Local Carriers Can Offer Big Time Data Services

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1 Local Carriers Can Offer Big Time Data Services Meeting the Challenges of Ever Changing Data Demands and Doing It With Hometown Friendly Service By: Brent Wehner Sales Manager, Thumb Cellular

2 About Thumb Cellular Thumb Cellular is a privately owned cellular company with corporate headquarters in Pigeon, MI. Thumb Cellular has a license to sell cellular service in RSA 10 (Huron, Tuscola and Sanilac counties) in the Thumb of Michigan. Population Served: 135,000 Employees: 40 Service: CDMA voice service, CDMA EVDO Rev. A Data Network Sister Companies: AVCI.net (Wireless Broadband), Pigeon Telephone (Landline phone service), AVBI (LTE service in Northern lower Michigan)

3 Getting on the Data Bandwagon If your company is launching new data services or devices, there is much work to be done before Customer # 1 walks through the door. We will discuss data support for your customers from beginning to end on the following devices: PDA s Air Cards Home Internet Routers We ll talk about how to get your employees as knowledgeable as possible and how they can be your best asset in successfully launching new data products. We ll give you tips/tricks on best practices in data support and ways you can show your customers that YOU ARE the best option in data. We ll develop an escalation plan that you can take back with you and begin implementing. Q & A.

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5 The Most Important Thing is The Team, The Team, The Team When we arrived back from Waterloo, Canada in August of 2009, and knew we were going launch BlackBerry in April of 2010, we decided we had to put together a team of individuals that could lead us into this new venture. Pick a Leader Good organization Intelligent Committed to Excellence Potentially someone that isn t in a management, leadership role currently The Team Pick various staff from different offices in your organization Make sure they work in different areas of the company Admin Sales Customer Service Technical Call Center

6 You ve Got the Team Now Get to Work Your team needs to develop a thorough and detailed plan that begins with them and ends with back end support for customers long after they ve been using the devices. Items include but are not limited to: How are we going to train ourselves? Are there online training courses? BlackBerry offers both Sales and Technical Courses online If not, where can we get information? How do we develop our training course?

7 You ve Got the Team Now Get to Work How do we get this information out to staff? Is it all electronic? Are we going to have staff meetings or training sessions? Is the training individual or as a group? Who s in charge? Will there be one leader or several? Develop timelines for staff having to know the information Are there incentives or other spiffs for those that do the best? How do we get devices into the hands of our staff?

8 Our Story Once our BlackBerry Team was assembled, we did the following: We reviewed the BlackBerry training online, and developed some mandatory courses for all sales and customer service employees. We included both Sales and Technical Training Some of these courses were optional for Admin Staff that might only answer the phone We created a timeline for them to have the classes completed, and our Team Leader provided regular updates for all both as a reminder for those that needed to finish up their training, as well as a pat on the back for those that were complete.

9 Our Story We got devices in the hands of our employees. If they were going to sell a BlackBerry, answer a question about a BlackBerry, repair a BlackBerry, or even say the word BlackBerry, we gave them a device to use. This was the single best thing we did. With RIM, there are many ways you can get devices: Test Devices Seed Stock Half Cost Units Full Priced Retail Units

10 Our Story Be Smart Develop a pool of devices that can be passed from employee to employee, so each gets to try different models. Get them into the hands of your IT folks and other very technical employees and ask them to break them. Let them see what they can do. Utilizing the devices and going through the training courses gives them both sides of the data experience learning about what a smart phone can do and really seeing it happen. Any online videos or tutorials that might be available can also be a big help in training employees.

11 Training Complete Have a party Vegas Night

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13 It s s Time To Sell Once your training is complete, and it s time to launch commercially, are you ready? A smart phone sale takes significantly longer than a normal phone sale. How can I prepare my reps? What should they show the customer? How should they show the customer the devices? What questions should you anticipate the customer to have? What if they ask me a question I don t know? How do I teach my customer what they want to know in the short period of time I have with them? Don t assume that only really technical customers or big business owners will want a smart phone you will be surprised!

