This was my fourth round with the Intelisys Inteligolf event. This year, the venue was the beautiful Meritage Resort in Napa, Calif. My wife and I arrived on Wednesday afternoon and I had my first meeting with a supplier that evening. The lobby bar was already getting crowded with participants in this year’s event, so we decided that we should meet and talk over a wine tasting in the Meritage Wine cave, where we tasted the Trinitas varieties and discussed our relationship.
The exhibit hall was held in the Meritage wine cave.
So why do more than 100 partners and suppliers decide to converge upon Napa in October each year? Is it the golf? The wine tours? The spa? Or could it be the draw of sunny California?
While each of these would be reason enough for most, I believe the real reason we take a few days out of our hectic schedules is to fraternize with our fellow agents. The agent community is like a family and few families seem closer than this group of Intelisys sales partners. Over the years, I have gotten to know scores of my peers through this fall outing and have collaborated on numerous ideas to help grow my business.
A majority of partners and their guests took a ride on the Napa Valley Wine Train.
Thursday is the official start of the Inteligolf event and it kicked off with a Partner Roundtable. Under the leadership of Mike McKenney, Intelisys’ director of partner sales, approximately 20 sales partners met to discuss various industry topics, such as prospective suppliers, retention of customers, differentiating your agency, and ways to create “stickiness” at the C-Level within your customer base. What must be appreciated in this setting is that it is not a lecture; this is a moderated discussion between people who, for the most part, are competitors, yet we freely offer information and insight into what we are doing. In many cases, contact information is exchanged for follow-up on specific strategies. I left with a few great “nuggets” to immediately implement within my company.
The wine train stops off at a private tour of Domaine Chandon.
The next five hours consisted of high-level product presentations from suppliers who sponsored the Inteligolf event. The afternoon was reserved for the exclusive Intelisys sales partner and supplier fair, which was held in the Meritage wine cave. Just like the Channel Partners Expo in the spring and fall, this is an event where suppliers set up tables, provide information about their offerings, answer questions and distribute branded trinkets. My kids think they are the only reason I attend these events and I am not sure I would be allowed back through the door at home without my stash of goodies.
McGraw Communications took Intelisys partners out for a nice dinner.
Friday was all about networking and having fun. Guests chose from a host of activities including a wine train lunch, culinary institute lunch, spa day or golf outing. This was my first year to choose something besides golf, and I was happy with my decision — I chose the wine train lunch, and it was a blast. We finished late in the afternoon and then had a cocktail reception outside by the pool while waiting for the dinner ballroom to open. Jay Bradley, president, and the Intelisys co-founders — Rick Dellar, Rick Sheldon and Dana Topping — distributed awards to top-performing sales partners, followed by a magic show and live band.
Overall, the Ninth Annual Inteligolf was something to remember. It delivered more opportunities to build relationships with our suppliers and other top agents from around the country. In addition, it provided most of us with a reminder of why we are self employed: the freedom, the fun and the camaraderie. I look forward to next year’s event celebrating Inteligolf’s 10th anniversary!
It’s often said that a new employee never appears more competent and qualified than they do on their first interview. Sadly, that is how far too many carrier-to-end-user relationships develop.
As an agent and a national converged communications solution provider, our role is to seamlessly bring together best of breed, 100 percent compatible products and services to create a system solution that will work right the very first time the switch is flipped. We achieve that (most of the time!) through careful planning, proactive project management, customer education, and a rigorous quality assurance process for each and every install.
Some carrier partners understand the value of starting out on the right foot, having competent and experienced internal project managers, and frequent and accurate communication during the provisioning and porting process. But there are enough who still don't seem to get that. They are:
missing deadlines (for meetings, order reviews, raw circuit delivery, PRI tests, or porting), which can have large, real-world consequences for the end user, who often is locked into a move date by real estate constraints;
running out of equipment (shelf space in a switch, IADs or routers for customer end) six weeks after accepting an order, which is amateurish and unprofessional;
or subbing out circuit installs to VARs or interconnects (instead of performing them with dedicated in house staff), which loses an often-needed degree of accountability.
