https://urgentcomm.com/wp-content/themes/ucm_child/assets/images/logo/footer-logo.png
  • Home
  • News
  • Multimedia
    • Back
    • Multimedia
    • Video
    • Podcasts
    • Galleries
  • Commentary
    • Back
    • Commentary
    • Urgent Matters
    • View From The Top
    • All Things IWCE
    • Legal Matters
  • Resources
    • Back
    • Resources
    • Events
    • Webinars
    • White Papers
    • Reprints & Reuse
  • IWCE
    • Back
    • IWCE
    • Conference
    • Special Events
    • Exhibitor Listings
    • Premier Partners
    • Floor Plan
    • Exhibiting Information
    • Register for IWCE
  • About Us
    • Back
    • About Us
    • Contact Us
    • Advertise
    • Terms of Service
    • Privacy Statement
    • Cookies Policy
  • Related Sites
    • Back
    • American City & County
    • IWCE
    • Light Reading
    • IOT World Today
    • Mission Critical Technologies
    • Microwave/RF
    • T&D World
    • TU-Auto
  • In the field
    • Back
    • In the field
    • Broadband Push-to-X
    • Internet of Things
    • Project 25
    • Public-Safety Broadband/FirstNet
    • Virtual/Augmented Reality
    • Land Mobile Radio
    • Long Term Evolution (LTE)
    • Applications
    • Drones/Robots
    • IoT/Smart X
    • Software
    • Subscriber Devices
    • Video
  • Call Center/Command
    • Back
    • Call Center/Command
    • Artificial Intelligence
    • NG911
    • Alerting Systems
    • Analytics
    • Dispatch/Call-taking
    • Incident Command/Situational Awareness
    • Tracking, Monitoring & Control
  • Network Tech
    • Back
    • Network Tech
    • Interoperability
    • LMR 100
    • LMR 200
    • Backhaul
    • Deployables
    • Power
    • Tower & Site
    • Wireless Networks
    • Coverage/Interference
    • Security
    • System Design
    • System Installation
    • System Operation
    • Test & Measurement
  • Operations
    • Back
    • Operations
    • Critical Infrastructure
    • Enterprise
    • Federal Government/Military
    • Public Safety
    • State & Local Government
    • Training
  • Regulations
    • Back
    • Regulations
    • Narrowbanding
    • T-Band
    • Rebanding
    • TV White Spaces
    • None
    • Funding
    • Policy
    • Regional Coordination
    • Standards
  • Organizations
    • Back
    • Organizations
    • AASHTO
    • APCO
    • DHS
    • DMR Association
    • ETA
    • EWA
    • FCC
    • IWCE
    • NASEMSO
    • NATE
    • NXDN Forum
    • NENA
    • NIST/PSCR
    • NPSTC
    • NTIA/FirstNet
    • P25 TIG
    • TETRA + CCA
    • UTC
Urgent Communications
  • NEWSLETTER
  • Home
  • News
  • Multimedia
    • Back
    • Video
    • Podcasts
    • Galleries
  • Commentary
    • Back
    • All Things IWCE
    • Urgent Matters
    • View From The Top
    • Legal Matters
  • Resources
    • Back
    • Events
    • Webinars
    • White Papers
    • Reprints & Reuse
    • UC eZines
  • IWCE
    • Back
    • Conference
    • WHY ATTEND
    • Exhibitor Listings
    • Floor Plan
    • Exhibiting Information
    • Registration Opens April 2019-Join Our Mailing List
  • About Us
    • Back
    • About Us
    • Contact Us
    • Advertise
    • Terms of Service
    • Privacy Statement
    • Cookies Policy
  • Related Sites
    • Back
    • American City & County
    • IWCE
    • Light Reading
    • IOT World Today
    • TU-Auto
  • newsletter
  • In the field
    • Back
    • Internet of Things
    • Broadband Push-to-X
    • Project 25
    • Public-Safety Broadband/FirstNet
    • Virtual/Augmented Reality
    • Land Mobile Radio
    • Long Term Evolution (LTE)
    • Applications
    • Drones/Robots
    • IoT/Smart X
    • Software
    • Subscriber Devices
    • Video
  • Call Center/Command
    • Back
    • Artificial Intelligence
    • NG911
    • Alerting Systems
    • Analytics
    • Dispatch/Call-taking
    • Incident Command/Situational Awareness
    • Tracking, Monitoring & Control
  • Network Tech
    • Back
    • Cybersecurity
    • Interoperability
    • LMR 100
    • LMR 200
    • Backhaul
    • Deployables
    • Power
    • Tower & Site
    • Wireless Networks
    • Coverage/Interference
    • Security
    • System Design
    • System Installation
    • System Operation
    • Test & Measurement
  • Operations
    • Back
    • Critical Infrastructure
    • Enterprise
    • Federal Government/Military
    • Public Safety
    • State & Local Government
    • Training
  • Regulations
    • Back
    • Narrowbanding
    • T-Band
    • Rebanding
    • TV White Spaces
    • None
    • Funding
    • Policy
    • Regional Coordination
    • Standards
  • Organizations
    • Back
    • AASHTO
    • APCO
    • DHS
    • DMR Association
    • ETA
    • EWA
    • FCC
    • IWCE
    • NASEMSO
    • NATE
    • NXDN Forum
    • NENA
    • NIST/PSCR
    • NPSTC
    • NTIA/FirstNet
    • P25 TIG
    • TETRA + CCA
    • UTC
acc.com