14 Selling and Supporting All at Once Have live devices that the customer can touch and feel so they understand what they re getting Ask them about their interests and show them how it works on the device , Facebook, Twitter, Web Browsing Once the customer commits to a device, make sure that in addition to transferring their contacts and setting up their voice mail, your reps also: Set up their (at least one account) Visit App World or Google Marketplace Possibly set up an app for them Facebook, BlackBerry Messenger Ask them what else they might use You want to create a stickiness with the customer and their new device, so the more you can set up for them, the more likely that customer is to be happy with their purchase.

15 And Don t t Forget No matter what it takes, make sure you stress to the customer, insist that they do this, even beat them until they agree: BACK UP YOUR INFORMATION FROM YOUR DEVICE ON YOUR HOME COMPUTER Ok, Ok, I ll back up my BlackBerry as soon as I get home Back up your device

16 If You Sell Them, You Must Support Them Developing an After The Sale Support Plan Tier I. If you ve got employees using, selling and explaining smart devices on a daily basis, they become your Tier I support. Basic questions/trouble shooting might include device issues (freezing up, bad ports), downloadable apps not working correctly or integration of a calendar using Microsoft Outlook. Remember by setting up a customer s , voice mail and contacts prior to them leaving your store, you will eliminate many follow up calls. Also remember with a smart device there are many more things you need to check, i.e. network issue, billing issue, AAA issue, device issue. Set a goal to get first call or first contact resolution!!!

17 If You Sell Them, You Must Support Them Developing an After The Sale Support Plan Tier II. You may have some individuals that really take an interest in smart devices. It might be your smart phone team (simply because they ve learned so much in going through the training, or it might be more technical folks that just like new devices. These folks become your Tier II support. Possible items they will troubleshoot might be third party applications, tethering devices, or setting up BES Express (if a BlackBerry).

18 If You Sell Them, You Must Support Them Developing an After the Sale Support Plan Tier III. This level could come in a couple of different forms. If you have a Data Ops department, they might be your Tier III support. Items they might help you with include advance instructions with tethering or setting up a WiFi Hotspot, VPN connectivity (if supported) and sending out updated PRL/PRI updates that may be necessary. In lieu of this or as a further step, a third party data support company (such as Mission Critical Wireless) might be an option. They handle advanced support as well as data questions that your staff might not know.

19 If All Else Fails Don t forget the age old trick that can fix almost anything Take the battery out and reset the phone.

20 A Helping Hand Here are some sites that might be useful to both you and your employees, as well as some sites you can give customers to utilize. For Staff Only. Training and resources. Must have login credentials. For anyone. Help forums, device info and specs. For Staff Only. Training and resources. Must have log in credentials. For anyone. Help forums, device info and specs. Another great way to get information out is to utilize a FAQ s section on your own company website.

21 Air Cards Tips and Tricks for Selling and Supporting Air Cards Make sure staff have familiarity with all supported version of Windows Operating Systems, as well as Mac s. Having Staff install the air card whenever possible (either in an office or at the customer location) will potentially save many support questions later. Are you only selling internet access? If so, make sure the customer understands they need to get their own address, etc If a sales rep. is installing an air card at a customer location, have them do a survey to determine if coverage is good enough to utilize the air card. Again, this will save much troubleshooting later. Consider having customer sign a waiver prior to installing the air card. Contrary to what the customer believes, many issues with speeds following installation could be the result of computer malfunctions not the air card.

22 Residential Internet Service Thumb Cellular also offers home internet service utilizing the MV 440 from Axesstel. This product offers 3G data speeds and also has a built in router. Everyone of these is installed by one of our outside sales reps to ensure solid EVDO coverage prior to signing up the customer. These devices support both ethernet connectivity or WiFi connectivity, so when troubleshooting make sure which connections aren t working. Slow speeds could also mean computer issues. Is everything accurate in AAA, billing, etc??? FAQ s on our website, as well as You Tube videos explaining tips/tricks of this device are very helpful.

23 Thank You