Best efforts just aren’t good enough when a customer has submitted a credit-worthy order in advance of the stated minimum service delivery interval; they have every right to expect their new service on time and working.
Our team has spent countless hours every year dealing with what I call C3 ─ Carrier-created crises.
Sometimes, with enough coaxing, coddling, crying and calling [C4 ─ the kind without a fuse!], we have saved the customer from an unacceptable "no service yet" situation. But efforts like this should be rare ─ and they aren't rare enough. They also seem to happen more frequently when they involve carriers that are working through another master agent or that are within six months prior to a merger and 24 months post-merger.
I've often thought that we (the agent world) should create an online ratings system ─ sort of a cross between Consumer Reports and Angie's List ─ to rate carriers. I'd gladly pay an annual membership fee, use a secure login, and submit per-order ratings linked to a circuit order or service address (to limit ballot box stuffing). It would be invaluable to run or view simple reports to learn:
TortoiseCom seems to be missing due dates on 50 percent of their orders in New York this month;
HorridTel improved its agent satisfaction rating from 2 to 4 last quarter;
and AmazingTel has maintained a 95 percent on-time delivery and satisfaction rating for eight of nine months
Such information could help agents guide customers in making choices:
"Yes, AmazingTel does cost more than TortoiseCom, but you have a 50/50 chance of moving into your new office and being without connectivity on June 1st with TortoiseCom. What would it cost you to delay the move for a week? Sit there with cell phones and cell modems instead of a WAN for a week?"
While we all share anecdotal information, having a more accurate, analyzable picture of how our carrier partners are doing ─ in real time ─ would be very valuable, perhaps even valuable enough that the carriers would subscribe (read-only, of course) to see how they are stacking up!
Ben Stiegler is CEO and founder of SYNERTEL, a provider of converged telephony services and equipment. He is a 2008-’09 member of the PHONE+/Channel Partners Conference & Expo Advisory Board.
When master agents hold a meeting, like MicroCorp's One-on-One held in Atlanta, Sept. 21-23, the resounding sentiment comes from Dan Morford, a sales engineer at ACC Business: "These events give us a chance to spend face-to-face time with agents." And MicroCorp took that to the max. It was a day jam-packed with face time to provide "a forum that allows our agents and carriers to build stronger relationships," as Karin Fields, vice president of MicroCorp, stated.
The SIP Panel packs the session room. From left: Karin Fields, VP, MicroCorp; Richard Paulk, channel manager, AireSpring; Richard Deason, director of data sales for PAETEC; Randy McGraw, VP of design engineering, Smoothstone; Josh Ploude, network architect, TNCI; Peter Radizeski of RAD-INFO Inc.; (and an AV assistant).
Sunday's welcome was a Verizon-sponsored open bar at the Hilton Conference Center in Marietta, Ga. (Some of the sensible folks went to bed before Monday morning). Panel discussions got underway at 9 a.m. with SIP Trunking, followed by conference calling at 10, and Ethernet at 11. Agents weren't asleep; they had good questions that kept the panelists on their toes. It was a chance for agents to be exposed to lines of business that are open for growth and ways to introduce the services to their client base. (Don't leave money on the table.)
Global Crossing's senior director of UC services, Joda Schaumberg, addresses the crowd.
At lunch, Global Crossing's senior director of unified collaborations services, Joda Schaumberg, gave a high-level view of unified communications (audio, video and Web conferencing), its business process integration, and how it drives bandwidth. Schaumberg expressed that e-mail plays an important role in UC; it is one of the building blocks of unified communications.
Lunch was followed by breakout sessions with the carriers. As agent Donny McCarty from TekLinks put it, "I'm here to see who didn't make it; where the industry is at; and to hear the latest from carriers."
The latest from the carriers included TNCI's Equity Plan, Level 3 Communications' opening the channel to all opportunities — enterprise and wholesale — to address the $30 billion enterprise spending, and Sprint's re-marketing of Wireline business.
Afterwards, there was a 90-minute trade show (with cocktails). New Edge Networks' strategic partner account executive, Jessica Anderson, told me, "I've been to many events. I've been watching all the talking and interacting ... this show by far topped them."
