vB Easy Archive - How Is Push To Talk Selling??

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How Is Push To Talk Selling??
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Posted by: audiovoxx

Hello everyone i have a question.... how is everyone doing with Push to Talk, i've sold a few but not as much as i thought i would. Do you think it's lack of promoting or that the handsets suck??

Posted by: Freakshow105

Rumor is there is a huge marketing campaign to hit in jan

Posted by: Lambert

Quote:

Originally Posted by MrDJ

Rumor is there is a huge marketing campaign to hit in jan

Hopefully this is true. Our store has yet to sell PTT.

Posted by: rabisdogis

My store sells the phones but no one wants the service.

Posted by: SoCal91302

Quote:

Originally Posted by rabisdogis

My store sells the phones but no one wants the service.

I have sold one (LG), and it was without service. Once the SLVR hits the shelves I'm sure we will see more people willing to try it out. Some marketing to teenagers would help alot, but i doubt many business types would switch from nextel for our lineup of phones.. expecilly those in construction.

Posted by: EyeCellPhones

I've upgraded a 6 line company to the D357's, each set of two was on a different FT plan so that was $60.00 in PTT service. They also had 4 lines in Michigan that they wanted me to port from Nextel, unfortunately for me though I dont live/work in Michigan so that was a no go for me. Some rep in Michigan got a nice 4 line port though.

I think that marketing will be key. Also getting people to see that we are better than Nextel as a whole. A nice rugged handset would do it I think. Panasonic anyone!??!

Posted by: Rcadden

I agree that a rugged handset is going to be the key for Cingular to get the nextel customers they are wanting. Nokia 6170 would be good, or 5140i. Or obviously a motorola, since they are who makes nextel phones. put some GSM guts in there and you're golden. Also, though, Nextel customers aren't used to any glitz on their phones. Freakin monochrome screens and no bluetooth.

Posted by: .7

Haven't sold any yet.

Posted by: EyeCellPhones

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rcadden

Also, though, Nextel customers aren't used to any glitz on their phones. Freakin monochrome screens and no bluetooth.

Bluetooth in no matter what handset you have...is a good thing. For the two days that I actually kept my D357 on me, I always used the PTT through the Bluetooth. It keeps you connected through PTT but still gives you some privacy and wont offfend anyone around you.

Posted by: CA

BT-PTT has got to be one of the best features of Cingular's PTT(amongst others). If Cingular's PPT turns out well I'm betting on seeing a lot of workers using it especially if the headset can control it.

I have always liked the mono screens of Nextel phones, you can see the screen especially outside. I hope there will be some GSM phones with these screens on the outside anyway...

The best of both worlds.

Posted by: bobolito

It takes time for these things to catch on. It's not like from day one everyone is going to rush to the store and get one. Why should they? It's not like Cingular PTT works with Nextel's so people have no one to talk to. In addition, not everyone needs PTT. Give it a year or so and you'll see an acceleration as more people decide to get it because they'll know someone else that already has it.

This will prompt Cingular to release more PTT-enabled phones.

Posted by: gregsmith59

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sonix

...
I have always liked the mono screens of Nextel phones, you can see the screen especially outside. I hope there will be some GSM phones with these screens on the outside anyway...
...

Exactly. Old monochrome screens are much more translucent than the newer color LCDs. Like old calculators, you can read the screen quite well without using a backlight. Great if you use your phone as a watch, like I often do.

The Nokia 8290 I've been playing with is just as easy to read as a fine HP calculator.

Posted by: gregsmith59

If I was trying to sell this product, I would be working on the new family plans. That way you get an immediate circle of people to PTT with each other.

It could be pretty handy for the family which calls each other a lot - like at the mall, or Disneyland, or when the soccer mom needs to pick up the kids somewhere.

Posted by: Serifan

Cingular needs to advertise it or have their reps market it in the stores, because few people outside of us know about it.

Posted by: tendura

I have yet to sell PTT service. one of my coworkers did a couple of upgrades with it added to a family plan. That's about it. We've had quite a few people ask about it, but no one has come onboard.

