April 2010

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Money Hours

April 28, 2010

Talking with a client yesterday about good salespeople. One thing that makes for good salespeople is the understanding of Money Hours. What are Money Hours? Any time of day that you could be interfacing with a current client or prospects. Basically, 8-6 PM is Money Hours.

Paperwork, quotes, data entry - all the other stuff shouldn't be done during Money Hours. Great salespeople know that you spend as many hours as possible in Money Hours with client sand prospects.

Posted in sales and selling

Tagged: sales : Related Tags: money hours, hours, money, client, salespeople

So HP Buys Palm

April 28, 2010

So we know wireless is essential for technology companies going into the future. And obviously HP thinks so because HP just announced that the acquisition of struggling Palm company for $1.2B!

I know many folks that used the Treo as a PDA smart phone. But Palm just couldn't follow that up for some reason. I wonder if HP is buying Palm for the pipeline and contracts or for the intellectual property. Either way it seems like HP paid a lot for a couple of handsets.

Posted in cellular, mergers, wireless

Tagged: cellular, merger, wireless : Related Tags:

The Landline Dilemma

April 26, 2010

As CenturyTel buys up Embarq and Qwest and Windstream buys up IOC's and CLEC's, the question remains: What do you do with all that declining wireline revenue with mounting debt?

Unless 100MB DSL becomes a reality that can be rolled out to 75% of their base, I don't see how these 2 ILEC's pay back the debt.< p/>

Their FTTx strategy is in pilot status. How do they compete against DOCSIS 3.0 from the top MSO's?

Posted in cellular, fiber, telco, wireline

Tagged: broadband, ilec, landline, wireline : Related Tags: centurylink, business, cellular, possible, consumer

SalesForce.com Buys Jigsaw

April 22, 2010

SalesForce.com is approaching a $3B year. They took a small part of that to buy Jigsaw for $143M. Why?

Steve Cadley is a SalesForce.com partner who helps businesses with sales performance via implementation of Miller Heiman process and SalesForce.com CRM system.

Posted in mergers, sales and selling

Tagged: cadley, merger, sales : Related Tags: salesforce, jigsaw

Qwest Merging with CenturyLink

April 22, 2010

News reports this morning from NYTimes, BusinesWeek and MarketWatch have CenturyLink merging with Qwest in an all stock deal. Huh?!

"The firms say the deal values Qwest at $22.4 billion, including $11.8 billion of assumed debt." [MW]

"The combination creates a national, 173,000-mile fiber network, the firms said.

Posted in FCC, mergers, telco, wireline

Tagged: embarq, merger, qwest, telco, wireline : Related Tags: following transaction, approximately million, qwest, centurylink, million, customers

TCA Looking for a Few Good Agents

April 21, 2010

The Technology Channel Association is looking for a few good Agents. Are you a VAR, Inter-Connect, Systems Integrator, MSP, MCP, or traditional telecom agent?

Join TCA!

No. Really. Take 5 minutes to join the only non-profit trade association that is actively working to improve your industry - and thus your livelihood.

Like any non-profit, we need a few active volunteers to get projects done. That's where you come in. On May 5th at 1 PM Eastern time, we will be having an open agent call to get volunteers to help with membership and other activities. If you are interested, please join TCA or ping me. Thanks.

Posted in TCA, VAR, agents, channel

Tagged: agents, channel partners, TCA, tca : Related Tags:

This is not a Phone Booth

April 21, 2010

This is not a phone booth. It's a car. Try driving without using your cell phone.

Posted in cellular, off topic

Tagged: cellular, rant, security : Related Tags: phone booth, phone

HD Voice Coming to the Cloud

April 20, 2010

Today, the Cloud Communications Alliance™ launched at the Cloud Computing Expo in NYC. The Cloud Comm Alliance consists of 8 ITSP members: Alteva, Broadcore, Callis Communications, Consolidated Technologies Inc., IPFone, SimpleSignal, Stage 2 Networks and Telesphere. [see member profiles here]. The consortium will drive development and adoption of the first nationwide high-definition enterprise voice and data network in the IP Cloud.

Posted in apps, cloud computing, communications, sip trunking, voip

Tagged: apps, HD Voice, peering, sip trunk, UC, voip : Related Tags: cloud communications, consolidated technologies, networks telesphere, communications alliance, broadcore callis, cloud

Big Changes at the Big Bell

April 20, 2010

The agent that dragged me into Telecom back in 1999 sold his telecom agency on New Year's Eve. He was a Gold Partner for many years but met with me in November because he saw the writing on the wall. Things were constantly changing behind the wall of the Big Bell, but this time it was going to be disasterous.

2009 marked huge changes with 50 hours of training; separate divisions walled in; and a major push into mobility. And a major shift in commissions to a one-time upfront payment. In 2010, it got worse.

One of the biggest problems with the Bell program has always the numerous promotions and how they are applied.

Posted in agents, bellsouth agent, channel, telecommunications

Tagged: channel partners, ethics, telecom is broken : Related Tags: agent

Chatting with Jon Arnold

April 16, 2010

I enjoy talking telecom, especially with other smart people in the Industry. Here are two short conversations with Industry Analyst, Jon Arnold. Jon Arnold discusses Cyber Security, but more specifically on Jon's take on the Shadow Network that he wrote about.

