Peter : On Rad's Radar?
Peter
| Peter Radizeski of RAD-INFO, Inc. talking telecom, Cloud, VoIP, CLEC, and The Channel.

agents

7.5 Things Affecting the Channel

July 18, 2012

There have been some changes in the Channel. Agents need to pay attention because this will result in even more changes in the Channel!

  1. Windstream laid off their Channel Chief, Dan Sterling. Windstream has been trimming the management fat this year.

Good News from CenturyLink Channel

July 10, 2012



Sat in on the CenturyLink Channel Alliance - Get back in the Game Roadshow in Tampa this morning. It was nice to see Stacy Conrad from Microcorp; Josh Anderson and his co-workers from Telephony Partners; Dale Tucker from CCA; and put a face to an old Qwest SE, William Hobbs, now a CCA Emerging Sales Technology Consultant (ETSC) for Florida. Hobbs did a nice job on Why VPDC and The Benefit of Cloud over Colo. The roadshow had 3 parts (Hobbs did part 2):

  • New Savvis-CenturyLink Phase II Rules of Engagment overview;
  • Cloud/Hosting Solutions portfolio;
  • Third Party Data Center Updates/E-Line;

Dale Tucker went over the Rules of Engagement, You definitely need charts and glossaries to follow along the categories and acronymns.

All About Low Price

July 4, 2012

I write about Low Price a lot.

While reading a trade journal, it got me thinking again about why this industry sells on price.

My thoughts:

You go low price because you either don't want to take the effort to sell or you suck at sales.

The Sales SWAT Team

July 3, 2012

Zayo Group announced the formation of a dedicated team focused on Small Cell and Fiber to the Tower (FTT) initiative (in this press release). That's a good idea. In fact, when RAD-INFO INC is consulting on mergers between TDM companies and cloud companies, this is one approach that we have used.

There are different types of salespeople.

The Mobile Master Agent

July 2, 2012

There is a lot of chatter in the Channel about Transactional agents being replaced by VAR's and Consultative Agents. I see Master Agents having to do a similar dance real soon.

Tech Data is one of the largest VAD (value added distributors) in the world. Most VAR's have an account with TD to buy hardware.

Agent Exclusivity

June 26, 2012

There is a lot of talk in the Channel about Agent exclusivity to Master Agencies. Most of the talk is from Masters.

Telecom is an industry of short memory. We forget everything.

We forget that MCI left many agents high and dry when they filed the largest BK in history (up to that time).

We forget that telecom companies have a history of BK - Cogent, Above.Net, MCI, XO, Integra, Williams, Global Crossing, Birch, MacLeod, Winstar, Adelphia, Covad and the other DLEC's (see here and here and here).





8x8: The Channel View

June 25, 2012

I spoke with a sub-agent of 8x8, Tom Palmer, President of Adrena Speed Solutions. Palmer has been selling 8x8 services for a while. He told me about the time (around 2006) when Packet8 was the service brand of 8x8 that had just switched from a residential service to a small business offering. Palmer says it has come a long way since then.

The New Channel Myth

June 21, 2012

The new myth about the Channel that everyone is spouting is doom and gloom. In Larry Walsh's latest, he talks about VAR's closing, vendors selling direct and other woes.

Here's some news for you: the Channel has ALWAYS competed with Direct for sales - VAR's and Agents. And we always will.

Can some of this stuff be sold via a website?



So Much Stuff I Can't Get To

June 4, 2012

So many things to write about but just not enough time.

Leap Wireless gets the iPhone 4S under its Cricket brand to sell without subsidy for $500! Let's see how that works. It does come with No Contract though.

Top 5 Reasons to Work With an Agent

June 4, 2012

One thing you may have to answer as an Agent is "Why should someone buy from you?" They could call the carrier directly. Here are the top 5 reasons a business customer should work with an Agent.

Number 1: Saves time! Instead of calling around to collect quotes, the agent can do that more efficiently.

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