Rectifying VoIP Sales Reps Problems Creating Quotes Without Discoveries

This is one of two sets of notes that I used to give a speech about non-discovery based and discovery based enterprise level VoIP projects. The other set of notes contains the items I wanted to discuss relating to discovery based enterprise VoIP jobs. The speech lasted well over two hours. The COO, CTO, the VP, and the entire sales staff were in attendance during this event. When I say I gave a speech what I mean is I was asked if I could find the time to do so. I tried my very best to teach everyone willing to learn everything I knew about the telecommunications industry. They were all listening that day.

Screenshot: I wrote these notes down originally during the month of August 2017 before I turned them into a LinkedIn article. I was going to put the discovery based notes that I used to speak to the sales staff underneath these and get a screenshot of them together but I couldn't find them. I guess they were on another computer.

With the help of this information, the sales rep should be able to determine whether the customer needs an onsite discovery and whether or not the sales rep can generate a quote on their own without additional assistance from the VoIP dept. Anything outside the bounds of these items as far as VoIP is concerned will require a discovery. I have tried to not over do the technical information in this piece. If any of the sales reps have questions about this document they can reach out to me.

1.    Is the potential customer getting our internet along with our phone service/phones?

NOTE 1: If they are getting our internet then you can proceed to section two otherwise this needs to be escalated to the VoIP dept. for a discovery. Until further notice, all potential off-net customers need to have an onsite discovery ran either by myself or one of my staff

2. Do you (customer) intend to move (port) your existing phone numbers over or do you want new numbers?

NOTE 1: If the customer intends to “move (port)” over their numbers (DIDs) then you will need to determine whether or not their numbers are portable by reaching out to either the VoIP Porting Clerk or the VOIP Operations Manager. I realize that from time to time this may lead to situations where you are not able to instantly provide the answers to the customer that you want to when you are on the phone with them for the first time. The numbers can be checked for portability in the portal of our primary provider’s web portal but if they can’t be ported with that carrier then a ticket will need to be submitted with our backup provider. If a ticket has to be submitted then you will have to be patient with the results. The majority of the time the ticket is responded to within forty-eight hours but this is in no way a policy of theirs and may take longer.

 NOTE 2: If the customer intends to have “new numbers” created for them then you can automatically jump to section 3

3. Are you (the customer) interested in phone service, VoIP phones, or both?

NOTE 1: With the answer to this question you will be able to determine whether or not this is going to be an analog handoff or a true VoIP deployment. 

NOTE 2: If the potential customer says they are interested in both phone service and VoIP phones or just the VOIP phones then you need to automatically escalate the potential quote over to the VoIP dept. because a discovery will be required. VOIP PHONES OR BOTH MEANS AUTOMATIC DISCOVERY!!!!!!

NOTE 3: If the customer says they are only interested in “phone service” then you can progress to section 4 of this list

4. How many numbers (lines) do you (the customer) have or want?

NOTE 1: I am really referring to lines here. I have found after interacting with customers for a long period of time in relation to VoIP that you are just going to confuse/discourage them by trying to explain the differences between DIDs/lines/phone numbers/concurrent call paths/etc. In the end as far as analog telephony is concerned phone numbers (DIDs) and lines are nearly mutually exclusive. If a customer says they want phone service and they tell you that they have three numbers plus a fax then you can safely assume this means one primary line, two roll-over lines, and one fax line. 

NOTE 2: If the customer has or needs more than four lines (i.e. x > 4) then it is time to escalate the potential quote over to the VoIP dept. for a discovery. Make sure to send (via email) any information that you have already collected in this case. If the potential customer needs more than four lines than it is very likely that this job will fall into the commercial or enterprise categories and those require a discovery. The most common scenario that applies to these cases is the installing of an analog gateway(CISCO/LINKSYS SPA 8000) that will act as a service handoff(provide dial-tone) for an onsite PBX.

NOTE 3: If the customer needs four lines or less (i.e. x <= 4) then proceed to section 5

5. Customer Warning On Incompatible Equipment

NOTE 1: The customer needs to be made aware that we do not support analog based fire alarms, security systems, or postage machines. If this is a deal breaker for the customer then so be it. We will not bend on this policy.

6. Determining Labor Cost

NOTE 1: I get asked the question how are the sales reps supposed to calculate how much to charge for labor if a discovery has not been done all the time so I am going to provide a little chart below. What needs to be kept in mind is that we do offer the drop ship service for free if the customer is willing to plug in the equipment on their own. For VoIP deployments that are 4 lines or less(i.e. x <= 4) we use ATAs so as long as they can get the devices plugged into the network and plug the phone cord into the phone then they should be fine but I realize most business customers even small ones are unwilling to do this.

       LABOR CHARGES CHART:

       1x phone number = 1x line = 1x ATA = 1x labor hour ($125)

       2x phone numbers = 2x lines = 1x ATA = 1x labor hour ($125)

       3x phone numbers = 3x lines = 2x ATAs = 2x labor hours ($250)

       4x phone numbers = 4x lines = 2x ATAs = 2x labor hours ($250)

7. Bringing The Quote Together

NOTE 1: The best way I could think of to describe to you how this should come together was to provide you with an example scenario and work the quote from there. In this scenario, we will say that the customer is already on our internet but wants to add our voice. He is currently using his own router but is willing to switch to ours for better VoIP service. He wants to port over 4 numbers, and he does not want to install it himself. Two of the numbers are used as regular voice lines and two are for fax lines. The quote should resemble the following:

(Quote Valid for 30 days)

Non-Recurring/Installation Services / Labor

Name/Description                Price                    Qty                       Subtotal

VoIP Installation Labor          $125.00               1                            $125.00

Number Porting                      $5.00/Per           4                            $20.00

                                                                                       Subtotal: $145.00

Monthly Recurring

Name/Description                Price                    Qty                       Subtotal

VoIP Line < 5 Lines                $20.00/Month        2                   $40.00

Fax Line                                 $40.00/Month         2                   $80.00

Router and UPS                      $6.99/Month          1    $6.99

                                                                                        Subtotal: $126.99

 Total cost:

 Non-Recurring Total Cost: $145.00

 Recurring Total Cost: $126.99 / Month

 Estimated Tax (8.25 %):

 Non-Recurring Costs Taxes: $11.96

 Recurring Cost Taxes: $10.48 / Month

 Grand total:

 Non-Recurring Grand Total: $156.96

 Recurring Grand Total: $137.47 / Monthly