Posted by: CA

Quote:

Originally Posted by gregsmith59

Hey I just checked out that 8290(it's not 850) and they mentioned email as SMS. With ATTW it would send multiple SMS for an email and you just scrolled down to read them. It was quite handy, but along the line(around the merger) they just sent one text and that is it. Any chance on that coming back? They can even charge me for incoming.

I used to get them all day.

BTW; it gets worse the fonts are now also smaller try reading that without staring at it.

Posted by: Alfred_Neuman

i dont sell it because the samsungs earpiece sucks beyond comprehension and most people want that phone

Posted by: Freakshow105

Quote:

Originally Posted by EyeCellPhones

I've upgraded a 6 line company to the D357's, each set of two was on a different FT plan so that was $60.00 in PTT service. They also had 4 lines in Michigan that they wanted me to port from Nextel, unfortunately for me though I dont live/work in Michigan so that was a no go for me. Some rep in Michigan got a nice 4 line port though.

I think that marketing will be key. Also getting people to see that we are better than Nextel as a whole. A nice rugged handset would do it I think. Panasonic anyone!??!

The other rumor is Motorola is providing us with a "construction worker PTT"

Posted by: Freakshow105

Quote:

Originally Posted by gregsmith59

If I was trying to sell this product, I would be working on the new family plans. That way you get an immediate circle of people to PTT with each other.

It could be pretty handy for the family which calls each other a lot - like at the mall, or Disneyland, or when the soccer mom needs to pick up the kids somewhere.

Well if you look at our collateral and from high ranking people i have talked to they are targeting the family plan and not businesses. I know some b2b reps are sweating because when they are trying to sell the product they can't compete to the corporation that has 500 lines all in PTT only plans at like $20 a line with nextel

Posted by: Freakshow105

Quote:

Originally Posted by diskors

Cingular needs to advertise it or have their reps market it in the stores, because few people outside of us know about it.

We have that awesome PTT display that the tube has broken in most of the stores here

Posted by: audiovoxx

i agree half of our store dosent even have a demo line... not to mention that the LG's we got are defective the battery wont last more than 3 hours

but anyways i think we should have advertised PTT instead of a $99 RAZR i also think we need better PTT phones those two phones just dont appeal to many people

Posted by: Dhack32

we've had pretty good luck w/it....at one point most of the reps in our district were two waying each other....kinda died down cuz everyone's gone back to either SMS or email ... great feedback from the customers who are already on it though...a lot more user friendly than nextel and blue tooth PTT is pure gold.

Posted by: ChocoDough

I have to agree with pretty much everything said in this thread.

My main thing I have been saying is that to compete with Nextel, Cingular needs to b itch slap the vendors to make speakers which are LOUD like Nextels.

A blue collar worker for example, is NOT going to be able to hear our 2 PTT phones on a job site. Heck when I go to the local mall, I can barely hear my D357 when PTT'n, and that is even on a slow day at the mall.

The D357 does indeed have a lousy internal speaker as well. Even in our quiet store I can't hear to well out of the internal speaker, and my ears are just fine. (Although my ex-wife always said I had selective hearing) hehe

The LG phone is complete trash, but no big suprise, every GSM LG I have toyed with I found to be garbage.

Atleast it was nice of Cingular to give us a secondary COU line with PTT, although I don't care much for carrying 2 phones around. I have the black razr, and with that I need nothing else.

As far as advertising, well Cingular's advertising, or should I say lack thereof is horrible. I mean really, whatever exec handles the advertising should be fired and taken out back and beaten.

Verizon knows how to advertise, and whatever agency does it for them needs a raise. Their commercials are pretty good, and most of them are funny, AND they stick in your mind. Not to mention the fact you actually see them on TV quite often. I barely even see any Cingular commercials, and when I do it is either black razr commercial, or the Itunes one,

The best Cingular commercial I liked, was the one a few years back with the girl who had the number 867-5309. If you remember the 80's song then you get it.

Anyway, my opinions of the upper mangement of Cingular is they are complete morons who have no idea what they are doing or how to run a company, and the only job they should be doing is picking up my trash once a week.

If they had any sense, ANY sense at all, they would be taking to the store reps to find out what really goes on in the real world. I honestly believe if they did that, and followed the advise of the reps, the company would be much better off.

