Posted 10/28/10 By Dan Baldwin, TA Executive Director, 951-251-5155 email
As many of TA's 3,800 members are seriously investigating offering "white label" audio and web conference calling to their existing base of customers and future prospects, TA took it upon ourselves to investigate which of TA's vendor members provided the best white or private label audio and web conference calling solution that TA's members could "put their name on".
Why offer white label conferencing in the first place?
Good question. Most telecom agents and channel partners only know the "sell someone else's solution and earn a commission" model. That makes sense when selling complicated dial-tone solutions like local voice to new customers with risky credit profiles. Conferencing minutes are pretty easy to understand though. There's only a single type of minute and the billing could not be easier. Buy low, sell high(er) and keep the spread as your profit.
Also, the beauty of conferencing is that the churn rate is fairly low as active conferencing clients really don't want to switch to new dial-in numbers or web conferencing interfaces unless there's a serious incentive.
So with decent margins, low church and almost no maintenance, many telecom agents equipment VARs ("value added resellers") with a stable base of existing customers ask, "Why turn control of my customer's conference margin over to a carrier who might one day cut me off?"
Own the Customer, Own the Growth
Audio and web conferencing are great products that produces their own natural growth when conference participants say to themselves later, "I want to use that conference service for my own company." do they call and ask the conference moderator for a referral or do they simply go the the conference portal they were on and sign up for a test account?
For telecom agents, channel partners and VARs to capture the conference customer growth that they are creating through their own conference customers it's imperative that they use a white or private labeled solution that ensures that they get credit for any new customers that sign up.
So Which White Label Solutions & How Does an Agent, Partner or VAR Decide?
TA invited our vendor members who provide white label audio and web conference solutions to a "solution shootout" to let our members hear from the vendors directly which offered the solution most appropriate for the TA member and their customer base. Each vendor was given 25 minutes to show why their solution was the best.
Click the following three images to view the three vendor presentations to see which is right for your situation
WholesaleConference.com the Conference Group
Click here to watch presentation Click here to watch presentation
A+ Conferencing
Click here to watch presentation
So Who's "The Best"? Who Won the "Shootout"?
We asked that each shooter's presentations address the following questions that are of greatest interest to TA members considering white or private label audio and web conference options.
1. Is the program pure resale, co-labeled with a buy rate or something else?
2. What are the billing options for the agent? Do they pre-buy their minutes or seats or do you carry them for 30 days?
3. What collection or billing assistance, if any, do you offer the agent? Auto credit card, bill stuffing, etc.
4. What customized sales and marketing assistance, if any, do you offer the agent? Custom DIDs, websites, PDF, etc.
5. What sort of agents with what sort of customer bases are best suited to a white label conference program?
6. To your knowledge, how is your white label program (or company overall) better or different that other programs an agent can choose from?
Normally TA calls on the best category agents to sit on a judges panel to choose the shootout winners but this was TA's first shootout and we did not have a chance to empanel judges prior to the recording. So now we are going to call on the best conferencing agents in TA's 3,800 members to watch these three presentations and send us their thoughts to be published here.
Email in Your Vote and Get Listed Here as a Conferencing Subject Matter Expert
If you'd like to have TA recognize you as one of the best audio and web conferencing agents in the country please watch the three white labeled conferencing presentations above and then email a review to [email protected] or leave a comment below that addresses the following:
A. Which presenting vendor did the best job of addressing the six questions above?
B. Which presenting vendor would you select if:
1. You had a base of 200 customers and you wanted to screen them all for conferencing?
2. You were going to sell conferencing full time to new business customers?
3. You wanted the fullest spectrum of audio, web and video conferencing options available for your customers?
C. Who won the shootout? Who won second place?
TA's Conferencing Subject Matter Experts Opinions
TA member opinions will be posted here
If you're a TA vendor member with a white label or conference resale solution and would like to be added to this presentation list please contact Dan Baldwin at [email protected] or call Dan at 951-251-5155.
Comments