Word on the street is powerful.

Unless you’re born on the block, then you’re a potential sucker waiting to get mugged.

If you’re strolling the streets alone, how do you know who to trust?

People are popping out of back alleys happy to see you.

Who are these people anyways, and why are they so excited to see me?

I wonder, do they have my best interests in mind?

Don’t be the next victim.

This is the buyer’s experience in the VoIP market.

People are wandering the streets in unfamiliar territory.

The space is changing and growing rapidly.

Customer care is hit or miss, and more miss than hit these days.

There are literally hundreds of providers.

Aggressive marketing campaigns have created VoIP lemmings out of people.

It’s like Plato’s Allegory of the Cave.

Hoards of people are chained to the walls of conference rooms.

C-Level executives and IT directors are being forced to watch presentation after presentation.

Businesses are making pre-framed decisions based on a false understanding of reality.

After contract signature, the chains are removed and people are set free to experience the reality of their new world.

There’s no going back, no ruby slippers… you’re in the clouds now.

What are we talking about?

VoIP companies are everywhere.

Everyone wants a piece of the action.

Guys and dolls are turning up VoIP switches in their garages.

Oops, I meant to say data centers, not garages, apartments, or business units.

Where’s the proof?

Just Google “Business VoIP” or go to the search bar on LinkedIn and search “Business VoIP”, “Hosted PBX”, “Business Phone Systems”.

How many results come up?

Does that mean that all these companies are bad?

No.

But how would you know?

Now let’s take a look at how much one-click costs on Google.

It’s obvious that people are making big money in this space, or they wouldn’t be paying $181.51 per click.

Whaaaaaaaat!

Yes, it’s true

So who is paying these prices anyway?

In short, the big dogs.

That’s okay though, they can afford it… or can they?

Is this a marketing positioning thing?

Is it any indication of good service?

No, but it is not an indication of bad service either.

There are hundreds of providers to choose from and a lot of ways to make mistakes.

Are any of these companies providing you with dedicated, knowledgeable, customer comes first objective consulting?

Of course not, but they will give you sales engineering.

The rest is up to you..

“But what about Awesome-voip-reviews.com Phil?”

No, No, No.

I say, “Balderdash… poppycock!”

There is a classic marketing saying in my industry that explains all of this…

“You gotta pay to play”.

Most of the industry reviews are paid for this way, as well as blog articles, awards, and number of golden stars.

I’ve even seen a previous terrible review change from a single star to a five star, (along with a praise-singing video testimonial) in what seemed like overnight.

How did this happen?

Well, props to the carrier here because they actually found their upset customer… made restitution… and put together some kind of mutual co-marketing campaign.

I know this, because at the time, I worked for this carrier and the customer was my customer.

Good job marketing team!

But does every customer get this same treatment?

So really, how do we know where to start finding the right VoIP company?

How does any IT Director know where to begin anymore?

Word on the street.

It’s real.

You wouldn’t let any old fool manage your stock portfolio would you?

If the wolf of strong island came to your door, would you buy from him?

Actually, you probably would, but that’s a topic for another time.

Business Colleagues! Technology Comrades! Successful Compatriots!

You need a fast way to sort through all the white noise, the hustle, and the PowerPoints.

The cloud is complicated and it’s made up of a lot of smoke.

VoIP companies are quickly growing, forever changing, always being purchased, all while highlighting their own story of greatness.

The truth, however, is that operations departments are overloaded.

Big network providers are truncated and not fully integrated like we are lead to believe.

Smaller providers may be fast and nimble at first, but they quickly get bogged down with growth.

The tried and tested old ways live in a ghost town blowing tumbleweeds, and the road to rebirth is paved with the cobblestones of prepackaged bankruptcies.

What does all this mean?

Businesses need to make smart decisions.

Circumnavigating the globe is not as easy as pulling up Google Earth and setting a course.

You can’t judge a provider based on search engine Stars or xyzreview.com.

Someone is getting mugged and left for dead in this situation.

Well maybe not, but why take your chances getting pinched for money while the business is burning down?

If you’re stuck with an old prem-based PBX, like the 142.4 million other users were in 2016, then don’t go wandering the streets alone.

Don’t think that arming yourself with old knowledge from an outdated RFP is going to help.

Unfortunately the original gangsters are already dead or dying… they can’t help you.

There are VoIP pushers everywhere.

Some live on ramp pay and jump from company to company.

The word “hustler” is used to describe them by their sales managers.

They smile warmly when you show up wandering the block.

So what’s the answer?

Is this just fear mongering?

Let me ask you?

With the amount of products available these days, do you really have the time and resources to fully research, ask all the right questions, and tick all the right boxes?

How would you go about further understanding all the inner operations departments and politics of all these companies?

What about the disgruntled employees ready to quit?

How about the glitchy feature sets?

What about the customer careless departments?

How about the overworked and inundated onboarding teams?

