D2DCon 2024 | Empowering Communities with Fiber: Tshacha Romeo on Brightspeed's Door-to-Door Fiber Solutions | The D2D Podcast

In this episode of The D2D Podcast, Clint Root interviews Tshacha Romeo, National Sales Channel Manager at Brightspeed, a rapidly growing internet provider focused on delivering reliable, next-generation fiber internet to underserved and rural areas across the U.S. Tshacha shares his wealth of experience in telecom and door-to-door sales, explaining how Brightspeed is leveraging personal interactions to introduce their cutting-edge fiber solutions to new communities.

Tshacha outlines how Brightspeed’s advanced XGS-PON fiber technology offers superior internet speeds and reliability, ensuring seamless experiences for households relying on broadband for work, entertainment, and education. He emphasizes the crucial role that door-to-door sales teams play in educating customers about Brightspeed’s offerings, ensuring that each home receives the best possible internet service tailored to their needs.

You’ll find answers to questions such as:

• How is Brightspeed using door-to-door sales to expand its fiber network?
• What makes Brightspeed's fiber optic technology superior to traditional broadband solutions?
• How does Brightspeed’s XGS-PON technology future-proof homes for increasing digital demands?
• Why is door-to-door sales essential for customer education in the fiber industry?
• What are the biggest growth opportunities for fiber internet in underserved communities?

Get in touch with Tshacha:
LinkedIn: Tshacha Romeo
Website: Brightspeed

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Transcript

00:07
All right, we're here at door to door con 2024 door to door con seven. We are pushing a new initiative here at the door to door experts, which is fiber cells. Fiber cells. We're sitting here with one of my favorite people, Tshacha Romeo. To just to kick it off real quick, tell us a little bit about yourself, Tshacha. One, I'm a United States Marine veteran, so definitely proud to serve my country.

00:37
I've been in telecom since 2000 and what I like about my experience in telecom is I've always been into direct sales management. We're working with corporate and external partners from a door-to-door sales perspective and really have been in the fiber sales since 2003. Love the environment. I love the opportunity that we bring to customers via fiber, but I definitely love the sales

01:07
via the door-to-door experience as a personal touch. And that's why I've just never left that industry since day one. So I'm excited about it, excited to be here at Door-to-DoorCon and really see just a bunch of magnificent individuals out here that really, really are passionate about their careers in door-to-door. So what do you really think? What do you think about Door-to-DoorCon? You just said this is the first time you've ever been. Yes. Tell us a little bit about your experience so far. What sticks out to you? Honestly, when I walked through the doors and saw the panels,

01:37
had to FaceTime my wife was like oh my gosh I thought I was like at walking into a CES convention just with all the high-tech you know the lights and just the displays I was very impressed like I said I've been involved in door-to-door since 2003 and this is probably the best experience I've seen as far as a sales seminar overall so I was really really excited as well as my team was that's joining me here. Excellent so we're just getting kicked off here too at

02:06
A lot of cool speakers coming up Lance Armstrong's gonna be here, you know Sean White What it what are you looking as because you've got a booth here at door-to-door con? What inspired you to get the booth and tell me what you're trying to get out of it? What inspired us to get the booth? initially, we you know, we saw the information about door-to-door con online We are bright speed, you know, we're brand new I like, you know in the business trying to provide a fiber optic internet solution

02:36
to, you know, throughout the 20 states that we have. Being brand new, a lot of people don't know about Bright Speed. But also with my experience in Door to Door and knowing how we can actually, you know, introduce our product to our customers as a solution to their internet needs, we came here as an opportunity to let these partners know that, hey, we're Bright Speed, we're new, and we're looking to get partners to join us.

03:06
Be our voices, to be our face out there in the communities, in these markets that definitely need door to door, basically will help us increase our sales penetration, but also ultimately give that customer the best sales experience to make sure that we right size them for their needs at their home. So really excited to see you guys here, Embark, one of our top performers right now that's currently with us, which I think could be a testimony.

03:36
to all the others that are out here just looking to join with us. They can definitely reach out to you and extend to learn more about us. So we're excited about that opportunity. We're really grateful to have you guys here. I want to because I look at you as a person, an authority in the fiber space, somebody who eats, sleeps, drinks fiber. There's something weird going on in America right now with fiber. Tell us, give us like the as Tshaka sees it. What is the state of the union of fiber in America?

