<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN">
<html>
<head>
<meta content="text/html;charset=ISO-8859-1" http-equiv="Content-Type">
</head>
<body bgcolor="#ffffcc" text="#330000">
bob,<br>
here is a segment from another post... from what I've learned, you are
right on target about the early adopters...<br>
<br>
there
are visionaries, pragmatists, and naysayers... the visionaries are
quick to adapt new technology to leap-frog the competition, pragmatists
want to follow the leader, and naysayers hate change and avoid changing
their business in any way... there are very few visionaries and
naysayers... you can't make money on either of these... you have to get
to the pragmatist to make any money... they like things to be very
familiar, prooven, and like to see others using the product before they
try it. if you
come in with a new fangled PBX, they will say 'well, isn't that
nice'...
and go purchase a key system... you won't get to second base with
them... they will not try something that new. that is the visionaries
job...<br>
daveC<br>
<br>
bob murphy wrote:
<blockquote
cite="mid897d38590711040837gc85631cp97f47d44402667d2@mail.gmail.com"
type="cite">
<div>Okay meat and patatoes. Finally.</div>
<div> </div>
<div>It's definitely a challenge being successful in, what I believe
to be, the Early Adopter phase of a technological shift. So we brand
the entire solution creating a perception that we are like the old
closed systems that users have become accustomed to. Even though it's
open and standards based. It's presenting the right story. Again, we
are learning much about how to go to market. And leveraging best
practices from our old Cisco Telephony days. When we focused on Large
Enterprise telephony integration with Cisco and Avaya. In larger
account opportunities we open the kimono so to speak. Case studies
(Sam Houston Uni, Pitt project all found in network world mag), white
papers (Frost & Sullivan Open Source Telephony Systems) help the IT
folks feel better about adopting something seemingly new and un-tested
in the enterprise. Winning over the CFO is much easier as the
economics of the solution are compelling. And partnerships work. I
think it helps to adopt a classical VAR model and build an ecosystem of
complimentary products and services that help provide a total
solution. Cisco, Microsoft, Dell, Linksys, Cat 5 and 6 and fiber
Cabling expertise and desktop support. All this will enable more
control in your deal.
</div>
<div> </div>
<div>As far as commercial real estate agents are concerned, they know
before everyone when a new lease has been consummated. When a business
takes a new space, more often than not, they need a new phone system.</div>
<div> </div>
<div>Bob<br>
<br>
</div>
<div><span class="gmail_quote">On 11/4/07, <b
class="gmail_sendername">dave cantera</b> <<a
href="mailto:david.cantera@iacnet.net">david.cantera@iacnet.net</a>>
wrote:</span>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote"
style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0px 0px 0px 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">
<div text="#330000" bgcolor="#ffffcc">bob,<br>
thanks for moving things in the right direction...<br>
<br>
primarily, I have been working on integrating asterisk for others.
have 20+ years UNIX integration experience w/ a variety of open source
packages and a pretty broad biz background. gov't projects, large UNIX
deployments, accounting systems, answering services, custom s/w
development, stock market data systems, database applications...
<br>
<br>
most recent project was debt collection. call, email, fax, letters to
delinquent accounts. used asterisk for calling and faxing....
currently working on a broadcast system product now for myself when not
under contract... played with the videophone and am working on a
marketing plan for that... <br>
<br>
haven't launched anything yet and that is why sales/marketing is so
interesting to me. from what I gathered sales is the push and
marketing is the pull... you have to do both as you confirmed in your
post. selecting the target audience is also a crap shoot unless you
have a visionary in your pocket and can make inroads and have them talk
you up to their peers... word of mouth always a good thing... <br>
<br>
it also seems that pricing too low will discount your product, you have
to be competitive... have you seen that when your price is
substantially below the competition, you are loosing the deal or are
there other factors involved??? curious...
<br>
<br>
offering the whole product solution is also key. if they have to go
somewhere else and work a deal for a component somewhere else, that
leaves an opening for that someone else to raise doubt about your
offering...
<br>
<br>
lets keep at this and perhaps we'll find a marketing solution that
works... two heads are better than one. :)<br>
daveC<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
bob murphy wrote:
<blockquote
cite="http://mid897d38590711040627n3d4acdfdsccd5a55ce985581d@mail.gmail.com"
type="cite">
<div><span class="e" id="q_1160b38936efb3f6_1">
<div>Dave,</div>
<div> </div>
<div>What seems to be effective at this point is partnering.
Carriers, Low Voltage contractors, Commericial Real Estate Agencies.
Some internet based lead gen too. And direct sales. We have three
sales people and aggressive pursuit is also a strategy. We have found
ourselves in competative situations with Cisco and Shoretel in recent
months. And we have won a few and lost a few. How about you? </div>
<div> </div>
<div>Bob<br>
<br>
</div>
<div><span class="gmail_quote">On 11/3/07, <b
class="gmail_sendername">dave cantera</b> <<a
onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)"
href="mailto:david.cantera@iacnet.net" target="_blank">david.cantera@iacnet.net
</a>> wrote:</span>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote"
style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0px 0px 0px 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">
<div text="#330000" bgcolor="#ffffcc">hey bob,<br>
you are right... we do chatter too much. lets get back on track...
