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October 2007 - Posts
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XO Offers 10 Gigs in 10 Days, Another Challenge to Level 3’s Woes
Copyright 2007 by Virgo Publishing.
http://www.phoneplusmag.com/
By: Paula Bernier
Posted on: 10/29/2007
As Level 3 Communications Inc. continues to struggle with provisioning issues, XO Communications has increased its network capacity to 800gbps and once again expanded its guarantees for wholesale customers. New today from XO is a promise that the company will provision 2.5gbps or 10gbps transport services within 10 business days or XO will provide a one-month service credit for each year of the customer’s contract.
XO calls the new program, which it’s offering from Nov. 1 through Dec. 31 to wholesale customers that sign two- to three-year contract terms, “XO 10 Gigs in 10 Days.”
Cindy Whelan of Current Analysis notes that the network upgrade and new wholesale offer from XO builds on what the company has been doing over the past year. Last year XO deployed Infinera gear to upgrade its network, she said, and since then the carrier has continually upgraded capacity while also instituting guarantees for provisioning times, service levels and pricing. In February, XO announced the 3 Guarantee Program, which included a 90-day trial period for new IP transit services, a promise XO would beat any price for 2.5 and 10GB wavelength services, and installation guarantees, said Whelan. Then, in July, XO came back and offered a best price promise on 1gbps and 10gbps Ethernet services along with 2.5GB and 10GB wavelengths; expanded its installation guarantee to apply to Ethernet services; and continued its risk-free trial offer, she said.
“They’re just continuing to strengthen not only the network capabilities, but on the customer service side, their ability to support and service their customers,” said Whelan.
That may enable XO to wrest away some customers from Level 3, which has run into provisioning problems as it works to integrate the multiple billing and operational support systems from its many acquisitions, including Broadwing and ICG, over the past several months.
In announcing Level 3’s third quarter financial results, for which the company reported a net loss of $174 million, CEO James Crowe commented: “While we continued to grow core communications services revenues, and we did meet our guidance measures in the third quarter, the company had difficulties with provisioning orders for its services. The breadth of the problem was greater than we had earlier diagnosed.”
Level 3 was not specific on the provisioning problems, but David Hold, senior analyst for network services at Current Analysis, told xchange on Monday that in the process of integrating its acquisitions, Level 3 made some headcount reductions in the area of provisioning that led to problems in getting services “turned up in a reasonable amount of time.”
As for XO’s network upgrade, the company recently deployed 800gbps of capacity on highly-trafficked coast-to-coast and regional routes, explained Ernie Ortega, president of XO Business Services. The company initially talked about the 800gbps update this summer, but it was just completed last month, says Ortega. XO offers 400gbps capacity on its regional routes. The XO nationwide network connects 75 major metropolitan markets across the United States. In addition to its nationwide network, XO has approximately 1 million fiber miles of metro fiber networks in major markets across the country.
Level 3 Communications Inc. www.level3.com
XO Communications www.xo.com
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The Telephony Partners family was saddened to hear of the loss of one of our favorite agents, Amir Sarhaddi. He was killed over the weekend while attempting to assist during a traffic accident on I-75. He will be missed by all of us and our condolences go out to his wife and two children.
Car Hits, Kills Man Trying To Aid Crash Victims On I-75
By NICOLA M. WHITE and JOSH POLTILOVE, The Tampa Tribune
Published: October 29, 2007
BRANDON - Amir Sarhaddi couldn't just drive past the overturned Jeep and the smashed car.
It was not in his nature, friends said. When he saw the wreck early Sunday morning, he pulled his pickup into the emergency lane of southbound Interstate 75 and got out to help.
In doing so, the 29-year-old father of two became a victim himself.
Another driver who didn't see the wreck skidded into one of the smashed vehicles, veered to the left and hit Sarhaddi, according to the Florida Highway Patrol.
Sarhaddi, of Kempton Vista Drive in Riverview, died on the highway. His wife, Stacey, was in the pickup.
'He was a sole supporter of his wife and children, and now he's gone,' friend Georgette Deininger said.
'This was a great tragedy. He was a dear friend, father, husband and business partner.'
Charges are pending the outcome of the highway patrol's investigation. The drivers involved are being tested for impairment, Sgt. Rick Glover said.
