7Sigma recently held a webinar in tandem with telecommunications law firm Herman & Whiteaker as well as cybersecurity firm CyberESI. Topics discussed include Enhanced A-CAM and BEAD funding requirements, deadlines, and what to include in your cyber risk management plan. The panel of experts, including our CEO, Frank Kaim, also addressed questions posed by audience members. 

If you missed the webinar, a recording is available below. Please reach out to info@7sigma.com if you have further questions!

We recently shared our top 15 tips on how to buy software for your business.  A lot of those tips focused on streamlining your operations and generally helping lower the costs of doing business. Now, we’re turning the tables and sharing and sharing our top tips on how to build and grow your business (and how to use good software to help)!  

We've broken this down into three parts. In this post, we'll share our top tips on general marketing and advertising, including how to build a competitive advantage against existing and emerging competitors. Next we’ll move into growing your current subscriber base, through outreach and upsells. Last, we’ll focus on the most critical step: keeping your existing subscribers happy and committed! 

• Step 1: Create a Value Proposition! Our first tip is the most introspective! Before you start any marketing program, define what your brand stands for, above and beyond the services you provide. If you haven’t thought about that in a while, it’s worth taking a few minutes to figure out your value proposition. Do you employ a lot of local people? Do you always provide consistent and reliable service? Maybe with the recent fiber you’ve laid, you can provide the fastest service? Start to list those benefits, and keep them top of mind!
  
• Step 2: Define your Target Audience. Now that you have a sense of what sets you apart from the competition, figure out where and who you want to target. Are you expanding into a new area? Is a new competitor getting stronger in the next county? Both of those are good areas to focus your advertising. Take a minute to identify who, generally, you want to reach as well. In the summer, as students graduate and weddings increase, new young households might be a good target. Or, could heavy gamers benefit from your great low-latency network? Or maybe young families are moving to your area? 
  
• Step 3: Create an outreach plan. While you’re figuring out how to target, think through how best to reach those people too! How will they see any outreach? If they’re online, are they using Facebook, like 69% of US adults do? That includes 73% of adults ages 50-64, according to Pew Research, and 50% of adults over 65. Or are they using Google search, like 90% of Americans do? If they aren’t online yet (because they’re not your subscribers, after all!) is there a particular newspaper that’s popular? Or even a billboard by a heavily trafficked intersection? A little market research helps here too - don’t be afraid to ask your new subscribers why they chose your firm and how they heard of you!
  
• Step 4: Put your outreach plan together! Typically, these plans will have 3-5 main steps. Yours might include something like: advertise on Google to pick up anyone searching for internet service providers in my area; advertise on Facebook to anyone who lives in the area so that they’re familiar with me; and run one ad on the billboard at the main intersection every May focusing on newlyweds and grads. 
  
• Step 5: Lay the groundwork for putting your plan into action! Remember that anyone who responds to your ads needs to know where to go or how to reach you! So, make sure you have a website for anyone who clicks on your Google ad, for example. An easy-to-remember URL can be shared on a billboard or newspaper ad or even on a postcard mailer. A Facebook page may be useful. And, don’t forget to claim your Google business profile, and add your physical address, if it makes sense. 
  
• Step 6: Start designing your ads! This step includes almost everything we’ve covered so far. You’ll want your ad to highlight why you’re the best. You’ll want it to be focused on your target audience (Gen Z is unlikely to get a joke about landlines and dial-up modems, for example, while seniors won’t be familiar with top TicToc stars). And you’ll want it to be aligned to where it will be shown. A billboard needs to be visible and easy to read in seconds; a newspaper ad can be more detailed. 
  
• Step 7: Let your creativity shine! Think through the best images and wording to get your message across. Your local knowledge will come in handy here - don’t be afraid to use it. And if you don’t know the area that you’re trying to reach well, consider asking a local, or keeping your messaging more general. You can use your own images, or find pictures on places like iStock or Unsplash. 
  
• Step 8: Create your ad. Get the size parameters from the platform you’ll be advertising on, and start from there. Freemium tools like Canva let you create ads easily and simply in the sizes you’ll need. Keep your wording short and to the point, aligned to your target audience, and focused on your brand positioning. Unless the image is the point of the ad, make sure any wording or messaging stays prominent and easy to read. 
  
