Commercial Integrator June 2021 - 16

THE SERVICE DESK
A Business Plan for Migrating to Voice over IP
What is holding you back from off ering Voice over IP (VoIP) services to your clients?
by Mike Bloomfi eld
WITH EVERY OPPORTUNITY that you skip
off ering VoIP, you are leaving a good chunk
of Monthly Recurring Revenue (MRR) on
the table.
The fi rst hurdle in your business plan is
fi nding the right VoIP off ering that you can
begin reselling. There is not a one size fi ts
all and it will be important for you to learn
about various providers in the space and
fi nd the one that gives the best solutions to
fi t your stack and business practices.
You want to select a provider that will
treat you as a partner. When you are just
another number in their books, your
success does not matter to them. Think
about it, do you want to have a dedicated
account manager who you can call on their
cell phone when you are working a deal
or have an issue or simply be provided a
generic customer service number where
you are stuck waiting on hold for the next
representative?
When they see you as a partner, they
understand that your success initially means
their success as well, and they will do
everything in their power to make sure you
succeed in every deal you sell.
Also, when they see you as a partner,
they want to invest in your business with
many providers off ering Marketing Development
Funds (MDF) that you can use to
host events and get the word on your VoIP
off ering out to the masses.
To White-Label Or Not To White-Label
With most white-label VoIP solutions, the
burden to provide tech support to the end
users falls on you rather than to the VoIP
provider. This means you now have to have
the proper staff in place and trained to provide
all Tier 1 support for any VoIP issues,
including call quality, registration issues,
and Moves/Adds/Changes.
With most white-label providers, the
client cannot call the provider tech support
as the provider will send them right back to
you; all communications must go through
your organization.
16
Commercial Integrator JUNE 2021
Stop leaving money on the table and losing deals and open your mind to bringing
VoIP into your off erings.
You will make greater margins with a
white label off ering but is the extra support
that you must provide to the end users
worth it? Your wallet may think so but that
will change on Christmas Day when you are
dealing with phone issues rather than having
your customers call directly to the provider.
Another huge thing about white labeling
is that if you are billing the client directly,
you are responsible for ensuring you are
paying and billing for all regulatory and
compliance taxes. VoIP taxes are no fun,
and this is just another added burden for
what you believed was a few extra dollars in
your pocket.
As you can probably guess already, I
have made the choice in my organization
to not white-label and we are simply the
registered partner on all deals. We still
make a nice MRR but without all the headaches
and my clients have direct access to
support, billing, and customer service for
the provider.
You Must Eat Your Own Pudding
Whichever route you decide to go, it is
important that you are using the selected
solution for your organization. Why would
your clients trust your recommendations if
you are not even using it at your organization?
Hate to break it to you but they will not.
Using the same service not only helps
to build trust with your clients as you make
suggestions, but it also allows for you and
your team to get a full understanding of the
solution, what is capable with the solution,
and to learn it inside and out.
Learn every piece of the off ering as it will
help you to sell and to be passionate about
it. I have won numerous deals because I
was able to address concerns and answer
questions on the initial meeting rather than
other providers telling them they would
have to get back to them. It shows that you
know your off ering and you will ultimately
close more deals.
If you aren't off ering VoIP, you need to
with these tips, and you can begin laying
the groundwork to putting together a business
plan to migrating to VoIP as an off ering
within your business.
Mike Bloomfi eld is the
president of Tekie Geek. He has
been an ASCII Group member
since 2016.
commercialintegrator.com
http://www.commercialintegrator.com
Commercial Integrator June 2021

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