September 2008 Update
Before I get too carried away, I wanted to let you know that there will be an agent training call for you about Telarus next Thursday evening, September 25 2008. Keep on eye out for announcements as far as specifics, but since there has not been a call for several months, this is one you will not want to miss.
NOTE: this call will NOT discuss DSL, cable, or residential customers, all of which is totally inappropriate for this call.
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. See my July 2008 newsletter for additional details.
You may also want to pick up a copy of the September 2008 issue of U.S. Business Review, where Telarus is the cover story!
If you have not been watching the calendar lately, it was 5 years ago this week that ShopForT1 opened its doors. That milestone may not mean a lot to you, but it has incredible importance to me. Less than 24 hours before ShopForT1 opened its doors, I had been laid off from corporate America, and that could not have occurred at a better time. I have not looked back since, and much of that is due to you and the leads you have sent me.
But I need to talk with you about a very serious matter. Let me illustrate that with a couple of analogies:
A man stopped by his friend's house and found him in pain laying in bed. He asked what the problem was. The man replied that he did not know specifically but he knew something was not right. "Did you call a doctor?" his friend asked. The man responded that yes he had and he had whole libraries of resources available to him to correct the problem, but it seemed like too much work, so he was further ahead to just lay there and hope it corrects itself over time.
Do you see a problem there?
The second analogy is a saying that is used by pilots in general aviation, which says:
"Never allow your airplane to get to a place that your brain didn't get to five minutes earlier."
Do you see where I am going here? Let me explain. Going back more than 8 years ago when I started with Cognigen, and eventually rising through the ranks to the level of National Representative, I have hosted a ton of training calls and training sessions, I have used my own nickel to go to various places across the country to help train agents. The big reason for that is that I believe in people. I believe in YOU and I want you to be able to enjoy the kind of freedom and success that comes with doing the right thing at the right time in the right place, and I always like to think that with proper direction, people will head in the right direction, especially when they are recommended to "do this", "do that", and "do other thing" in order to achieve the success that they are seeking.
Many agents have done exactly that, following my advice, following the advice of the tons of information in the Telarus back office, where a combination of those things is almost literally handing you the "keys to the kingdom".
But as occurs in almost anything where many people are involved, a few bad apples can spoil the entire barrel.
I take my business very seriously, as serious as a heart attack. Just like you (hopefully), I have dreams and goals, and heaven help the person who stands in the way of me being able to achieve those dreams and goals. As I have said before in these pages, you should adapt the same attitude. Do not let someone else dictate what you can dream or what your goals "should" be. Telarus is growing and maturing on a daily basis, as is my experience and my business, especially with the cutting edge technologies that we are now selling such as Ethernet and MPLS, and our partners are thrilled beyond belief for the incredible opportunity to actually BE a partner with Telarus.
Now all of this said, I need to get even more serious. To use yet another analogy, I love dogs, especially cocker spaniels. They are the most gentle dog on the planet with a personality that is totally forgiving of just about anything. But if you ever got bitten by a cocker spaniel, you very suddenly realize that the label of "gentlest dog on the planet" does not apply across the board.
I have been bitten.
I have encouraged people to use one of the most under-utilized resources available to you, the Telarus BBS, but that has not happened. I have encouraged you to call or email me so I could help further, but less than 1% of all agents who have me selected as their preferred closer have done that.
A partnership is a two way street, and for a few of you, I feel like this two way street has devolved into a one way dirt road.
For as much as I love lead agents and have infinite respect for what you do, I have been bitten and need to draw the line. As mentioned in previous newsletters, I cannot explain why some lead agent leads are about 90% valid leads and why other lead agent leads are less than 10% valid. I am not talking about how many close or not, but I am referring to the huge number of residential leads that some agents submit, the leads where the contact name is "Easter Bunny", "Santa Claus" or even some more creative contact names that I don't want to repeat, or where the phone number is a disconnected number, the email address is totally and obviously bogus (not a typo), etc.
Over the years, I have been trying to encourage you to look more carefully at your marketing efforts, where you advertise, how you advertise, what keywords you use, and much more, and I know for a fact that some of you have just considered that so much hot air. But I was able to maintain my RPL ratings based on the great leads that other agents were sending in, all the while hoping that those agents missing the boat would realize they were only treading water and in danger of sinking.
What is RPL? As explained in previous newsletters, that stands for Revenue Per Lead. If my RPL was "just a number", I would be a bit bummed but would hope that the agents who were dragging down my RPL would get the message and improve. Unfortunately, it's not that simple. Every closer is held accountable for their RPL, and if there are agents who are just plain not willing to get it, who are just throwing their website at the wall to see what sticks, then it is the closer's responsibility to lose those lead agents. This business is much more than just throwing something at the wall to see what sticks. I am held accountable for my RPL, and if I do not do something about the lead agents that drag it down, then I am required to share the bottom of the barrel with them because the system will not send me more leads from ANYONE, and my business is too valuable to me to allow a few agents to drag me down. Those agents submitting large amounts of trash can no longer "come along for the ride", since I am accountable to Telarus for my RPL, I am accountable to the other agents providing quality leads, and most of all, I am accountable to ME.
I can no longer carry those agents and will be going through a process to shut them off over the next couple of weeks. That means that regardless of who you have set as your preferred closer, if that closer says they do not want your leads, your leads go elsewhere.
This step is, yes, somewhat drastic, although I have been advised to do it years ago. But I did not want to because I keep looking for the good in people, hoping they will come to their senses and start following instructions.
I would strongly encourage you to look at the leads you have submitted over the past few months and determine if YOU are one of the agents I am talking about here. Is another closer going to take the bogus and residential leads that are the majority of what come in from our agent ID? For a time perhaps, but it will not be long until NO CLOSER wants your leads if the quality does not improve. What do you do then when nobody wants your leads because of the consistent horrible quality of the vast majority of them?
Again, I am looking to continue a relationship with agents who are as serious about their business as I am about mine, to continue to develop and enhance the partnership that we should have. For agents who are content to just continue what they are doing, thinking it is "good enough" and continue to produce the bogus and residential leads, however, I need to wish you luck because that is not a partnership. Simply submitting your sites to the search engines with keywords you found in a 2 second search is not a partnership, nor does it demonstrate the kind of seriousness that you need to have for ongoing success, or literally ANY success.
Summary
I appreciate you and your efforts and look
forward to continuing to work with those of you who are as serious about this as I am, 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
QUALITY leads, neither of us make money.
Please
feel free to contact me if you have questions, comments, or suggestions.
God
bless,