Based in Decatur, Indiana, FrugalBrothers Software Inc., provides network security solutions and consulting services to small and mid-size businesses and nonprofits. In addition to reselling software, the company offers its own low-cost, anti-spam, anti-virus e-mail gateway, the Spamagator.  With its theme of thrift, FrugalBrothers hosts a streaming video program called The FrugalTech Show to give budget-minded small firms practical insights into different technology options and their advantages and disadvantages. Owner Bruce Naylor, who is featured in the videos, posts them to a community site for viewing on demand.

The challenge: effectively selling technology nationwide with minimal travel

When Naylor opened FrugalBrothers in 2006, he immediately recognized that his small firm, with only a few employees, needed a cost-effective way to reach prospects, demonstrate software and provide training. “Our solutions are a technical sell to technical people. We need to demonstrate and explain complex features and functionality that are hard to communicate in e-mail or walk through on the phone. But we simply do not have the time and resources to travel all over the country for onsite meetings.”

He continued, “And today, with the high price of gas, it makes even less economic sense to visit a prospect or customer location.”

He recalled his frustration at driving 120 miles to a school system in Indianapolis for a software presentation that did not go as planned. “We effectively closed down the business for a day and had everything ready to do a presentation on the product. But when we arrived, we found the school system had this super firewall that prevented us from remotely accessing our server. And it got worse – their staff wasn’t prepared, and a lot of people were too busy to come to the meeting. It was a fiasco, and cost me much more than the gas in terms of lost productivity.”

Implementing GoToMeeting for remote sales

Naylor began investigating different remote meeting solutions but found a number of downsides – mainly in the area of cost-effectiveness. “Many of these products are prohibitively expensive.” With Citrix® GoToMeeting®, Naylor found a solution that not only offered all the features he needed, but also provided the best value – a prime consideration for a company named Frugal.

Currently, Naylor and his staff use GoToMeeting for the complete sales cycle, including product presentations and demos, explanations of features and functionality, and post-sales support. “We are using GoToMeeting more and more to show off and explain the features of the software so there’s no confusion on the part of the customer. It’s crystal clear,” he said.

Providing the most for the money

According to Naylor, one of the most attractive aspects of GoToMeeting is the price. “You get a lot for your money with GoToMeeting compared to competitive products. We pay less than the cost of one tank of gas for our monthly subscription to the GoToMeeting service. The All You Can Meet fee structure gives us unlimited meetings for that small price. And look at all the other features you get – conference calling, Voice over IP functionality and meetings on the fly with up to 15 people, to name just a few.”

He added, “Secondly, Citrix Online does something I respect a lot, which is improving the product constantly without increasing the price. For example, the latest version added support for Macintosh workstations. That’s great news for FrugalBrothers, because I see more and more small businesses using Macs, and we can now conduct online product presentations and demos with these companies.”

A must-have for business growth and competitive advantage

FrugalBrothers considers GoToMeeting is a must-have tool for enabling growth and competitiveness.  “Without GoToMeeting, selling to and supporting customers outside our local area would be impossible. Almost all of our sales are done online.” For example, GoToMeeting helped Naylor land a $40,000 sale from a university located six hours’ drive away. “Because of the complexity of this implementation, which involved Fax over IP, there was a lot of technical material to go over. GoToMeeting made it possible to win this customer without having to drive there over and over again.”

In another situation, Naylor made a tremendous, positive impression on a prospective customer by using GoToMeeting. “The president of this company called me about problems with a server, and I invited him to join an online meeting. I made him the presenter so I could see his screen, and then had him give me mouse and keyboard control so I could diagnose the problem. He was amazed that we could work on his system without being there, and that he didn’t have to wait for a technician to show up. As a result, we negotiated a support package with them.”

Because Naylor and his team do the majority of their work remotely, FrugalBrothers can offer rates that are less than those charged by an onsite technician. Thanks to this cost-effective sales model, the company is growing and adding more staff. Naylor added, “We are expanding into managed services for communities in Indiana, and I can see that GoToMeeting will be a very useful tool in allowing us to provide these services without getting in the car.”

An endorsement from The FrugalTech Show

Naylor not only uses GoToMeeting for his own customers, but also has recommended it to other small businesses through The FrugalTech Show. “Small businesses don’t have money to waste on the wrong technology. On the videos, we give them our honest opinion of different solutions – are they worth the money or not? There’s no doubt that GoToMeeting is worth every penny. Like phone service, it’s an indispensible business tool that you don’t think twice about paying for.”

About Citrix Online

Citrix Online provides secure, easy-to-use online solutions that enable people to work from anywhere with anyone. Whether using GoToMyPC® to access and work on a remote PC, GoToAssist® to support customers or GoToMeeting® to hold online meetings and Webinars, our customers – more than 35,000 businesses and hundreds of thousands of individuals – are increasing productivity, decreasing travel costs and improving sales, training and service on a global basis. A division of Citrix Systems, Inc. (Nasdaq: CTXS), Citrix Online is based in Santa Barbara, California. For more information, visit www.citrixonline.com or call 805-690-6400.

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