Peter : On Rad's Radar?
Peter

On Rad's Radar?

| Peter Radizeski of RAD-INFO, Inc. talking telecom, Cloud, VoIP, CLEC, and The Channel.

commissions

Is the Transactional Agent Model Sustainable?

September 1, 2011

This was a topic in Chicago last week: Is the Transactional Agent Model dying? It isn't dying because the telecom business is such a commodity. Dumb pipes will always be a commodity. That's why managed servcies was invented.

Posted in agents, cableco, channel, commissions
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3 Weatherman and an Agent

August 26, 2011

At the CPExpo last night I was a panelist for the CPZ, an experiment in doing a talk show at the expo. It was 100 invitees, an open bar and 5 panelists in front of the camera - Khali Henderson, Dave Stewart of Simple Signal, Larry Walsh of the 2112 Group, John Siefert (CEO of Virgo), and me. It turns out that Siefert is a VAR (?) or works with VARs, so it was 3 cloud guys and me.

We started with the theme of the show: Is this the end of Transactional Agents?  The truth is that while the runway may appear to be running out, telecom is mainly an arbitrage business made up of me-too providers, who will extend that runway for a while longer.

Take the case that Bells no longer pay commissions on POTS lines.



Posted in CLEC, VAR, agents, channel, cloud computing, commissions, expo, hosted uc, telecommunications, voip

Channel versus Direct

July 20, 2011

When I speak to carriers about the Channel, it's usually through gritted teeth. Most carriers have a love-hate relationship with the Channel. 

Carriers: Agents aren't exclusive. They aren't pitching us first and foremost.

Me: DUH!



Posted in agents, channel, commissions, organizations, sales and selling

InterNAP Sweeps the Legs of Agents

July 20, 2011

In March, InterNAP notified agents that it would be making changes to the Agent program. It was going Master-centric.  According to the phone call I just received, 400+ agents that have agreements with InterNAP were given the boot. With 30 days notice, most carrier agreements allow for cancellation.

Posted in VAR, agents, channel, cloud computing, commissions
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Why Use an Independent Telecom Broker?

June 27, 2011

What is an Independent Telecom Broker? It's not the preferred title that I like for an independent telecommunications agent but some companies like it. It has variations as Agent, Consultant and Specialist, but at the end of the day the Independent Telecom Broker is hired by the customer to find them the best solution available for their business.

According to the Society of Telecommunications Consultants, "No member shall accept fees, commissions, or any other valuable consideration in connection with those services from anyone other than the member's client." A broker - like a stock broker - makes his money from transactions; in this case, a broker gets paid by the vendor for any sales made.

Posted in TCA, agents, channel, commissions, sales and selling

Is this a Master Agent Dilemma?

June 21, 2011

From the carrier side, Channel executives are looking to the VAR space for growth? Why is that? Has the Agent contribution to channel revenue hit a plateau?

At dinner last night, I was talking about the magic number of a tribe. For consultants, it's 100.

Posted in TCA, VAR, agents, channel, cloud computing, commissions, economy, sales and selling, wireline
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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

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

VZ One Year

April 11, 2011

Posted in agents, channel, commissions

A Failure to Communicate

April 6, 2011

In the Agent space, many non-telco vendors (like Conferencing and Hosted PBX providers) have tried to get traction. Sales traction from this independent sales force. It isn't going well.

Agents (and VAR's) spend about 80-99% of the work week in the comfort zone. That is, doing what they have always done.

Posted in Marketing, VAR, agents, backup, cellular, channel, cloud computing, commissions, conferencing, hosted uc, saas, sales and selling, smb, unified communications, xo
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