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

commissions

VARs are Replacing Agents

April 3, 2011

In an article in Channel Partners magazine, Master Agents discuss how all their future growth will come from VAR's. Carriers are chasing VAR's for any growth in Channel numbers. Where does that leave the Agents?

Well, Agents can partner with VAR's to be the telecom provisioning department. Or Agents can start getting uncomfortable or irrelevant.

Exam the fact that most Agents do not want to sell cellular.



What is a Master Agent?

March 30, 2011

A buddy of mine and I have been having a conversation for about a month about Master Agencies. We are trying to decide if there is a standard definition for the term.

Generally, a master agent has direct contracts with carriers. These typically come with hefty quotas; hence, why they need sub-agents.

Master Agencies generally perform back office support for the sub-agents.



Citrix Cash Machine

March 8, 2011

How Important is Retention?

February 27, 2011

For service providers who understand the cost of customer acquisition, retention is an important metric. In fact, Wall Street calls it churn. It has to remain under 2% to be considered under control.

For agents, retention is just as important.

2011 Will Be Tough

February 7, 2011

Several Carriers have notified agents that in 2011, they will be "managing to their contracts". "Some Carriers are having monthly reviews with their Contract Divisions to see which Agents are not meeting their obligations. While most Carriers were open to allowing Agents to roll their bases under a Master in 2010, we are seeing this to be a lot more difficult in 2011."

I would take this as a heads-up to review your own contracts to see what you need to do to secure your commission streams in 2011.

Verizon Changes Commissions

January 31, 2011

Shockingly, Verizon has dramatically changed their commission structure for 2011.

The changes are effective for all orders issued into Verizon's legacy system after 1/1/2011.

Commissions have moved from a Residual and Acquisition structure, to an all Acquisition (up-front) structure.

Commissions for all products will be capped, being paid as if they were 1-year-term deals.

Changes in Customers, Changes in Attitude

January 30, 2011

In an article by Gary Kim, Matt Bramson, Inphonex chief marketing officer, sais some interesting things about telecom sales to SMB.

Bramson suggests that "People also increasingly are comfortable configuring their own solutions and are used to getting support from user communities. ...

The Customer Comes First

January 25, 2011

Sub-Agent Basics

December 6, 2010

I received an early morning call from the West Coast today from a woman who is a sub-agent selling Sprint mobile services. She's not having a good day. Here's a few reasons why:


  1. She isn't getting paid from her master agent.
  2. She doesn't have a contract in place with her master agent.
  3. She was unaware of charge-backs.
  4. She has no way to track commissions.
  5. She was not clear on who she could sell Sprint mobile services to.

Hence, her not getting paid.


A New Case of Huh?

November 19, 2010

So back in July, a client asked me to migrate 14 POTS lines from one location to a new office as well as take them back from a CLEC. The CLEC was a rebiller (non-facilities based) and kind of messed up the move. The CLEC continued to be a fly in the ointment through out the process. Ma Bell used every excuse in the book on this one as well.

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