Sales vs Service

  We sit on calls every week with carrier reps pitching their newest and best product, which is usually a basic product re-branded.  But when problems and outages happen, they send you to 800#s and portals. Are they a sales or service organization?  They are not incentivized or encouraged to negotiate lower pricing at renewal.  We are.

Large healthcare provider in northern AZ was loaded with legacy DS3s, OC3s, and expired contracts.  IT folks wanted a hosted voice platform so over a year we moved their circuits off old platforms and found $12k monthly pre-tax.  Only real challenge was working with their vendor's providers but eventually found a solution!

Sometimes the best idea is to engage a quality vendor who asks the right questions to help you refine your design.  Then engage quality competitors to with a focused approach and compare costs, features, and support. Neal Networks stays engaged, forever, even after the sale helping to manage timelines and installs. 

Sometime soon you may be asked by your shareholders or boss about cloud strategy or the benefits of hosted voice, etc.  Be proactive and start the conversation with the leaders in each field so you are ready.

There is a balance between cost and service.  Carriers can leverage volume contracts to provide lower pricing but aren't always the experts.  Niche providers are more focused but costs may be higher.  What may decide is how much involvement you want in day to day management.  

It's a new year so your rep probably changed.  Relationships aren't as important as sales for large carriers and vendors.  We have no quota and are in no hurry to sell you something.  We are here for the long haul. 

Mark is our one-stop for everything!  We’ve been working with Mark’s team “daily” placing orders for everything from POTS, fiber internet, MPLS, billing issues, maintenance support, ticket escalation (any carrier)….for all sites and all orders.

Mark orchestrated and supplied us Sonora Quest with all our network, internet, PRI and SIP contracts when planning our BIG move to our new building, utilizing Lumen, COX and all carriers in deciding the best fit for our needs.

I’ve worked with Mark for over 13 years, and the team for over 13 years – I couldn’t do my job without them… 

T1s, analog private lines, POTs etc aren't being maintained as they were in the past.  To help you move to new technologies carriers will increase prices, refuse to renew contracts, etc. It's time to audit and move to newer, supported transport.