4 Full-Proof Strategies for VoIP Success
This article originally appeared on VoIP Innovations. To read more articles from VoIP Innovations, visit their blog.
After making a huge impact in 2015, there are no signs of the VoIP industry slowing down. And with predicted growth of VoIP, potentially generating $86.2 billion by 2020, it can be very tempting to start your own business in selling this tech.
Before you decide to quit your day job and jump into the wonderful world of VoIP, please take the time to solidify your business plan and strategy. Otherwise, you could be setting yourself up for certain failure.
Building a Sandbox
For children, a sandbox is fun for building castles and structures. But in this instance, you won’t be using sand, and your castle is your business in the VoIP market.
In business terms, the sandbox is a simple definition of your market. Your sandbox determines where you’re going to play, and this is decided by defining ‘Who’ are your customers, ‘Where’ your customers are, and ‘What’ you are selling.
To define ‘Who’ your customers are, simply think about who you want to sell to. Do you want to sell to VoIP resellers, or do you want to sell to end users who own small businesses? Once you decide ‘Who’ you want to sell to, we can define them as buyer personas later to refine our strategy.
Finding ‘Where’ your customers are comes naturally after figuring out ‘Who’ they are. Typically, you can reach out to a specific geographical location, or you can find them by distributing content through blog posts and print publications. In the VoIP industry, you’re likely going to find your customers reading tech blogs and articles.
Finally, decide ‘What’ your product is. Obviously, if you’re reading this article about “selling VoIP” your product will be VoIP services. However, your product must solve your customer’s pain points based upon their Buyer Persona.
Defining a Buyer Persona
A Buyer Persona is a detailed definition of ‘Who’ your customer is and his or her pain point. Buyer Personas also include demographics, such as age, goals, and behavioral patterns. The more detailed you are with your buyer persona, the more successful you will be in focusing your time in areas that will bring in the most profit while you develop the best possible product.
For VoIP Innovations, we defined one of our Buyer Personas as “Reseller Randy”. Reseller Randy is a VoIP reseller with a small to medium-sized business who needs to cut down on the time he spends on daily operations make more sales. Do not underestimate the importance of the Buyer Persona.
Defining a Buyer Persona will guide your company in product development and strategic decisions, while allowing you to focus your time on areas that will generate the most revenue.
Finding a Pain Point
A pain point is the problem that your product will solve. As we mentioned before, the pain point of Reseller Randy is that he is spends too much time with menial tasks in his daily operations. Finding a pain point will create an opportunity for your product to sell.
We solve this pain point by creating products that help streamline these tasks. We use the terms Choice, Automation, and Control to demonstrate how we help save our customers time through our BackOffice.
Finding a pain point for your customer is just another way to focus on your business strategy and create new opportunities to grow your business.
Creating Your Differentiator
Now that you have your sandbox, a Buyer Persona, and pain points, it’s time to have your company stand out. This is what we call a differentiator.
Without a differentiator, you’ll find it difficult to compete in the marketplace against companies that have already established themselves with a good reputation.
You have to show your customers what makes your company different from the others and prove that you do it best. You can do this through your products by becoming the best at selling features where competitors fall short or even by selling to a niche market.
Once you’ve found your differentiator, your business will have a competitive advantage against the rest of your competition.
Source: Telecom Reseller