone tag and get some work done.

This is differentiation. This is also marketing. Creating a story to spread. Designing a clear, concise message about the benefit of the tech feature. (By the way, this all came about from a call I was having with Eric Thomas, CEO of FreedomVoice and Newber.)