How to Sell a VoIP Phone System – Part 3

Part 3 – The Quote

This is the final installment of our three part series on how to sell VoIP Phone Systems. In part 1 we looked at the sales meeting and how to get it to go smooth and collect all of the data you need. In part 2 we examined the call flow and looked at how to flowchart the IVR menus. In this part we will look at preparing the quote for the customer. While many of you have been giving out hardware and labor quotes for some time with your existing businesses, our top resellers have come up with some best practices to help you close more deals.

Standardizing on Equipment

Most resellers standardize on the same equipment for each install, usually its the same server, the same phones, and the same gateways or interfaces. Not only is offering a standard set of equipment easier to manage since you will be more familiar with it, its also easier to keep a spreadsheet handy with your costs and the prices you are going to charge in it. With a standard spreadsheet, you have a simple job costing form that you just need to plug the number of devices into and calculate your labor hours and then you can price a job in a few seconds and know what your margins are going to be at a glance.

Doing your costing in a spreadsheet will also help to avoid human error in the final calculations, making sure you don’t make a mistake on your quote.

To Line Item or Not To Line Item, That is the Question

Since you have your prices all ready to go, the initial impulse is to simply create a basic line item quote like this:

In a recent survey, we found that 90% of resellers are usually providing line item quotes. While a line item quote will work well for selling an email server and client licenses, it is a fairly poor method of delivering a quote for a complicated system such as a PBX. There are some serious downsides to line item quotes that you should really think about such as:

• Shows the customer the price of the item and allows them to shop around for a better price
• Locks you to a specific price which locks in your margins
• Doesn’t come across as being as “complicated” of a sale as it really is
• Does not portray the professionalism you might want

When you start adding up all of the hardware, software license, and labor costs, a VoIP Phone System will be a purchase that is thousands, if not tens of thousands of dollars. When dealing with a deal worth this much money, having a line item quote can tend to devalue the entire system.

The primary problem with a line item quote is it does nothing to address how you are solving the customer requirements. Given two companies with the same price, the company that presents a more professional image and gives the customer the confidence that the job will be done right, is the company that will get the job.

A More Professional VoIP Phone System Quote

If you want to really up the ante and make your quotes look much more professional, a much more in-depth and detailed quote is in order. The quote should somewhat tell the story of the system, list out the requirements, special needs, and then describe the system in detail. The following is an example of this “story” style of quote:

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This selected hardware will be able to handle up to 30 concurrent calls and a minimum of 50 hours of voicemail. Ten Cisco Business-class phones will be deployed for users while Cisco Executive-class phones will be used for upper management. Two drop-in ceiling speakers will be provided with one in the main office area and another in the back hallway. A bullhorn speaker will be installed into the warehouse. A Polycom “spider” phone will be installed in the conference room for maximum quality. Two routers will be provided to remote users to provide for higher quality calls. A network switch that provides power to the phones will be installed in the server closet. A UPS will provide backup power to the server and the phones.

This platform will provide all of the features required by Camera World. The software price will include one year of software insurance to ensure that Camera World receives all minor and major software releases for 12 months. A desktop application will be installed on all workstations in order to improve the call management processes for Answers, Transfering, and Parking phone calls and that integrates with Microsoft Outlook contacts.

The labor costs for this deployment include the following:

• Configuration of server and PBX software prior to installation
  
• Configuration of extensions and voicemail boxes
• Programming of Digital Receptionist
• Installation of desktop application on workstations
• Installation of paging devices
  
• PBX server Installation
• 1 hour of user training

Along with the deployment of the actual system, there are two options for ongoing support.

Silver Support - $1,200/year

• Unlimited e-mail based support
• One free incident support issue per quarter
• Software and Operating System Updates
• Weekly Off-Site backups
• Daily On-Site backups if requested

Gold Support – $2,200/year

• Unlimited e-mail based support
• One free incident support issue per month
• Up to 4 Adds/Moves/Changes per month (1 business day response)
  
• Software and Operating System Updates
• Weekly Off-Site backups
• Daily On-Site backups if requested

If this quote is accepted, 70% of the total cost will be required up front and the balance will be paid within 14 days of final sign-off of completed deployment.

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As you can see, this is a more detailed quote but it still can be based off a simple template that you just need to put the right numbers into. Certainly getting a multi-page proposal is going to look more professional than a one page line item quote.

Take it to the next level

If you really want to take it to the next level, get creative with some graphics. Include your logo, the client’s logo, include pictures of the proposed phones, screenshots if appropriate. It is ok to spice it up a little.  Most resellers try to stick to the facts and features and not try to make the quote to “salesy” by adding marketing fluff to it. The customer should already be well past the point of knowing the the product has to offer, it doesn’t need to be regurgitated in the quote.

How to price the system

I can’t possibly tell you exactly what you should be charging since that is based on the market you are in. Some geographic areas get substantially higher prices than others. The most important thing to consider is that while 96% of customers will say price is their #1 decision point, the reality is that only 20% of customers actually purchase based on price first. Customers will generally go with a higher price if they are confident that the company they choose to go with inspires the confidence the job will get done to their satisfaction.

Customers also place a higher value on “perceived value” over price alone. Why do some people buy Cadillacs over Toyotas?  With both vehicles you get 4 tires, most all of the same features, and the higher prices vehicle may even cost you much more in fuel, upkeep and insurance, but there is a perceived value that a Cadillac is simply worth more so many people are willing to spend the extra money.

How can you increase the perceived value of a phone system? The following is a short list of some of the top ways:

• Use good quality components
  • Less expensive phones feel cheap and do not have the same level of call quality
• Provide productivity applications
  • Desktop applications for managing calls
• Provide training
  • Tech the users how to use the phones and the phone system
  • Don’t just supply some cheat sheets
• Provide a high level of service and support
  • Manage the system for them (adds/moves/changes)
  • Sell support contracts
• Fully understand the business processes of the client
  • Design the system to meet the customer requirements
  • Spend time learning how they use their existing system so you provide the same important functions
  • Spell out how the new system will improve their processes

The more you separate yourself from your competitors in terms of perceived value, the less importance price becomes. Yes, every customer is going to want good prices, and yes, they will tell you that price is important to them, but you will not be doing yourself any favors by simply trying to compete on price. You must compete on value and price will be secondary.

Include the extras

Keep in mind that at the end of the day you are in the business to make money and you should always be looking for ways to maximize your revenue. With that in mind, unless a customer specifically stated they did not want some additional component like headsets, you should always add them in at least as optional equipment. Other items to include may be:

• UPS Power backup systems
  • Although I consider a UPS on the phone system and PoE switches mandatory
• Headsets
• Paging devices
• Support contracts
• Disaster recovery solutions
• Spare phones
• Routers for remote users

Including these things is not meant to try to milk a customer for every penny you can get, it is meant to help the customer to choose additional products that they will actually benefit from. Keep in mind that the office phone system is almost always the single most critical component of every business so it is your job to ensure that ALL of the clients needs and requirements are, at minimum, fulfilled and preferably surpassed.

Series links

Part 1 – The Sales Meeting
Part 2 – Designing the call flow
Part 3 – The Quote

Tags: IP Phones, marketing, quote, sales, VoIP Education