VoIP at the

Retail Level by Richard Grigonis

Capturing and holding a VoIP customer is more an art than a science.

The phrase “sales at the retail level” usually con- There’s no Step Two. It’s not a consultative kind of sale.” jures up visions of shoppers in national retail stores shoving “For us, it’s just the beginning. A few years from now, there each other aside as they grasp at the latest gizmos crammed won’t be any reason for a consumer with broadband Internet onto the shelves. For VoIP, such a traditional “retail sales” access not to be using VoIP phone service. There’s a tremendous scenario is still a novelty, owing to the normally cutthroat opportunity out there for a simple, safe and reliable solution.” nature of retailing. Indeed, in the case of VoIP, the phrase’s meaning has been stretched to include customers ordering off Can You Sell This for Me? of websites, as well as vendors that sell to cable companies,

RBOCs or ISPs, who then do the actual feet-on-the-ground Net2Phone is perhaps the oldest VoIP provider company that
marketing and selling to their trusting customers. has over the years sold VoIP to consumers and businesses in
Still, to see the classic picture of a company bravely selling every conceivable fashion.
its first product on a national retailer’s shelves in the spirit of David Span, Net2Phone’s senior VP of product manage-
genuine free enterprise, look no further than the case of VoIP ment and marketing, says: “We’ve been around since the be-
provider SunRocket. ginning of VoIP and have gone through all of the different
Joyce Dorris, SunRocket’s co-founder and chief marketing phases of it, from free phone calls, putting devices in retail,
officer, says: “We’re all about taking Internet phone service to powering other company’s VoIP services, calling cards, dial-
mainstream customers. Our all-inclusive home phone service ers, WiFi phones, you name it. Our strategy for delivering
is $199 a year and covers the US, Canada and now Puerto consumer broadband telephony is through service providers–
Rico. We’ve really tried to build a brand that is making it easy specifically, cable operators as well as telcos and ISPs around
to try, use and embrace Internet phone service. Everything the world. We believe this is a global business, and have part-
we do is anchored around making this relevant and compel- nerships in over 100 countries.”
ling for everyday consumers.” “We provide a turnkey hosted solution,” says Span. “We

“VoIP’s problem at the retail level is how to make it more look upon our wholesale minutes as you would a phrase like accessible and less intimidating to everyday consumers,” says ‘Intel Inside’. We are the ‘service providers’ service provider’. Dorris. “VoIP is still popular mostly in the realm of people We help them provide voice services to their customers. The who are comfortable with technology. As providers, we must value proposition to service providers is that they need VoIP, overcome this. “VoIP must become easier to sample for every- because it increases their revenue stream and strengthens day consumers. The approach must be creative yet very com- customer loyalty. To be successful in broadband VoIP at a fortable for customers. For us, it’s not about offering three consumer level, you need to have at least two of the follow-dozen features. What’s critical for consumers is whether it ing three items: One, you need to have a bundle; standalone works, how much one’s behavior has to change because of it, voice is not going to win in the long term. Second, you need if it’s safe and if it’s usable.” to have a distinct customer base or a recognizable brand, so

“SunRocket will be marketing a phone that looks exactly like your acquisition costs stay at a reasonable level. Third, you a regular cordless phone but it has an analog telephone adapter need last-mile access to the home.” built right in. You’ll be able to literally buy it off the shelf at Span continues: “We step back and ask, ‘who’s in the best mainstream retailers across America, then take it home, plug it position to deliver VoIP to the end user?’ Our strategy is to into your broadband router and start making calls over the ser- partner with broadband service providers, because they know vice we’re about to make available in the first quarter of 2006. how to offer a bundle, since they’ve already done things like