Authorities say the wreck unfolded like this:
Shortly after 3 a.m., just north of the Gibsonton Drive exit, James S. Braley, 36, of Riverview, failed to notice the Jeep in front of him slow down.
His Infiniti hit the Jeep, flipping it over on the grass shoulder and into a tree.
Braley's Infiniti spun and blocked the right and right-center lanes, according to a highway patrol report.
Sarhaddi pulled his Dodge pickup onto the shoulder to help, as did another driver.
That's when a Saturn being driven by Jessica L. Paquette, 23, of Riverview, crashed into the Infiniti, hit Sarhaddi and struck the truck of the other driver who'd stopped to help.
Braley and the Jeep's driver, Perets E. Nisim, suffered minor injuries, and Paquette wasn't injured, the patrol said. The other driver who stopped, Jared Cason, 19, of North Port, also wasn't injured.
Although Sarhaddi's family was too shaken to speak about what happened, friends spoke fondly of him.
Business partner Gregg Alexander of St. Petersburg remembered Sarhaddi as a laid-back but hard worker who loved good audio equipment and playing Xbox video games with his 11-year-old daughter and 8-year-old son.
The descendant of Persian immigrants grew up in Tampa.
Alexander and Sarhaddi ran a telecommunications business, One World Communications, that designed and installed voice over Internet protocol technology for telephone and computer systems.
The pair had been in business for two years and had become friends.
'I'm hyper-antsy and jumpy. He's really laid-back. He took a little more relaxed approach,' Alexander said.
'I'm crushed. All I keep thinking about is his wife and kids.'
The partners were supposed to go to Ybor City's Guavaween celebration together Saturday night, but Alexander canceled after his girlfriend became ill.
He said he wasn't sure whether Sarhaddi and his wife were driving home from Ybor City when the accident occurred.
'He was just the ultimate in just talking to people,' Alexander said.
'He'd sweeten everything up and make everybody feel good.
'I couldn't have asked for a better partner or friend to go into business with.'
Reporter Jason Geary contributed to this report. Reporter Nicola M. White can be reached at nwhite1@tampatrib.com or (813) 779-4613. Reporter Josh Poltilove can be reached at jpoltilove@tampatrib.com or (813) 259-7691.
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Best of Miller Heiman Sales Performance Tips
Create a Competitive Edge: Differentiate
Introduction
The value of differentiation cannot be overemphasized. A successful differentiation strategy can help you overcome price competition and sell on value.
In this issue, we feature tips that provide actionable advice for differentiating yourself to meet the needs and motivations of your prospects.
Part 1. Differentiate Yourself: Real World Advice. Customers are finding it more difficult than ever to tell the difference between you and your competition. As industries become increasingly commoditized, competitors simply look more and more the same.
Part 2. Using the customer... to set goals! It may be a matter of semantics but the way you state your goals – by thinking with your customer’s mind – helps you achieve more than if you express your goals with an outsider’s perspective.
Part 3. Competition? What competition? There’s nothing wrong with knowing your competitors personally. In fact, any information you can gather about the sales situation, from whatever source, can be a benefit to you in solidifying your position. But focusing on it might lead you to neglect other information that would be far more valuable in drafting an effective position
Part 1. Differentiate Yourself: Real World Advice
Customers are finding it more difficult than ever to tell the difference between you and your competition. As industries are increasingly commoditized, competitors simply look more and more the same.
Miller Heiman’s Sales Performance Tips subscribers share their own real-world strategies for standing apart from their competition. Here’s what they have to say:
Meet with the Key Buying Influences
In complex selling situations, there are multiple decision makers and influencers. If you’re not meeting with all the key people, you can bet your competition is.
Faisal Salman of HydroAire recommends meeting with each of the key buying influences in the sale as well as the ultimate decision maker, or Economic Buyer. This way you are able to understand what each person wants in the sale so you can show him or her how your solution will add the most value.
Help the Customer Understand Their Needs
Sometimes, customers are so inundated with their own daily issues that their real needs are often shortsighted. At times they can’t see out of the box to identify what they really need. The salesperson who can shine the light on this will stand out.
Bertie Stevenson of Red Eye International recommends identifying what the prospect is trying to achieve in the sale, why they need a change, and what wasn’t working before. Then highlight how your company meets those needs.
