I was looking over the website of a company that approached me this week. Aside from the 2005 design of the website, I found it hard to tell what the company did. That is not unusual. Many companies don't clearly spell out what they do or how they can benefit their desired customers in their marketing. Today, however, your website is your home base. It is where people are going to hit first.

The other thing I noticed about the website is that it was a jumble of services/products. On a master agency website today is was still talking about T1 - all over the place. When you market products, you get pigeon-holed. Who is buying a T1 today? Who is looking for a product? No one. That's why no one searches for UC.

Buyers want solutions. Complete solutions. Benefits. Outcomes.

If you are selling a product, you better hope that someone selling a solution doesn't talk to your customer.

One reason that master agencies and service providers are trying to get their channel partners to cross-sell and upsell their customers is ARPU. Everyone makes more money.

The reason the duopoly sells bundles is ARPU ... but really it is Stickiness. It lowers churn if the customer buys a triple-play bundle or even better quad-play. It doesn't leave room for someone to pry the customer away with better selling - of a complete solution.

On the website, the products were so disparate that except for being under the telecom umbrella, I couldn't see how the website would attract customers, capture attention or prevent bounce.

This business is getting tougher. Price compression means diminished commissions. That means you have to sell more deals. That does NOT mean you have to sell to more customers. It means sell more deals to the same customer. Sell the whole solution - soup to nuts, A to Z. Products can be comparison shopped. Solutions and Outcomes can't.