• Step 9: Start advertising! The major online platforms have easy step-by-step guides that you can use to set up local targeting. Depending on the platform, you can target the ads by county, state, metro area, zip code, or city. If you direct people to a specific web page, the traffic to it and conversions (people who click a button or fill out the form) will show you how successful the campaign is. If you’re using a billboard or newspaper ad, you may want to consider using a targeted URL or phone number that allows you to keep track of who’s calling in based on that particular ad. 
  
• Step 10: Stay competitive! It’s worth sharing your strengths frequently and widely, especially if you have an advantage over your competitors in that area. Stay alert to any messaging your competitors or new entrants might be using to reach out to potential subscribers, and counteract that if you can. For example, highlight how many local people your company employs, versus a satellite provider. Or showcase how you have the best customer service versus a big, faceless firm. 

As always, let us know if you have any questions! We want to help you grow and build your business! 

We spend a lot of time talking to carriers and suppliers across the country and industry. Unfortunately, the news we’re hearing isn’t great:

• A carrier in Texas mentioned that their fiber order may take up to 105 weeks - more than two years - to be delivered. 
• Vendors are finally able to provide certain models of routers, but the power supplies won’t be available until at least March of next year, 9 months from now!  

Most of all, we’re hearing more and more of the same concerns that keep you up at night. Can our network handle normal growth for the next 2-3 years? Are we prepared to take on our anticipated growth from our grant build outs?   What if we can’t get critical infrastructure when/if we need it?  When should I be ordering equipment? Do we have enough spares to take us through a critical outage? And unfortunately, this list goes on and on.  

We’re all worried.  Fortunately, there’s good news!  7Sigma can help you plan for the future and ensure your business can get the infrastructure you need to keep your network running. 

First, we can do an audit of your network and provide a Roadmap which helps identify any weak spots or issues to be aware of over the next 2-3 years. From there, we’ll compare those weak spots to what we’re hearing from suppliers about delivery times and pricing and help you come up with options. 

Our Roadmaps offer insight into what you’ll need to order now - ensuring that you get what you need when you need it. We’ll identify areas where spares might be critically needed and provide opportunities to find those spares on the gray market.  We’ll also help determine what you can hold off ordering or provide creative alternate short term solutions.

Additionally, our team at 7Sigma has been working with other rural providers to provide options that can work for you. 

We’ve initiated having a group of 7 providers pool their resources together and create a spares list to share equipment should the need arise. 

And our 7Sigma team is working with several companies to provide alternatives to the routers without power supplies available. 

We don’t have a crystal ball, and we don’t know what will happen next. But we can help you solve your critical business challenges today.

We know you have a business to run. And we know you already have a lot on your to-do list. Figuring out software doesn’t need to be added - we’re here to help. Here are our 15 tips and lessons learned from years of experience in this space! 

1. Think about what you need! Odds are that there’s already a solution out there that will help. Make a list of what you’d like. And then ask around internally to make sure you don’t already have something that can do that! 
   
2. Figure out your key stakeholders well before you start looking for a software provider. Let those people know what you’re thinking about.   They may be able to offer recommendations on tools, or on who to talk to. Mostly, though, you’ll get a sense of what they might need or want from a product - which lets you fill out your list of what you want and helps avoid that awkward “Oh, I thought it would do this…” conversation after you’ve bought a product. 
   
3. Once you have a list of things you’d like technology to solve for your business, schedule some time with your team. Outline what functionality you need and would like ahead of time. If possible, prioritize it into three lists: must-haves, would like to have, and nice to have but not important.  Most software companies will show up with a list of hundreds of things that their toolsets can do. Make sure it does what you need first - and can do it well!
   
4. Time to do your research! Conferences, networking groups, or searches here on Linkedin can be a great way to get a sense of what software solutions are out there. Ask your peers what tools they’re using to automate their business processes too. Most of us are happy to share information when you reach out. Talk to people - and don’t be afraid to ask pointed questions about what works and what doesn’t! 
   
5. Now that you have a list of prospective providers, reach out to those providers with a list of questions. Listen carefully to the answers! Does the software currently offer the functionality you need? Will it help you streamline your current processes? If the answer is no, it’s not the solution for you. If the answer is yes, how easy is it to access that functionality? Are your requirements features of the software, or just tricky workarounds? Make sure to confirm that the software’s current version offers the automation and processes you need as part of its current iteration, and make sure it’s designed to do what you need it to do! 
   
