136 Part I • Information Technology
EXHIBIT 2 Sample Marketing Materialsare generally aware of VoIP as a topic that could save their
company money and that they should spend time to learn
more about it. While company personnel had had excellent
success in obtaining interviews with the client and gaining
permission to write a proposal for converting their voice
communications network to VoIP, Milkowski knew that
the Phase II Plan had to solve the problem of a low close
rate. While most clients did not say “no,” the length of time
to gain a “yes” was estimated to be six to nine months.
In addition to selling directly and through author-
ized distributors to businesses, Milkowski wanted to build
a “telco-in-the-box” offering that provided smaller
telecommunications carriers and ISPs with the capability
of adding voice services to their existing data networking
services. In June 2006, management was negotiating with
its first carrier customer for these services and had discus-
sions with several additional carriers.
In terms of growing the business, Milkowski planned
that as VoIP2.biz entered new markets, the company would
execute an advertising and promotion plan that introduced
the benefits of VoIP and the advantages of an open source
platform. They also planned to secure reference accounts
in each local marketplace.
Upon entering each market, Milkowski planned to
launch a substantial local advertising campaign. Manage-
ment planned to begin promoting VoIP through local busi-
ness groups, advertising through local business media, and
obtaining drive time “sponsorships” on the local National
Public Radio station. A sample of an advertisement run
during June 2006 in the Indianapolis Business Journalis
shown in Exhibit 2.
As shown earlier, VoIP2.biz offered solutions under
both a hosted and a system sales pricing structure. Under the
Phase II Plan, these hosted solutions would be priced at $25
to $30 per user per month, plus the monthly cost of Internet
access. They planned these contracts to normally be three-
year agreements. The company planned to charge for nonre-
curring services, which included an installation fee of $1,000
plus the cost of any telephone handsets and any optional data
networking equipment and services the customer needed.
System sales pricing would include nonrecurring
charges for installation, hardware and software installed on
the client site; telephone handsets and one-time network
charges; and recurring charges for network, direct inbound
dial phone numbers (DIDs), long-distance telecom, and
software support.
The Phase II Plan called for these systems to be priced
at a 50 percent gross margin basis for the initial installation,
with annual maintenance fees for the software. The customer
also had monthly fees for the network connection and the call
origination and termination service. The monthly networking
price was quoted at very low margins, 20 to 30 percent, as
T-1 pricing was broadly advertised in the market and was a
generalized way to measure competition, but the monthly
call origination and termination service could be priced very
profitably—at 80 to 90 percent margin. The following exam-
ple (see page 137) shows target margins for different system
sizes up to 128 stations.
Since late 2005, management had also been success-
ful in securing presentation engagements at business
forums to discuss VoIP. Information technology leaders
were interested in open source solutions, and in extending
their data networking to include voice processing capabili-
ties. Many had heard of Asterisk, and a few had installed it
as an R&D activity. Generally, they were open to learn
more about it. The Phase II Plan called for several presenta-
tions in each market early in the market entry process.Operations Milkowski felt that VoIP2.biz conducted
business similar to a traditional professional services firm,
implementing complex voice and data networking solu-
tions. Therefore, he organized the sales support and opera-
tions functions accordingly in the Phase II Plan.
During the presales process, VoIP2.biz sales personnel
planned to conduct a site survey and identify the prospect’s
current voice and data infrastructure components, including
reviewing its telecommunications bills. In this process,
VoIP2.biz personnel gained an understanding of future
communications needs such as opening a new office, hiring
significant additional employees, or a planned business