I understand the frustration with the shift to VoIP regardless of whether it is appropriate or not. Some of that emotion may be recognized by customers just as clearly as if you actually wore an "I hate VoIP" T-shirt. If Telecommunications Professionals want to consider VoIP as the enemy, then at least know your enemy and have ammunition to fight it. Lashing out with accusations ("stagnating IT companies"?) is NOT effective. To the customer investigating VoIP it isn't the IT company that sounds stagnant. Treating your customers as if they have "no technical knowledge" when they think they do will not build credibility with them, especially if they think you are being condescending.
Instead, talk up the strengths that the TDM system you are selling has over VoIP for a small business. Explain how a solution that works for a 10,000 person company with dedicated Telecommunications and Information Technology staff is not appropriate for a 25-person business.
For example, my company benefits from being able to unplug an IP phone and plug it in to any other jack in our office. The benefit justifies the cost because larger companies have people moving around all of the time and can afford to connect every jack to a Power over Ethernet (PoE) port. It may sound like a benefit to someone at a small company, but it is only going to work if they have the infrastructure. Even then, how often are they going to use that feature anyway?
I am one of the dreaded (hated?) CGs. I have a Cat5e LAN in my house and a Partner ACS that I have no intention of replacing. If my ACS processor died tomorrow I'd buy another ACS. Why? It works great, it is already overkill for the application, and I don't want to be a network administrator. Educate your customers so they see that, too.
I appreciate the continuing education that I receive from the Telecommunication Professionals on this board. I hope that I can provide some help in return.
-Rob