6. Don’t settle for the phrase “it’s on our roadmap” - or similar phrases like “we’re building it now and would love to get your feedback.” That’s an easy way for a salesperson to say that they might at some point have the feature or toolset you want - but don’t have right now. Even if they show you your roadmap, remember that roadmaps change. Priorities shift. Their vision for the software may change before they get to that item, or a bigger client may request something else entirely and push your request to the bottom of the list. You want software designed to do what you need it to do today. Think of a riding lawnmower. It can get you from one place to another… but it doesn’t replace a car. Don’t settle for a lawnmower. 
   
7. Separate the salesperson from the software. This is hard to do, especially after you’ve developed a good relationship. Unfortunately, salespeople are busy, and while you may talk to them frequently leading up to the sale, you may not hear from them again until it’s time to renew. Find out who will be your day-to-day contact and understand who (if anyone) you’ll be able to reach out to with questions after the deal closes. What experience will your day-to-day contact have with your business and your industry? Do they know what keeps you up at night? 
   
8. Know what you’re buying. There are different types of software packaging. The apps you buy for your smartphone, for example, or software you purchase once a year to do your taxes, is subscription-based software. You pay a subscription fee, and you get a specific, unchangeable product.  Software as a service (or SAAS) is not the same thing. SAAS products typically include full and responsive support, an onboarding process, and ongoing interactions with the team that built the software – all for one annual or monthly fee. You want a SAAS toolset with all of the support it provides. 
   
9. Along with the category of software you’re buying (SAAS vs subscription), you’ll want to understand how easy it is to get started with the software. After you purchase it, will you need to find a team of developers to help you install it? Or pay for a series of “integrations” that someone will need to build to connect your existing tools to the software? Will you have to pay for training on how to use it? Always confirm the steps (and additional costs, if any) to begin using the software before you buy. 
   
10. Make sure the company you’re planning on buying software from knows how to make software! Functionality and user experience are critical. If your vendor is focused mainly on hardware, take a close look at how well their software offerings work. One great way to understand this: ask how well the software works with hardware products that aren’t their own. Unfortunately, especially now that supply chain issues have impacted supply, hardware companies are pushing software to have something to sell. If it’s not their main product, move cautiously. 
    
11. Find out who supports the software, and how. Does the company you’re buying from have developers on staff? Are they writing their own software, or outsourcing it to another firm while they focus on building hardware? If they do have developers on their team, do those developers understand how you work, and what your workflow will be on a daily basis, and how your business operates? Have those developers ever worked directly inside a firm like yours? 
    
12. Compare prices. Ask what the pricing model is, and don’t be afraid to ask about the cost. Once you have that, understand how it fits into your budget. For carriers, the revenue-generating unit is usually the subscriber per month. If an average subscriber pays $50 a month, and the software costs $5 per month - can you really afford to spend 10% of your revenue on it? Make sure you understand the value that you’ll be getting for that cost. 
    
13. Ask about price increases. When was the last time they did one? How much was it? How often do they raise prices? Feel comfortable asking for the names of a few customers to validate this. And take a look at market pressures too. If you’re buying from a hardware company that sells software too, but can’t sell any hardware because of the supply chain - what’s the likelihood that they’ll raise the price of the software to make up for the hardware shortages? 
    
14. Get references. While it doesn’t hurt to ask your salesperson for references, remember that those people will be listed because they’ve agreed to give a positive review. Ask around for other sources. Asking your peers what they think - at conferences, via LinkedIn, through industry networking groups, etc can lead to more reliable information. Be sure your questions are designed to get the answers you need. Even if people haven’t used the software directly, they may have insight into the company’s reputation. 
    
15. You’ve made it to the contract stage! Read the contract terms carefully, and understand what you’re giving up in exchange for any discount. One shortcut some software companies will take is to ask you to sign multi-year agreements, in exchange for a discounted or locked-in price. The downside? If the software isn’t right for your team, or if those promised “on our roadmap” features never materialize, you’re stuck paying for years of software you’ll never use. 

Buying software requires a lot of knowledge - technical, financial, and legal. We’re always here to help you every step of the way! You can see our complete top 15 software buying tips on the blog here. Or, send us a note - we’re always happy to talk through them with you!