04:06
Well, when you look at it, when I look at our market and what we acquired, when we initially acquired the former Centrelink assets, I think the fiber presence was about 3% of that market. So now when you think about underserved communities who don't have the technology that a high-speed broadband internet service can provide them, really is going to help us connect to these rural areas.

04:36
and give them the actual solutions that can bring them up to speed to utilize. I mean think about everything that piggybacks off of the internet from over-the-top streaming services and just from a technological standpoint, fiber is important you know for everyone in America to have access to it and that's what's really drew my interest to come to BrightSpeed just to see that we're really reaching out to our communities to provide that solution. Not only we're

05:06
just a fiber but we're bringing a technology that's referred to as XGS Pond that will really bring the next future proof fiber optic internet service. So yeah, I love that and actually I want I want to talk about that for real quick And not a lot of people think fiber is new like it just came out five years ago into new technology There's actually different technologies within the fiber space and I again I look at you as an authority of somebody who knows a lot more Than the average Joe about fiber

05:36
out there, you know, they know that fiber is glass and light and it comes through the telephone poles or it goes through the ground and comes to their house and provides them internet. Talk a little bit more about the different technologies in the history of fiber that might be interesting to people listening to this. Well, from my experience and what I've learned, what's really cool about the technology is a lot of times, a lot of people think there's a lot of instruments in between this, amplifiers to make it the signal strong.

06:06
Thanks for watching!

06:07
The technology is built off like a passive optical network. Really there's like no electronic components from, once it leaves the central office, it goes through the optical line terminals. It's just a beam of pure light that's going through glass and we're bringing it all the way to the customer's premise. We're not stopping at the curb to create that bottleneck of speed. We're bringing it all the way to their home. So why is it better than copper then?

06:37
Why would I want fiber optics? One, the corrosion and copper, one, is more expensive to maintain. It doesn't provide you the bandwidth that you can really utilize at your home. The way communities are growing in size, when you're using that network on a copper, you have issues with corrosion in the ground, with water and snow, whatever. These neighborhoods are growing larger and larger. That shared bandwidth.

07:07
gives the customer a unfriendly user experience. Remember the days of buffering. That's still relevant to a lot of consumers out there. Fiber optics eliminate that, especially when it's brought all the way to your home. And the good thing with BrightSpeed Fiber, we're making the whole home Wi-Fi 6 technology, which is one of the latest standards in the Wi-Fi industry. So we're excited about the opportunity that BrightSpeed can bring to our consumers and our markets.

07:37
you'd agree, fiber optic gap. Absolutely. Copper's kind of going away. Absolutely. Out with the old and with the new. Absolutely. So if that's the case, talk to the door-to-door experience right now. What does that look like in the fiber space? Well, in the fiber space for us, we're BrightSpeed. What the customer's going to see when our partners are out selling our product, they're going to see BrightSpeed. They're going to see someone in a BrightSpeed hat, BrightSpeed shirt, BrightSpeed clipboard, BrightSpeed vest.

08:06
everything about them is going to be bright speed. That experience, we feel straight to your home. The good thing about that is we can identify what your needs are in your home. It's not just over the phone experience. We have that opportunity to ask more intimate questions about, you know, a lot of times you walk up to homes, you see all the smart security, the doorbells. Those things require, you know, good bandwidth. And we can actually better educate the customers utilizing our external partners.

08:36
the door-to-door sales tactic to really transition these customers over to something that's going to be really exciting that's going to change their lives. You know, since pandemic, so many people are now working from home. Broadband solution is going to be the key. You know, so many people now transition their students' education at home. So think about how much, you know, bandwidth is being used in a household today and where we're going to in the future. And just looking around

09:06
It's going to be important to make sure that we right size our customers and future-proof their homes to be able to handle all of the technology and tech, but still allow them to be efficient in their homes, still be productive with work, and also a source of entertainment. Totally, yeah. Absolutely. Everybody nowadays, it used to be internet service was a utility for the home. It was just a utility. And now, well, I'm sorry, not a utility. I meant it used to be a luxury.

