How Regional Operators Can Beat Goliath

David didn’t defeat Goliath with his bare hands. He needed a sling and a stone. Regional operators would do well to remember this truth as they compete with large incumbents.

To be sure, regional operators are well positioned to capitalize on a major shift in the U.S. population away from costly cities such as Chicago and Los Angeles to less populated and more affordable regions, as well as a rise of work-at-home living in areas typically underserved by national players.

Now, with the roll-out of initiatives like the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program, regional operators have the ability to penetrate underserved areas they might not otherwise been able to support. As they do, they enjoy some advantages over national providers, such as:

• They are often more nimble and adaptable than larger providers. This allows them to respond more quickly to changes in the market and the needs of their customers.

• They are more likely to position themselves as the local provider and be involved in the communities they serve. This can lead to stronger relationships with businesses and residents, which can help to boost sales.

• They go to market with a customer-first approach. Regional operators can often provide better customer service than larger, national providers that have complex offers and decades of poor customer interactions to overcome. Streamlined offers, transparent pricing, and reliable service serve them well as they respond to the needs of their local communities.

But regional players cannot afford to take a “If we build it, they will come” attitude toward acquiring customers. The national players have some major advantages, too, and they will work diligently to defeat any operator who becomes complacent. The have a limitless ability to innovate, have more resources, and possess economies of scale. And true, they might be less nimble than regional players, but when they are firing on all cylinders, they can be a formidable force. 

This is why regional players need to make sure they are equipped with the right approach to win. This includes:

• First and foremost, be different. Streamlined offers and pricing are a good start, but regional operators should lean into sales and customer support arenas as well. Most everyone has a traumatic experience from their home internet provider they don’t want to be reminded of. 

• Take customer experience seriously. This starts with marketing communication and creating seamless acquisition processes that remove friction.  Doing so will create a halo effect for when a shopper becomes a customer. Barriers to access will sabotage sales opportunities and brand perception.

• Enable sales tools to accelerate share capture. This best approach is to deploy an omnichannel sales strategy with ecommerce at the center. We all know ecommerce is the most cost-effective way to acquire customers, but most underperform. Too many rely on legacy technology to do the heavy lifting, which results in increased costs and lost revenue opportunities.

Enter Atlas Digital Group

Coming from decades of leading sales, marketing, product and technology organizations at large broadband operators, the team at Atlas understood the power of nimble technology and robust data. Bringing innovation to operators of all sizes, Atlas CORE has become the premium sales solution for the fiber industry.

Atlas CORE’s dynamic, end-to-end omnichannel sales solution enables broadband operators to unlock customer acquisition potential. Built specifically for the industry, it pairs a highly nimble cloud-based platform with robust analytics for service providers to quickly adapt and optimize sales. With the short implementation window of six to eight weeks, clients can begin realizing the benefits of customer-first sales experiences and 3-5x improvements in sales yield almost immediately.

Bottom line

The time is now for fiber operators to implement seamless customer-centric sales experiences to capitalize on their network expansion efforts. More and more operators are choosing Atlas CORE to accelerate sales by implementing the sales experiences their customers expect from the world’s best retail sites. CORE provides the stone and sling that David needs to defeat Goliath.