The FCC will be holding a webinar to explain the new filing interface on August 6th at 2:30 est. Check out http://www.fcc.gov/events/fcc-form-477-webinar. Today should be the first day that the new system is fully available for viewing and filing. Because of the changes (and their delay in making the system actually available), the FCC has extended the next filing date to October 1st.

Quite a few things going on.

FCC’s Open Internet NRPM comments ended on July 18th. I hope you added your 2 cents. If you want to follow this NRPM or other FCC, E-Rate and similar issues, I suggest subscribing to NECA here.

Birch completed the Cbeyond buy. Many VP’s and higher left.

DISH is selling fixed wireless broadband with nTelos for $30 in VA (see here).

Starbucks switched from ATT to Google for wi-fi and the speeds have increased more than 8x. Level3 is the CLEC behind the Google wi-fi for Starbucks stores. Dimension Data is the VAR for Level3 installing the WLAN gear.

Softbank was making an end run for T-Mobile by bidding on the parent of the parent – Deutsche Telekom AG!

Lots of changes in the USF programs. If you take part in E-Rate, Libraries, Rural Healthcare or CAF, you should take a look.

Besides being awesome for Ethernet over Copper, Integrated T1’s, ADSL2+, VDSL and such, the copper is still being used for landlines – and IOCs are finding ways to layer on value to give customers reasons to keep the landlines. There have been reminder services, wake-up calls, and other Hosted VoIP type services layered on the landline. [ITS in Florida was a good example.] It isn’t like you couldn’t sell a landline plus Find-me-Follow-me, voicemail-to-email and such. You could. I just don’t see anyone doing it yet.

Frontier started as a pain-in-the-ass rural IOC. It bought Verizon’s rural assets and now it is buying SNET in CT from AT&T for $2B. Frontier is adding texting to landlines from a company called Zipwhip.

This is a great read: 5 Psychological Studies on Pricing That You Absolutely MUST Read

The average SMB is drowning in Apps. This article looks at the small business world, apps, the IT support problem and includes an infographic. BTW, this is an Opportunity!

A corollary to the app problem is the BYOD problem and mobile security. MDM or mobile device management is a great add-on sale.

Leads only last an hour!!! “Firms that tried to contact potential customers within an hour of receiving a query were nearly seven times as likely to qualify the lead (which we defined as having a meaningful conversation with a key decision maker) as those that tried to contact the customer even an hour later—and more than 60 times as likely as companies that waited 24 hours or longer.” [HBR]

When hiring salespeople or call center people, Are you using outbound people for outbound; and inbound for inbound?

The Top 7 Communication Trends of 2014 (Mid-Year Scorecard)

How to craft a sales pitch

An add-on:

How to Scale by @gapingvoid. See here. To scale, you have to let your employees solve problems for you (by themselves). Here is an HBR article about doing that.

Just an example of the numerous emails I get from PR firms. At least this one had useful info.

Successful customer service calls depend on the agent, and good agents are hard to find. Pam Plyler, Contact Center Practice Lead of The Northridge Group, a management consulting firm, recommends looking for the following skills when hiring a customer service agent:

• Technical skills – The more familiarity an agent has with the products and technology, the more they can help frustrated customers.
• Ability to multi-task – Customers want agents who can listen to their problem and quickly solve them. This requires the ability to simultaneously hold a conversation and look up information.
• Ability to handle difficult situations – It’s critical to know that customer service agents can adapt and successfully turn around a difficult situation on their own.
• Problem-solving skills – Great customer service agents are able to see the root cause of an issue and solve it on their own.

You can read the whole article about Creating an Excellent Customer Experience Requires Great Talent.

Train your CSR (customer service reps) to upsell and cross-sell to your customers. Add revenue to your bottom line by selling deeper into each customer. Increase that ARPU! Webinar for CSR Selling Tips coming soon! Click here.