content


The Times They Are A-Changin’

The Times They Are A-Changin’

Educate your customer and be ready to back up your product or service. Hello. My name is Roger. I have a couple of confessions to make. It is time for
  • Written by Urgent Communications Administrator
  • 1st July 2001

Educate your customer and be ready to back up your product or service.

Hello. My name is Roger. I have a couple of confessions to make. It is time for me to be honest with you. In my last column I told you a bit about myself. Now, I must offer you an insight into the inner Roger.

Confession #1 — When I was in college I played in a rock band. It was the ’60s, and my life revolved around my 1964 vintage Fender Stratocaster guitar. So, my public admission to you is (drum roll): I’m an old rocker who just never grew up. No long hair then. No hair now.

Confession #2 — When I was in the U.S. Air Force, I once had the nickname “The Whistler.” I never realized it, but often a situation would remind me of a song. And before I knew it, I would whistle it. I was even known to play the air guitar when I thought no one was watching. I was caught more than I care to admit.

Why do I need to mention this? Well, you see I want to learn more about what is important to you, the reader of Mobile Radio Technology. So, I invited three highly respected members of the mobile radio community to lunch. Although my purpose was to ask questions, I ended up becoming the “fly on the wall.” My guests conversed as friends who haven’t seen each other in some time. The “war” stories flew. I sat there, entranced, listening to them discuss what the mobile radio world used to be and what it is today. I asked a few questions, but I didn’t need to. I felt like “Grasshopper” in the old TV show Kung Fu.

No ponytails, then or now

As I listened, I noticed that two of my guests had ponytails. My envy, I hope, wasn’t too obvious. I had wanted to grow a ponytail when I was in the rock band. But my dad thought that “only hippies” grew them. I guess my clothes didn’t send the message, “Hey, Dad I am a hippie.” So, because I was a poor musician and student living at home, I acquiesced to no ponytail. Today, I couldn’t grow a ponytail if I started off as Secretariat.

After a highly enjoyable and educational lunch, I found myself whistling Bob Dylan’s “The Times They Are A-Changin’.” No air guitar. Heck, I had to keep my hands free to drive the car and be ready to answer my cellphone.

(OK. Confession #3 — My pet peeve, besides people who haven’t figured out how to use a turn signal, is people driving their cars attempting to use cellphones at the same time.)

The times, they did change

The discussion of my three co-lunchers made it clear that the mobile radio industry has undergone tremendous change. Of the many changes they discussed, the one that stuck out the most was how people do business today compared to 10, and even five, years ago. The same can be said for just about any industry that deals with technology. The creation of need drives the change in other technology markets. That need could be for a new application or capability, or the need to be “now.” (As in, “It’s new. I have to have it now.”)

In the mobile radio market, the need is much the same now as it was 10 years ago. Technology always has an impact, but not to the degree, say, that mobile telephony has seen. The real change is how people do business.

Roger’s quiz

Do you do business differently today than in the past?

  • Yes
  • No
  • Can’t remember that far back

Do you offer the same product lines and/or services that you did in the past?

  • Yes
  • No
  • Still waiting for the tubes to warm up

Are your clients as technically oriented as they were in the past?

  • Yes
  • Sort of
  • Can’t tell a gigahertz from a megahertz

This is a short quiz, but I think you can catch where I’m going. Of course you do not do business the way you used to. No matter whether you are a dealer or an operator (or both), to survive, you have had to change.

At IWCE 2001, I talked with a number of folks about their businesses and how they are approaching them. A few appeared to have stayed the course with little change. As one individual put it, “It’s a good ol’ boys network, anyhow.” This individual was in the minority. Most have had to deal with what technological changes have occurred and the level of experience and expertise their clients have.

