Call Center Outsourcer TMone Grows Packet8's Business Subscriber Base

Founded in 1987 in to provide programmable semiconductors used for videoconferencing, the Santa Clara, CA based 8x8 (EGHT) has evolved into a leading provider of pure play VoIP (voice over internet protocol) residential and business phone service under the product brand Packet8. In March of 2004 8x8 introduced the SMB phone solution Virtual Office to its suite of products and officially addressed the business market. The Virtual Office IP PBX business solution was met with accolades and rapidly gained market share within its target space. The success of the Virtual Office product line resulted in a shift in focus for 8x8. Although still a premier provider of residential VoIP phone service the Virtual Office business solution has become the company's flagship product and its primary focus for subscriber growth.

Virtual Office is a VoIP-hosted PBX service for small to medium businesses. "It's very powerful, it's very reliable and it's very affordable," says Joan Citelli, director of corporate communications for the company. "It’s been the fastest-growing segment of our business in the last 12 months."

8x8’s Virtual Office offers small and medium businesses "the kind of PBX system that a large company would employ," describes Citelli. "Because it’s hosted, not only do they save money on their phone calls, but all of the PBX features are deliverable over the internet. Businesses experience all of the functionality of a normal PBX without the capital outlay for premise equipment and support." As of October 2006, the Packet8 Virtual Office hosted IP PBX phone service is being used by more than 5,000 U.S. small and medium-sized businesses, according to 8x8.

When seeking businesses that would benefit from Virtual Office, 8x8 looks for a company that is ready to make a change in their phone system, interested in making the switch to VOIP, ready for a long-term commitment, and "somewhat savvy, but they don't need to be IP people," says Citelli.

To help propel the growth of Virtual Office and respond to an increase in service inquiries– In March 2006 8x8 looked to Iowa City, Iowa marketing firm TMone who had already been contracted by 8x8 in August 2005 to acquire residential subscribers. The existing relationship and TMone's success in the residential VoIP space led 8x8 to expand the partnership to include a dedicated Packet8 Virtual Office business-to-business sales division. With the new TMone division, 8x8 gained a highly trained, highperformance VoIP business sales force that has rapidly added to 8x8’s growing business subscriber base. In October of this year, in response to 8x8 reaching 5,000 business customers, TMone announced plans to add to its direct sales division for Packet8 Virtual Office.

TMone's 8x8 Virtual Office business-to-business sales division is comprised of full time experienced IP savvy sales professionals trained in basic networking, traditional and IP business telephony and the Packet8 Virtual Office product. The sales force calls on new prospects in the SMB market and is responsible for the sales cycle start to finish. Representatives generate interest in the Virtual Office, consult with prospects and acquire subscribers. The division also responds to sales leads in the form of web submissions, inbound calls and e-mail inquiries.

"TMone has been helping us respond to lead generation over the past few months," says Citelli. "As the leads come in they go right to TMone and they follow up." She said TMone has successfully converted a large percentage of the lead flow and made significant contributions to 8x8's growing business customer base.

In addition to contacting leads obtained by 8x8, TMone executes lead generation of its own. The marketing company utilizes web marketing campaigns, e-mail literature, targeted databases and contact center telesales agents to generate interest in the Virtual Office product line, says Ethan Davis, director of marketing at TMone. "TMone provides 8x8 a competent sales force that works with prospective customers to help them understand how the Virtual Office benefits their business. TMone is an effective point of distribution for Virtual Office while still providing 8x8 the benefits of outsourcing this aspect of their business. In this scenario both 8x8 and TMone focus on their strengths."

In addition to 8x8's Virtual Office product, TMone has provided 8x8 residential outbound sales since August 2005 and dedicated inbound since June 2006. TMone executes both inbound and outbound new customer acquisition on a performance basis providing 8x8 a financially accountable CPA and a predictable source of new subscribers. In addition to traditional sales and marketing, TMone conducts win-back calling on prospects that have migrated away from Packet8 and win-first calling on homepage inquiries regarding service availability. TMone is very flexible and has worked closely with 8x8 to support their marketing efforts.

TMone provides 24x7 support for inbound telemarketing 8x8 DRTV campaigns and homepage website traffic and handles retail activation of Packet8 equipment. "In one instance TMone contacted three thousand people on a waiting list for Packet8 Videophones due to the products overwhelming popularity." Describes Citelli.

Citelli says 8x8 plans to continue focusing on Virtual Office and using TMone to boost sales. "We're looking for more lead generation programs and we would count on TMone to follow up with those and convert them to subscribers," she says.

For interested clients, TMone's familiarity marketing technology products via telesales and alternate channels brings invaluable experience to the outsourced relationship. Performance, quality, customer retention controls and database marketing services make TMone a complete outsourced telesales solution.

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