When prospects are looking for a new telecom provider, availability matters. Poor availability will lead to service disruptions and dysfunction that increase downtime for the customer, grind workflows to a halt, and quickly turn your customers against your business.
Resellers must keep availability in mind when choosing the best services to provide their customers, but telecom network availability can be complex, and it may vary even in different floors of the same building. Effective CPQ (configure, price, quote) processes leverage analytics and a solutions-based approach to connect customers to the right telecom provider.
Here are some of the factors that need to be considered in this process.
The availability of carriers or solution providers has many variables.
Availability of telecom services is always specific to the location of the customer. Start by plugging in the address of a customer: Which carriers (owners of the facility) are available? How about solution providers, who purchase telecom facilities from carriers and resell it under their own brand?
The technologies offered at that address also impact the customer’s options for telecom availability. These technologies can include consumer-grade and/or business grade solutions. Some technologies have lower and higher grade service: cable broadband “coax” technology, for example, has different levels of DOCSIS representing how fast its service can be). Other technologies include fiber, EoC, DSL, fixed wireless, and satellite.
Telecom providers may also need to consider the proximity of that technology to the business. Is it available in the same suite, or on the same floor? What about the building? Is it running down the street?
Your business may also need to consider the relationships you have with providers at a given address. Can you buy from them and resell? Can you broker them and get a commission? Your relationship will drive the choices you make.
All levels of accuracy are not created equal.
When considering accuracy, you need to understand the precision level to understand how close the technology asset is to your prospect. A customer’s decision to get a quote can be directly impacted by that level of precision.
Rating Precision consists of the following levels, moving in order from higher to lower degrees of precision:
- Suite level
- Floor level
- Address level
- Near-net
- ZIP+4
- Census block
- ZIP
- Wire Center
- Lata
- City
- State
Algorithm-based CPQ allows this data to be accounted for in any quote, providing personalized service while simplifying the quote process for sales agents.
An analytic approach to serviceability drives solutions.
A solutions-based approach analyzes all of this data and makes smart decisions, instead of forcing a person to sift through all of the table and map data themselves.
An analytic approach gives you answers to key questions when evaluating multiple locations. What technology and providers hit all of my addresses? Which providers offer the highest precision across all of my addresses?
Once an availability solution can be automated, you are poised to automate quoting. Taken together, this automated approach accelerates the CPQ process for both sales teams and prospects.
Solutions identify what level of accuracy and technology wins.
Through the data analytics and reporting made possible via automated telecom services, your business can use the data at your fingertips to generate valuable insights to improve your sales strategy—without spending hours analyzing data. This improves the speed and accuracy of business decisions and raises the ceiling for your sales performance.
Access to solution-based data allows you to identify which providers you should build new relationships with. Analytic solutions put your sales team in a position to consult versus transact. Let automated tools handle the numbers while your sales team focuses on building personal relationships.
Analyzing the availability demand data drives your advantage.
The daily, weekly, and monthly data gathered in an analytic-based approach is a powerful business intelligence enhancement. Sales, for example, can identify missed opportunities. They can also learn from their successes and failures to close their identified gaps in performance, optimizing their strategy as a whole.
Network operations can identify where demand is driving network expansion. Partners can better represent your company where you have services to offer. Marketing professionals can discover new, better ways to target, engage, and convert customers within your service area. Overall, this data can help you optimize multiple aspects of your business operations, implementing strategic changes that drive more return on investment (ROI) and reduce organizational waste.
Provide faster service, and better value, for your customers.
When you use an algorithm-based CPQ process, you can quickly get the telecom availability data you need to configure services and deliver accurate, competitive quotes to your customer base.
Want to learn more about our platform’s value in supporting telecom quoting and sales? Contact us today.