Kory Harman tells us she develops a pre-call strategy focusing on everything she knows about a person before she even picks up the phone or walks in the room. She recommends finding this information on the company website in the management bios section.
Don’t Forget the Personal Win
Most salespeople understand the importance of tying their solution to a prospect’s business objectives. But what about the personal wins? Find out what the decision makers want to gain personally and professionally, and highlight how your solution will achieve it.
Gerard Byrne of Roche Diagnostics tells us he uncovers his customer’s personal and professional goals so he is able to tie those goals to his solution and set himself apart from the competition. He says, "Customers today are looking for sales professionals to understand their business while providing the right solution to address their personal and professional needs."
We couldn’t agree more. At Miller Heiman, we speak with customers every day, and we undertake extensive research on the subject. When buyers are evaluating several proposals, it is often impossible to differentiate one proposal from the next. They tell us the effectiveness of the salesperson, not the proposal, is what buyers remember most.
What makes a salesperson effective? David Pearson, Miller Heiman Vice President of Channel Operations says, "You must understand your customer better than anyone else. In the eyes of the customer, you must be viewed a business consultant, not a transactional vendor."
Part 2. Using the customer... to set goals!
Read the following two Goals closely.
Goal: To provide the client greater quality control reliability by replacing their patchwork in-house system with our unified system approach.
Goal: To be seen by the Aerospace Division as the company that brought them greater reliability by upgrading their patchwork in-house system with our unified systems approach.
At first glance, these two goals appear to be virtually identical. They certainly seem to convey the same objectives. But there are differences, substantial ones that shouldn’t be overlooked.
Even though the differences in wording between the two are "minor," there is a critical shift in perspective, moving the focus subtly away from the seller’s contribution to the way the customer would see that contribution. The value-added "reliability" was important, sure. But improved positioning doesn’t come from "reliability" in the abstract. It comes from the customer’s perception of this supplier as the provider of that business result.
Semantics? Don’t believe it. We’ve worked with hundreds of Fortune 500 revenue leaders. Many of them accuse us of playing with words when we insist on the "Be seen as" phrase that is included in the second goal -- until they realize how this "merely semantic" device helps them see themselves as the account is seeing them. And how such "thinking with the customer’s mind" provides leverage in the account that you can never achieve with the more typical "outside" perspective.
Here are further examples of qualitative long-term Goals stated from the account’s point of view:
1. Be known as the firm that helped this account break into the competitive West Coast market.
2. Be seen as providing the best follow-up service of any company in our industry.
3. Have the account recognize our expertise as the provider of unique solutions to his banking problems.
4. Be seen as delivering more than we promise.
Notice two things about these sample Goals. First, although none of them gets down to measurable nuts and bolts, none of them is vague either. When we say that true goals are qualitative, we don’t mean they’re wishy-washy or abstract. In the examples given here, there are clearly defined business elements: "service," "West Coast market," "banking problems." Goals should define specific ends that relate to your business, your customer’s business, and your relationships.
Second, notice that the companies’ end results all relate to the customer’s biggest end result – the bottom line. Each of your Goals should fulfill the implied promise to help the customer run his or her business better. It should help the customer reduce costs, boost sales revenue, improve productivity, or raise profit. A Goal that doesn’t do one of these things -- either directly or indirectly -- is probably not a Goal worth pursuing.
We realize that’s a pretty strong statement. It’s also a very good guideline. If you can’t show a positive impact on your customer’s costs, sales, revenues, productivity, or profits, why would he or she want to do business with you?
Part 3. Competition? What competition?
Be aware of the competition; never obsess about it.
There are some sales experts who advise that, in pitting yourself against a tough competitor, it’s smart to get to know that competitor personally. You should go out of your way to meet the rival company’s salespeople at exhibitions and trade shows, to play golf with them, to get into their heads on a one-to-one basis. Knowing your opposite numbers personally, they suggest, will help you deal more effectively with them in the field. It will defuse the mystery of why they’re a threat to your business, and it will enable you to use "inside information" in countering that threat.
