On Rad's Radar? - agents Archives

What the heck is Channel Sales Enablement?

2013-06-17T15:45:12Z

It's one thing to get a whole bunch of channel partners to sign your indirect sales agreement. It's a whole other thing to have channel partners who are driving sales to you regularly and keep your funnel full.

Channel Sales Enablement is one of my skill sets. I was a VAR, then an Agent, then a consultant and a sales trainer - the many aspects necessary to understand how a channel works and how to make it work.

Ultimately, you want a channel that is full of Partners with a capital P, who are armed with the necessary tools to market and sell your services. A channel that has you top of mind, so that they can put you in more deals.

Enabling a channel to sell requires training, support, marketing and sales assistance. Co-marketing, co-selling, product demos, sales kit, portal, status reporting, communication, and positioning are just some of the ingredients for a successful channel.

It isn't about the number of channel partners; it's about the quality and results of the channel program. In a channel, your success is tied to the success of the partner, every day in every way.

Get Ready Channel... Go Hosted!

2013-06-17T00:42:42Z

Over drinks at INFOCOMM, I heard from a really reliable source that the Channel will be able to sell Comcast's Broadsoft based Hosted PBX product starting Monday. Just expect that the process will be a little rough at the get-go and there will be growing pains early on.

5.5 Questions to Ask Your Cloud Vendor

2013-05-28T14:56:16Z

An agent asked me for some advice on what Hosted PBX provider they should look at. I think it is always about local - you need local support, local numbers, and if it is OTT or single location local network.

Then she asked me what questions to ask a cloud vendor. Here are 5 and one-half.

How redundant are you - data center, switches, upstream?
How many paying customers do you have?
What are your biggest on-boarding issues?
Do you have a specific set-up that works for you - phone brand, router model, configuration, etc. that makes the service work flawlessly?
How is post-sales project management handled - site survey, LAN assessment, bandwidth check, router check?

And 5.5 - Google them!

Business is a Thinking Man's Sport

2013-05-09T17:11:53Z

When I heard Mark Sanborn call business a thinking man's spot, it made me smile and then think. Oddly, most of these news items have all fallen in my lap today. It made me re-think how the value added distributors (VADs), like Tech Data, were going to morph.

Tech Data is the 2nd largest VAD at $26 Billion after Ingram Micro (at $37.8 Billion in sales), but TD is located in Tampa Bay, where I reside.

Tech Data has a long standing sales agent agreement with XO. Next, it established a cellular master agency with TDMobility, which also offers MDM. Then last year, TD inked a deal with master agency, Microcorp. Tech Data has long dabbled in telecom, without actually embracing it.

CDW has a telecom division that is doing very well.

SYNNEX has a $180 million per year telecommunications division, according to an executive bio I read today.

Ingram Micro inked a deal with TWC and CenturyLink.

Adam Edwards at Telarus thinks this is great. I think it is the beginning of the shift for distributors to take over for most master agencies for network services. For straight telecom services, the distributors are in a better position to automate the process for the channel and for the carriers. In fact, for cablecos who lack the automation for channel sales, working with a VAD may actually enhance their channel opportunity.

When stuff becomes a commodity like T1, broadband, cellular, voice, hosted email, web hosting and hardware, margin comes from efficiencies. I see much of this, especially in the small business marketplace becoming something you buy at Amazon or Best Buy fairly soon. The more savvy VAR's will have a check box for each service to insure that the customer has it taken care of -- and to see if she can take it over under her billing or management. The total wallet share idea.

Where does that leave Master Agencies? They will have to morph like some of them are doing into either an extension of a carrier's channel sales division or a cloud service brokerage. Unfortunately, even in both those realms, they will be competing with VADs. SYNNEX, Tech Data, Ingram Micro and Arrow have cloud platforms. Sprint is making a play in this space as well, utilizing its Parallels system to sell cloud services to its wholesale and retail customers. APNI and VoIP innovations both rolled out private label Hosted PBX services as well. It seems we have come full circle in VoIP - white label, wholesale, retail, wholesale, white label.

I think cloud will be the sticker service. Once you start selling even Hosted Exchange or Sharepoint, are you going to want 2 vendors for this or just one?