Posted by: IWORK@cingular

I am in tech support and PTT sales, that I wouldn't know, but would like to put my 2 cents in about the tech issues that we are having...

The most tech issue that I am noticing is that PTT is showing up in our billing program, (CARE) but when you go into the switch, (Snooper), it is not showing active. Once I delete it in Care and then make it active in snooper, it is working fine...Then I have to submit a case in Clarify to get it working in Care so that the customers can be billed correctley for the feature...

Go figure this one out...

With that said and done, you can tell by the 2nd paragraph, that I am a tech support freak...

Posted by: Freakshow105

I had the number 867-5309 for a while. It was entertaining to get the drunks to call looking for jenny...it got old when you would get these 13 year old kids flooding your voicemail thinking they were funny...guy offered me $500 for the number

Quote:

Originally Posted by ChocoDough

I have to agree with pretty much everything said in this thread.

My main thing I have been saying is that to compete with Nextel, Cingular needs to b itch slap the vendors to make speakers which are LOUD like Nextels.

A blue collar worker for example, is NOT going to be able to hear our 2 PTT phones on a job site. Heck when I go to the local mall, I can barely hear my D357 when PTT'n, and that is even on a slow day at the mall.

The D357 does indeed have a lousy internal speaker as well. Even in our quiet store I can't hear to well out of the internal speaker, and my ears are just fine. (Although my ex-wife always said I had selective hearing) hehe

The LG phone is complete trash, but no big suprise, every GSM LG I have toyed with I found to be garbage.

Atleast it was nice of Cingular to give us a secondary COU line with PTT, although I don't care much for carrying 2 phones around. I have the black razr, and with that I need nothing else.

Posted by: AdmiralAK

Cingular started the TV ads for PPT.
Interesting , but most of the handsets lack the PPT function. I doubt I will be switching from an SX66 to an LG for PPT

Posted by: xbox360gamer

my best friend just started working for Cingular about a month ago and he tells me that he has yet to see one customer purchase the PTT feature.

think about it folks. what need is there in PTT when we (well, most of us) have M2M anyway?

heh, my company just recently signed up for Cingular's PTT feature, but yet 80% of us arent even using it. we still much rather prefer to place calls to one another vs doing the *chirp*chirp* thing all day long.

talk about pissing company dollars away...

Posted by: ebrochey

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rcadden

I agree that a rugged handset is going to be the key for Cingular to get the nextel customers they are wanting. Nokia 6170 would be good, or 5140i. Or obviously a motorola, since they are who makes nextel phones. put some GSM guts in there and you're golden. Also, though, Nextel customers aren't used to any glitz on their phones. Freakin monochrome screens and no bluetooth.

Just FYI: Motorola V3 have push to talk capabilities. Check MOTO-Razr web for more info.

Posted by: Freakshow105

Quote:

Originally Posted by ebrochey

Just FYI: Motorola V3 have push to talk capabilities. Check MOTO-Razr web for more info.

My understanding is if the phone lacks "Kodiak" then PTT can't be used on cingular's ptt network

Posted by: Motoman71

push to what? never heard of it

Posted by: CA

Quote:

Originally Posted by MrDJ

My understanding is if the phone lacks "Kodiak" then PTT can't be used on cingular's ptt network

Not necessarily Moto yesterday announced a phone that will do PTT over IM. It's to early to tell if it will be limited to WiFi or be a part of their dual mode(WiFi/cellular) handset due out later this year.

Posted by: StattlichPassat

Nada one. No marketing or awareness = no sales.

Posted by: SirJack

Quote:

Originally Posted by xbox360gamer

my best friend just started working for Cingular about a month ago and he tells me that he has yet to see one customer purchase the PTT feature.

think about it folks. what need is there in PTT when we (well, most of us) have M2M anyway?

heh, my company just recently signed up for Cingular's PTT feature, but yet 80% of us arent even using it. we still much rather prefer to place calls to one another vs doing the *chirp*chirp* thing all day long.

talk about pissing company dollars away...

It is true I also do not really see a need for PTT yet, but what if Cingular would allow PTT inter-carrier. Meaning if you have a family member or friend with Nextel just put in their number and "chirp-chirp" away - just a thought...