09:36
Yes, right back when it first came in it was a luxury and it was like hey, this is pretty cool now It's a utility right and that's what we're seeing right now It's into me people are starting to turn off the TV as far as you know in the room I've seen a lot of a lot of families now will huddle around In the living room just like normal they turn off the TV and everybody's got the Wi-Fi the other phones out They're watching whatever they want to watch right so times have certainly changed right so If you were to get your crystal ball What's where are we going with this as far as?

10:06
fiber, what's the next three to five years look like in the industry? For us, specifically at BrightSpeed, it's just expanding our reach and providing that solution. You know with everything that's coming behind with the way we're transitioning from a technological standpoint, I mean there's so many things that I see in the future that from payment systems to new streaming

10:36
corner there's a VR booth you know yeah and not to speak to them specifically but look at what Apple's getting ready to do for the first time jump into VR imagine the type of bandwidth that we need so broadband is the future like we say the Internet of Things broadband is going to be the backbone to every solution in the home because you think about it today the average home when you

11:06
you know, smart tech in your home, like refrigerators, appliances, the average home probably has 10 plus devices that's connected via Wi-Fi. And Wi-Fi is the future, not hardwired connections. I think we're setting ourselves up to be prepared for that future need. Yeah, so I just got back from CES in Las Vegas. Right, you called me a couple of weeks ago, I think it was, down at CES. You know what my takeaways were? We're heading into a future

11:36
VR, right? There's a lot of robots, which is mind-blowing, scary, but that's where we're headed, right? Scary and exciting. But we're also going through a revolution in our TVs, which I thought was really interesting, right? One of the things that I saw was like a TV that's transparent. It's the wildest thing. I don't even know how to describe it. It was pretty wild, right? And I look at these new innovations and the direction where the world's heading right.

12:06
now and the funny thing is you can connect internet and fiber optics to every single thing that they had down there at CES without that connectivity without the Wi-Fi none of it mattered. Absolutely. Even the cars now it's crazy. So and that's key you know you say AI then you still have robotics. Yeah I mean today you can put a simple query in AI and in seconds almost real time you know what's pushing that.

12:36
that. Probably a fiber optic internet service. So as fiber continue to expand and grow, I mean think about the opportunities that fiber to sell towers potentially in the future can offer. Wireless speeds, you know, being potentially gigabit speeds. There's so much in the future that having that foundation of the next generation fiber optics will really put us ahead of the game compared to our competitors. So, this is obviously door to door con, right?

13:06
a lot of these people, everybody here has knocked doors or has some sort of interest in knocking doors, right? How important is door to door sales for your organization? Right now, door to door sales for our organization is gonna be key. The good thing about it, as we build fiber, the moment we light up an area, that same day or the next day, I can have representatives there, speaking on behalf of Rice Beans, educating the customers.

13:36
they saw construction going on in the streets, now we can come out and give them that personal experience. So think of door to door, don't look at it as solicitation, look at it as we're now your community expert to tell you about everything that's going on and what this fiber optic solution can provide to you in your home. So I think it's going to be vital, me personally, because it's my channel, I want us to be the number one leaders to that.

14:06
industry, well as far as delivering the sales volumes that our company wants, you know, but I see us being either in the top tier, that's going to be vital to BrightSpeed's future and growth. So that's why we're here to say, hey, we're here having partners like you guys who's done a tremendous job from day one, making a huge presence in our market. The future, there's the sky's the limit from that point on.

14:35
out there. His name's Elon Musk. Have you heard of him? Absolutely. So he's got this new technology called Starlink. What is that a threat? What are your thoughts? I don't know too much about Starlink and the source that provides their internet solutions, but I can only imagine it has to be fiber going to a tower shooting to a satellite. It's a satellite. Who knows what that infrastructure looks like?

15:05
But I still think that the foundation is fiber somewhere. Would it be something to compete? I hope that BrightSpeed could be a solution to a Tesla industry or a Tesla competitor or anyone. We want to be a part of their future needs. So a lot of people are investing in SaaS. Software is a solution. We want to be the foundation that's going to make that software work through FiberOptics. Yeah, it's kind of funny you say that.

