The Book of Five (Phone) Rings

This started as a way for me to document various thoughts and practices regarding disruption and influence…or selling information technology. It has morphed more into a hyperlink textbook that I go back to for a refresh on first principal knowledge regarding the telecom industry. I compiled this because I was handed the proverbial firehose when I became a sales rep for a small telecommunications company for my first job out of college and noticed a gap in digestible training material for the rookies, so to speak.

I was dealing with a two-pronged obstacle. I had to learn to sell, and I had to understand the ins and outs of the technology I was dealing with to make an impact on customers and my company. Seriously, who was going to listen to a 21-year-old about what some consider the most important aspects of their business?

This was built to ease non-technical sales and marketing professionals into the industry. This is not meant to read like a manual for closing deals or finding prospects. I do not promise you’ll double your sales or even hit quota. You have to put in the hard work to do that.

I do promise I will get you through your first couple of months where you hear more of those Three Letter Acronyms than words. This book will gain you a solid understanding of the services that shape customers' decision’s today. My goal is to lay the foundation for you to become a communications and connectivity solutions expert.

This is what we’ll cover:

Part I: The Telecom Book

- Origins of Industry

- The PSTN

- Analog vs Digital

Part II: The Wired Book

- Cable

- DSL

- Fiber

Part III: The Communications Book

- PRI and SIP

- Hosted VoIP

- Unified Communications

Part IV: The Network Book

- WAN

- The Internet

- SD-WAN

Part V: The Book of Dial Tone

- A pragmatic approach to uncovering and navigation communications and connectivity opportunities.