Windstream 2011 Annual Report Download - page 78

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Business Sales and Marketing
We are a national communications and technology services company providing smart solutions and personalized service to our
business customers. We accomplish this through a robust portfolio of scalable and customizable services. These services are
offered to businesses of all sizes, including small- and medium-sized businesses, enterprise customers and other telecom
carriers.
Our business products and services are sold through a variety of channels, including:
• the direct sales force, which accounts for the majority of our new sales;
• our business call centers, which provide customer service and also generate new sales and upgrades;
• our indirect sales channel, which partners with third parties to receive referrals for and drive sales of our products and
services;
• third-party dealers who sell directly to customers,
• our account management team, which supports existing customers by advising and assisting them with their
communications needs; and
• a variety of other channels, including retail stores and door-to-door sales.
In addition, our carrier sales team specializes in sales of special access and wireless backhaul services to other telecom carriers.
In total, we have over 150 business sales offices throughout the United States and 2,014 sales employees focused on meeting
the needs of our business customers. Our sales and marketing approach is supported by our wide array of products and services
delivered over our extensive fiber transport network.
Consumer Sales and Marketing
Our consumer sales and marketing strategy is focused on driving top line revenue performance through bundled product sales,
value-added account revenue growth and effective customer insulation. We employ the following principles to achieve these
goals:
• Product simplification: We sell double and triple play bundle packages to consumers at competitive price points,
offering high-speed Internet, voice and video services at a better value than when purchasing those services
individually or from different providers.
• Product enhancement: Value-added services to our high-speed Internet product and faster Internet speeds deliver more
value to the consumer while growing account revenue.
• Message integration: A single, consistent consumer message is delivered across all advertising mediums to generate
high consumer awareness and strong sales channel interactions.
Consumer sales are made through various distribution channels giving new and existing customers choices in how they interact
and experience our products and services. Additionally, we offer customers the opportunity to order service and purchase a
number of products designed to enhance their existing services, such as tablet computers, telephones and accessories at any of
our approximately 60 retail stores located in our local service areas. We augment these traditional channels with online sales,
door-to-door sales and national agents.
NETWORK
We have developed a robust, flexible network allowing us to deliver advanced voice and data services. As of December 31,
2011, our network consists of approximately 115,000 of fiber optic plant in both our fiber backbone and local service areas and
a combination of owned and leased facilities in our local markets.
Our fiber transport network is fully integrated and allows us to offer a full suite of voice and advanced data services, including,
but not limited to, multi-site networking, dedicated Internet and Ethernet solutions, high-speed Internet and VoIP services.
In certain territories, we serve business customers by leasing last-mile connections from other carriers. These connections link
our business customers to our facilities-based network. We improve network reliability when leasing last-mile connections by