Are You Tired Of Low VoIP Margins?

By The Business Solutions Network

When I posed the question about selling VoIP to some VARs at a recent conference I attended, one reseller described selling this technology as a 'race to the bottom,' referring to cutthroat margins. As a result, many VoIP resellers are abandoning telephony in pursuit of more prosperous IT solutions such as BDR (backup and disaster recovery) and virtualization services.

When I shared this news with a channel sales manager at hosted VoIP vendor Velocity Networks, he even concurred that successful VARs can't sell just VoIP anymore; it really needs to be part of a more complete offering.

That said, the decision to not sell VoIP can be just as detrimental to your business as trying to only sell VoIP -- maybe worse.  The truth is if you're not offering it, it's one more area you're leaving yourself vulnerable to competitors that are more than willing to help your customer.

You've probably heard the advice that your customer wants one "throat to choke" enough times that the phrase has lost its impact. But, it's so true. It's a lot like your love-hate relationship with Wal-Mart. Everybody loves to complain about how the big box retailer is sucking the life out of small businesses, but let's face it, in our busy lives, we really like being able to get the majority of our shopping done at one place.

Your customers are no different. If you insist on telling your customers that their phone system is not your thing, it won't be long before their network won't be your thing any more either.

In my next blog, I'll share some tips (based on my recent conversations with unified communications MSP Harbor Networks and hosted VoIP vendor Velocity Networks) for bringing profitability back to VoIP.