Category Archives: General

A Tale of Two Sales

Its been a long quarter, but to celebrate some of the successes I have had, I wanted to share.   Service assurance sales strategies is something everybody is looking for and most do not know how to achieve.   I get asked all the time, why does this sell and this do not.    To summate my response I decided to write a blog post — A Tale of Two Sales.

Sale A: Relationship Sale

Service assurance sales strategies

When customers or partner need help, they go to people they trust. If they have no one with answers they trust, they do RFI/RFPs. They do proof of concepts until they obtain trust. So many sales engagements is about trust – obtaining and fostering it. Once trust is there, the deal will only need to be palatable. Until trust is there, you must be patient and listen. This sales is also called a “consultive sale”. Customers must share their pain, their vendor must share their solutions. If there is a fit and proved, you have a match. This can take months or day, it all depends upon how open the engagement. Once the trust is there, its a matter of business case creation. Project approval and budget follow — sale done and dusted…

 

Sale B: Package Sale

Service assurance sales strategies

Same situation – a customer or partner in need. They have no trusted advisor relationship. Hello RFI/RFP! They get back a complete, documented, sourced, and independently verified business case. This “known” quantity details provides all the tangibles. This includes ROI projections, feature/benefit, comparison studies, and case studies. The entire business case with minor adjustments required. I call this the package sale. Sales makes the pitch and leaves the bank with the customer. References provide the trust. The customer can go to their management assured in their support. The quality of the deliverable is everything. Management agrees, project approval and budget follow. Sale is complete.

 

For you buyers out there…

Sales is hard, be nice do your sales rep.    Tell them what you want and why you want it.   They can get it for you if you ask.   If they every tell you false information, stop talking to them.    Its not worth putting your career at risk.   Even for a slightly superior product.

 

For you sellers out there…

Its all about the benefits.   Completely documented and third party certified benefits.    Features are for demos, benefits are for closers.   Customer and partners buy solutions to solve headaches or get promotions.    Its you job to help on both accounts.

I personally believe it does not matter which strategy is used.   Service assurance sales strategies are not complex, you just have to listen to your customer.    The customer will guide you and if you do it right, you will have both deliverables: the trust and business case.

Service assurance sales strategies

About the Author

Serial entrepreneur and operations subject matter expert who likes to help customers and partners achieve solutions that solve critical problems.   Experience in traditional telecom, ITIL enterprise, global manage service providers, and datacenter hosting providers.   Expertise in optical DWDM, MPLS networks, MEF Ethernet, COTS applications, custom applications, SDDC virtualized, and SDN/NFV virtualized infrastructure.  Based out of Dallas, Texas US area and currently working for one of his founded companies – Monolith Software.

Merry Christmas 2017

Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!    I wanted to take an opportunity to review 2017 and be thankful for all the blessings we received this year.    Let me provide some description of my good cheer by listing out the blessing I have gotten in 2017.

Ezekiel Ennis

My youngest son was gifted to me this year in February.   Very thankful to have a healthy and growing baby boy.   Nothing was going to top that.   Anyone would be thankful for this guy!  Now just sleep through the night, huh? 😉

SDN/NfV

It really works (and no that’s not Zeke).   I was fortunate to be involved with a revolutionary project in 2017.  It was around service assurance proving the value of SDN/NFV in telecom managed services.   We are all so proud of the pioneering work and working with the people that made is possible.   I hope to share more lessons learned in 2018.

Machine Learning

Elastic stack and machine learning has been a large focus on my Q4 this year.   The value proposition is stunning.  Merging service assurance with business intelligence and machine learning has been an eye-opener.   I hope to provide more perspective in the blog, but very thankful to have spent so much time here recently.

5G Mobility

Learning 5G mobility and vision.   The mobility world is changing rapidly. The services offered are about to begin an exponential leap.   Fixed wireless is only HFC access without the coax, what a realization.   A 10-100x increase in antennas and backhaul.   Breaking eNodeBs into virtualized network functions.   Really exciting stuff.   I hope to share more as new projects are become a reality.

IoT Digital Services

IoT is all about perspective.   Here is a link around IoT Service Assurance.   Very thankful to get a deeper understanding of the services and pain points.  The customers and partners I work with are outstanding.   I look forward to working in the new year realizing our co-developed vision.

 

Thanks again for all the customers, partners, and colleagues who made 2017 a great year.   Now on to 2018, we good boys and girls are getting 5G under their trees and gift cards for RPA.

Shawn Ennis

About the Author

Serial entrepreneur and operations subject matter expert who likes to help customers and partners achieve solutions that solve critical problems.   Experience in traditional telecom, ITIL enterprise, global manage service providers, and datacenter hosting providers.   Expertise in optical DWDM, MPLS networks, MEF Ethernet, COTS applications, custom applications, SDDC virtualized, and SDN/NFV virtualized infrastructure.  Based out of Dallas, Texas US area and currently working for one of his founded companies – Monolith Software.