Posted by: BellaDea

that would be good and it'll probably happen on of these days but in order for PTT to be inter-carrier, every carrier would have to agree to change their systems to be inter-carrier. again, sounds good... but not as easy to accomplish as one would think.

Posted by: sharksfan

Quote:

Originally Posted by SirJack

How is Cingulars PTT system set up?

I know with Nextel, I had a normal phone number for making/receiving calls, and a seperate PTT number (formatted ####*####*###)

Posted by: xbox360gamer

Quote:

Originally Posted by sharksfan

How is Cingulars PTT system set up?

I know with Nextel, I had a normal phone number for making/receiving calls, and a seperate PTT number (formatted ####*####*###)

thats the beauty of Cingular's PTT program. the PTT number is the same as the regular cell phone number. not this ghey crap that Nextel uses to where you have your 2-way number and then you have the regular cell phone number.

oh well, maybe Nextel will catch up with the times one of these days.

Posted by: celltechy

i am not a cingular employee but i feel i can contribute something to this thread... no matter what you guys say, the marketing reps at cingular are NOT idiots... now no i cant prove that but they wouldnt be where they were if they didnt know about economics and how to market efficiently.... now, the biggest and most efficient marketing tool is word of mouth... this is a proven fact and the first thing you learn in marketing... now... what is more effective than walking around and seeing someone "beep-beeping" with a cingular logo? NOTHING.... Ofcourse there are the people who dont know the difference between nextel, cingular, PTT, and a phone call. So yea... i think cingular might just be testing the field first...

Posted by: CingularDC

Guys,

Some of you are looking for PTT to work with Nextel, and thinking there is a V3 with PTT.

There is some confusion here I am hoping to clear up

The Motorola (and other manufacturers for that matter) are listing PTT that works over GPRS as a feature of their phones. That is not in any way related to or compatible with PTT via Kodiak which is the Cingular solution. You would have to purchase a thrid party application to enable it to work, and then you would have to have someone else using that same thrid party application to PTT with. Not a very large potential customer base unless you go into it with lots of your friends at the same time.

Cingular and AT&T both prior to the merger evaluated multiple PTT over GPRS solutions, and to be frank it works great...until you start moving. When going from one BSC (Base Station cluster a group of say 10-15 Cell sites that all process data and voice through a common route) to another BSC you add about 3-5 seconds to the time when you "Push" to the time when the person on the other end hears you. Not very user friendly, and it gets even worse if you travel from a MSC (Master Station cluster...or a group of BSC's) where you can add 15-20+ seconds to the conversation time from when you "Push" to when the person on the other end hears it. That is the reason Cingualr and AT&T both shot down all three different PTT over GPRS vendors after doing extensive testing and trials. Being the last to the market is not a bad thing in this case.

The Kodiak system is much better, more flexible then PTT over GPRS, the Verizon or Sprint solution and has better customer friendly functionality then Nextel. Guess what folks, right now it isn't supposed to be targeting Nextel Business customers. We are supposed to be going after family talk and small business consumers not Construction companies.I would expect to see more PTT functionality and products available in the mid to long term future that will target Nextel customers aggressively. Right now we are just trying to get it out the door and selling as an option for our customers to have that offers features and functionality that our competitors do not offer.

The wish that Cingulars PTT will work with another carriers PTT solution is not something that is going to happen either folks, unless another GSM carrier picks up the Kodiak solution (Which is already available overseas, so I would guess that we will have international PTT some time in the future in areas of the world where the Kodiak PTT system has been adopted).

Alltell has Kodiak PTT, but since they are using CDMA and not GSM technology we won't be able to cross carrier PTT with them. NExtel is not possible either same reason-different technology types. The only domestic options would be T-Mobile picking up Kodiak, or some of the smaller regional carriers like Dobson that are GSM picking up kodiak. Other then that possibility you wont see it happen.

Just trying to clear up some obvious mis-information or blatant speculation out there.

Posted by: CantKnockRob

tisk tisk....ppl need to know when someone else has there "niche" in the market place....anyone remember when verizon tried the "push to talk"? exactly......Nextel gots the push to talk, and they do it very will...first rule of marketing, know your target market/know when not to jump on a dead horse....