As an active participant at this show, I have to agree. Ample opportunity to meet, greet and engage, including vice presidents from Level 3, Global Crossing and InterNAP. Global Crossing's Charles Murray is relatively new to the channel, but I hope he can maintain the openness and personality he has shown both times I have sat down with him.
Level 3's Craig Schlagbaum made a few remarks before dinner, announcing MicroCorp as Level 3's top master agent and speaking about an evolution in the channel. As we move to IP, UC and the rest of the alphabet (SIP, SAAS), agents will become business solutions providers more and more. This sentiment was shared by Global Crossing's Murray, who sees a "new mix of subagents coming."
Golfers hit the links.
Dinner was time for trivia, awards and BlackBerrys. (It's amazing how many people were glued to their BlackBerrys, not Chuck Piazza. This senior vice president from Smoothstone IP Communications was demonstrating to everyone how to use the iPhone, even how to access LinkedIn with the LI button.
Karin Fields announced that MicroCorp had made some personnel changes to meet the growth brought about by the addition of new carrier relationships with Hughes Network Systems, TNCI, TelePacific Communications, XO Communications and Nuvox and by the launch of InSite of last year. InSite is MicroCorp's inventory management platform, a module of its homegrown PRM program, Nautilus. There are 2,000 sites under asset management in the application and MicroCorp will be adding layers of managed services to the platform in the future.
New Edge's strategic partner account executive, Jessica Anderson, deals blackjack to John Coates and Nick Romano of Verizon; Casey Roe of Comtel Communications, and Jack Knocke, COO at Microcorp on the right.
The fun started after dinner with Blackjack, dealt by the channel managers.
Sprint provided a much needed day of relaxation on the links on Tuesday — it was a beautiful day to play a nice course in Greater Atlanta.
More than 100 agents and special guests of Lightyear Network Solutions from across the country converged on the Horseshoe Casino & Hotel near downtown Louisville, Ky., for two days of golf, banquets, awards and training, for the company’s annual partner event.
Long-time Agent John Alexander, left, with Sherm Henderson, long-time Agent Frank Marro and Kevin Shady, VP of sales and operations. Alexander and Marro both received Lightyear's Top Seller Award for MPLS.
The 2008 Lightyear National Agent Sales Conference, held Sept. 24-25, also featured a carrier panel with senior representatives from Verizon, Sprint, Qwest, PAETEC, Level 3 Communications and others, as well as training on Lightyear's top-selling Dynamic T1, EnterpriseIP, MPLS and brand-new Lightyear Wireless products. The lively and informative panel discussion was led by Dr. Judy Reed Smith, CEO of Boston-based industry research firm Atlantic-ACM.
Three former senior Lightyear executives posed for a photo with founder, president and CEO Sherman Henderson, center. From left, Jeff Davis, a 15-year Lightyear agent; Bruce Widener, former SVP of business development; Henderson; Stu Johnson, former SVP of agent sales; and John Nierzwicki, former SVP direct sales.
On Sept. 24, the Horseshoe hotel’s Showroom was transformed into the Lightyear Luau. It was complete with flowered attire, leis, festive Hawaiian decorations and Luau dishes to promote Lightyear’s President's Club Retreat to the prestigious Mauna Lani Resort in Hawaii next May; however, as the conference progressed, a very different theme emerged: Loyalty, Integrity and Tradition.
Dr. Judy Reed Smith received an appreciation gift (a Louisville Stoneware decorative plate and mint julep cup) from Henderson. Smith was the moderator for the Carrier Panel Forum.
You see, this year's sales conference marked the 15th anniversary of Lightyear (originally called UniDial), arguably the first and most successful agent program in the telecommunications industry and one of the few to ever pay out on an equity agent distribution.
Attendees at this conference started in the business before equal access when long-distance was a bargain at 25 cents and network maintenance entailed replacing a dialer. They rode the incredible highs and have survived the recent storms. They have seen other companies collapse and never emerge from investigations, lawsuits, bankruptcy and, sometimes, convictions. They have had business colleagues and "friends" fall into desperate times and take desperate measures, many disgraced and never to be seen again.
