The Revenue EDGE Beacon
Turn the subscriber edge into your Revenue EDGE
Looking for more content? Check out the latest edition of the Beacon here.
Calix is a business built on trust. While our execution has not been flawless, when we have problems, we focus on getting it right. Customers know that our product and service teams are dedicated to helping them build and grow their business, regardless of their size.
This ethos comes from the top. When Carl Russo, CEO, speaks about our business stakeholders, he describes them as:
Which is why we have dedicated this edition of the Revenue EDGE Beacon to trust. Trust is foundational to our business and as privacy, branding, and data rights continue to be top of mind, trusting your business partner has never been more important.
With Calix, you can trust that:
As you build your go-to-market plans for back-to-school and the fall season, know that Calix is all about your success. That is something our customers have been able to trust for two decades and something that will continue, forever.
Wishing you and your team continued success!
Michael
Ringgold Telephone Company (RTC) is delivering the ultimate Wi-Fi experience to the residents of rural communities in northern Georgia and southern Tennessee. That’s not bad for a company whose humble journey began more than a century ago when pharmacist Jim Evitt Sr. decided to start his own telephone company.
Even 102 years later, RTC is still owned and operated by the Evitt family, and that consistency has served the business and its subscribers well. In 2000, RTC became the first service provider in Georgia to deliver high-speed Internet service to every one of its subscribers, and over the last 20 years, it has continued to elevate its offerings.
Now, as the region surrounding the state line becomes less rural, the ultimate Wi-Fi experience is RTC’s key differentiator. The company is looking to match the growth of the communities it serves with growth in the number of its broadband subscribers. Offering a fully managed solution, which includes Wi-Fi CERTIFIED 6™ Calix EDGE Systems, the CommandIQ™ app and the ProtectIQ™ and ExperienceIQ™ EDGE Suites, RTC has everything it needs to continue raising the bar for subscribers—and positioning itself for success.
Check out our recent press release for more information on the RTC story.
Our resources to help your marketing plan
Schedule: Marketing consult
Host of CBC Radio's Under the Influence.
Co-Founder, The Apostrophe Podcast Company.
Speaker. Author.
A friend of mine made an interesting observation the other day. He said if you saw a rough, hand-painted sign nailed to a post in the country that said, “Fresh Eggs,” you would have no problem making a purchase. But if that same sign said, “Flying Lessons,” you might feel differently.
It all comes down to trust. It is the axle in every decision and relationship. Without it, everything else wobbles and teeters. Trust creates an emotional connection, but it doesn’t come easy.
It can take 19 years to earn customer trust and 19 seconds to lose it.
Yet trust is very difficult to convey in marketing. I’ve always believed the one thing you should never say is “Trust me.” The second someone says that, the first thing you think is—I trusted you right up to the moment you said, “Trust me.” There’s a reason why soap operas love those two words so much. When you hear a soap opera actor say “Trust me, Barbara”—you know what that really means. It means I’m going to poison you and marry your sister.
So instead of saying "Trust me," I recommend telling genuine stories in your marketing about how someone relied on your company. How they had to count on your experience. Tell me a story about how you came through for a customer in difficult times.
I'll read between the lines.
I’ll get the message.
Loud and clear.
Because one of the fundamental rules in marketing is this:
Trust is meant to be felt, but never stated.
Over 80 percent of people who trust a company will recommend it to others. Best of all, customers are willing to pay a premium for a product or service from a company they trust.
So, check the oil in your company on a regular basis. Ask yourself the hard questions. Are we building a brand customers trust? Are we keeping promises? Are we living up to our marketing?
At the end of the day, an ongoing relationship is a sign of trust. It pays to put all your eggs in that basket.
It’s not an exaggeration to say that for many of your subscribers, their Internet connection is their primary link to the outside world. As an extension of the trusted relationship you have established with them, you have an opportunity—and an obligation as a trusted provider—to protect them from the many online security threats they encounter every day. With more than half of Americans now working from home as a result of the pandemic, this is perhaps more important than ever.
How trusted are service providers?
According to a recent consumer survey conducted by Calix in conjunction with Moor Insights & Strategy, CSPs enjoy the highest level of trust, eclipsing the trust scores of device manufacturers (e.g., Apple or Samsung), social media sites (e.g., Facebook/Twitter), and streaming video service companies (e.g., Netflix/Disney).
Based on these findings, which are captured in a comprehensive report, the author argues that “CSPs are well positioned to deliver online security and privacy controls.” Why? Because 77 percent of respondents in the same study identified their service provider as the “trusted” or “most trusted” company when it comes to having access to their personal information. Even more importantly, 72 percent of respondents expressed interest in a security solution that is integrated with their home Wi-Fi, and 67 percent are willing to pay for it!
Are you addressing your subscribers’ security needs?