There’s nothing wrong with knowing your competitors personally. In fact, any information you can gather about the sales situation, from whatever source, can be a benefit to you in solidifying your position. The problem with this approach is that it’s misdirected. It can easily turn the Strength of personal knowledge into a Red Flag indicating unidirectional thinking. When you spend all that energy getting to know your competitors personally, you’re very likely to end up with a selling approach that is inordinately focused on the information that they give you. Not only will that information be suspect (consider the source), but focusing on it might lead you to neglect other information that would be far more valuable in drafting an effective position.
For example, you could spend weekend after weekend schmoozing your opposite number George the Gadget Seller, only to discover, some months down the line, that the major customer that both of your companies are targeting has decided to replace its gadget system with widgets -- leaving the two of you equally out in the cold. The moral: picking the brains of the people who sell against you is even less valuable, eventually, than picking your own. The head that you need to get into is your customer’s.
If you think of yourself as focusing on the goal, training hard (through strategic analysis), and running the best race you know how to, you’ll have a good idea of what we believe competition is about. The point is to look straight ahead and offer the customer your best performance, not to be distracted by what’s going on in the next lane. As any competitive runner will tell you, one sure way to stumble is to look to your side.
These tips reference the principles learned in Miller Heiman’s Conceptual Selling® workshop. You may visit www.millerheiman.com/publications and subscribe to receive Sales Performance Tips each month via email. You may also call us at 877-678-0391 to discuss the results you want to improve, and we’ll recommend the workshop that will best address your immediate needs.
About Miller Heiman
Miller Heiman has been a thought leader and innovator in the sales arena for almost thirty years, helping clients worldwide win high-value complex deals, grow key accounts and build winning sales organizations.
The company is headquartered in Reno, Nevada and has offices around the world. More information can be obtained by visiting the company’s website at: www.millerheiman.com.
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You are cordially invited to an exclusive learning event on our newest IP product, XO SIP Service. XO SIP Service is now available in Atlanta, Boston, Dallas, Denver, Philadelphia, and San Francisco. We are holding a series of learning events exclusively for XO Business Partners to train you on our new SIP solution. Join us for one of these sessions and learn more!
Learning Events
Session 1
- During the Monthly Learning Call
- Wednesday, October 10th, 2007
- 2:00 - 4:00 PM ET (1 CT, 12 MT, 11 PT AM)
- Dial In - 800-263-8506
- Confirmation Code - 8124922
- WebEx - https://xoweb.webex.com. Click on XO Business Partner Channel Monthly Learning Call (under the Training Center tab). Password is: success.
Session 2
- Thursday, October 11th, 2007
- 9:00 - 11:00 AM ET (8 CT, 7 MT, 6 PT)
- Dial In - 877-852-6576
- Confirmation Code - 8859943
Session 3
- Thursday, October 11th, 2007
- 2:00 - 4:00 PM ET (1 CT, 12 MT, 11 AM PT)
- Dial In - 877-852-6575
- Confirmation Code - 2391434
Session 4
- Monday, October 15th, 2007
- 9:00 - 11:00 AM ET (8 CT, 7 MT, 6 PT)
- Dial In - 877-741-4241
- Confirmation Code - 4027773
View the training presentation during the learning events on WebEx by logging onto https://xoweb.webex.com. Under the Training Center tab, click on Business Partner SIP Training. The meeting password is: success.
About XO SIP Service
XO SIP Service delivers converged voice and data services to businesses with IP-PBX systems over a single, high-speed connection. Using a single Session Initiation Protocol (SIP)-based gateway facility to manage all traffic between the IP-PBX system and the XO IP network, this new XO service eliminates the need for businesses to maintain multiple access facilities for each service and simplifies the overall deployment and management of customers’ enterprise IP telephony services. XO SIP Service will be available nationwide in early 2008.
Learn more by attending one of our four learning events in October! |
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XO Communications announced new initiatives this week to expand its presence in the enterprise market, including a new enterprise sales and support organization, an enhanced network, recently expanded IP service offerings and targeted guarantees.
The new Enterprise Solutions Group (ESG) is focused on delivering products to help enterprises gain efficiencies and improve performance of their existing networks and emerging applications, XO said. The group will leverage the capabilities of XO’s nationwide and metro networks and IP networking solutions expertise to deliver high-speed network access, MPLS IP-VPN, IP telephony and network infrastructure and transport solutions to enterprise locations nationwide.
