Welcome to the initial IBO small business training webinar You ve asked for guidance on how to approach and sell to small businesses This is the

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2 Welcome to the initial IBO small business training webinar You ve asked for guidance on how to approach and sell to small businesses This is the first of an ongoing series of webinars that will help to answer those questions and more These will be scheduled periodically to address questions like the ones you ve asked as well as to arm you with knowledge on the benefits of ACN s small business products and what those benefits mean to small business owners At the end of this webinar we re also going to tell you about additional support resources and materials to help your small business customer acquisition efforts

3 Today we are going to start our series by focusing on ACN Phone Service for Business Owners. Answering many of the Frequently Asked Questions that we have heard from IBOs and Customers, such as: What is the difference between ACN s DigitalTalk Express and BusinessTalk services? What do they mean to the small business customer? How do I pre-qualify a prospect? Small business customer acquisition What to do?

4 You may have heard the terms Analog, Digital, VoIP and IP Telephony and are wondering what they all mean? What is the difference between DigitalTalk Express and Business Advantage? How does all this fit together?

5 So what exactly is Analog service? Analog services are voice services that are provided over traditional copper lines. They are sometimes referred to as POTS (Plain Old Telephone Service) lines It is what the majority of small business customer s use today for their voice needs ACN Business Advantage and Business Talk service is Analog Service Customer may be interested in Analog Services because no Internet service is needed, switch to ACN services will be seamless, offers consistency and reliability AND provides the customer with no change in the user s experience that they experience today

6 It offers up to ten voice lines and 3 data/fax lines for the company and very competitive rates! Customers have the ability to transfer their existing business phone numbers. Business plans are available with unlimited calling options for a business owner that needs unlimited options. Lowcost International Calling Plans so customers can connect with others overseas. Most popular calling features, including call waiting, call forwarding, voice mail and more. One of the best advantages to the business owner? There is no need to switch out equipment as ACN Business Advantage will work with the customer s existing phone equipment. ACN Business Advantage is currently available in select exchanges within CenturyLink states formerly served by Qwest Communications.

7 BusinessTalk is Local and Long Distance Phone Service for your Business Owners. Service currently available in select areas of Ontario and Quebec. It offers up to five voice lines and even data/fax lines for the company and very competitive rates! Again once of the best advantages to the business owner is the fact that there is no need to switch out equipment as ACN BusinessTalk will work with the customer s existing phone equipment. The great news for you as the IBO and for your customer this product can be bundled with high speed internet in Ontario and Quebec.

8 Digital service translates or digitizes the voice frequencies of sound into a series of data bits and transfers those bits (ones & zeros) over an Internet connection and then converts those digitized bits into audible sounds at the distant end VoIP is Voice Over Internet Protocol and IP Telephony is Internet Protocol Telephony. In other words: VoIP is the digital transport vehicle i.e. how a digitized conversation goes from one location to another IP Telephony is using Internet Protocol s to digitize voice to take advantage of hardware and software applications Digital voice services transport your voice calls over the same data connection you use for surfing the Internet or checking instead of having a separate connection for just voice service (which is what POTS is). The benefits to your business customers include: Cost savings by using one connection instead of multiple connections Flexibility as you can easily add or remove digital voice lines Efficiency is improved e.g. as you can forward calls and attach voice mails to s allowing you access to your messages virtually anywhere Finally the call quality with ACN s DigitalTalk Express service is excellent ACN s DigitalTalk Express service is a digital service which means your prospective small business customer must have an Internet connection to utilize the service.

9 Let s start by summarizing DigitalTalk Express. It s is a simple to use out of the box digital phone system for your customer s basic small business and/or home office needs. DigitalTalk offers unlimited local and long distance calling within the U.S. Canada and Puerto Rico. The service is specifically designed to meet the needs for small businesses, supporting 1 to 4 voice lines. It s simple to self install and phone system arrives programmed and ready for the customer to use. Here s one of the best things about DigitalTalk Express Most customers can save up to 50% on their monthly phone bill!

10 We want you to be prepared to talk with your Small Business Owners. Understand how to prequalify a small business account Before you approach a small business owner you should know what services are available for their location and what the price is. That way if they are interested you can complete the the sale and sign them up on the spot! So in preparation for your meeting visit your own ACN Direct Online Store choose the state or province and once on the results page, click on Phone Services under the Small Business section.

