Jul/Aug 19 - ChannelVision Magazine

channel management The counter to such requests is to cross-sell and upsell, which can mean more ARPU and more commission – and a stickier customer. Here are five questions to ask about the use of that bandwidth that will open opportunities for you to upsell or cross-sell. “Excuse me, Mr. Customer, I will be happy to quote that for you. Would you mind if I ask you a few questions about your business?” Who do you use for conferenc- ing (web, audio and video)? An- other way to ask is to use the brand names: Do you use Zoom or Webex or GoToMeeting or Skype? These applications are SaaS (software-as-a- service) cloud services, which means that they require bandwidth. Most businesses do not realize how much they depend on the internet – until you show them. Do you use Slack or Microsoft Teams or Google G Suite? A new roll out of software such as Office365, Teams or the like will mean an in- crease in bandwidth utilization. More and more business traffic relies on the internet in place of private networking (such as MPLS). This means a case can be made for SD-WAN with two cheap broadband connections or an upgrade to dedicated internet access (for example, AT&T ADI). What is the most important piece of software to your business? Where is it housed? Most businesses have critical software (practice management software) that is used to run the busi- ness. It could be Zendesk or ServiceNow or EMRs (electronic medical records). It could be some application running on an old server in a closet on-premises. This is mission-critical for the business. Do you take credit cards? Is that on a landline or via the internet? Target’s POS system was down for a couple of hours recently, and it cost the company $50 million. If a business can’t accept credit cards, they lose out on revenue. This is one reason that retail and restaurant chains have em- braced SD-WAN – due to the redun- dancy for credit card authorizations. Are you still using POTS and PRI or have you migrated to VoIP or UCaaS yet? At approximately 70K per user, VoIP communications can add to the burden on the internet pipe. It also creates an issue since voice and video packets need priority on that pipe to maintain good call quality. When users complain about call quality, rarely is the internet connection questioned. UCaaS and cloud contact center are two main factors for businesses to utilize SD-WAN. Other software also may be in use: Salesforce, Hubspot, SAP, Oracle, Workday, NetSuite, Adobe, Intuit, Dropbox, Marketo, Shopify or Square. You could create a checkbox to give to clients that ask how many users on each in order to estimate the bandwidth usage. You could add social networks such as LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram to the checklist since 20 users hitting one social network each all day will crimp the network. Upselling SD-WAN or dedicated internet access or cross-selling a sec- ond internet connection is not much different than what a good waiter does. Asking customers if they want a bottle of wine or a dessert with dinner are small ways to increase the check amount while also providing a customer experience. Publix is our grocery chain in Flor- ida. Frequently the cashiers will ask if customers want to donate to some charity at checkout. It will be a little un- comfortable, but you will soon get used to it with practice. o Peter Radizeski is president of RAD-INFO INC., a telecom strategy and marketing consulting agency. He is also author of five books and available to speak at your events on channel, mar- keting, strategy or sales. Better Bandwidth Sales W ith the cost of internet bandwidth at its lowest price ever, channel partners are feeling a squeeze in the commission pocketbook. At renewal, customers are expecting to double the size of the internet pipe for the same money or reduce the company spend with the same quantity of bandwidth. By Peter Radizeski Questions to ask to make more money when providing a bandwidth quote 46 Channel Vision | July - August, 2019