commissions

Agent Exclusivity

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...

Transactional Agents Called Names

Over at CP, the transactional agents are being called Prostitutes and Zombies in opinion pieces. I find that sad considering that the Zombie comment comes from a guy who whined because he couldn't make huge commissions off call centers any...

Is it Cloud versus Agents?

Is it Cloud versus Agents?As an Agent, I sell bandwidth and transport almost exclusively. I am learning that the Channel does not want that business. The carriers do, but on the wholesale/carrier side. No 10GB private lines. No 1GB ports....

Basic Math for TNCI

TNCI (Trans National Communications International) filed for Bankruptcy in October of 2011, owing Sprint ($5M), AT&T ($1.66M), Verizon ($1M) and Qwest ($1.9M). VZ and AT&T have liquidated CLEC's before for less than $2M. I'm not trying to be pessimistic here,...

Get Off the Agents' Back

These were my thoughts on the 2011 CPZ that I was a panelist on. These are my thoughts as a reaction to the latest CPZ. Surprisingly, not everyone read my post about how the whole telecom eco-system is shifting. Agents,...

Correction: Savvis Comp

I blogged about Savvis/Qwest halting MMR commission to the Channel. However, Dale Tucker of the CenturyLink Channel program was at CVX before my panel telling me his people had read the blog post and that I was wrong. CenturyLink/Savvis/Qwest are...

End Caps

This was the week that we learned that online protesting can work -- if enough people get involved and if you get the support of some powerhouse websites like Google and Wikipedia. It looks like SOPA was dropped and the vote...

Savvis Changes Comp Plan

I just received confirmation that channel compensation for hosting under CenturyLink will no longer be residual. Savvis, which is owned by CenturyLink, took over management of the Qwest Cyber Centers.At a time when cloud providers want agents selling, data center...

3 Things Agents Need to Look at in 2012

It will be a busy year in 2012 as all the carriers try to synergize their mega-mergers and get their back-office in order so that we can actually place orders. Besides selling the traditional circuits - POTS, T1, SIP, PRI...

Channel Ethics: Part V

Recently, I learned that a Channel Manager is also an Agent. I asked him about it and his reply: Who better to manage agents than an agent. It makes sense on the surface (like partison). And it is not uncommon....

TNCI Files BK

The reseller that spent so much effort trying to sign agents up for its Equity Plan - cash out when TNCI sells out - went south today by filing for bankruptcy. TNCI owes $10 million dollars to its wholesale carriers...

Is the Transactional Agent Model Sustainable?

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. (Unfortunately, that...

3 Weatherman and an Agent

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,...

Channel versus Direct

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! They aren't employees. They are brokers working...

InterNAP Sweeps the Legs of Agents

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...

Why Accurate Paperwork is Necessary

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...

VZ One Year

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...

What is a Master Agent?

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...

How Important is Retention?

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. While...

2011 Will Be Tough

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...

Verizon Changes Commissions

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...

Changes in Customers, Changes in Attitude

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...

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