channel

Are VAR's the New Agent?

May 27, 2011

The Channel seems to be turning their back on the traditional telecom agent. All eyes are on the VAR space. Even Master Agents are out chasing the VAR's. (For example, Telephony Partners has a white paper out to explain why VAR's should work with a master agent like TP.)

From talks with cable execs, it appears that the traditional telecom agent scares the C-suite at the Duopoly.

Posted in VAR, agents, cableco, channel, cloud computing, duopoly, sales and selling, telco

Why Accurate Paperwork is Necessary

May 12, 2011

I have hired salespeople that just don't want to do paperwork. Someone else should handle that why they do the "important work" of sales. I would buy into that if that superstar was closing a lot of deals or had a full funnel with a fantastic close ratio, but that is hardly ever the case.

Many salespeople don't like using CRM either, but that's a different blog post.

Posted in agents, channel, commissions, sales and selling

Schools and Libraries are Off Limits

May 12, 2011

Saw this notice today: "AT&T corporate policy prohibits Alliance Channel Solution Providers from selling AT&T services to E-Rate eligible customers (which includes all K-12 schools and public libraries). Do not engage in sales activity of any kind with E-Rate eligible customers."

That's interesting because almost all schools and libraries are E-Rate eligible (if they do the paperwork). So if Agents want to sell to schools and libraries, Agents will need to bring in a different carrier.

Posted in FCC, Internet, agents, bandwidth, channel, telco

Losses and Growth

May 10, 2011

The only thing really growing is debt.

Clearwire grew revenue but also its losses.

PAETEC finished swallowing CavTel to get to ~$2B in revenue but with losses. And with just 54,000 business customers. (Cbeyond has more than 58,000). Margins are 18.4% according to Rob Powell.

Centurylink is getting hit with a lot of access line loss which is adversely affecting its revenue.

Posted in VAR, agents, broadband, channel, cloud computing, commissions, telecommunications, voip, wireline

So Clearwire is Still Doing Retail

May 6, 2011

Yesterday, I noticed that Clearwire has a corporate store
in the International Mall. It sells just 4G data options - not even Sprint services too. I thought Clearwire was supposed to just stick to wholesale for their investors? And not for nothing but this says it all: "Record Quarterly Net Subscriber Additions of 1.8 Million; 1.6 Million Wholesale, 155,000 Retail" [press release]. Revenue is $242M this quarter, but when you are building out nationwide, buying gear, running a Channel (there are still Clear Authorized Agents), and managing brick-and-mortar retail stores with support operations to boot - there are going to be losses.

Posted in agents, cellular, channel, wireless

There's a New Sheriff in Town

April 11, 2011

"Level 3 is committed to the Indirect Channel from the top down and is creating a culture that complements our Business Partners and strategic alliance relationships. The long-term success of theIndirect Channel is critical to the company’s financial objectives and will continue to be a growth engine for Level 3 moving forward. As a result, we’re continuing to invest in the channel by enhancing the tools, systems, processes, and internal support and resource structure that is critical to our mutual success."

This is a message from Wayne W Dietrich, Vice President, Channel Sales, Indirect Strategic Alliances at Level 3 Communications.

Posted in agents, channel

VZ One Year

April 11, 2011

In an ironic move, VZ ends one year contracts at the same time it tells its Channel that it will only be paid commissions on year 1, even when they sell multi-year contracts. So VZ CEO Ivan says, "HA! Take that, Channel! We eliminate one year contracts so you have to sell multi-year -- and we still only pay you for 1 year. You will do our bidding." Not a direct quote, but I'm sure someone at that ILEC was thinking it.

Posted in agents, channel, commissions

It Finally Happened

April 11, 2011

Level3 finally buys Global Crossing for $3B including assuming $1.1B in GC debt.

This is a merger that the industry has expected for some time. Honestly, I don't see how it works, because it's about synergies. My favorite word, because it means we will fire a lot of people with overlapping job titles, but not overlapping knowledge.

Posted in channel, mergers

Previous 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 ... 27 Next

On Rad's Radar?

channel