It was an exciting time for you.

Researching all the potential solutions.

Well, let’s just say, “some of the solutions”.

Sales reps were pounding on your door.

It was an empowering feeling,

Fending off that army of executives…

Everyone doting over you.

Who wouldn’t love every moment of that?

You wielded decision making power.

And then, there was the final candidate.

Your coup de grace.

You were so impressed.

It was their polished nature, and how they dressed.

They held their chin up and spoke with voice inflection.

The presentation was perfect:

The awards… the numbers…

The paperwork overview…

And the closing comments,

Wow! We’ve never done anything like this before. I don’t think anyone has ever gotten this big of a discount. (He shakes his head). I can’t believe it got approved. Good job man.

That was you. You did it!

The selling process was closed.

But then after the sale……………….

Responses got shorter.

That loving feeling seemed to be gone.

The shiny plastic on the remote had been pulled off.

The honeymoon was over.

IT Leaders, Let’s do a reality check:

The glory of the sale is dead on signature.

Just like the sales rep’s quota resets to zero every month.

And that sales person’s love for you…

If he hasn’t forgotten your name already,

He certainly forgets your support staff’s names.

Mr. Polished needs to keep on selling without you.

Don’t worry though, the other reps that were beating on your door,

They’re still coming back to annoy you.

You thought you had someone you could grow old with, but the divorce rate is high and finding that special someone is rare.

Besides all the fast talkers and good-looking people (even the supermodels), get plain and boring after living with them for some time.

New cars get old and then you’re stuck with the payments.

Unless of course, they’ve got that special something, that thing that makes you wonder, “Why can’t I get a vendor like that?”

Buy hey! Life moves on, time ticks relentlessly away, and death is inevitable.

You signed the paperwork and now you’re struggling with the install.

That’s where your past skills come in handy.

You know how to manage firewalls.

But let me ask you, is this why you were hired?

I thought you were supposed to be the new visionary leader…

The king delegator,

The visionary,

The change agent,

The next CIO.

Why are you chasing tickets?

And where the hell is your guy?

Dude, where’s your guy?

Ya know, Mr. Polished.

It’s been a year now.

Where is he?

He either quit, got promoted, is chronically in meetings, or moved on.

Everything is getting old, real fast.

You start having M.A.C. attacks.

No one cares.

Get a ticket number.

Wear it like a wristband.

You’re waiting in line at the emergency room.

Damn it! 

You’re dying and a nurse is IM-ing on Facebook.

You can hear her gossiping about the Doctor who’s having an affair.

Another nurse comes in and he wants to give you a Percocet.

You ask him, “why” and he says, “one won’t make you a heroin addict.”

“No man, No! I just need my guy! Not a drug problem.”

After hours of waiting and heavy breathing, you get out alive.

But now it’s time for return visits, chasing bills, and calling 1-800-KICK-ROCKS.

Finally, you get home.

It’s late at night.

All you want to do is zone out and fall asleep.

You scroll through your Twitter feed for a few minutes and an advertisement pops up for the company you’ve just been dealing with.

You think, “What the hell” and click on it.

They made the Super Slicks 2020 Award, “Ha!”

Mr. Polished is raising up a trophy because he made Presidents club.

You toss and turn all night knowing that you have to return the next day.

 You feel like you’re barely holding on.

What’s the problem people? 

Voice and data providers fall short.

They especially fall short when it comes to supporting their customers.

Their business model is not built to support you.

When every millisecond counts, they take days.

Further, you need to email them, pester them, and get wild with reminders.

Customers drive the install process as opposed to the provider.

Does this make for a smooth install?

I think not.

But hey, you wanted to sign up with your guy Mr. Polished.

Where’s your guy now?

Where is he?

If you are a true network architect, and you want real professional support, then you cannot purchase network services this way.

First, a direct salesperson typically occupies their position for less than two years, which means your carrier contracts will outlive any personalized support and leave you stuck chasing tickets.

Second, telecom carriers and technology vendors are constantly changing within a very volatile marketplace. This is clearly characterized by an unstable mix of mergers, acquisitions, and bankruptcies.

Third, numbers don’t lie. Just take a look at the Net Promoter Scores for the Telecom Industry. Do you wonder why people are wasting time chasing tickets?

Now, compare this to the list of awards and stars. 

It doesn’t compute. 

Wake up!

Buying direct is not a deal.

It’s a potential death sentence. 

At the very least you’re gambling, passing around the Chiefs Special.

That’s an S&W snub-nosed .38, and it has one round in the cylinder.

Carriers focus their effort on selling and getting you into billing status.

Their goals are to show growth, appease investors, and sell the company for a profit.