Everyone seems to be scrambling to figure it out - masters, carriers, CSBs, VADs - and even the Agents and VARs, who are the ants marching in this scenario. It takes some real thinking to figure out the next move and then the next one after that.

Big Agent Win or Scam?

2013-05-02T19:25:59Z

A couple of small ISP/CLEC companies received letters from Verizon Wholesale stating that VZ Wholesale is outsourcing their puny accounts to an agency, Alliance Wholesale Agents, LLC.

This would be huge win for any agency, since VZ waffles over the channel all the time.

However, this agency is a Dover, DE company formed in January with no website and some goofy VoIP phone numbers. It points to either a scam or VZ Wholesale, specifically Kathryn Kalajian,who signed the letter, didn't check to the agency out.

Another option the agency was formed by former VZ Wholesale employees who thought it was a get rich quick idea - and did everything on the cheap (like website, email, phones, etc.) This isn't a new idea, btw. More agencies have been started by phone company employees that you can imagine (not all of them successful).

Maybe the TCA should tell the AWA, LLC to get CTP certified!

The Cloud is like Chicken Wings

2013-04-25T19:16:09Z

I presented a webinar for Cloud Services Community today about Selling Cloud Services as an agent. The take aways were as follows:

Where do I start when thinking about selling cloud services?
Is there criteria for choosing a cloud vendor?
What pitfalls are there in cloud for an Agent?
How to choose a cloud provider?
What steps to take as you move to cloud services?

Can agents even sell cloud services? Sure but as a sales engine, not an install and deployment shop. That will be the hard part: who does all the pre-sales and post-sales engineering if an agent just wants to ink contracts for you?

That being said, if you can afford to paid for a VAR or IT shop to do the provisioning and also pay the agent, it might work out well. The cloud provider will need to have a thorough order form and pre-sales packaging though.

Do agents even want to sell cloud? Not really. It's like chicken wings: a lot of work for a little bit of meat and it's messy. But it's just bar food.

Thoughts on the Channel in 2013

2013-04-16T15:56:56Z

There is this article with four opinions about the Channel in 2013. Reading them, I am almost certain that they are not only viewing the channel from differing sides but that they are discussing different channels.

I do like the statement from Ian Moyse, "We are seeing the same swathe of change as we have seen in other industries with providers who ignored the changes in customer buying choices (take Kodak, Blockbuster Video and the big record shop chains such as Tower Records and HMV). This change will be a contributor but not the only cause to the start of a new re-shaping and re-sizing of the channel with resellers facing new competition from Telco's, Xsp's and a new breed of reseller and potentially vendors themselves."

I also find it interesting that after VZ re-boot sits channel, Verizon's Executive Director Cloud and IT Services Product Managment and Product Engineering (big title) is quoted on twitter at an expo: "Joe Crawford confirms that SMEs are not self provisioning. Sales channel critical #telcocloud"

In the Wall Street infused pressure cooker that is the C-Suite at many vendors, the channel is tolerated today because they have to increase sales any way that they can. The CEO's stock options depend on it. (I am only being a little witty there.) The debt load that many vendors carry is heavy. It is dependent on sales revenues since the debt is tied in some ways to the stock price. The stock price is tied to revenue and dividend. So the channel is looked at as a tool - a sales tool.

Unfortunately, right now, agents, VARs, inter-connects and even MSPs are worried about getting their own ship in order as the changes occurring around them are affecting their business models. So while they try to keep their own plates spinning in the air, the last thing they can handle is another desperate vendor who doesn't understand the channel nor truly wants to support the way it needs to in order to be successful.

Selling Direct is Different Than Channel Sales

2013-04-16T15:29:33Z

I make this statement often: Selling Direct is Different Than Selling via The Channel. You would think it was obvious, but it is not.

When a company sells direct, the messaging is aimed at the end user. The sales channel is pursuing customers. The company owns the customer - as much as a company can possibly own a customer. [Read this article about it!]

When you sell through a sales channel (like agents or VARs), your messaging is to the channel partner. The company is pursuing partners and making it stupid easy for the partners to sell and acquire customers for the both of you.