Tim Shaheen, who has been appointed vice president of enterprise sales, will lead the ESG. Shaheen has more than 17 years of telecommunications experience and comes to XO from Ciena Corp., where he was a director of enterprise and carrier sales.
XO also said it recently completed an increase in the capacity of its core network by 200 percent, deploying an additional 800gbps of capacity on major coast-to-coast routes across its nationwide 18,000 route-mile optical network.
The company expanded its IP services portfolio to support the requirements of larger businesses and enterprises with the launch of XO MPLS IP-VPN, XO SIP, XO One iPBX and IP Flex with XO MPLS IP-VPN. Some of services include a range of high-speed Internet access options; MPLS IP-VPN; broadband wireless solutions and Ethernet services; metro and inter-city network solutions and optical networking services; and IP telephony.
Supporting this enterprise growth strategy is the XO 3 Guarantee Program, which offers large enterprises price, installation and satisfaction guarantees for selected long-haul and high-capacity network services, the company said.
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Federal Lawmakers Take Time Out for Telecom Policy Issues
Phone+ Magazine Posted on: 10/3/2007
Congress appears to be taking a renewed interest in telecom issues. In the past week, two subcommittees have held hearings on special access, Bell forbearance petitions and copper loop retirement.
Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., held the first hearing last week. He is chairman of the Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee. Kerry wanted to examine ways to get high-speed Internet to more small businesses, as well as more Americans. Part of that hearing included an examination on the copper loop retirement debate. Many CLECs rely on Bell last-mile copper to reach their end users. If the incumbents continue doing away with that resource, CLECs will have to pay what they say are exorbitant access rates or lose the customers - many of whom are small businesses - altogether.
Senators heard from FCC Commissioners Michael Copps and Jonathan Adelstein, both Democrats. Each said it's crucial to re-define the speeds that constitute broadband ("The commission is still calling 200 kilobits per second ‘broadband,'" said Copps) and boost the United States from its low ranking in terms of worldwide high-speed Internet access.
Then, on Oct. 2, the House Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet asked about the effects of special access deregulation as well as the granting of Bell forbearance petitions.
Executives from Time Warner Telecom, Sprint, Cavalier Telephone and XO Communications all testified to the "devastating" effects of these policies. Lawmakers also took input from AT&T Inc., Verizon Communications Inc. and Embarq. But it was the competitive community's insight that made the biggest difference, said Jerry James, interim CEO for COMPTEL.
"Members of Congress, both Democrats and Republicans, clearly recognize the need to overhaul the ‘special access' services market and to revisit the forbearance provision of the 1996 Telecom Act that is enabling Bell companies to remonopolize the communications industry," he said. XO's Heather Gold agreed. "The incumbent phone companies were rocked back on their heels today," she said. "Members of Congress were clearly not satisfied with the incomplete answers and erroneous data the incumbents provided to questions on access and forbearance."
Committee member Sen. John Dingell, D-Michigan, said he wanted all companies to provide market-share information, noting that it should be valid, not slanted to support a company's assertions.
"The FCC must have all the relevant data if it is going to make an informed decision," he said. "I am troubled by reports that those seeking re-regulation have thus far been less forthcoming than they might be with data about their facilities."
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Start now – the race is on. The Race to the Top Long Distance SPIF features peak payoffs for long-distance sales – up to $10,000 per deal. And there’s even more for the highest producer.
The agent with the highest cumulative total in MRC takes home the winner’s prize of a $2,000 payment. In addition the winner will be featured in the @ccelerator with a piece about their successful climb to the top.
To enter the race, bring net new Switched and/or Dedicated Long-Distance customers to Qwest between October 1 and December 31 who commit to a minimum monthly Long-Distance spend of $100 or greater MRC for a contract term of 24 months or greater.
You will earn a SPIF payout directly correlated to 100% of the long-distance portion of your customers’ first full months’ bill (maximum payout of $10,000 per deal).
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LD Bill |
SPIF Payout
24-mo. Min. Term
Non Channel integrated |
SPIF Payout
24-mo. Min. Term
Channel Integrated |
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Example: |
100% 1st full mo. LD bill |
50% 1st full mo. LD Bill |
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$100 MRC |
$100 |
$50 |
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$1,000 MRC |
$1,000 |
$500 |
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$10,000+ MRC |
$10,000 (max payout NCI) |
$5,000 (max payout CI) |
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