and start with sales/marketing...<br>
<br>
sales vs marketing<br>
<br>
marketing - designed to bring people to you, educate them on the
decision points of the industry, create awareness of your product <br>
<br>
sales - reaching out to potential customers, taking orders, handling
questions raised from marketing, personal interaction for those still a
little uncomfortable about taking the plunge...<br>
<br>
so what mechanisms of marketing do you use? and what have you found to
be effective? <br>
care to share?<br>
daveC<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
bob murphy wrote:
<blockquote
cite="http://mid897d38590711031625s72276734td41f53fdf504c1c5@mail.gmail.com"
type="cite">
<div><span>
<div>Isn't this discussion group supposed to be Commercial
and Business oriented??? All I ever read about here are discussions
about who's more technically literate and who can do a better job than
Switchvox or this GUI is better than that one etc. Does anybody want
to discuss business issues like: </div>
<div> </div>
<div>1. Go to market strategies</div>
<div>2. Sales and Marketing</div>
<div>3. Competative positioning against mainstream offerings
like Cisco, Shoretel, Avaya et al.</div>
<div>4. Best practice service models</div>
<div>5. Vertical market success stories</div>
<div>6. Profitability strategies in up market SMB's</div>
<div>7. Profitable models for sub 50 seat call centers</div>
<div>8. Vertical apps that interoperate with Asterisk</div>
<div>9. Demand generation</div>
<div>10. Market creation</div>
<div> </div>
<div>Who screwed who out of $100.00 and what nick nack is
better would be better somewhere else. Or am I asking for too much
here??? Someone please help me be right or wrong on this.</div>
<div><br clear="all">
<br>
-- <br>
Bob Murphy<br>
Principal<br>
<br>
<br>
Arreva Communications<br>
<a onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)"
href="http://www.arrevausa.com/" target="_blank">www.arrevausa.com</a>
<br>
<br>
949-334-2022-SIP Connect<br>
949-842-8450-Wireless<br>
949-349-0209-Fax </div>
</span></div>
<pre><hr size="4" width="90%">
_______________________________________________
--Bandwidth and Colocation Provided by <a
onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)"
href="http://www.api-digital.com/" target="_blank">http://www.api-digital.com</a>--
asterisk-biz mailing list
To UNSUBSCRIBE or update options visit:
<a onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)"
href="http://lists.digium.com/mailman/listinfo/asterisk-biz"
target="_blank">http://lists.digium.com/mailman/listinfo/asterisk-biz</a></pre>
<pre><hr size="4" width="90%">
No virus found in this incoming message.
Checked by AVG Free Edition.
Version: 7.5.503 / Virus Database: 269.15.17/1103 - Release Date: 11/01/2007 06:01 AM
</pre>
</blockquote>
<br>
<pre cols="132">--
My wife's sister is in California.
I should buy her a Videophone2008!
Truly, The Next Best Thing to Being There!
--
WorldWideVideoPhones.com
856.380.0894
</pre>
</div>
<br>
_______________________________________________<br>
--Bandwidth and Colocation Provided by <a
onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)"
href="http://www.api-digital.com--/" target="_blank">
http://www.api-digital.com-- </a><br>
<br>
asterisk-biz mailing list<br>
To UNSUBSCRIBE or update options visit:<br>
<a onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)"
href="http://lists.digium.com/mailman/listinfo/asterisk-biz"
target="_blank">
http://lists.digium.com/mailman/listinfo/asterisk-biz</a><br>
</blockquote>
</div>
<br>
<br clear="all">
<br>
-- <br>
Bob Murphy<br>
Principal<br>
<br>
<br>
Arreva Communications<br>
<a onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)"
href="http://www.arrevausa.com/" target="_blank">www.arrevausa.com </a><br>
<br>
949-334-2022-SIP Connect<br>
949-842-8450-Wireless<br>
949-349-0209-Fax
<pre><hr size="4" width="90%">
_______________________________________________
--Bandwidth and Colocation Provided by <a
onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)"
href="http://www.api-digital.com/" target="_blank">http://www.api-digital.com</a>--
asterisk-biz mailing list
To UNSUBSCRIBE or update options visit:
<a onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)"
href="http://lists.digium.com/mailman/listinfo/asterisk-biz"
target="_blank">http://lists.digium.com/mailman/listinfo/asterisk-biz</a></pre>
</span></div>
<pre><hr size="4" width="90%">
No virus found in this incoming message.
Checked by AVG Free Edition.
Version: 7.5.503 / Virus Database: 269.15.20/1108 - Release Date: 11/03/2007 09:42 PM
</pre>
</blockquote>
<span class="q"><br>
<pre cols="132">--
My wife's sister is in California.
I should buy her a Videophone2008!
Truly, The Next Best Thing to Being There!
--
WorldWideVideoPhones.com
856.380.0894
</pre>
</span></div>
<br>
_______________________________________________<br>
--Bandwidth and Colocation Provided by <a
onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)"
href="http://www.api-digital.com--/" target="_blank">
http://www.api-digital.com--</a><br>
<br>
asterisk-biz mailing list<br>
To UNSUBSCRIBE or update options visit:<br>
<a onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)"
href="http://lists.digium.com/mailman/listinfo/asterisk-biz"
target="_blank">
http://lists.digium.com/mailman/listinfo/asterisk-biz</a><br>
</blockquote>
</div>
<br>
<br clear="all">
<br>
-- <br>
Bob Murphy<br>
Principal<br>
<br>
<br>
Arreva Communications<br>
<a href="http://www.arrevausa.com">www.arrevausa.com
</a><br>
<br>
949-334-2022-SIP Connect<br>
949-842-8450-Wireless<br>
949-349-0209-Fax
<pre wrap="">
<hr size="4" width="90%">
No virus found in this incoming message.
Checked by AVG Free Edition.
Version: 7.5.503 / Virus Database: 269.15.20/1108 - Release Date: 11/03/2007 09:42 PM
</pre>
</blockquote>
<br>
<pre class="moz-signature" cols="132">--
My wife's sister is in California.
I should buy her a Videophone2008!
Truly, The Next Best Thing to Being There!
--
WorldWideVideoPhones.com
856.380.0894
</pre>
</body>
</html>