Tuesday
July 15, 2008 |
Telarus
- News Briefs & Updates |
July 2008 Update How are things going for you these days? There is so much going on within Telarus that I wish I had time to keep you updated on each and every one of them. It's truly exciting to be partnered with such a dynamic and innovative company, especially one with the unprecedented track record and growth that Telarus has demonstrated and continues to see. By the way, in case you were not aware of it, Telarus was not just nominated but WON the "Agency Of The Year" award at the recent convention of the National Telecom Association in Las Vegas. This is a very prestigious award. In fact, Telarus is prominently recognized in multiple areas: vvvvvv And Telarus is also recognized by and appreciated by all of the carriers we represent, as evidenced by the following impressive list:
Do I tell you this to blow my own horn? Absolutely not, since YOU are also an integral part of the Telarus success story. I wanted to let you know though for the purpose of substantiating what you might have already known! Leads - Cast Where The Big Fish Are Having been with Telarus for almost 5 years now (gosh, where has the time gone?), it just gets better and better. My job gets tougher in some ways because in addition to making customer contact with new leads as well as keeping in touch with existing customers, I also need to keep up with what is happening in the telecom industry. It creates full days most of the time, but I am still thankful to be doing what I am doing. There are a lot of people across America that would give their left arm to have a job they really enjoyed as much as I enjoy mine. How many people do you know who actually look forward to the start of a new work day? I do, every day. Hopefully you are providing SOME level of direction to your online marketing. What's hot right now? MPLS and Ethernet are smokin'. If you do not have those and related keywords in your marketing campaigns, stop right now and fix it. RIGHT NOW --- go ahead, I'll wait. MPLS is not replacing the point-to-point line market (yet) but it is definitely taking a big share of the frame relay market. Do you focus on "frame relay" in your keywords? If so, you may want to lose it, since many carriers (including AT&T) are not even offering frame relay any more. I sometimes wish I could be a fly on the wall and see what you are doing for your online marketing campaigns. I know for a fact that you all do it differently. When I see a new lead come in, I can look at the agent ID on the lead and make a very educated guess (with about 75% accuracy) as to whether that lead is going to be bogus, a tire kicker, a penny pincher, or a serious one, based solely on which agent generated the lead. I call them all anyway but it is interesting to note the differences in that way. All agents have the same tools to work with, so why do some generate gravel while others generate diamonds? I honestly don't know. Have you done any OFFLINE marketing yet, like distributing flyers in an office park or even using the US mail to send flyers to IT directors at various companies local to you? If not, why not? As I have reported in previous newsletters, the average circuit close is about 2% of the total leads from online marketing, or in other words, about 1 in every 50 leads closes with online marketing. But with offline marketing, that percentage screams to a sixteen fold increase in closed sales. And if you hand enter a lead through your back office and the lead you entered closes, your commission is doubled! If you have an interest in doing some offline marketing, email me and let's put our heads together on that. Or online marketing too, I can offer tips in that area if you want to take that to the next level. Do you use the Telarus BBS? It never ceases to amaze me that that is one of your greatest resources yet it is severely under-utilized. Take time to make a post or ask a question there, get some good online discussion going. I'm more than willing to help if you need the help. But at the end of the day, it's like the old saying: you can lead a horse to water, but that doesn't mean the damn animal was thirsty... Keep Your Dreams In Sight You have set some goals and have some dreams, right? Hopefully that is correct, because if you have not set a goal, you'll never know when you reach it. I would encourage you to set a goal, even several goals. Studies have shown that people who actually take the time to write down their goals and objectives are 93% more likely to achieve them, primarily because the act of writing them down make them feel accountable to achieving them. One of the goals I established for myself almost 5 years ago when I started with Telarus is that when I reached a defined level, I would get my pilot's license dusted off and get back in the air. Yes I am a private pilot, having received my license back in 1976, although I have not acted as PIC (pilot in command) since October 1980, almost 28 years ago. I used to be part owner of two airplanes (for the general aviation-literate, they were a Piper Warrior and a Piper Arrow), and even when my wife and I were dating, more than 80% of our dates consisted of going out to the airport in Michigan and flying somewhere. I did it and it was no mean feat, especially since when I originally learned to fly, GPS was literally unheard-of except in the military, whereas now it is a staple of air navigation. Here's me in the pilot seat of a Piper Arrow at the Florida Institute of Technology flight school at the Melbourne Florida airport:
Do I share this with you to brag? Not at all, but rather to encourage you to write down your goals and dreams, then hold yourself accountable to accomplish them, and heaven help the person who gets in your way. For the past 5 years, I have had posters of Pipers and Cessnas over my desk and a general aviation picture calendar every year to keep this one of my goals and dreams in the forefront of my mind. Take yourself seriously enough to want to achieve your goals and work towards them every day. Small Vacation I will be on vacation this Friday July 18 through Monday July 21 to attend a family reunion in western South Carolina. No action is required on your part, as I will have my leads turned off while I am gone and they will be routed to another closer automatically. But I wanted to let you know what was going on, and will be anxious to get back in the saddle on Tuesday July 22! Summary I appreciate you and your efforts and look forward to continuing to work with you so that we can both reach our goals. I appreciate your leads and your efforts with ShopForT1, and you need to know that I do take leads very seriously, since without leads, neither of us make money. Please feel free to contact me if you have questions, comments, or suggestions. God bless, Jon
Arnold |
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