Who Needs a Trade Association?

Established, successful industries are characterized by the existence of an active trade association charged with the betterment of its community and the advocacy of the businesses that operate within it. It’s time for the participants in the indirect sales channel to step up to the challenge of forming such an institution.

Why? Such a unified body would represent the interests of agent community and provide indirect sales agents with a unified voice which could be heard at the appropriate levels within the vendor community. It would provide trusted leadership in addressing industry challenges and deliver value-added programs and services to meet the needs of agents and vendors alike. Agents would also benefit from the identification and development of industrywide best practices, empowering them to run their businesses more effectively and efficiently. Imagine a world with standardized SLAs for both agents and vendors that cover timeframes for pricing/quotation turnaround, product provisioning, customer service response, billing ticket and credit issuance as well as commission issues resolution. An association can help bring that about.

The list of reasons could go on and on.

Simply the sharing of collective experiences could have a dramatic impact. For example, we have had quite a few misadventures in the channel space recently, most notably with the two Bells that have been putting the squeeze on independent agents. Smaller agents in particular were most affected as they felt that they were left in the dark. At the very least, an effective association could have shared information and experience, so that these agents could have planned better for the impending shock. These scenarios are likely to be repeated as industry consolidation continues.

With more than 7,600 agents in the U.S. alone, an organized trade association couldn’t come at a better time. With the maturation of the agent model, the agent community now has the talent, resources and shared experience necessary to launch a successful association. A formal trade association will serve as the representative body to champion the interests of the indirect channel as a whole throughout the industry by leveraging the collective voices of a critical mass of agents both large and small. Additionally, it will be an advocate for the indirect channel as a viable alternative to the direct channel, contributing to its long-term success.

As the channel shifts from “dialing for dollars” to a more complex and consultative sales process that includes a total technology solution, more VARs, IT systems integrators and phone systems interconnects are entering the traditional telecom space. Now is the time to form an association that will embrace all of these growing segments and help drive the development of industrywide protocols and standards of conduct. It also becomes increasingly more important to develop skills through educational programs and training seminars. And let’s not forget at the end of the day, the winner will be the customers who receive a higher caliber of service from the agent community.