Further, the average carrier contract lacks flexibility and bottom line accountability.

You will be stuck paying high prices for old products and receive unexpected bill increases.

Making a bad situation worse, any toll-free numbers or physical bodies provided to support you will lack response time, professional training, or an ability to complete a simple change request.

But this doesn’t apply to you, right?

Maybe you’ve done a lot of research already.

Maybe you’ve sat in on a bunch of beautiful demonstrations.

I don’t care how much research you have done. 

Do you live on the inside of these companies and work within the complex bureaucratic structure?

Most people are making decisions based on demonstrations, reviews, and puffed up awards, but they don’t understand the long-term consequences.

I’ve seen entire companies gutted in three months, support staff disappear, orders go into the twilight zone, and amazing products go from being in the top 5 to #70.

What’s the solution?

It’s not as easy as finding a broker, utilizing a middleman, or Dot-Com-Quote Machine.

There are a lot of agencies out there… a lot of quote shops… a lot of “one and done.”

They’re advertising the same way as the carriers are.

It’s about volume and many of you are falling into this trap.

I know, because I find a lot of my clients this way.

Here, take a look.

This is my personal (very conservative), spend on Google ($4,730).

Carriers throw millions at all kinds

Three months of very targeted ads on dedicated internet generates 42,000 of you searching for commercial Internet.

That tells me that most of you have no good dedicated resource to help you

…. AND that you are going to end up with a direct sales rep knocking on your door.

The Average Google search for “Business Phone Systems” is well over 100,000k per month.

So what are you doing?

You’re clicking!!!

And then what….

Your impatience gets you a quick price, you glance at some reviews, and then someone shows up to sell you.

What are the chances of this going well?

Depends on the quote machine I guess.

Was it Ethernet-Harmony.com? (That’s available by the way)

You jump, search, and call…

And the large fishing net appears to catch you.

Most service providers don’t even care that I’m saying all of this (they may not admit it), but they know it’s true.

I have worked for numerous providers and made my way to the top at every company.

Call around and ask… look at my past.

Interviews were a courting process.

I felt like I was on the bachelor trying to decide where I might be the happiest…

Let’s see… Would they take care of me?

Did they have any personality flaws?

Would they get along with my customers?

I used to ask, “why should I come work for you?”

The answer… “We suck less.” (I am not joking here)

I live in this volatile world every day.

For some reason, I love it.

I started off in the “Save” department with Quest in college.

Every call was a royally pissed off customer that wanted to cancel.

My job was to coddle them, fix broken, and help them weigh the benefits of staying.

What’s the Solution?

Today, my firm contracts and evaluates over 200 providers.

We offer objective evaluations and provide you with an impartial assessment.

How is this even possible?

The truth is that 99.999% of the service providers prefer to sell through my group.

Why?

Because we take care of their customers.

We are made up of ex-C-Level executives that understand every layer of the Voice, Data, and Cloud industry.

Our experience, our partnerships, and extensive product knowledge issues for you and less churn for the providers. 

Further, providers and carriers need not hire, train, or pay additional staff.

They pay us instead (small residual components of your bill), and it’s less costly for them than hiring direct sales reps, training them, and paying their benefits.

The secret, the pricing advantages, and the legal benefits…

Procuring your services through my firm means more than just support, benchmark pricing lows, and special legal terms. 

With a unique strategic process, we evaluate your current needs, engineer a customized solution and negotiate the best agreements possible.

You get a single point of contact to ensure expert solution design, contract negotiation, and support based on a long-term business relationship. 

Where’s your guy like this?

Starting with a comprehensive review of your infrastructure is key, as opposed to researching and calling on multiple vendors to sell you.

My team’s initial assessment process uncovers revenue drains, unfavorable contract terms, and network constraints. 

Further, my customers commonly achieve transformational network speeds (in some cases by 2,000%) and lower telecom operating expenses by 20% – 35%. 

You get a solid proof of concept, trial period, and special terms to ensure providers deliver what they promise.

Make them prove it!

Where’s your guy that does this?

True business partnerships tie your success into the business model. 

Everyone needs to work together to build networks that sit in the top 1%, and this is not something that can be sold as a “one product fits all” solution.

Your network is special and unique, as is my approach.

Do you have a team like this?

Let’s build a mutually beneficial relationship where your business wins and my team delivers measurable results.

What have your past experiences been like so far?

My corporate clients leverage the best voice and data solutions in the marketplace.

We assist them with every aspect of discovery, design, and delivery. 

From carrier, cloud and IP infrastructure services to contract negotiation, issue resolution and every matter in between.

My name is Phil Howard, and I work with IT Directors and CIOs building winning Telecom relationships.