Given this unique opportunity, here are three things that you can start doing right now to better address your subscribers’ security needs:
Your Recommended Action Plan
Watch: Our 60-second ProtectIQ video
View webinar: "Today’s new reality: 3 things service providers can do for their subscribers"
Want to see the BLAST Ultimate Wi-Fi Experience brought to life? We are constantly updating this site with new value propositions, helpful videos and most importantly where subscribers can find it—directly from services providers like you.
Are you currently deploying the BLAST Systems and have a webpage we can link to? Send a note to Joe Kohegyi (Joe.Kohegyi@calix.com) and we will add you to the growing list of service providers who are elevating their subscriber experience with the BLAST Ultimate Wi-Fi Experience.
As Terry mentions in his article “The Value of Trust,” trust is critical to the value of your brand. Simply put, it’s as valuable as your subscribers’ monthly service payments. If your subscribers trust you, they’ll continue to subscribe to your services and promote you to others. If they lose trust in you, they’ll go to the competition, or worse, actively campaign against you.
On the subject of trust, consider the following:
Do your subscribers trust your brand?
Are you building and nurturing subscriber trust?
Are you protecting your subscribers’ data from those that would erode the trust you have established?
Consider what would happen if one of your vendors were to bypass you and sell products and services directly to your subscribers. There’s no doubt your subscribers would find out, and the backlash would be directed at you, eroding your hard-earned trust.
Understand your vendors’ data use and protection policy carefully
How can you be confident you are working with the right vendors? For starters, read their data use and protection policies carefully. They should clearly state that the vendor is not permitted to access your subscribers’ data for any reason other than delivering the contracted product or service.
If the policy says the vendor can use personal information for undefined business interests, a YELLOW FLAG warning should go up.
If the policy says the vendor can use personal information to send your subscribers marketing information about unrelated products, a RED FLAG warning should go up.
If the policy says the vendor can use personal information to send your subscribers marketing information from third party companies, a DOUBLE RED FLAG should go up. Beach closed!
A common tactic vendors use is to send informational newsletters to subscribers. When they click on a link to learn more, it’s an open invitation for the vendor to exploit your users’ data and co-opt your brand trust.
As you make decisions on new products and services, look at the websites of your peers who are using those products. Ask yourself: are the products and services on those webpages promoting the vendor’s brand or the service provider’s? Has the service provider become a VAR for the vendor?
Don’t make this mistake.
Calix firmly believes that you must retain ownership and control of your data and that of your subscribers. Period. Subscribers trust you with their user data. Protect that data and you’ll build brand loyalty for life.
Our resources to help your marketing plan
Join: Circles of Success “Marketer's Summer Learning Series: Data Insights from the Front Line” (login required)
View Webinar: Our shared commitment: Improving the home broadband experience
Learn More: EDGE Insights
It’s crunch time. Before you know it, service providers will be required to validate FCC performance testing architectures. In fact, over 500 A-CAM I, Rural Experiment and Alaska Fund recipients will start testing in January 2021.
To help you get ahead and compliant, join Calix on the July 22 webinar, FCC CAF performance testing is around the corner. Make sure you're ready.
We’ll discuss:
A recent study of over 1,200 broadband subscribers uncovered surprising insights into the subscriber mindset, including their concerns about security, applications, and more.
To get all the details, watch our recent webinar, The subscriber mindset: New study reveals opportunities for service providers, which features Calix and global technology analyst and advisory firm Moor Insights & Strategy, our partner for this study.
In the webinar you’ll learn about:
Consumer willingness to pay for home network security and applications
Opportunities for your business based on the findings
Ways to use the research data to plan and execute your go-to-market strategies
The flip side to a quick transition to work-from-home during the pandemic is the increase in security breaches. A recent security survey from IBM reveals how unprepared both employees and businesses were for the transition and how this state of affairs continues to pose serious security risks.
Explore best practices for making difficult decisions and for leading a marketing team that is both commercially and creatively successful.
Research shows that 71 percent of consumers prefer buying from companies aligned with their values. So how do you truly represent your brand, especially during troubling and uncertain times? Listen to this podcast to learn how.
We’ve all heard the story of the tortoise and the hare and are likely familiar with the lessons to be learned from this story. But, what if the hare hadn’t stopped running?
Now there’s an interesting angle. Let’s make it more real...
Communications service providers (CSPs) are well positioned to generate new revenue streams from their subscribers by offering online security and privacy controls that are embedded in the residential gateway.
Calix was joined for the webinar by Mark Vena, senior analyst at Moor Insights & Strategy, who shared...
Some of you might have seen Terry O’Reilly speak at ConneXions 2019, ConneXions 2018, or read one of his wonderful articles in recent issues...
PCMag recently profiled 15 small towns with fast Internet for remote workers. I am delighted to share that 13 of the towns are served by providers that we actively support to provide gigabit speeds. Interestingly, the regional and local communications service providers (CSPs) serving these communities...
While the shift to virtual events has become the new normal in 2020, just how to do you make your event stand out from not only the competition but every other company vying for attention. Over the last several months, we researched, studied, tested, analyzed and participated in hundreds of virtual events to...
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