"Best of Class" Broadband Service Providers' (BSPs) use a variety of tactics to maximize their customer numbers while minimizing their acquisition costs. These programs range from creative customer retention to excellent multi-channel sales programs; and from novel web-based marketing campaigns to street fighting that entails slugging it out with competitors via guerrilla marketing. This is the second in a series of four articles regarding the "Best of Class" market penetration strategies. These strategies have been field tested and proven successful. This month's topic focuses on the strategy and tactics to consider including when launching a retail distribution channel. Ten specific retail distribution ideas are discussed in this month's column.

Advance planning is important when contemplating using computer retailers to establish a new product distribution channel - since even smaller retailers require plenty of lead-time to incorporate a new product into their product mix, BSPs shouldn't meet with a retailer and expect them to be able to market broadband services immediately. The holiday season accounts for as much as half of a retailer's total annual sales, and consequently, new product introductions and campaigns are often planned six months in advance. To expedite and facilitate a retailer's ability to introduce a broadband product, the BSP should have a packaged retail program that can be introduced to the merchant.

Retail Distribution Channel Checklist Summary:
Establishing a training program and collateral materials that provide the retail associates (salespersons) product knowledge and proven closing tactics

• Creating visual merchandising (promotional signage) to generate awareness and sales
• Developing a mutually acceptable sales objective (per associate and/or per store)
• Negotiating floor space, use of end caps, and visual merchandising placement
• Agreement on term of the relationship and causes for termination
• Completing the compensation plan - will the BSP pay for square footage? Plans should include separate compensation for the associate, the store, and the corporation.
• Consideration of other issues - including exclusivity, co-op advertising, branding, lead sharing, team leader sales associate strategy, complimentary Internet connectivity, website strategy, customer list sharing, call-to-actions, among others.

Retail "Friends & Family" program - enhance the broadband customers' satisfaction by creating a value added program that encourages broadband customers to visit participating merchants' stores via the use of exclusive merchandise discounts and co-promotions only available to the BSP's customers. Merchant partners will be compensated via the increased foot traffic, awareness from the promotion, and through the sale of additional store merchandise. Retailers feel that BSP customers that purchase broadband at the retailer's store are shared customers (they are both the retailer's customer as much as they are the BSP's customer). This tactic helps demonstrate to the retailer how participation in the BSP's retail program will strengthen and extend the existing relationship between the retailer and its customer.

Store within a store concept - establishing a mini-store to sell broadband by a BSP's employee within a much larger, high-traffic, and third party "super store" is a tactic that enables the BSP to maintain significantly greater control over the marketing message and prospective customer's experience - since the salesperson that will be talking to prospects is an employee of the BSP. This tactic reduces a retailer's requirement to train its staff on a new and complicate product.
ü Mall cart strategy - utilize a mall cart to gain access to foot traffic in a mall containing the targeted demographics. This will provide an additional source of sales, increase the BSP's awareness, provide a source of leads for the use by other channels, and avoid the substantial expense of operating a traditional retail establishment in the mall.

Team leader concept - extend the BSP's resources by identifying a sales associate to serve as the BSP's advocate in each store and providing them an over-ride on all sales made in their store in return for administrative responsibilities (e.g., maintaining visual merchandising, forms, brochures) and associate training responsibilities.

Print reinforcement program - increase product exposure in the store with additional signage by placing current newspaper print advertisements in a plastic holder for display in the retail partners' store.

Co-op marketing dollar program - extend the BSP's marketing dollars (or provide an incentive for the retailer to market the BSP's services exclusively) by utilizing a co-op advertising strategy with retail partners. It's important that the program be formalized with specific requirements for the expenditure to qualify as co-op expenditure where the retailer can receive reimbursement for a portion of the expenses. Often times, BSPs find it effective to link sales success to co-op marketing reimbursement potential.
ü Retail "Mystery Visitor" program - increase retailer's sales effectiveness and associate's motivation with a mystery visitor program that regularly visits each store and asks retailers product knowledge and other questions. Associates providing accurate responses receive cash, premiums, and or other recognition.

Retail holiday reinforcement program - to increase broadband sales in retail stores during the critical fourteen-day shopping period prior to Christmas, temporarily staff the stores with BSP direct sales employees.
ü Retailers' list share program - a program where the retailer and BSP schedule an event and works together to increase broadband and the store's sale of merchandise. Each retailer usually maintains a list of customers that frequent their store. Typically, the BSP will pay for the printing and postage (or the creative and emailing) and the retailer will contribute its customer list. The merchant will discount one or several products designed to serve as a call-to-action. Wine and cheese is sometimes served as an additional inducement to encourage customer participation - and this cost is usually incurred by the BSP. Clear goals and a projected cost per sale should be established to ensure that these events provide the anticipated results.

"Best of Class" BSPs use creative tactics to achieve their budgeted customer numbers. This is the second of four articles that discuss field-tested and low cost ways to maximize customer counts. Future articles will novel web-based marketing campaigns and street fighting via guerrilla marketing.

About the Author

Don Kent is CEO of eCablevision, a broadband consulting company. He has spent over 26 years working with early stage companies specializing in the delivery of broadband and digital content services. He welcomes your questions or suggestions for topics that you'd like to see discussed in subsequent columns.