Obviously, there are companies with both direct and indirect sales forces.

I run into this all the time. Companies think a channel is the fastest and cheapest way to get feet on the street. It can be, but often, due to misconceptions, it isn't. And then the company has to re-boot its channel program.

The two primary differences between VARs and Agents are that Agents just sell, that's their business model. Get ink, get paid, move on. VARs have an existing business model, usually tied up around one or two hardware/software vendors. Everything else is ancillary -- including your awesome services that you think they should drop everything and sell. Most VARs are not a sales machine; Agents are, but Agents won't install or do support.

You kind of need both working together, which is the whole CompTIA Telecom group's plan.

It is very difficult to sell through the Channel if you have never sold the same products direct. You don't know the triggers, friction points, etc. You are letting the channel figure it out as you go. That's an expensive mistake.

Final point: there isn't a button to push to turbo charge the indirect channel. There are many factors involved in why channel partners sell one service or one vendor over another. Unless you have some exclusive service, the channel partner has many choices.

The best channel managers understand that when a partner quotes and sells your service, the partner is lending his reputation to you and he is depending on you for his paycheck. It's a risk. And it is amazing how many people don't get it.

Is the Channel Too Lazy to Sell Cloud?

2013-03-29T12:31:56Z

Talking with channel managers lately in the Hosted UC space, well, has been depressing to be honest. No one is having fun - or knocking it out of the park. Yes, there are pockets of success - mostly from verticals or niches (surprise!).

So one CM made the comment that channel partners are too lazy to sell cloud. "It is much easier to sell network or a box than it is to sell cloud." There is some truth to that.

VAR's and Inter-connects have a similar business model that is centered around selling a box, installation and support. So cash flow comes from selling the box. They receive a chunk of money upfront. I am not certain that any of them survive off can recurring revenue yet.

To remedy this, some master agencies and vendors are looking to pay some of the commissions upfront, but this requires risk and financing, which devalues their own companies (and makes an exit harder).

From what I have seen and heard, most channel partners - agents, VAR's, Inter-connects - sell Hosted PBX as a third option after all else fails -- and typically sell it as cheap VoIP.

To me, this means that the service providers and the CM's have done a poor job of training and communicating who the target customer is, why they should buy UC/HPBX/Cloud, and what the value proposition is. Am I surprised by this? Not in the least. Why?

For one, many cloud companies have too many executives from the CLEC world where it has always been about Arbitrage - "Let me save you money!" And, let's face it, CLECs know nothing about marketing or positioning or branding - and neither do most cloud providers.

The other big problem is that most of these companies are enamored with their technology - as if the market gives a crap about their technology. People have iPhones and tablets and a bazillion apps. You think your tech is cooler than that??

This was a problem that ISP's had too. All techies that just like to be techies. The reason that 8x8 has grown is because some where along the way they switched from being a tech company to being a sales and marketing company. Most cloud providers are not there yet.

It is also very challenging to sell cloud services, especially UC, with its myriad pieces and components. What channel partner is going to remember all the stuff about your UC product and about the other 10-12 services that he also offers???? Um, not very many.

The flip side to this is that most cloud providers don't really sell direct. They dapple in it because it is expensive. However, if you haven't sold it, you don't know how to train or coach others to sell it either. You don't have the sales process and questions in place as tools for the channel partners.

There is another challenge right now: sales sizes are too small to cash flow for the provider or for the channel partner - so that will grind things to a halt sooner rather than later.

My CM pal also mentioned that partners don't want to explain all the features of HPBX/UC, do an ROI or TCO, check the WAN and LAN, etc. It is far quicker to just sell network or a box - and move on.

The reason that UC is stuck is because it is not exactly like what people have now. So there is training and education needed to the customer and her employees (as well as to the channel partners). This could be fixed IF the channel would actually eat the dog food. Not many channel partners actually use cloud services. If you drink the kool-aid how do you sell it to someone else? (Sales is about the transfer of emotion - if the partner isn't excited about your product, why would the customer be?)

There are a number of reasons that UC isn't selling. (Another is too many providers that all look the same.) As my brother tells me, "But, bro, Lync is selling!" Sure as part of Office 365 or to Fortune 100. And mid-sized businesses with more than 250 employees are buying UC, but are they buying it from the channel or from one of the top carriers?

