Selling Telecom Blog

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"My Experience Selling Energy" - One Agent's 6-Month Education Bucks Conventional Wisdom

Posted 6/22/10 By Dan Baldwin, TA Executive Director, 951-251-5155 email

Telecom Association spends quite a bit of time distributing vendor information to our 3,800 members but we also spend as much time as we can soliciting and evaluating telecom agent and channel partner feedback. It's one thing for TA's vendor to say one thing or another about their service (and how easy or hard it is to sell) and quite another thing for TA's members to confirm that information.

So anyway, last week I had the chance to interview Marshall Lipscomb, President of TelogixSystems, a telecom agency located in Illinois about his experience selling gas and electric services to his end-user business clients and prospects. 

The bottom line for Marshall was that he found ...

Telesphere: Can They Beat Any CLEC, Hosted VoIP or SIP Competitor?

I interviewed Telesphere CEO  Clark Peterson this past week to discover why partners, customers and competitors are all interested in what Telesphere will do next. 

  What I learned is that Telesphere customers like the service so much they stay an average of eight years. Telesphere partners seem to be learning that they can get paid "four times more" than if they sell other services. 

  So what is Telesphere - CLEC, hosted VoIP or SIP provider? Yes! 

  Bottom line? If you sell local dial tone to multi-location customers you need to know about Telesphere (and try to avoid competing against them on your next deal.) Click the player below to listen now.

Interview Questions   Right-click here to download the MP3

     0.  (00m:15s) What do we need to know about Clark Peterson?

1. (02m:28s) Which end-user target markets are most attracted to your services?
2. (04m:05s) What type of channel partners are having the most success selling your services?
3. (07m:07s) Who are your primary competitors for both end-users and channel partners?
4. (11m:44s) How are your services better than your main competitors for both end users and channel partners?
5. (13m:06s) What is the geography of your marketplace? (On-net and off-net footprints?)
6. (15m:07s) Does your channel partner program have different commitment levels?
7. (17m:05s) Do you have retail or wholesale distribution channels that partners may find themselves competing against?
8. (18m:23s) Do you run retail pricing or agent commission promotions?
9. (18m:52s) Any significant program or product changes coming up in the future?
10. (23m:17s) Biography of company, owners, executives, agent support staff?
11. (25m:45s) "Crystal Ball" Questions

Please Post You Comment Below

Agent Testimonial for Telesphere's Hosted VoIP and SIP Solutions from Justin Bentley

Telesphere, a hosted VoIP/SIP/CLEC with a national footprint recently joined TA as a vendor member and part of our new vendor initiation includes asking, "Who loves you, baby?"  

The first agent testimonial we received for Telesphere is from Justin Bentley, National Sales Director for Telcom National, a master agency in Arizona.

Quotes in this audio include: "We found they're the best for the hosted VoIP product", "By 2011, we predict half our revenue will be from hosted VoIP", "The commissions are absolutely crazy!", "About half our customers could benefit from Telesphere-type solutions", "Nationally, Telesphere is our lead hosted VoIP and SIP provider" and "They're not inventing the solution - they're perfecting it!"

Click right-arrow below to listen now or download the MP3.

(00:12) First tell us about yourself. How long have you been in the industry?

(00:24) How long have you been a Telesphere partner?

(00:27) How does Telesphere's solution set fit into your agency's complete product set?

(01:01) What percentage of your revenues are from Telesphere-type solutions?

(01:40) Is Telesphere's service an add-on sale or do you lead with it?

(02:32) How does the service you get from Telesphere compare with other similar vendors?

(03:48) How do you see the Telesphere-type market changing over the next 2 years?

(05:18) What do TA's 3,500 members need to know about your company?

Contact Justin at 602-841-1000 or [email protected]. 

For more information about Telesphere please visit www.Telesphere.com.