Garrett Smith (News - Alert), Founder and Principal Consultant at Pitch and Pivot, has been in the IP telephony marketing space since before VoIP was one of the hottest buzzwords in the technology industry. After 10 years training other marketers in VoIP at another organization, Smith launched his own company in 2013 to address what he saw as a significant hole in the VoIP industry—a shortage of marketers with the technological expertise to create compelling campaigns.

In reality, the gap was even larger than he imagined.

“I knew that people needed help marketing,” Smith told TMC at Editor’s Day on Tuesday at ITEXPO (News - Alert) Miami. “I just didn’t know how truly bare the cupboard was.”

Smith continues to see providers struggle to find marketers who understand VoIP, even as it becomes more of a household name. He also added that while VoIP is more widely recognized term today, it is not necessarily well understood by many organizations.

“I still have prospects who come in and say, ‘Oh VoIP, that doesn’t work,’ he said with a laugh. “We’ve come a long way, but we still have a long way to go.”

Generally, Smith says that organizations that have been slow to adopt VoIP are only convinced to make the switch when they realize that their competitors are spending far less on telecom bills after adopting IP telephony. When the company across the street drastically cuts communications costs, perspectives begin to change quickly.

“Instead of spending $60 a month you can spend $20 and get better quality,” Smith said. “When that realization hits, businesses are more apt to consider investing in a new technology.”

Over the next several years, Smith expects voice enablement will become a priority for many companies. Sales departments with CRMs that don’t have click-to-dial and screen-pop features, for example, will become a thing of the past. In other words, businesses are going to move away from strictly using VoIP for traditional voice and expect to have “voice inside everything.”

Smith added that some VoIP providers are struggling to grow because they are having trouble moving beyond the network of customers built by their founding team. When that well of “original” customers runs dry, businesses tend to stagnate. In trying to find a solution to that problem, many are unsure of how to talk about VoIP to potential customers with a message other than, “I can save you money.” 

“There is no secret sauce,” he said. “But VoIP providers need more effective ways to communicate.”

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