How would you even write an RFP and not miss fifty potential requirements or mistakenly rule out the best fit company?

Do you like answering endless emails and dealing with endless distractions?

Do you like walking around waiting, while your blood begins to boil?

So I ask you again, “How can you know?”

Word on the street.

There are a few in the 1%.

Cream rises to the top.

VoIP Sales Executive is not a job title for them.

They are business owners and consultants.

They want and need to know everything.

It’s their chosen field of play.

Their VoIP playbook is filled with winning options.

They kill old plays before they become old.

They fight every step of the way.

They grew up on the streets.

They know the word on the street.

And your job, my friend, is to find one of these people and have them lead you to the superbowl.

Moving on…

With the hundreds of VoIP options out there, it is becoming harder to navigate for any given IT Director.

Companies need to understand the consequences of VoIP networks, peering partners, multi-tenant weaknesses, geo-redundant networks, BGP flapping, company purchases, hostile takeovers, SD-WAN inner-opp, financial stability, security vulnerabilities, NNIs, and even employee morale.

The list is much longer.

It is almost as long as the number of VoIP providers in existence.

Take a look at this partial list.

Who would you choose and why?

Who do you know that knows these providers inside and out?

Who are you going to call when the project manager doesn’t answer?

What are you going to do if the discounts don’t come through quite the way tht they were explained and promised?

What’s your pre-season game plan and execution tactics… from provider selection, to negotiation, to implementation, training, cutover, and ongoing support?

I hope you have a detailed roadmap, because the one being provided to you by the provider is going to benefit them and their bottom line… it’s part of their dream, not yours.

But it’s not all doom and gloom.

There are a lot of great providers, you just need to ensure that you know the right ones, and then make sure that they fit into your playbook.

If they are going to play on your team, they need to play by your rules and they need to pass all the tests and not just show up on the scouting report.

Word on the street is that they are a good player, but they have issues that need to be checked.

There’s expectations and requirements they need to meet if they’re gonna play on your team.

Your coach needs to run them through some basic plays.

How fast are they?

What’s their forty-yard dash time?

How many years of winning execution do they have in them?

What’s their contract term and dead weight if they get injured?

What are we risking and how will they affect the other team members?

Let’s throw some dirt in their face and see how they react?

Okay, so maybe they made it through the screening process.

Now they have to prove it on the field of play.

Everyone is on probation until proven otherwise.

The theory looks good, the game plan seems flawless, but until we hit the field, no one knows for sure if they have a winning team.

We need to execute smoothly and transition from play to play.

If things go wrong, someone fractures a hip, then we need to trade or pull from the bench.

Are you feeling me?

Everyone has something to say, everyone has excuses… winning matters.

#Deflategate, lol.

***Breaking news***

A huge internal fight has just broken out and Tom Brady is moving to the Cowboys (I just committed career suicide here).

You tell me football fans…

Would – you – not – be – cheering?

Liar!

Again, how did we get that recent news?

Word on the street.

So I want to implore you to win.

Let me reveal one of my personal strategies to business.

I choose my customers.

And my customers choose me.

We are a team.

This may seem simple, but it’s not.

From personal experience, and after spending $20,000 in 2017 to drill down and get further business clarity, I learned that I only like to work with a select group of people.

I made the choice, and you should too.

The people I work with must meet these requirements:

#1: They are winners

#2: They are talented business savvy IT Directors.

#3 They take ownership in what they do.

#4: They pass my “compatibility” test.. meaning they aren’t @$%$#%#$.

#5: I love their company/organization and vision. I believe in them and their goals, both personally and financially.

#6: They manage a fairly large organization.

#7: They don’t have time to vet every player, but they want to win and work from an understanding of trust.

I’ve made it a point to focus, to drill down on the details, and to play a winning game based on knowledge from the streets.

Are there a select few that you want to do business with?

Who are they?

Do you have the list handy?

What’s the strategy?

What’s the word on the street about them?

What’s the word on the street about you… and we’re not talking about the words on your website.

Yes, I help people replace phone systems and negotiate game-winning deals.

Yes, I help people build a winning network that makes Alfalfa’s hair stand up.

But the most rewarding part is helping people that I like.

Helping them filter through all the players on the street.

The game is constantly changing, the costs are high, and there are only a select few in the VoIP world that stand out from the thousands.

They don’t pretend to be everything to everyone.

They have laser like focus.

They don’t pay millions in Google PPC and cast a large fishing net.

They don’t get traded from industry to industry.

They’re free agents and choose their team.

So, how do you find these people?

And what kind of people are we talking about?

Winners!

These people leave you thinking, “Wow! I didn’t know any of that was possible.”

You feel like you are getting significant added value from these select few.

The serendipitous factor kicks in, and you realize you’ve found a partner for life.

So what is this all about?

It’s about not screwing up and wasting time.

It’s about winning.

It’s about adding significant value to you organization.

And it’s about niche players.

How do you find them?

Word On the Street.