Hacks happen every day. What measures are you taking to protect the integrity of your data and identity?

Jon and I also talked about the state of Unified Communications.

Posted in security, unified communications

Tagged: security, UC, unified messaging : Related Tags: arnold

What Does UC Mean?

April 14, 2010

Peter Davis from XO and I walked around VoiceCon 2010 in Orlando asking people what UC means. The answers were all over the map -- and some off the map.

UC is not one solution. It is a number of pieces that can be put together in respond to business needs.

Not everyone is a knowledge worker or a customer service rep, so not every worker needs the full boat of Unified Communications. Luckily, you can deliver a solution to a business tailored to each worker. That's the flexibility and benefit of UC.

Posted in communications, telecommunications, unified communications, xo

Tagged: UC, unified messaging : Related Tags: worker

How Do You Raise An Ocean?

April 13, 2010

So this morning is the TCA Channel Chief Summmit where we will discuss some of the following:

How do you raise the ocean? Not only grow the Indirect Channel but make the pie whole?

How do you improve the indirect channel? How do agents sell more and sell upstream (in other words, migrate from TDM to the IP Communications world)?

How do we implement a Certification Program for telecom agents?

What are the Best Practices in the Indirect Channel inside the Carriers?

Motorola, Qwest, Level3, XO, Global Crossing, InterCall, NetWolves, US Signal, and SalesStream will all be represented, as well as the following agent companies: COLOTraq, Microcorp, TBI, WTG, AB&T Telecom, Avant Communications, Communications Management Partners and RAD-INFO, Inc.

Posted in TCA, agents, channel

Tagged: agents, channel partners, TCA : Related Tags: indirect channel, raise ocean, channel, communications, indirect

2G, 3G, 4G - All Fluff

April 12, 2010

The AT&T versus Verizon Wireless ads are annoying. So is Sprint. Luckily, I never see T-Mobile ads any more. (And thankfully Alltel is no more). I've been with Sprint since 2002 or so.

Posted in cellular, wireless

Tagged: cellular, rant : Related Tags: network, sprint

TCA Channel Chief Summit

April 7, 2010

On Tuesday, the TCA Board gets together with the executives in charge of the channel of the TCA Vendor companies - Level3, XO, Motorola, Qwest, US Signal, SalesStream, NetWolves, Intercall and Global Crossing.

What's up for discussion? Raising the Bar for the Indirect Channel and Taking the Channel to a new level of performance and results. That's the marketing answer.

How to increase value in the ChannelHow to increase effectiveness of Channel PartnersSales ResearchCode of Ethics and the Certified Agent ProgramIt's going to be a full day and a half. You should have joined so that you could be there. Maybe next time.

Posted in TCA, agents, channel

Tagged: channel partners, TCA : Related Tags: channel

Why Buy From an Agent?

April 7, 2010

As I start preparing for the TCA Channel Chief Summit next week, I have been reviewing the topics for discussion. One that pops in my head is Why Buy From an Agent instead of a Direct Rep?

In review of my client roster, many came to me because I had a deeper understanding of the products I was selling than most AE's. In fact, early in my career, I was brought in to a number of deals because of my knowledge of not just the product offering but also all the pieces that were required by the client to make that work.

Lately, it's a price game. VoIP Origination and Termination, Internet Bandwidth and transport (private line, MPLS, waves) - it comes down to availability and price.

Posted in agents, bandwidth, channel, sales and selling

Tagged: channel partners, selling : Related Tags: price, knowledge, because

Mergers & Rumors

April 7, 2010

A compilation of mergers, news and rumors:

Rumor: VZ and Vodafone deal

IPO: Broadsoft and Telx both for $100M IPO's; meanwhile, Calix already raised $80m in an IPO this year.

WSJ says that Palm is in trouble.

Posted in FCC, mergers

Tagged: broadsoft, fcc, level3, megapath, mergers, xo : Related Tags: comcast

Tampa as an iPhone App Hub

April 5, 2010

Tampa Bay may not be a top tech hub in the US, but I think that we certainly hold our own when it comes to iPhone Application Development. We have a few shining stars in that department and I have had the pleasure of meeting them when I was organizing the original BarCamp Tampa Bay.

First up is Jody Haneke of Haneke Design. Haneke has an impressive list of clients and recently completed an iPhone app for HP. Haneke was on stage at DEMO 2009 in the fall with fellow Tampa CEO Steve Tingiris of Enthusem.com, when Enthusem launched with its Haneke designed iPhone app.

Posted in apps, technology

Tagged: apps, iphone, tampa : Related Tags: barcamp tampa, tampa iphone, tampa, iphone, haneke, barcamp

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An Interview with MegaPath

April 2, 2010

This is the raw footage of an interview with Dan Foster, Chief Sales and Marketing Officer at MegaPath Inc., that we did yesterday.

The first question is about the bundling of the SUTUS Business Central 200 for the Channel. MegaPath's priority is Inter-operability with IP-PBX vendors like SUTUS. MegaPath is the SIP Trunking Partner, pushing leads back to the VAR/Integrator/dealer network, including a rebate off the hardware (if available).

Posted in CLEC, PBX, agents, bandwidth, broadband, broadsoft, channel

Tagged: broadband, broadsoft, channel partners, dsl, megapath, sutus : Related Tags: megapath, channel, foster

On Rad's Radar?

April 2010