Another trend is that smaller, unknown cloud providers are losing deals to better known companies - like Comcast, EarthLink, etc. WHy? Trust factor. Brand is a trust factor. So it comes back to marketing.

So is the channel too lazy to sell cloud? Or have the cloud providers just done a really poor job of picking partners and/or marketing?

BTW, there are certainly channel partners selling cloud, but they are dedicated to doing so. They drink teh cloud kool-aid.

Sunset

2013-03-06T16:26:57Z

We are watching the sunset of many things in telecom. The PSTN, growth, innovation, copper plant.

While there is much change going on in the industry, a lot hasn't changed.

VZ just pumped almost $350M into its Florida wireline infrastructure. So that isn't over just yet.

AT&T's sneaky plan to deregulate copper in Kentucky was undone by the state legislature. You have to be vigilant. I just got an email from the FTTH is supporting the death of copper. I unsubscribed. As ratepayers and taxpayers, we have paid the telcos for a DS3 to every home twice over. Instead we have expensive broadband - brought to you by cable! With caps, meters, etc. The telcos want you to buy even more expensive LTE, which is not only metered, it isn't even available everywhere! Plus it is shared! - just like they used to use against the cablecos, when they WERE competing for the broadband market.

The FTTH Council decides to make some noise for political gain - and I am done with them.

Now that the Channel Partners Expo will be the Cloud Partners show, it seems that there is a sunset on agents too. It is all cloud, all the time. That may be what you want to sell, but that isn't what people are buying or asking for!!!

Almost lost in all the news was TelePacific rolled out their Broadsoft-based Hosted PBX Suite and Star2Star just joined Intelisys.

Are You Channel Ready?

2013-02-27T17:04:41Z

I am at Channel Partners Expo in Vegas (speaking tomorrow at 9 AM). It is all about cloud and the channel here. It makes me ask: Are you Channel Ready?

Do you have a service offering that is channel ready?

Is that service easy to quote, explain, define and order?

Do you have a clear, concise value proposition? Because let's face it, everyone sells the same stuff.

Do you have sales engineers and channel managers?

What does Customer Care look like?

On the other side, what does the ideal partner look like?

Most VAR's are not good at sales, so your service will have to compliment their current services. It will be an add-on sale.

Read that again, because they won't be chasing new business. They will be trying to figure out if any of their current customers can use your service offering, how much can they make from it, and how will it affect their current vendor relationships (and quota).

If you are chasing Agents, they are good at new customer acquisition, but what about channel conflict, rules of engagement, and protected accounts?

How easy is it to sell? How will you support the customer without VAR involvement if it is an Agent?

Food for thought for the show.

Pieces of the Partner Puzzle, Part 1

2013-02-22T16:44:03Z

To have a successful partner program, you have to have great channel managers.

Channel Managers are the whole conduit to the partner channel - and vice versa. Channel Managers are the conduit to the company for the partner.

Channel Managers have quota (boy, do they have quota). However, they can only indirectly meet that quotas through their partners (unless they are going to sell FOR their partners, which isn't best practices*.)

Goal Setting is one topic that I think not enough people take seriously. But to attain anything beyond a mediocre life, you need to set goals.

The steps after the Goal is set is just as important. As Keith Rosen has taught me, "Exactly how they are going to attain their goals; that is, the strategy as well as the message that needs to be executed..... The structure they need to put in place regarding how they will manage their daily activity that will move them towards attaining their goals."

People forget that it is daily activity that gets them to their goals. Little steps each day. Daily activity becomes habits. Habits produce results.

What does your calendar look like?

*Teach them to fish; don't fish for them.

Monday Morning Quarterback

2013-02-04T15:56:33Z

The 49ers got robbed by the refs twice in the last 3 minutes of the game. And the viewers got robbed because most of those commercials sucked. Just my opinion of course.

But we start Monday with Oracle buying Acme Packet for $2B! Sonus must be mad. They have a market cap (NASDAQ: SONS) of half that.

