Ill Fits & Starts

Throughout the 1990s, wireless data was the industry's Holy Grail. "It will take off next year" became the endless refrain for a field that, by 1996, clearly needed multiple factors -- including attractive pricing, widespread coverage, the right delivery device and sufficient throughput -- to succeed in the marketplace.

That combination finally has begun jelling and promises to make 2001 the year in which wireless data truly enters the communications big leagues alongside wireless voice and wireline Internet. This growth might not be in terms of penetration of services and products but rather in terms of market awareness.

This growth also illuminates one of the industry's already glaring shortcomings: Its failure to market wireless data effectively. In the past, carriers typically handed data sales and marketing to either a special sales force or their voice division. But selling data requires a different skill set and knowledge base than voice does. The group best equipped to handle this job is in their wireline networking divisions.

THE WRONG PEOPLE That wireless-data sales has been handled ineffectively isn't really surprising. The industry has been so preoccupied with voice's explosive growth and enormous churn that it hasn't made the effort to understand or appropriately invest in the data side of the business. Indeed, several carriers formed dedicated data sales forces only to disband them or let them languish in a corner of the company when they failed to perform adequately.

Companies often used their voice infrastructure to sell and promote data in the belief that it was a logical and cost-effective step because it leveraged existing infrastructure. Unfortunately, little attention was paid to understanding why people buy data services and how they use them. Moreover, the voice reps, who now were carrying the ball, had grown accustomed to selling in a commodity market where price was paramount. They typically had little or no experience and few skills necessary to sell the more complex data product.

The result was predictable: Instead of trying to sell specialized applications to businesses, the voice reps put their effort into a generic package of Internet services that didn't cater to the customer's specific needs. Worse, compensation for data sales usually was inadequate. Even when it was set higher, the sales lead time was too long and the volume sold too small to justify pushing data. Targeting the consumer or non-business market at this early stage of the technology's life cycle was not -- and still isn't -- the most effective way to penetrate the market.

Today, the stage is set for different players and strategies. Selling data requires individuals with knowledge, experience and skills far different from those necessary to sell voice. It requires reps who know how to position and sell a complete data solution that's tailored to the customer's needs, and it requires reps who can deal with a sophisticated, high-level buyer, often a company's CIO.

Larger telcos already have such people. They're the same reps who currently sell wireline solutions within their networking divisions. These specialists thoroughly understand data, know what it takes to sell a solution and have access to the right people within the customer's organization. The fit is ideal because data, at least in its early stages, is really an extension of the capability and functionality of wireline service. Moreover, wireless buyers tend to be the same people in the corporation whom the telco is used to dealing with on large networking and enterprisewide solutions.

So why would a telco duplicate resources in order to sell similar solutions to essentially the same group of people? Why not piggyback the sale of wireless data with the sale of wireline networking solutions? This approach certainly makes more sense than adding wireless data to the wireless-voice sales force, which must be retrained. What's more, an integrated wireline-wireless data solution could have tremendous appeal to the customer because the marginal cost of adding wireless to the solution could bring with it a disproportionately higher return on investment.

TELLING THE RIGHT STORY Data also must be positioned to focus on the value added instead of the technology itself. When IP-based wireless data debuted just over two years ago, many carriers began touting it as "the wireless Web." However, because of the inefficiency of transmitting the amount of data necessary to reproduce the detailed graphics of wireline-designed Web sites, wireless users had to settle for a few lines of text on a tiny screen and few Web sites formatted for wireless access. By no stretch of the imagination could this experience be compared to surfing the Internet.

Not much has changed. Coverage has improved somewhat, screens are a little bigger, prices have dropped a bit and icons now introduce some menus, but it still remains years away from the rich experience that wireline affords.

Data salespeople should avoid selling the product as "the wireless Web." Instead, it should be positioned as a value-added service or tool, one that complements and enhances the user's lifestyle. Concentrating on data's value proposition means focusing on its key attributes: anytime access to information, including critical, timely data.

Because data's coverage and throughput remain limited, salespeople also must position data as a time-critical and not a data-intensive communications tool. This approach makes the medium adaptable to industries and applications that can best use its strengths. These include:

* Financial services, where anytime, anywhere access to data is critical. Several brokerages already offer trading and access to stock quotes via wireless devices.

* Dispatch and courier services. Timeliness is key for a dynamic network of people constantly on the go. Several companies targeting this industry offer specialized applications that use wireless phones, laptops and PalmPilots.

* Enterprise intranet and messaging systems. Remote access via a limited number of keystrokes to e-mail, directories, calendars and other information residing on corporate intranets already is available. For example, Novell has offered wireless-phone access to its GroupWise environment and IBM to its Lotus Notes gateway since 1997. The beauty of these applications is that they allow users to take their office environment on the road.

ONE SIZE DOESN'T FIT ALL The need for an applications or business-solutions approach to selling data can't be overemphasized. In today's complex corporate world, buyers demand that solutions be tailored to their businesses. For example, a trading application for day traders must be structured differently from one for retail banking employees.

Hence the need for a specialized team of sales reps. They must know how to sell more than just a product and more than just a generic application. Instead, they also must be focused on a solutions approach that shows businesses how this data can help them perform better and smarter than ever before.