Lightyear teammates and agents enjoyed the Lightyear Luau!
But not this Lightyear group. They insist on success, and they remain intact by their sheer character -- poised and determined to return to the glory days, and not just for themselves or their families, but for their fellow agents and the Lightyear employees and their families.
Among the current and former Lightyear team members on hand for the conference were four former senior Lightyear executives including John Nierzwicki, senior vice president direct sales; Steve Seier, senior vice president information services; Bruce Widener, senior vice president business development; and yours truly (Stu Johnson), senior vice president agent sales. All of us have moved on, but remain loyal and involved with Lightyear and its agents.
Lightyear agents Don Yates and Dale Cooper with Lightyear's Henderson, Deb Unterreiner and Jennifer Arnold at the conference.
Unfortunately, it may be impossible in the telecom industry to find a core group this large that has stayed together 15 years and remain absolutely committed to their mutual success. Others may talk about it, but Lightyear is a living example of loyalty, integrity and tradition.
As Lightyear’s founder, president and CEO, Sherman Henderson, says, “Never look back!”
In these days of all the bad economic news, telecom reps and agents should be in a great mood. Every company is eager to save money and many are willing to entertain conversations now that were not possible even six months ago. Owners, controllers and CFOs everywhere are forced to look at every possible way to reduce expenses, so put your sales hat on and get after it.
If you made five calls a day six months ago, you should make 10 calls a day now.
This is the time to get people thinking about your services that can help balance their budget or improve their profit and loss statements.
Always remember this:
80 percent of all salespeople quit after the first call;
60 percent of all salespeople quit after the second call;
50 percent of all salespeople quit after the third call;
40 percent of all salespeople quit after the fourth call;
30 percent of all salespeople quit after the fifth call;
20 percent of all salespeople keep calling; and
20 percent of all salespeople close 80 percent of the business.
You too can prosper in this "down" economy. This is one of the best times to grow your telecom business the industry has seen in the last 10 years if you know how to work hard. Enjoy the ride!
Ben Henkels is the principal and founder of Communication Management Partners, a telecom brokerage and consulting business. Henkels also is a member of the 2008-’09 PHONE+/Channel Partners Conference & Expo Advisory Board.<$>
Ian and Sean Regan of CDW, Jon Forsthoffer of Warson Group, and Drew Lydecker also of CDW.
The industry’s best came together in Chicago to face off in fierce competition. However, the PowerPoints were left at work and boardrooms remained empty. In this case, more than 100 people joined the same team in an effort to fight against cancer.
Todd Thomas of X4 makes a toss while CDW’s Drew Lydecker waits his turn.
On September 18, the first annual “Toss for Tots” baggo tournament commenced at Joe’s bar in downtown Chicago. (For more information on baggo, see www.thelazyvolunteer.net/aboutus.html.) The event raised more than $20,000 for Children’s Memorial Hospital’s Cancer Research Center.
More than 20 different carriers and agents, along with other Chicago professionals, came to support the cause. The event was co-chaired by XO Communications’ Keith Tomlin and Kelly Barber, along with CDW’s Katie Else, Shane McNamara and me. Corporate sponsors included X4 Communications, Geckotech, Lakeview Investments, XO, VIP Sports and others.
Dave Henke of Chicago Paramedic, Keith Tomlin of XO, and Bob Welker of Verizon show off the gorgeous baggo trophies.
Forty teams faced off to stake claim as the first “Toss for Tots” champion. Verizon’s Bob Welker and partner Dave Henke took the crown.
Tomlin said, “The event exceeded our expectations and the support was overwhelming. We already have new sponsors and a ton of participants signed up for next year.”
Kelly Barber and Keith Tomlin of XO with Dallas Tomlin of American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons.
In the end, it is important to remember no matter what team you play for, we all can fight together for a greater cause.
CDW’s Ian Kieninger and Katie Else.
Chuck McEwen of CDW, Lauren McEwen of Rad-Info, Jackie Goodyear of Data Device, and Mike Pallarino of CDW.
John Kuntz, Ben Bonine and Shane McNamara of CDW with iTEMize Technologies’ Mike Shonholz.
