How to CLEC Right

CBeyond is in the news again. (They have a great PR person, which is part of their success - stay in front of your audience). CBeyond "has in the year since going public paid off all of its debt and is expected to increase sales 35 percent in 2006 from the previous year. The company also has seen its per-share stock value nearly triple from $12 a share to $30 and has been profitable every quarter since going public on the Nasdaq in November 2005." They use sneaker marketing to target their snall business market of 5 - 100 employees. Granted, they blow through salespeople, but you need a sales force to reach the SMB, especially if you want your company to make "an average of $743 per month per customer" with low customer churn. They sell a focused product set in just 7 cities - and have gathered 26,000 customers. The same amount of customers that USLEC claims - and USLEC is in many more markets with a shifting focus, and now pending merger.