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-- WITH PHOTO -- TO BUSINESS, AND TECHNOLOGY EDITORS:
TelexFREET Chooses Tradition of Direct Selling Phone Service
MARLBOROUGH, Mass., March 21, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- In the
mid-1980s-when the Reagan Administration had only recently deregulated
the long distance phone industry-Sprint@ (then US Sprint@) was having
no luck enticing residential customers. Not only was there the
inconvenience of 10-digit access codes, but most Americans didn't know
they had a right to choose. We had grown up with AT&T@ as our only
phone service.
Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20140321/PH88038LOGO
Besides, why should we switch? US Sprint had some good answers for
that question: the first-ever fiber optic network provided a superior
quality call, and there was a cost savings. "So what?" we asked, and
when US Sprint spent tens of millions of dollars on TV advertising, we
wouldn't even go to the trouble of getting out of our recliners to
cross the room to our corded phones.
Sprint had begun to think of itself as a service provider for the
Fortune 500, assuming residential customers were too dense to get
them. Three things changed all that: what was then called one-plus
dialing-the Sprint introduction of long distance dialing as simple as
AT&T-and a couple of entrepreneurs from Kansas City, MO, who persuaded
US Sprint to give them a chance to become resellers. Their company is
now legendary in direct selling: Network 2000. In less than a year,
Network 2000 was outselling Sprint's own outbound telemarketing team,
signing up more than 100,000 customers a month.
Three elements contributed to the magic that introduced alternative
long distance service for the residential market: Ease of use, a
superior telephone experience, and a less expensive call.
Many direct sellers since Network 2000 have become hugely successful
as resellers of telephone services, including Excel Communications-the
methodology of which evolved out of Network 2000-which grew to have so
many customers that it ultimately was acquired by a telephone company
wanting access both to the customer base and the effective direct
selling distributor sales force. And most recently, TelexFREE, a
Marlborough, Massachusetts, direct reseller of long distance and other
phone services has experience tremendous success in terms of both
customer acquisition and usage: more than 10 million minutes in
February 2014.
And since TelexFREE adopted the same sales strategy proven so
successful by Network 2000 and Excel Communications, it may have been
expected they would acquire some of the same executive talent that
served to make those companies successful, including Stuart A.
MacMillan, the first President of Excel Communications, Canada.
Speaking on behalf of TelexFREE, Mr. MacMillan says, "I see much the
same opportunity for TelexFREE that I saw for Excel in its early
days. Direct selling is a tremendously effective means of marketing,
advertising, and customer acquisition. And TelexFREE has discovered
and made great inroads into one of the most rapidly growing
marketplaces in the U.S.-the Latin market. That said, I see my
responsibility as establishing internal governance and an expansion of
the products and services. Like so many entrepreneurial companies in
the tech space, TelexFREE has been growing so fast, it hasn't had much
time for management. I've been brought in to spend that time and to
provide that experience, including an end-to-end review of
methodologies and controls. I'm committed to providing our thousands
of customers the best service available anywhere in the world. To
accomplish that goal.well, suffice it to say, I've got a lot of work
ahead of me! But TelexFREE has done the one thing most essential to
the success of a phone company: they have acquired customers who are
using lots of the service!"
TelexFREE is a private company headquartered in Marlborough, Mass.,
with offices in a number of regions around the world.
For more information, please visit www.TelexFREE.com or contact via
email.
Media Contact: Gail Weinflash Email 214.418.1967
Read more news from TelexFREE.
SOURCE TelexFREE
-0- 03/21/2014
/Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20140321/PH88038LOGO
PRN Photo Desk, photodesk@prnewswire.com
/Web Site: http://www.telexfree.com
CO: TelexFREE
ST: Massachusetts
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-- PH88038 --
0000 03/21/2014 12:45:00 EDT http://www.prnewswire.com
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