SUBSCRIBE TO TMCnet
TMCnet - World's Largest Communications and Technology Community

CHANNEL BY TOPICS


QUICK LINKS




 
tmc logo
January 2009 | Volume 12/ Number 1
Enterprise View

A Reseller Educational Series – Staying Competitive in a Challenging Market

Today’s market conditions are presenting many challenges for resellers. Recently I had a conversation with Doug Green, publisher of Telecom Reseller (News - Alert), a publication with a readership of 37,000 readers, including 11,000 resellers plus a large number of end-users and developers. Our discussion, however, focused on reseller trends – specifically, what the smart and not-so-smart decisions resellers are making to adjust to today’s market.

My first question: “What’s the worst decision that you see at this time?” Doug’s reply: “Cutting back on advertising, trade shows and other lead generating activities is the most damaging decision. Even if the market makes a dramatic turn for the better, these resellers will not have any leads in the pipeline so the fear of a downturn becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.”

He then said that the second biggest mistake was to continue business as usual: “Every market is different but during periods of relative stability, only minor adjustments to a business and marketing plan are required to stay competitive. However, the current economy is in a period of rapid change which means major adjustments may be necessary.”




Doug suggests that resellers focus on products and services that save companies money or improve their efficiency and, preferably, both (particularly SIP Trunking). VoIP hosting and SaaS (News - Alert) require little customer capital investment. These offerings can also have rich feature sets and conform to the business continuity and confidentiality regulatory requirements of Sarbanes Oxley and HIPAA. Moreover, these are Green technologies, a hot market segment. For example, SIP Trunking can dramatically reduce power consumption, which saves money and helps the environment.

Certainly, Doug believes in his own advice as his company will be exhibiting at TMC (News - Alert)’s ITEXPO East 2009 in Miami this February, and Doug will be moderating a round-table discussion for resellers. So stop by his booth or visit the session when you are in Miami to get his latest views on how resellers can succeed in this market and ask about his new web site pbxtrend.com. Of course, to do this you must register for ITEXPO (News - Alert) East 2009 (www.itexpo.com) scheduled for February 2-4 in Miami – and don’t forget the SIP sessions. IT

Max Schroeder is Senior Vice President of FaxCore (News - Alert), Inc. (www.faxcore.com).

» Internet Telephony Magazine Table of Contents



Today @ TMC
Upcoming Events
ITEXPO West 2012
October 2- 5, 2012
The Austin Convention Center
Austin, Texas
MSPWorld
The World's Premier Managed Services and Cloud Computing Event
Click for Dates and Locations
Mobility Tech Conference & Expo
October 3- 5, 2012
The Austin Convention Center
Austin, Texas
Cloud Communications Summit
October 3- 5, 2012
The Austin Convention Center
Austin, Texas