Posted 9/1/11 By Dan Baldwin
TA Executive Director, 951-251-5155
Well I'm back into the happy grind of catching up on taking care of my customers and getting kids into school but what was learned from my week long investment into the Channel Partners Expo in Chicago last week?
Following is what I got out of it:
Ask My Customers for My Commissions
After the exhibit hall closed Thursday evening the CP Expo folks sponsored the "Channel Partners Zone" or "CPZ" modeled after the "TMZ" celebrity gossip TV show.
I think most of those in attendance were hoping for some juicy gossip as tongues were loosened by the open bar. When the four panelists (Dave Gilbert, Peter Radizeski, Larry Walsh and John Siefert) started getting questions from Khali Henderson they all made a brave attempt to add some sass to topics that would only elicit yawns from the non-telecom people world like, "Is the transactional agent dead?" and "Is 'cloud' really taking over?"
The only subject that seemed to inflame audience passion was the age old challenge of "termination for convenience" when someone brought up the topic of Internap cutting agent commissions.
One subagent in the audience argued that agents need to access carriers through a large master agent for protection. A larger master agent in the room then reported that their agreement with Internap was adversely affected in spite of their size.
It was after 10 minutes of this "carriers are bad" conversation that I decided that on every future deal I would ask my customers to pay my monthly commission after chiseling the carrier price down to near wholesale.
Why shouldn't customers pay telecom agents directly?
Customers pay their IT consultants directly. They pay their software VARs directly. When I suggested to the CPZ audience that they ask their customers directly for their commissions it was like I was talking a foreign language that they could not understand. Most stared at me blankly for a moment before going back to complaining about the carriers.
Admittedly I have not yet been able to get all my own telecom clients to pay me monthly for taking care of their account but I am asking every customer if they'd like the opportunity.
A larger customer I've recently acquired is paying me directly a 15% per month override on all the telco and data invoices I'm scrubbing and managing for them. The rate drops to 10% the second year and 5% the third year and beyond and the customer has a 90 day option of cancelling. I've agreed not to take carrier commissions unless they want to lower their monthly fee by the commission amount.
I must admit I'm working harder for this customer than I've worked for past customers. Best yet, since that carriers are not paying me they know they can not expect any unearned loyalty from me in the form of getting the customer to sign a longer contract or by letting the carrier keep a higher price to get a decent margin.
My customer's paying me my commission directly to ensure they have the lowest price and highest quality in return for the lowest commitment - and that's what they're getting!
For those of you that want to stick to trying to get your carriers to live by the letter or spirit of your contracts, you had better become best friends with a telecom lawyer like Ben Bronston, Mark Del Bianco or Tom Crowe.

Telecom agents at CPZ including Jill Maertz of Accelerate Communications, Karin Fields of MicroCorp,
suit guy, Josh Anderson of Telephony Partners, Dan Baldwin of ATEL Communications and
Michael Bremmer of National Communications
Use More (Unified Communications) Cloud to Sell More (UC) Cloud
In the real estate sales game the most popular saying is, "The three most important things are, 'Location, Location and Location'".
I'm quickly starting to believe that in the voice & data world the three most important things are, "Cloud, Cloud & Cloud" (or "unified communications" or simply "UC" if you want to use the "grown-up name' for "cloud".)
In the Chicago conference, "cloud" stopped being some nebulous ethereal solution and started being what I've suspected that it really is, the ability to instantly communicate with anyone via phone, email, chat or video AND be able to securely access and share any document or software application INDEPENDENT of one's geographic location or end-point (desk phone, computer, smart phone, tablet, etc.)
But how do I sell more cloud?
Use more cloud.
Apparently I'm already a trend setter because I've been using Gmail (Google's cloud based email) for over 5 years and Google Apps (their cloud based word processing and spreadsheet program) for over two years.
I never give a thought to computer hardware challenges because all my documents and emails (going back over six years) are always instantly accessible and searchable from any computer on the planet. Better yet, when using Google's Chrome browser on any computer I can communicate and share information with anyone in my email address book with an intuitive click of a button.
I've assumed that my peers still chained to Microsoft Outlook or Internet Explorer were able to communicate as easily as me but that does not seem to be the case. This becomes glaringly obvious when I work out of a client's office for a day on one of their computers still trapped in the world of restrictive Microsoft software licenses.
What's an agent to do?
Start with your home office. Send it all to "the cloud". Pretend you don't have a hard drive on your computer. Pretend your smart phone gets stolen. How do you keep working?
This is what your customers are thinking about. If you want to properly consult with them as a respectable telecom agent or channel partner in the realm of unified communications then you need to be able to show that you as a consultant are at the forefront of UC usage in your own work world.
It's not just about selling voice & data T1 circuits or business phone systems anymore.
"UC yourself" on the cheap
While 70% your customers are likely stuck in the Microsoft world, as a consultant you don't need to fill your office with Microsoft servers and Microsoft's visions of UC software licenses to mimic the cutting edge of using UC 100%.
Click here to read a blog post from a fellow that totally UC'd himself for just $10.
While the UC solution he created may or may not be an elegant solution that a grown up business would want to adopt, it steeps the "UC consultant" (you) into what UC is really all about - the merging of email, contact records, phones and files - independent of geographic location, computer hardware or high priced IT consultants (exactly what your clients want).
I'm taking my business to UC all the way using these and similar tools. I recommend that you do the same.
Start working with business phone service vendors that are mastering UC
I came early to the channel partners show at the special invitation of Louis Hayner of Alteva to sit through and review Alteva's Unified Communications Sales Certification program. (Click here to read the review.)
With every vendor converstaion you have regarding selling their SIP trunk or hosted VoIP solution you need to ask, "How does the solution integrate with various types of customer's unified communications migration strategies?"
Just off the top of my head I know Alteva's deeply integrated with the whole Microsoft suite of UC applications. In Chicago, SimpleSignal demonstrated how their UC solution dovetails with their hosted VoIP solution. Other UC-centric TA vendors include Broadview, CenturyLink, MegaPath, Smoothstone, Telesphere, Vocal IP and many others. (If I left your company out email me a link to your UC web page and I'll add you in.)
Party More! It's good for business (and the desire to conduct business)
While I initially thought ending each "Chicago Confidential" blog with a blurb about a Chicago music club I visited each evening would make boring telecom blogs more interesting, I actually found that visiting the clubs and being exposed to live music was a cathartic experience on many levels.
(Of course it might also have something to do with having two of three kids in college and the onset of some sort of mid-life awakening.)
In any event, the music seemed to give me energy and happiness that I took back to the trade show events the next day. Recharged, I actually found myself looking forward to the tradeshow everyday - which has not always been the case.
Or maybe it was all just something about "Chicago".
I can strongly encourage all the vendors looking for cool after hours events and even the CP staff to take the after hour parties into the local community just like World Telecom Group (WTG) did with their Chicago Carnival on the Navy Pier.
Great stuff and great for business!
Kudos to Cbeyond as well. Their moonlight cruise on Lake Michigan with the Chicago skyline as a backdrop was also pretty awesome for the attendees.

But What Did You Learn?
I'm just one telecom agent (and future expert unified communications consultant) But I'm not even rich (as measured by money anyway) so who cares what I think.
I learned the three items listed above but what did you learn? If you were in Chicago last week and you learned something worth sharing please leave a short or long comment below.
TA's Other 2011 Chicago Channel Partners Expo Blog Posts
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