TNCI is still in bankruptcy and has a stalking horse bidder in Blue Casa Telephone. That may prove troubling for TNCI agents (and the Agent Alliance, who really bet the farm on the TNCI Equity Plan).

Telefonica is looking for Channel Partners. I am looking for one of Telefonica USA's channel people to reach out to me for an interview.

Interesting article from The Atlantic: Why Americans Hate the Media?

A Spotlight on Women in the Channel

2013-01-28T15:53:06Z

Nancy Ridge is the VP of Telecom Brokers, a master agency in California. She joins me on this podcast to discuss Women in the Channel, a grass-roots organization that she co-founded to promote women in telecom.

We have already seen a couple of women get promoted this year to top positions at master agencies - Carol Beering at Intelisys and Lauren Shapiro to President of PlanetOne.

Hope you enjoy the 17 minutes with Nancy.

Everything is Changing, No One is Happy

2013-01-25T15:08:19Z

Belkin is buying Linksys from Cisco, who is exiting the consumer business. What are they doing with the Scientific Atlantic set-top boxes?

Logitech is dumping some of its product lines as it re-vamps.

Andy says that Yahoo Voice is shutting down.

Microsoft sales of Office365 are decreasing.

Intermedia is acquiring Telanetix, which does business as AccessLine, for about $55M.

EarthLink is laying off as they realign.

So much is changing - and so fast.

You know what else is changing? The role of Master Agents and VADs (like Tech Data and Ingram).

Dell knows that hardware sales will continue to decline, which is one reason it is looking to go private. Microsoft knows that its best days are behind it. WinTel used to dominate the computing space. Then Apple iOS starting winning laptops and smartphones - and definitely the tablet sector. Android is the O/S for smartphones and tablets, but Chrome laptops are also in the market.

When everything is wireless do you need switches and cables?

Level3 just revamped its Channel, but the masters are wary of signing it. XO has a new contract out that masters also are balking at signing. Why?

Qwest/Savvis/C-Link stopped teaming agents with directs, but Level3 instituted something like teaming. There is a commission hit for teaming. Here's the dilemma:

One, prices keep dropping, so commissions are lower. Agents have to work harder to make the same money.

Two: Current customers want to lower the bill with every contract renewal, which means that commissions dip (or disappear) unless the Agent switches its customer base to a new provider.

Carrier Quotas keep going up, despite No. 1 and 2. So Masters can't hit the quota, lose commissions and can't pay the agents.

Everything is cloud, but revenues are much smaller, the sales cycle is longer, and the sale is more work for the agent. For less money.

Telecom - you know, the network - transport and transit - are still selling, and agents still want to sell it, but the carriers don't (or can't maybe) pay commissions on straight network sales. So Agents look for carriers that will pay them to sell transport and transit. Masters don't get this business. Carrier Channels sales dip. The cycle spins.

Most Cloud services providers don't work with Masters, so those sales don't go into the Masters revenue. Lost revenue.

VADs like Tech Data and Ingram are selling cloud, cellular, network and hardware.

VADs already have a relationship with VARs. VARs are comfortable with their relationship with the VADs. Why would they switch to the Masters?

Gartner's Bova likes to talk about the transformation of Agents but she misses two key points: Agents are on a hamster wheel and can't just jump to a new one because they need to keep the cash coming in to satisfy quota, bills, churn, etc.

Point 2 is that there isn't an easy transformation path for an Agent to become a cloud services broker. A billing system, integration with the vendors, cash flow, liability, and other factors all get in the way of an agent becoming a CSB.

Despite what the Carriers want - more sales, more VARs selling their stuff - and what the Masters want - pretty much the same thing - the cogs in this wheel - the Agents and VARs - are not yet ready or in any position to make sweeping changes to their business to satisfy Carriers or Masters. The VARs and Agents have a business model that they are running with every day. They have customers that they are trying to satisfy every day. The added pressure from carriers and masters to transform, while also sacking their current revenue stream is a catalyst for disaster.

Look around - Intel, Microsoft, Dell, Cisco, EarthLink, Cbeyond, Logitech - these are just the companies TODAY that I see in turmoil. All of these sell via a channel distribution model, so if they see revenue hits what do you think is happening to their channel partners????

DUH