Conferencing: Commodity or Fat Minute?

 25 percent to 100 percent, depending on the service, and said conferencing services can add from 5 percent to 25 percent additional revenue to a traditional telecom sale.

Once agents have added conferencing to their portfolios, there are strategic decisions to be made regarding positioning. Here are some tips from conferencing industry players on how to approach this unique sale.

Give Out Samples. Telarus’ Edwards and other agents advised tacking on a conferencing application to each new traditional voice or data sale. One of Telarus’ veteran agents does this often and explains there is no commitment and no minimum monthly fee, and they’d be foolish not to try it. As most users of conferencing services would agree, once you use the service one or two times, it develops into a dependency that can generate profit for the agent.

Use the Web.Frost & Sullivan has forecasted the Web conferencing market to reach $3.1 billion by 2011. In this growing market, good prospects for Web conferencing sales are those companies that already are using substitutions, such as document-sharing platforms.

Premiere Global’s Jensen said that Web conferencing is the fastest-growing conferencing solution and has extremely healthy margins and a particularly high adoption rate. “I often advise agents to lead with Web conferencing when approaching a new opportunity as it tends to open doors and contributes to a less price-focused and more consultative sales process,” she explained.

Bundle Conferencing. Agents can sell conferencing services in a bundle or standalone, and also tack it on the front or the back of a sale. “Offer it alongside anything else you sell,” said David Byrd, channel manager for AccuConference. “You will get new accounts without having to directly sell conference calling.”

Open Doors. Copper’s Flynn said conferencing is a great door-opener as well. “MPLS, data and VoIP [have all been] over-pitched on first calls in recent years,” he explained. “Prospects are far more receptive to a more unique initial call that has current relevance with the high cost of travel or the decentralized decision-making that has taken place with many users of conferencing.”

A recent white paper from research firm Frost & Sullivan said collaboration applications will continue to see substantial growth as business travel expenses rise, companies aim to be more responsible ecologically, and the number of remote and virtual employees increases.

Solution Sell. Premiere Global’s Jensen advised agents to understand truly the specific needs of the customer and to sell to those needs. “When we as salespeople offer true value to our customers rather than simply focusing on price, it leads to