11 You arrive at the ACN Business Phone Service page where you will now use the Check Availability tool to determine which services are in your business owner s area. This is an important step to do BEFORE your meeting. You want to be able to accurately discuss which phone service options are available to your customers don t be caught off guard by not taking this step. Once entering in your customer s address and phone number will be instantly given the ACN services available to them. Now it s time to educate yourself on the details and benefits of these offerings Click on the Learn More button

12 Once you have clicked on the Learn More buttons start exploring either the DigitalTalk Express or one of the landline offerings Business Advantage or BusinessTalk. Educate yourself on the pricing, features and benefits!

13 You know what services are available. You know what the price is. You know what features are available NOW WHAT DO I DO?

14 Approaching a small business is not much different than approaching an individual to ask them to try ACN s services. The IBO Mindset needs to be one of a consultant / partner for phone service optimization vs. a business sales call. Remember that small business owners are just like everyone else.they are your neighbors, they may belong to the same church as you, they may have children that attend the same school as yours, etc. In fact you have a lot more in common with them than you realize.sales are their lifeblood.if individuals or other companies are not buying their products or services they are not going to make money.sales are what keeps them going. Just remember you need to speak to whoever is the decision maker. And with a small business that is generally the owner who will make the buying decision. One additional point consult with them on how to right size their plan finding a plan that suits their business needs best not just focusing on the pricing of the product

15 Small business owners consider one or more of these factors when you approach them Will this service save me money? OR Will this service improve my businesses efficiency? OR Will this service help me generate more sales opportunities for my business? AND Do I like the person who is offering me this service i.e. do I want to do business with them? Remember our business is built on relationships. ACN is about warm marketing - working with business owners you know and have relationships with.

16 Now that you know what services are available and you know the price for those services what do you with that when you approach a small business? Keep in mind that we may not be the right fit for all business owners. Your goal is to ensure we are the right fit for the right person - want the customers to be happy long term. Here are the 3 things you need to find out: 1. What services do they use today? ACN s Business Advantage/BusinessTalk and DigitalTalk Express should meet the voice communication needs of the majority of small businesses. What are they paying for those services? ACN s services are competitively priced, however some customers may be on plans from their existing service provider that are no longer offered - so you need to check. These could sometimes be called grandfathered plans. If they are - typically we may not be the best fit for them. Are they under contract? If they are not, they are in the clear to sign up with you. If they are under contract, they may or may

17 not have an early termination fee to pay. If they are under contract, ask when it expires as they may be near the end of their contract term or do they have an early termination fee to pay.

18 While meeting with your business owner - keep in mind these differences between speaking with them vs. a residential customer: Contract Length ACN s small business services are offered on an initial 3 year term. Small business owners know and understand that just about any service they use (telecom, office equipment, etc.) come with term agreements. So don t worry about that. Credit Check all accounts that sign up go through a credit check. This is a standard practice across all most any industry. Small business owners are familiar with this and are used to this. So don t worry about that. Non-Recurring Costs some services have one time nonrecurring costs e.g. DigitalTalk Express. Small business owners operate in an environment where many of the services they use require an upfront payment in addition to monthly recurring payments. They can easily calculate the payback on a service to how quickly they will begin to save money. So don t worry about that.

19 Now that you know how to prequalify a small business and what they look for you may be asking yourself why should I approach a small business Small business services generally are priced higher than consumer services. They usually include features that small businesses need that consumers don t. As a result their services will be priced higher. Many small businesses will use more services than an individual consumer If they have higher priced services and enter into longer term agreements and use more of the service... that can translate into higher residual commissions. And as ACN continues to focus on expanding our small business services customers can always upgrade to newer ACN services to help their small businesses compete and succeed. (Insert the IBO selling to customer who has several gas

20 stations)

21 Don t forget also about your ACN Contact Center - the newest component of the Your Business Assistant tool. This contact management system will help you organize your contacts and communicate with them. For instance, the Creative Center has products marketing materials that can be ed to your small business owners. One COC member suggests to his team - introduce one product to your customers - when they sign up for service - send them a thank you card via the Contact Center - use a card that also shows off all other ACN products... exposing your customers to the entire ACN portfolio.

22 Thank you for attending today s Webinar we wish you the best on all your future customer acquisitions. Remember that all Webinars are recorded and posted in your IBO Back Office under the training tab. Also, we ask for your feedback at the conclusion of this training you will have the opportunity to complete our small survey. Tell us what you learned, liked about today s training and what you would like to see in the future!