The magic answer

No matter the problem, I suppose it’s human nature to look for the path of least resistance or the easy answer. Well, I’m here to offer Roger’s rule for doing business: Educate your customer and be ready to back up your product or service.

Is this too obvious? Most answers are. Yet, there are those, and you’ve met them, who take the “They have to come to us because where else are they going to go?” approach. Use this approach, and one day the customer will tell you where to go. Well, I feel a song coming on.

Come gather ’round people

Wherever you roam …

Tags: content

Related


  • RugGear: Contributing to the future of mission-critical broadband communication review and market vision
    As one of the leading international developers and manufacturers of rugged mobile phones, smartphones and tablets for professional use in extreme safety and working conditions RugGear is becoming an increasingly important player in the field of mission critical communications. With our high-performance mission critical flagship product RG760 we are proud to contribute to the future […]
  • Photo gallery: 2014 Communications Marketing Conference (CMC) in Tucson
    This photo gallery features scenes from the 2014 Communications Marketing Conference (CMC) in Tucson, Ariz.
  • Top 5 Stories - Week of Sept. 22
    Top 5 Stories - Week of Sept. 22
    Here’s a look at the most popular stories on IWCE’s Urgent Communications from the last week.
  • RCA plans to expand this year's Technical Symposium
    RCA plans to expand this year's Technical Symposium
    Recent presentations, given by both startups and major corporations, have included fractal antennas, LTE, emergency communications, "invisibility cloaks" using RF, disabling IEDs with RF and tropospheric ducting.

Leave a comment Cancel reply

To leave a comment login with your Urgent Comms account:

Log in with your Urgent Comms account

Or alternatively provide your name, email address below:

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Related Content

  • Newscan: Indiana 911 dispatch-center deadline looms
  • Newscan: Texting 911 becomes an option for some Pennylvania cell-phone users
  • Newscan: Senator wants inventory of government spectrum
  • CMA conducts 40th conference this week

Commentary


Unlocking the power of ESInets: Different NG911 provisioning approaches exist; level of control is key differentiator

7th April 2021

Ransomware? Let’s call it what it really is: extortionware

21st February 2021

Redefining communications for today’s mobile workforces

18th February 2021
view all

Events


UC Ezines


IWCE 2019 Wrap Up

13th May 2019
view all

Twitter


UrgentComm

Newscan: Single sign-in for government services expands to states, localities dlvr.it/RxLQNR

9th April 2021
UrgentComm

‘Life-saving technology’: AST SpaceMobile CEO outlines capabilities of direct-to-smartphone LEO satellite service dlvr.it/RxKqvp

9th April 2021
UrgentComm

Handcuffs over AI: Solving security challenges with law enforcement dlvr.it/RxGtpD

8th April 2021
UrgentComm

Fujistsu: Cyber cretins are casing out private 5G dlvr.it/RxGnfN

8th April 2021
UrgentComm

Faster in-vehicle Wi-Fi dependent on faster connectivity dlvr.it/RxGnZL

8th April 2021
UrgentComm

Digital-health infrastructure benefits from cloud-to-edge architecture dlvr.it/RxFcjx

8th April 2021
UrgentComm

All actions monitored: The 10 most surveilled major cities in the U.S. dlvr.it/RxFZHV

8th April 2021
UrgentComm

Unlocking the power of ESInets: Different NG911 provisioning approaches exist; level of control is key differentiat… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

7th April 2021

Newsletter

Sign up for UrgentComm’s newsletters to receive regular news and information updates about Communications and Technology.

Expert Commentary

Learn from experts about the latest technology in automation, machine-learning, big data and cybersecurity.

Business Media

Find the latest videos and media from the market leaders.

Media Kit and Advertising

Want to reach our digital and print audiences? Learn more here.

DISCOVER MORE FROM INFORMA TECH

  • American City & County
  • IWCE
  • Light Reading
  • IOT World Today
  • Mission Critical Technologies
  • Microwave/RF
  • T&D World
  • TU-Auto

WORKING WITH US

  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Events
  • Careers

FOLLOW Urgent Comms ON SOCIAL

  • Privacy
  • CCPA: “Do Not Sell My Data”
  • Cookies Policy
  • Terms
Copyright © 2021 Informa PLC. Informa PLC is registered in England and Wales with company number 8860726 whose registered and Head office is 5 Howick Place, London, SW1P 1WG.
This website uses cookies, including third party ones, to allow for analysis of how people use our website in order to improve your experience and our services. By continuing to use our website, you agree to the use of such cookies. Click here for more information on our Cookie Policy and Privacy Policy.
X