from Khali Henderson of Virgo who was live tweeting from CenturyLink's Channel Advisory summit: "#CCAExpo Michael Stephens: Email is a lousy tool for communicating. We need to do more in person or by phone. We will do less email in 2012."

That's the second time in a couple of months that advice has been to let go of email and use the phone more. A Harvard Biz Review article said that a phone call is quicker and clearer (if you can get through voicemail obviously).

Another tweet: @thesocialpro: Great advice from Michael Stephens, no need to write emails in ALL CAPS for me to respond.

And you don't need to Reply to All every time either.

Peter Radizeski is a telecommunications consultant and analyst with RAD-INFO INC. Service Providers have called on RAD-INFO INC for assistance building a channel, improving sales, managing online marketing efforts, and overall company strategy. Contact RAD-INFO INC at 813-963-5884 or http://rad-info.net

Most CLEC/ITSP/ISP/WISP do little marketing. And Branding isn't even in the picture. Heck, something as simple as having an updated website seems beyond the reach of some service providers.

What most execs don't grasp is that most sales are moving online. Buyers do research before they buy. They check reviews. They ask their networks on Facebook, twitter, Linkedin, Google+. All of this online.

If you are not online - or worse your image online is awful - sales will be hard to come by.

I think one issue is that service providers don't have a grasp on who they want to market to because they think everyone is a prospect. WRONG!

Your marketing should target the most profitable prospects with the most profitable services.

Don't worry it isn't just you. I read this article yesterday, "Most entrepreneurs have NO idea how much they really need to be marketing in order to effectively and consistently attract more clients and make more money. You need to be really clear on what you want to accomplish that will make you happy with your progress."

Do you have a monthly sales goal? Do you know what/who/where that will come from? [i.e., from two medical offices at $750 per month for Internet and Hosted PBX.] This gives you a target prospect and a product bundle.

What is the average dollar amount each client is worth to you each month? What is your ARPU?

next we do sales math. How many prospects do you talk to? How many proposals to you send? How many contracts get ink? Closing Ratio = INK/proposals

More sales math: Your closing ratio times your ARPU is your monthly revenue. So if you want 2 sales and you close 10% of the time then you need to do 20 proposals and that means talking to XXX prospects OR talking to 40 qualified prospects.

So how does Marketing come into the picture?

You want to have a certain message go out to your marketplace, especially to your most potential prospects. Email, website, social media, networking, direct mail, webinars/seminars, trade shows, search marketing (SEO/SEM) and guerrilla marketing are all possible tactics. The strategy is to reach the targets that the message and product bundle will resonate with. The fact is that it takes a lot of touches to make an impact on a prospect. That's where the tactics come in.

So you need to identify your best prospects.

What will they buy from you?

Why would they buy from you?

How will you get this message to them?

How do those messages convert to sales? Branding a consistent message to your best prospects means that sales will be more targeted and if you have the right message, product and target --> KA-CHING!

Need help with this? Give my office a call at (813) 963-5884

FYI, these slides sum up what I said.

Peter Radizeski is a telecommunications consultant and analyst with RAD-INFO INC. Service Providers have called on RAD-INFO INC for assistance building a channel, improving sales, managing online marketing efforts, and overall company strategy. Contact RAD-INFO INC at 813-963-5884 or http://rad-info.net

Most entrepreneurs have NO idea how much they really need to be marketing in order to effectively and consistently attract more clients and make more money.

And I know I write about sales and marketing far more often than some of you want to read it, but it is more important today for survival than ever.

The first thing to do is Be Clear about what you want to accomplish - what progress will make you happy?

Ask yourself the following question:

"Next year at this time, how much revenue would you like to be reporting?"

Now break it down: How much is that per month? (HINT: this will be your new monthly goal or quota.)

To take it a step further: What is your ARPU, average dollar per client per month?

So, how many paying clients would it take for you to make that monthly goal or quota? [This is sales math; it is older than that Livingstone in the corner.]

Next let's examine you’re closing rate: How well do you convert prospects into paying clients? Looking back and ‘guesstimating’ how often you close the sale, what’s that percentage?

Math example: If you close the sale 50% of the time, and you need 5 new clients per month, then you’ll need to speak to 10 new prospects each month. Put that on your calendar.

How many prospects do you need to have a sales conversation with every month?

Based on this number, would you have to do more marketing than you’re doing now?

Chances are the answer is yes. Most people are shocked when I tell them that in order to consistently have a full funnel, you need to be marketing several hours every day. Yes, several hours each and every day. It's not a spigot. It's not immediate. It takes repeated, continuous effort to mark your services.

Want help with that? Call the office at (813) 963-5884.

Peter Radizeski is a telecommunications consultant and analyst with RAD-INFO INC. Service Providers have called on RAD-INFO INC for assistance building a channel, improving sales, managing online marketing efforts, and overall company strategy. Contact RAD-INFO INC at 813-963-5884 or http://rad-info.net