Sales Manager Joe Buz: All the World’s a Stage with interactive web conferencing
By Sarah Smith
Infinite Conferencing Sales Manager Joe Buz loves being on stage. Right now, he?s working on a community theater production of "The Miracle Worker."
He says he gets a similar "on stage" feeling when presenting the Infinite Conferencing story to clients on a sales call. Not that he's acting, but he?s getting the chance to explain in the best way possible what Infinite can do for customers.
"It kind of makes my cold calling easier because it makes me feel like I?ve succeeded if someone buys into the products and interactive web conferencing I?m offering," he says. "It?s helped me, just being able to express myself and what my company offers people."
Buz, who?s worked in a sales capacity for about 20 years and was the third employee hired at Millburn, N.J.,-based Infinite Conferencing, now has around 500 clients, he says. It?s a number he?s reached by working hard to get to know his customers.
"The main thing I like to do here is have a consultative sales approach, to really try to understand the client?s needs and not go in with any predefined notions of what the best thing for them is," he says.
"I like to ask them a lot of qualifying questions to make sure we set them up with a service that?s right for them," he adds. "So when it comes to my cold calling, or even my incoming calls, that?s really a lot of what I do?just really getting to understand how the person?s business model functions so we can set them up with a service that fits them such as interactive web conferencing."
One of the business groups Buz specifically focuses on is nonprofit organizations. This can be especially challenging, he says, because many times these groups are working under tight budget restraints.
"Their needs are different from a [for-profit] business?," he says. "They have to account for every penny. We offer them preferred rates, because we as a company understand that their money can go better toward whatever their nonprofit goals are, rather than for services."
He says their needs differ as well, because many nonprofits have boards of directors or constituents who have to know about everything that?s going on within the organization. They also might need a little more encouragement than other companies to utilize conferencing services.
"A lot of times with nonprofits, they think they?re behind the eight ball technology-wise. They might not have the biggest and best of what?s going on out there," he explains.
"But we just have to educate them that they don?t really need to have the high-end servers and things like that because we?re doing [that work] for them. We?re offering the portal to do that, so it?s a really user-friendly, simple way for them to be able to do things like PowerPoint presentations, or have their board of directors get together without having to fly out for a meeting--and that right there is a big savings."
Working within a tight budget is really the hardest problem clients feel challenged by, Buz says. "People want the world, but they don?t always have the budget to pay for it. So I think that?s really the toughest part here, is to have people be able to do what they want to do, and still fit it into their budget such as interactive web conferencing."
But this challenge can often be overcome, he says, sometimes through "scaling down on some of the bells and whistles they want," or through trying a flat-rate versus a per-minute pricing plan.
Another important aspect of his job, Buz says, is to help first time users get accustomed to using the technology, in ways that help them meet their goals.
In the end, for Buz, it?s all about understanding the client and helping them find what works best.
"My favorite type of call is when I introduce a prospect to a form of communication?such as phone in conjunction with interactive web conferencing?that they thought was too complicated and too expensive," he says. "Many times people sign up for only phone conferencing, but through a consultative approach, clients find that other services can benefit them as well."
About the Author
Sarah Smith is a contributor to ConferencingNews. Based in Los Angeles, Sarah has reported and written for leading telecommunications and technology publications. She may be reached at sarah.s@betuitive.com.
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CONTACT:
Dave Kott, President
973.218.0937
dkott@infiniteconferencing.com
