2009 Top Ops Awards: Commercial Sales Team of the Year—Cox Business
We know we’re in a recession. Apparently that fact has eluded Cox Business. Or perhaps it’s merely a difference in interpretation. Many react to a sluggish economy with plans for little or no growth. Our 2009 Commercial Sales Team of the Year thinks the recession signals an opportunity to expand into new markets and diversify an already robust portfolio.
Homing in on small and midsize businesses resulted in a 16% revenue increase for Cox Business last year, putting annual sales revenue at $850 million. VP Phil Meeks estimates 14%-15% additional sales revenue growth for 2009, which would put Cox Business’ annual revenue at over $960 million. With these projections in mind, along with plans to add wireless service in the near future, the organization is preparing to build on its 450-member sales force, defying current staffing trends (although it’s not releasing specifics yet). "We’re on track to be a $1 billion business in 2010," says Meeks. "And there’s plenty more market for us to go after."
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How has Cox Business been successful? In the past year, Cox has become a savior for small businesses operating with tight budgets. As the first MSO to launch a fully hosted and managed VoIP service (late 2007), Cox Business began to promote the service to the lower end of the market in ’08. This offering allowed customers to receive advanced voice features without investing in expensive phone equipment. Recently, the company rolled out DOCSIS 3.0-powered Internet service in several sectors, which afforded small and medium-size businesses a 50 mbps cable modem service option, thereby sparing the outlay of high-speed fiber services.
In addition, a highly specialized customer support strategy has also emerged as one of Cox’s major selling points. Localism has been a key, too. Maintaining a localized support system has been integral in pleasing Cox Business’ nearly 250,000 customers. "Within our markets we have tech support, engineering support and product support, all within the system," says Meeks. A 2008 J.D. Power and Associates study ranked Cox Business the top vendor for small and midsize business services in customer satisfaction.
| Year | Sales Revenue ($millions) |
|---|---|
| Source: Cox Business. *Estimates. | |
| 2001 | $140 |
| 2002 | $250 |
| 2003 | $290 |
| 2004 | $375 |
| 2005 | $450 |
| 2006 | $550 |
| 2007 | $650 |
| 2008 | $850 |
| 2009* | $960 |
| 2010* | $1,100 |
| 2011* | $1,280 |
Fast Facts
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44% of Cox Business customers buy more than one product from the company.
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Cox has been recognized by Vertical Systems Group as the largest Ethernet provider in the U.S. among MSOs.