A while ago I wrote a blog asking “Who is the customer?” In our world of the Indirect Channel it works like this…
I go find a customer. I give my customer pricing for 3 or 4 different Vendors. My customer decides who they want to buy and I hand off a signed contract to an Agent Manager for one of the Vendors or Master Agents. Does that not make me the customer to said Vendor or Master Agencies? It would seem so, but, let’s break it down even further…
I ask my customer for an address which they would like me to quote. Sometimes that address is incomplete, or they use a different name such as the Sears Tower or the Hancock Building. Normally, when this happens I do a simple Google search and come up with the address or telephone number, or even a zip code that may be missing. Then I send a complete address to the Agent Manager from whom I need the quote information.
Sometimes, I am in a hurry and just pass on what the customer sends to me. Sometimes, it is in a spreadsheet that I just forward to a few people whom I know can service the customer and don’t look at it in depth. But, I usually try and make the other person’s job easier. Why? Because I am not lazy.
In the world of lit and dark fiber between data centers we sometimes say I need a circuit from NYSE to NASDAQ or for the layman the Sears Tower to the John Hancock building. Things like that, I usually just send over to the Agent Manager because it is trade talk and we all know where they are or we just Google it if we don’t.
Today, I had a rep do an entire spreadsheet of 6 or 7 point to point circuits. He did all of them except for the one that had the address Equinix NY 2. He left that one blank and said, I will get you that pricing when you give me the exact address. In the time it took him to send me that email, he could have Googled Equinix NY 2 and retrieved the address. Instead, he sent me back a spreadsheet to give the customer without all the pricing because he does not know how or does not wish to do a simple Google search. Doesn’t he want more business?
This brings me back to the beginning. I find the customer. That is my customer. I give it to an Agent Manager whose job is to give me his pricing so that I can take it to my customer and sell it for him. He does not cold call end customers. He waits for people like me to bring them to him. Doesn’t that make me his customer? I would never go back to my customer and ask them for the full address when I can do a simple Google search. So, shouldn’t I expect the same when I am the customer?
The problem is, I can’t get rid of this lazy rep. Why, because the giant telecom company he works for assigned him to me and that is with whom I have to work. Usually, it is done geographically, so I can’t change reps when I want to do so. My customer can decide not to work with me because they perceive me as lazy, but I can’t do the same when I am the customer. In this situation, I try my best to work with the Agent Managers who are not lazy. But sometimes the only option for a particular solution is the lazy rep. I cringe every time I put money in their pockets and help them keep their job.
