Voice, Data & Internet
The Key to Successful Business

Vendors Please Listen to Your Agents!

I got a boatload of emails today regarding end of year spiffs from what seems like every Master Agent and/or Vendor in the entire Telecom Industry.

I have to say that I enjoy these emails, because usually they are a way for me to make a little extra money.  Hey give me 125% upfront, or 10K if I sell 10K.  These are awesome spiffs.  Do you know what a bad one is?  Whey the spiff gives the customer a bunch of months free.

Vendors, this does us no good.  These are just months where the agents don’t get paid.  I was on the phone with a couple of them who are offering these “spiffs” today and had some enjoyable conversations.

One vendor told me that I should use it as a closing tool.  Gee, thanks for your help bud!  Why would I use his three free month promo (and not get paid for three months), when I can use his competition’s promo and get 150% upfront?  Plain fact is that I wouldn’t.

Now, I am all for helping the customer out and getting them the best deal possible.  However, that does not involve me taking money out of my pocket unless I absolutely have to.

Another vendor told me that their process for giving the customer the three free months is so difficult that most customers just give up or don’t even fill out the rebate forms.  Ok, now I have to deal with a customer that is going to be unhappy because this guy figured out a way to make it difficult and therefore no one usually gets the three months.  If I want to work with stuff like this I will go sell insurance and listen to people call me about their claims.

Finally, the third vendor I spoke with said that their accounting department never catches up with the credits when this happens.  Since, I only get paid off a static MRC number the credits “usually” don’t come back to haunt the agent.

The point of all this is that, and I speak for all agents that I know (which I probably shouldn’t) is that we don’t want to give away free months.  If you are going to give money away give it to us.  Believe me, it will help you sell more in the future.  My concern is that this will fall on deaf ears as the marketing arms of most companies come up with these promotions.  So, vendors…..talk to your marketing people and make this nonsense go away!

Well, summer just got here and it is already flying by.  I thought I would get back to everyone with a few updates on what seems good and what seems bad in the marketplace.

Paetec has finally gotten their act together in regards to pricing.  Looks to me like they are finally taking advantage of their McLeod acquisition.  Give them a look if you haven’t lately.

Access One just got a DIA installed for me in under two weeks!  Hats off to the good work of everyone associated with that effort!

I need to sell a couple circuits for First Communications so that I can go to their Cubs skybox event.

Finally, I have to say that I am a little disappointed with One Communications.  I really had some high hopes for them, but their come to market strategy just has not panned out yet.  They lit up a few Central Offices, but not nearly enough to compete in the Chicago market.  I hope they don’t learn the hard way that if you can’t come in this town strong, don’t come in at all.

That’s it for the update…..Enjoy the summer and make sure you hit a few street fests!

Gina and I just came back from the Vegas Telecom show and I have to say it was one of the best ever. US Signal threw a great party by the pool on Monday afternoon. The only issue with that was that it started out my day with a few too many drinks.

After their party the “floor” opened and it was a much different group of exhibitors than I have seen in the past. Sure it was full of the old stand bys, but I was happy to see that every other booth was not a Hosted IP company. So, we worked the floor for a few hours then went back to the room for a quick nap and some room service.

Around 10:00 Gina and I headed to the House of Blues for Netwolves party. Ryan and Michael always know how to have a good time and this party sure did not disappoint. The only bump in the road was another vendor who asked me to get him in and was so drunk and obnoxious that he embarrassed me. We all know just how hard it is to do that.

After the party broke up I went and tried to roll some dice with my good friend Ryan from Netwolves. He loves to bet the 12 or the Midnight Train to $$$ as he calls it. I was watching him throw $25 chip after $25 chip on it and it never came up. The second he leaves the table what happens? Train Tracks baby! Then Gina and I went and got some breakfast and slept till around 2:00.

I had a couple of meetings and then we went to the peer to peer event. I have to say that I was extremely disappointed in that event. I really only have myself to blame because I was on the planning committee. Anyway, after that we were off to the One Communications party at Rum Jungle.

These guys put on a great spread and the drinks were top notch. They let you order whatever you wanted and had people walking around with some of the best finger food I have had in a long time. Unfortunately, I was hurting a bit from all the fun I had been having over the last few days and really could not take advantage of the excellent looking rum drinks. But Gina was there and she made up for me. She was a trooper on this Vegas trip!

After Rum Jungle, we headed over to WTGs party at the Shark Reef. This was another very cool event. Walking around with drinks and seeing sharks and other fish swim above your head and below your feet. Gina told me it was time to rally so I got a stiff Vodka and Soda. I pounded down about 3 of them in 20 minutes and started to feel better. Plus did I mention the chocolate fountain? Oh yeah baby, I hit that bastard with a vengeance. Rice Crispy Treats dunked in the chocolate fountain cured every ill. Well, I think the Vodka and sliders helped a bit as well.

Gina ended up winning a really nice prize package in the raffle. It was a bunch of golf stuff and a golf shoe bag. So, I guess I really won on that one! After that, we headed to MIX for the Paetec party. I go to order some drinks and they tell me that will be $25. I said I was with the Paetec party and they told me that the free drinks were only for an hour and that ended a long time ago. Cheap bastards! So, we had our drinks checked out the cool view and headed downtown to old Vegas.

Long story short, I put ten bucks in a slot machine and won $260! Then Gina put ten bucks in a penny slot machine that had a wolf on it and looked like our dog. She won $356. We got some breakfast, laughed about the trip and went to bed. The End!

All in all Saxby and his people put on a great show. I give the award for best party to US Signal. I give the award to who am I looking forward to doing business with to One Communications. They are coming to town and their PRI, IA (Integrated Access), and pots/dsl pricing looks to be out of this world good and they pay a nice percentage!

That’s all and thanks to everyone who helped make it a great show and bought Gina and me beers and dinners. Sorry it took so long to get this blog out, but just like in the movie The Hangover, we had to review the pictures.