15:35
fiber optics now maybe close to a decade, realistically, telecom for 20 years. But what I find interesting about this industry is like as a sales rep, right, that's where I cut my teeth, I wanted to be able to sell before I could do anything else. So as a sales rep, I wanna be an expert in my field, so I wanna know everything there is to know about whatever product I'm selling, right? So anyway, I just, I have to tell you about a time, like so I'm in Pennsylvania, I'm selling fiber, and I remember I made a sale the next day,

16:05
I go back to the house and the technicians there, he's installing the fiber to the home, right? So being the person that I am, I want to know, I want to see what this guy does. I want to see how he hooks it up to the house. So anyway, I go to the house and the pedal stool that sits outside, right? And he's opening it up, he's really friendly, and he's very knowledgeable and he's saying, okay, this is how we splice the fiber, right? This is glass and light and the light is directional, right? And so the more that he's throwing out these weird nuances to me, I'm sitting here going,

16:35
really interesting. So I just go a little, I go a layer deeper and I want to know and I want to know and I want to...and it just got to the point where he's telling me about how the light is directional with fiber optics. And that's where he stopped and he said, beyond that, man, it's just alien technology. That's what it is. And I think that's our industry that we're in is that this technology is so incredibly simple yet complex. And it's so fun to be a part of and see, you know, when you do get somebody that's in the

17:05
or really slow speeds to see them get fiber optics. And it's like, you might as well be Santa Claus, right? It's just, it's so much fun to be a part of. What are the things in this industry that you're most excited about? In the industry of fiber optics, or just in the door to door. Door to door, or fiber optics in general? Well, being at door to door con, from my personal experience, outside of my career,

17:35
When I look at my household, you know how I got alarmed at my house? Someone knocked on my door, educated me about a vivid product. You know when I got a water softener with reverse osmosis? Someone knocked on my door and said, hey, have you noticed about the water in the city of Tampa and saw the pictures of my family, your kids? It's like, let me show you what's in the water.

18:05
putting into your kids. And just to see that demonstration, to see how he was really involved and concerned about my well-being, my family's well-being, and educated me on a product that I needed, I purchased a $4,000 or $5,000 water softener and reverse osmosis system because someone knocked on my door. Solar, same thing. And there's so many things that I've actually purchased. Got so close, my wife didn't want to do it, but I almost bought her a $2,000.

18:35
vacuum cleaner. There you go. There you go. But you know, he's old school. I pull out my vacuum and then he back is behind me and I'm like, I'm missing all of this. And I paid like two, $300 for that vacuum. So when I look at a lot of things that's brought to my home that brought value or improve my health, my well-being or just luxury, a lot of that interaction has occurred via door to door. I wouldn't have known to look for those things.

19:05
technology is So many people watching YouTube for entertainment We don't see the advertisement that we used to see via TV and commercials Or even billboards that really educate us on things that we need So from a door-to-door perspective, it's that's what I say is vital to everyone You know and it's for your experience think about all the solutions That you provided to customers in your 20 years experience in this industry, so

19:35
You know, that's what I like about it because it's very vital to every single person, regardless of the product or the company that you're representing. Fantastic. So, last question for you is we'll wrap this up. I want to hear from somebody that has clearly climbed the corporate ladder, very involved in door-to-door. What advice would you give somebody that's just starting off in the telecom, maybe specifically Fiverr Space? What would be the best advice you could give them?

20:05
From a sales perspective, definitely engage with your marketing team, identifying what solutions, what tactics are we utilizing from a marketing perspective to really drive the penetration and hit the goals that our organization is looking for.

20:29
Really understanding the dynamics of everyone's role that involves our sales cycle. From presentation, to selling, or the processing, the installation, and then the overall customer experience about it. To really understand all of that, if you're going into a telecom industry, really understand that, because that's what's going to help you be successful in any aspect of the business.

20:59
telecom space, broadband space, around fiber optics. Because for me that was been vital to help me identify solutions, just internal things that we can improve the customer experience. Understanding that full circle about the business and not coming in just one sided, just sales, sales, sales and trying to improve penetration. Really understand what the back end, understand the customer mindset because the mind share in the community is going to be important.

21:29
share with your partner as well as understanding the goals and objectives that you have to meet to maintain customers. You know, me fantastic. Yeah. Well, really glad you came. I'm really glad you made the trek out here from Florida. Yes. It's a cold Utah. Really enjoy talking to you. Love working with you guys. To shocker Romeo. Thank you, Clint. Very nice to meet you. And I'm glad to be here at door to door con seven and we will be here at eight, nine and 10.

21:59
I'm sorry.