Posted by: boufa

As a consumer, I have to tell you that the number 1 thing hurting the PTT roll out is the inablility for existing customers to get it (yet!). If PTT was the killer feature, that made or break your decision on who to go with then you would already be on nextel.

You may sell a few people into swtiching to Cingular with with the PTT feature, but the initial # would not be great.

I personally would love to switch to FT with PTT...but my contract with cingular is not up until June, and I cannot upgrade until March. So I am 2 lines of PTT service that you cannot sell, but most likely will in the long term. (Customer service is not co-operating with anyone on upgrading early, I want to give you more money and they don't want it until at least March)

The only real way to look at the viability of PTT service is look at the results 12-18 months down the road. How many customers have added the service to their lines Once they have renewed/upgraded.

2 other little points....

1) the handset options are poor right now. I would hope that changes in the long term.
2) Most "Gimmic" addons are not subscribed to by most people. VCast is interesting looking, but long term what % of Verizon customers are actually going to pay for it. It could be a success if only 5% subscribe. PTT through cingular would be a money maker at a much lower participation rate than that I would think.

Just my $0.03 (inflation)

Posted by: CingularZ

It is true, Cingular needs to do more marketing which they will be, and of course in time.. there will be a gradual increase for PTT feature adds.

IMO the Cingular PTT is better than VZ, and compared to Nextel, it offers better features (availbility icont) and a better network

However, I cant agree with some of the other comments that you guys make. You guys are in sales, YOU CAN SELL ANYTHING TO THE CUSTOMER. For the 8 years when I was in direct sales, I never relied on marketing or hear say or any of that.

Customers will listen you, thats what you're there for ..

Posted by: audiovoxx

i cant stop to think if we had launched it before and with a better marketing.... why do we shift all our promotions to the RAZR of the ROKR..... why did they launch PTT with 2 non camera phones.... i mean if you have a phone that is capable of all things camera,bluetooth among other features...... it would sell better people who walk in to my store just look at the phones but its all about cameras and mp3's at the moment.
plus honestly how many of us think of LG as the first option for a customer sad but i would rather sell a customer on a nokia 6010 than on an LG C1300.
Not even with the BOGO have i seen people get intrested in PTT..... i mean if a FT plan already has mobile to mobile why get PTT..... yesterday i sold a PTT on a 3liner but guess what i ended up opening a trouble ticket because the phones would simply not register on the system..... my customer already has a bad experience.... thats not a good start.
anyways i just wished we had a better selection on phones.... all i mostly sell now is the RAZR we litteraly sell about 200 of these a week

Posted by: hury up n wait

first off inter-carrier PTT WILL NOT HAPPEN!!! its all about competition if u could do that then ther is no reason (other than coverage, wich is huge dont get me wrong whats the point of having a kick a** phone if you cant use it) to switch to us
second thing nextel DC is better than PTT i know i'll catch a lot of flack for that statement but it is true just use both at the same time. if nextel coverage is good in your area dont get in an argument about which is better u will lose so we have a lil smiley face so what
thirdly cings ad agents arre idiots most of the people that would b most interested in buying PTT for personal reasons dont even know who the freakin waltons are so that commercial just comes across as a bunch of huckle buck hicks not a good corp decision

not trying to flame cing (they do feed my kids after all) i love my job but part of it is realizing when someone has something better and working around it not assuming our is better b/c its ours

just my .02

Posted by: SirJack

Quote:

Originally Posted by hury up n wait

first off inter-carrier PTT WILL NOT HAPPEN!!! its all about competition if u could do that then ther is no reason (other than coverage, wich is huge dont get me wrong whats the point of having a kick a** phone if you cant use it) to switch to us
second thing nextel DC is better than PTT i know i'll catch a lot of flack for that statement but it is true just use both at the same time. if nextel coverage is good in your area dont get in an argument about which is better u will lose so we have a lil smiley face so what
thirdly cings ad agents arre idiots most of the people that would b most interested in buying PTT for personal reasons dont even know who the freakin waltons are so that commercial just comes across as a bunch of huckle buck hicks not a good corp decision

not trying to flame cing (they do feed my kids after all) i love my job but part of it is realizing when someone has something better and working around it not assuming our is better b/c its ours

just my .02

Wow I can remember back when we said that Inter-Mobile Text Messaging wasn't going to happen and look at our technology now. Time will tell. My glass is half full....

