As I mentioned before in a prior post, I spend a lot of time working with telecom consultants. I have had a wide range of experiences with them to say the least. Lets face facts, I am a vendor and I believe in my product and my company. All I want out of a consultant is to do whats best for their client and review all options. My competitors and I are: ALL OPTIONS. So you may ask, where am I going with this?
In the last year I have approached several different consulting groups but I want to focus on two. One is a small local Seattle firm and the other is a large national franchise. In both cases, I presented our product (by the way, it is the largest most reliable national carriers at great prices) and they all loved our offering. One year later, we have not even been given the chance to bid. I have actually talked to customers of these consultants after the fact and they were upset at the fact that they did not see all of the offerings available (not just mine). It reminds me of the cartoon where General Custer is at the top of the hill surrounded by Indians. He has his arm extended backwards pushing away the salesman standing behind him and says “I don’t have time to talk to a salesman”. This particular salesman is selling machine guns.
Summary: One of two things is happening and it’s always one of these two: The consultant has a financial motivation (more on this later) to work with certain vendors or they are just plain LAZY. Both BOGUS
On the other hand, I have worked with another national telecom consulting firm (send me your e-mail in the comment section and I will give you their name) and had a much different experience. They involve many of my competitors and I to create detailed and diverse options for their clients. I win a very small percentage of the projects that I propose but that is not the point. They at least do what they are getting paid to do and look at ALL OPTIONS for their client. I don’t have the (you know what’s) to rat out the bad guys today but I am sure that will happen soon.
Joe Bjorklund – Director of Business Development – vCom Solutions. Contact Joe at: joeb@vcomsolutions.com