Gone are the days…

In this holiday season (2017), I happen to chat with a customer about change.   Why is innovation so hard?  The answer is change.  No where is change harder than traditional telecommunications CSPs.   The impact is starting to show, OTT services are growing and unstoppable.   Traditional offers are withering.  Hardware providers (NEPs) are also on the ropes.  A Business Insider articles states that “it’s time to say goodbye to the text message“. Papworth first used SMS texting in a telecom hardware provider (Sema).  He sent it to Jarvis, a telecom service provider (Vodafone).  As an aside, the first text was “Merry Christmas”.  Gone are the days that innovation comes from NEPs and CSPs.   Providers need to accept change.

Gone are the days of the text message

Personal Testimonial

If that chart does not help show it, how about a personal testimonial.    Below is the usage from my mobile provider.   My account (#1),  leverages OTT offerings all day long for voice, data, and communications.    When I am traveling between offices and meetings I use mobile voice.   I use data to check and send email.    If I am in the office, I am using wifi.    I am like many other mobile consumers.

gone are the days of simple mobile services

Then there is my wife (#2, don’t tell her).   She is always in motion and must be completely mobile.   There is no wifi available at the park or in the playground.    My wife texts because she does not have the time to dedicate to a long conversation.   She texts because she wants to communicate via groups.   Data is used because of facebook and pinterest.    My wife is like many other mobile consumers.

Maybe 5G will change things?   Maybe the next iPhone XYZ will break us both out of our patterns?   We can agree that how we use our phone is going to change.   Technology is a constant ‘game changer’.  I for one look for change, but does my service provider?   There is a lot of uncertainty in mobility. One thing is for sure, gone are the days that voice and text drive our communications.

Change in Telecommunications

What this means for telecoms?   The value of “change” needs to embraced.   Change means opportunity.    As the business insider chart shows, fewer people are using a 25-year-old technology.   Innovations by NEPs and CSPs are fewer than ASPs and OTT providers.   The reason is change.    Embracing change drives innovation.   Innovation provides market opportunities.   They also make consumers happier.

The road for telecoms is clear and many are already following.    First they need to embrace OTT, not fight them (remember net-neutrality?).   T-Mobile with Netflix is showing the way.   Sprint just announced partnership with Hulu.   Together providers can provide a single throat to choke and cement customers in.

Next, telecoms need to leapfrog OTT providers.    Telecoms need to get back to their R&D, pioneering days.    Verizon has made investment in purchasing Yahoo and AOL.    AT&T is acquiring Time-Warner.    This is a good start, but innovation needs to come to telecoms – before its too late.  Before we say gone are the days CSPs have control of their customers.

The text message is dead (SMS), long live the text message (Facebook)…    Gone are the days…

Shawn Ennis

About the Author

Serial entrepreneur and operations subject matter expert who likes to help customers and partners achieve solutions that solve critical problems.   Experience in traditional telecom, ITIL enterprise, global manage service providers, and datacenter hosting providers.   Expertise in optical DWDM, MPLS networks, MEF Ethernet, COTS applications, custom applications, SDDC virtualized, and SDN/NFV virtualized infrastructure.  Based out of Dallas, Texas US area and currently working for one of his founded companies – Monolith Software.

Who am I?

Welcome to my new blog.

As the founder of multiple service assurance companies, I will be posting relevant information about service assurance as well as shared insight into the world of operations, product management, and general service provider knowledge.

I have over 20 years of experience in the technology arena and have spent my career utilizing management software to run Network Operations Centers as well as implementing management software solutions for a significant number of the largest service providers and enterprise companies in the United States. I’ve also developed management software solutions to meet the needs of client organizations.

My past…

After graduating from Auburn University with a Computer Engineering / Software Engineering degree, I went to work for a service provider in Atlanta called ITC Deltacom.  There is where I was responsible for their NOC Operations as a Technical Specialist. I spent a significant portion of this time mastering the world of SONET and DWDM.  I also was involved in creating an advanced enterprise management solutions. Then I was recruited to work for one of the leading consulting companies in the United States – Windward Consulting Group – where I was responsible for delivering solutions from Micromuse, InfoVista, Riversoft, Smarts, Nortel, as well as custom solutions.   Customers included the industry’s leading and emerging service providers and enterprise accounts.

In 2003, I left Windward to found Monolith Technology Services (MTS) – a consulting services company. In 2005, I founded Monolith Software which delivers cost effective and highly scalable management solutions to organizations.   The goal of my adventures was in seeking to better manage their technology infrastructures through unified service assurance.

My future…

I have a great deal of experience in the software and services industry.   My background includes time in development, support, delivery, and general operations theory, and practice.   I look forward to sharing my knowledge, experience, and philosophy  while learning from others in the industry.

Below is my twitter feed if you want to message me…