Posted by: CingularDC

Hmmm...

Maybe we should do a side by side comparison, because the last time I checked the only things Nextel had going for it was the following:

A large number of embedded customers

A faster initialization of a call (If you are the person RECEIVING he PTT call you don't see any delay)

Rugged Handsets designed with Contractors in mind.

Are we together on that?

OK Here is why Direct connect ISN'T better:

Cingular has been selling PTT for two months, we have a ways to go before matching their customer base.

The faster initialization situation with a nextel customer is only when you place the call. Talking back and forth once the call is established is just as fast if not faster with Cingulars solution.

The ability to convert a call into a cellular call. Kind of handy for those of us who get sick of listening to all these Nextel customers screaming out their conversations to everyone in a 50 foot radius.

The ability to PTT up to 20 people at once and STILL convert it to a Cellular call

The ability to make yourself not available if you are in a meeting, or in church, or on vacation.

Much better coverage then Nextel nationwide. ASk any Nextel customer and you will find most hate their coverage for voice and PTT. With Cingular it is ONE network for voice and PTT and unlike other competitors, our PTT will work even if you are roaming on another GSM carriers network (ALbeit a little slower)

One phone number for voice and PTT

The Inter Carrier PTT thing CAN happen, and WILL happen over time outside of the USA with other carriers that already use the same Kodiak Solution we have. In the USA, if some of the regional GSM carriers or T-Mobile choose Kodiak as a solution it CAN and WILL happen here. The success of our PTT launch will most likely help push them in the right direction for or against implementing it themselves.

Phone improvements needed: A rugged Phone, and phones with louder speaker phone capabilities.

And guess what the abilities of this system are flexible and can improve over time I would expect that by this time next year we will have some UMTS/HSDPA PTT handsets and capabilities (Just a guess here) which will add a whole host of other possibilities.

So before you decide that Direct Connect is a better product then our PTT solution, why not try giving it a little time to evolve and improve. And hey, for the reasons I just gave you here it already IS a better product.

As for the Waltons commercial. I agree that one is a miss for the same reason someone mentioned earlier, the best potential market we have has probably never watched the Waltons.

Until we have features, phones and functionality that targets busienss users we should be going after a young crowd who are already into IM's and getting onto chat rooms to come up with places to meet and have a party, etc.

Posted by: blkballoon925

Quote:

Originally Posted by ChocoDough

The best Cingular commercial I liked, was the one a few years back with the girl who had the number 867-5309. If you remember the 80's song then you get it.

Those were back in the days of the Cingular jack and "Fits You Best" on the commercials. I miss those. They were more entertaining commercials. I only saw the PPT commercial about two times. Now I always see the ones for the Black RAZR or the "family tree" one. That family tree one has become boring since it's over a year old now.

Quote:

Originally Posted by CingularDC

Alltell has Kodiak PTT, but since they are using CDMA and not GSM technology we won't be able to cross carrier PTT with them. NExtel is not possible either same reason-different technology types. The only domestic options would be T-Mobile picking up Kodiak, or some of the smaller regional carriers like Dobson that are GSM picking up kodiak. Other then that possibility you wont see it happen.

Dobson won't be picking up PTT. The next move you'll probably see from them is a UMTS upgrade a few years from now. Your best bets are with T-Mobile for domestic inter-carrier PTT. I'd say chances are it won't happen because these wireless providers tend to only offer inter-carrier if they know they can offer it between all carriers. If 2 years ago Cingular found out that I-C MMS would have only worked between T-Mobile and Cingular due to technical reasons, I doubt they would have tried to make any I-C MMS work at all. Even when I-C SMS came out in America, it has usually been an "all or nothing" decision for inter-carrier support. Nevertheless, Cingular sees PTT as a selling-point for porting in. Instead of encouraging its customers to talk to Nextel customers with PTT, they'd prefer if a Cingular-only PTT system brought Nextel customers over to Cingular so they could PTT with the Cingular people.