Quite simply, get Good at it. For sales confidence, work on getting better at sales.

In sales, the 4 parts are as follows: Prospecting, Presenting, Proposing, Closing.

Get good at Prospecting – it’s where all of it starts.

Ask better Questions. Listen harder.

Get good at Presenting. In Hugh MacLeod’s Authenticity is the new Bullshit, Hugh points out that the best in their field are great presenters. (Think TED talks or Jobs.)

In Nic Bates’ blog today,
I paraphrase, “Get good at something. It builds Confidence. Confidence is contagious. Like Enthusiasm.”

Stop Sucking at Sales!

Fiber to the Home (FTTH), fiber to the Business (FTTB), fiber to the tower (FTT) and fiber to the MTU – all are projects that FISPA members have underway currently. There were a number of case studies about fiber build projects presented by members, including David Snyder @ VOLState/RevTel; Carson Coffman @ Socket.Net; Marvin Golden @ City of Thomasville; and Chuck Hogg @ Shelby Broadband. [Join FISPA and you can get access to this knowledge base.]

Kansas Fiber Network presented while also plugging IRIS, the Tennessee fiber network. Both networks are owned by the independent telcos in the state. Both are middle mile providers, who happen to go after the same anchor tenants – government, hospitals, schools – as any fiber provider (middle or last mile).

Main thing to remember about building fiber is to have an anchor tenant, who will pay for all or most of it with an ROI of under 36 months.

The Shelby BB prezo went over every cost that Chuck could think of. That was extremely valuable to those members contemplating a fiber project. It’s always good to know what the costs are expected to be – even if surprises pop up along the way. Marvin also listed his costs. It was a must attend if you want to do a fiber build.

It seems like everyone is offering Hosted VoIP services in the US. Not many are Selling it though.

If you are lowering your price or offering Hosted VoIP as just a POTS line replacement, are you really SELLING or just taking orders?

SIP Trunking is what cable sells a lot of, so does IntelePeer and many other service providers, because they accept that they are just offering up a VoIP replacement for POTS or PRI. That’s why SIP Trunks are cheap. It’s a commodity. Period.

Now add features that benefit productivity or mobility and you can have a conversation with your prospects and customers about the benefits of Hosted PBX or UC. Join this webinar on March 26th at Noon Eastern time to learn tip sand tricks on selling Hosted VoIP. Just $19.95 per attendee. Register Now!!!

Or just buy the book on Amazon:

At the FISPA meeting in Nashville this past week, there were several members presenting on how their fiber projects – fiber to the home; fiber to the business location; fiber to schools, to cell towers, to business parks and to multi-tenant buildings (like apartments). There was supposed to be a panel about How to Sell Fat Pipe but that ended up just being a pitch from 2 carriers. So I decided to do a webinar on How to Sell Fat Pipes. On March 12th at Noon Eastern time for just $19.95 per attendee, you and your salespeople can get some good tips on how to sell big Ethernet circuits in an interactive 45 minute webinar.

I kind of wrote the book on selling into Lit Buildings.

Invest in your salespeople with this webinar. Register now!

Seth Godin wrote a blog about the number 1 element for a sale: TRUST.

My presentation today at 10 AM in Nashville at FISPA Live is titled 5 Top Telecom Trends.

1. Video Conferencing
2. IoT – Mobility, BYOD, M2M, Consumerization
3. Robotics
4. Security / Privacy
5. All-IP (no Cu)

These ALL tie in together.

We are almost at the era promised to us by the Jetsons. We have Video Conferencing, robots, driverless cars, and Dick Tracy watches.

Video conferencing is big in two verticals: Banking and Healthcare. Tele-medicine for rural healthcare is where video conferencing is growing. Banks want to add video (via WebRTC) to ATM machines to upsell customers at that point of contact.

One place I think video is missing is in sales. If you have ever done video sales calls, they are just better than audio only. You have their attention. You can see them. They can see you. More engaged.

One small issue – and opportunity – is that Skype is not HIPAA/HITECH compliant. Not Facetime or G+ Hangouts either. And HITECH compliance is going to be huge this year due to the tremendous fines. See how all 5 mix?

Mobile phones – there are more cellphones than toilets around the globe. I know, right?

This US market segment (Cellular) is flat. It’s all take away now. Customer Acquisition costs go up. ARPU HAS to increase, despite a growing price war. This is why M2M and IoT looks like sunshine to the cellcos.

Cellular is kind of a commodity – like Broadband or TV. The Key: Position it better.

This brings me to Home Automation. The next service for Quad Play for the Duopoly. The largest ISP’s (like AT&T, VZ, Cable) are adding Security and Home Automation. Why? To increase ARPU. Remember: consumer markets are flat.

Think about Home Automation when you remember that Google bought Nest for $3.2 B. The growth will actually be in the commercial space.

This is all part of the Great War of the Internet of Things. Sensors for everything, connected by RF, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi or cell.

It isn’t just Wearable tech for fitness and wellness. Insurance companies are looking to monitor chronic patients.

This is nanotech in action – in fabrics, in gadgets, in medicines.

This leads to robotics – like Amazon and the drones the DOD uses.

We are automating more processes and jobs, which leads to less work available. What Does This mean for you and your community?