As I write this, I am sitting on a plane returning from a few weeks away from the office, having piggy-backed a vacation onto a business trip. Though I have not been seated at my desk with my ground level view of the shrubs that line the foundation of our brown brick building for over two weeks, my email inbox and voicemail are devoid of any unread (or unheard) messages. The dread that had inevitably accompanied me on my way home from past vacations is strangely missing. The fear of the unknown (with regard to office happenings and/or client requests) is a thing of the past.
Armed with my company-issued laptop and brand-spanking-new Droid Incredible smart phone, I have not only been kept in the loop with the daily goings-on at the Conference Group’s home office, I have actually been able to contribute effectively, and even address policy issues, without ever setting foot in the office.
I know what you are thinking… “Big deal… I have been working from home, or the road, or from the middle of the ocean for years now.” True. I hear you. However, for me, as a former hardcore corporate type, this newfound productivity from afar is truly liberating. Now that I am current on the housekeeping items that accompany me in my role heading up sales for the company, I can hit the ground running upon my return to the office in the morning. Not facing an inbox of 1000 plus emails, a number of which are unsolicited cures for what ails me or the secret recipe that will result in my business growing exponentially in the next 6 months, I am free to channel my vacation-induced optimism into concrete initiatives that will allow me to tackle some of those sales ideas dreamed up while sitting poolside in the days leading up to my return to the mothership.
While the line between work and vacation has blurred with all of the fun new gadgets and communication services at our fingertips, I love the result. Now, if only I had coughed up the $4.95 to access the wi-fi service on the plane… you may have read this blog entry well before my feet ever touched the ground in Philadelphia. Next time…
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Web Conferencing: Don’t Fear the AYCE Pricing Plans
The world is becoming flat… with regard to web conferencing pricing, that is… Following in the footsteps of Internet access, and cell phone usage, web conferencing is seeing a shift in pricing from consumption (usage) based pricing, to flat rate, “all-you-can-eat” pricing plans.
Is this good news? The knee-jerk response from the service provider viewpoint is “no”! Why would we be happy to offer up our services in an unlimited monthly (or even annual) package rather than on a per minute, “pay for every bite” structure? Simple… value (oh, and revenue, which we will get back to in a minute).
This is a great deal for the consumer, as they can now accurately predict (read control) costs associated with their web conferencing use. This part is obvious. What is not so obvious is that this is also a great deal for the provider. How so? Much like the consumers having a known expense each month, providers now have a known revenue stream each month. In addition, most web services are accompanied by a toll-free audio conference bridge that is invariably consumption (yes, “per bite”) based. Plus, meetings that are conducted with a visual component tend to last longer, hence the proverbial “win-win” scenario for both the consumer and the provider.
One last point… Flat-rate pricing has now granted access to the latest and greatest technological advances to smaller companies and non-profit organizations that may not have had the resources to partake before the flat-rate buffet was on the menu. Yet another “win” for all.
In these challenging economic times, the customer will always seek the best value he or she can find. Embrace the flat-rate pricing models for web conferencing and watch your revenue grow.
Greg Plum is the Director of Business Development for the Conference Group, a facilities-based conferencing and collaboration company with over 10 years’ experience serving channel partners and enterprise clients. Greg can be reached at greg.plum@conferencegroup.com .
Is this good news? The knee-jerk response from the service provider viewpoint is “no”! Why would we be happy to offer up our services in an unlimited monthly (or even annual) package rather than on a per minute, “pay for every bite” structure? Simple… value (oh, and revenue, which we will get back to in a minute).
This is a great deal for the consumer, as they can now accurately predict (read control) costs associated with their web conferencing use. This part is obvious. What is not so obvious is that this is also a great deal for the provider. How so? Much like the consumers having a known expense each month, providers now have a known revenue stream each month. In addition, most web services are accompanied by a toll-free audio conference bridge that is invariably consumption (yes, “per bite”) based. Plus, meetings that are conducted with a visual component tend to last longer, hence the proverbial “win-win” scenario for both the consumer and the provider.
One last point… Flat-rate pricing has now granted access to the latest and greatest technological advances to smaller companies and non-profit organizations that may not have had the resources to partake before the flat-rate buffet was on the menu. Yet another “win” for all.
In these challenging economic times, the customer will always seek the best value he or she can find. Embrace the flat-rate pricing models for web conferencing and watch your revenue grow.
Greg Plum is the Director of Business Development for the Conference Group, a facilities-based conferencing and collaboration company with over 10 years’ experience serving channel partners and enterprise clients. Greg can be reached at greg.plum@conferencegroup.com .
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
Can you sell conferencing for 2.5 cents?
Announcing Together Talk®, our newest toll-free reservationless service, at an industry low price of 2.5 cents per minute. As our agent, you have the ability to offer this same service to your prospective customers for the same price.
What Together Talk® offers:
What Together Talk® does NOT offer:
Customers must request this service via credit card sign-up using a link that we provide to each of our agents who express interest in offering Together Talk®. Upon sign-up, customers receive passcodes instantly via email and the Conference Group orders the conference card within 48 business hours.
To take advantage of this aggressively priced service and to learn about commission rates, please contact us directly on 877-716-8255, ext. 8284 for Kristin or ext. 8268 for Greg or email us at partners@conferencegroup.com.
What Together Talk® offers:
- Toll-free access to a 99 line conference
- Reservationless access 24/7
- International toll-free access from a few countries
- Limited leader star commands: lecture mode, mute, and lock conference
What Together Talk® does NOT offer:
- Operator access via *0
- Attendance reports
- Conference recording
- Conference manager web interface
Customers must request this service via credit card sign-up using a link that we provide to each of our agents who express interest in offering Together Talk®. Upon sign-up, customers receive passcodes instantly via email and the Conference Group orders the conference card within 48 business hours.
To take advantage of this aggressively priced service and to learn about commission rates, please contact us directly on 877-716-8255, ext. 8284 for Kristin or ext. 8268 for Greg or email us at partners@conferencegroup.com.
Monday, March 22, 2010
Find out if you won the Apple iPad!
This year’s Channel Partners Conference in Las Vegas was the best in years! If you had the opportunity to attend, you got to see the channel’s latest and greatest offerings. For the Conference Group, that meant a preview of our newest service that is available exclusively thru our master agents… Toll-free reservationless conferencing for an industry low price of 2.5 cents per minute. That is the customer’s price, folks, NOT a buy price. Of course the service is missing some of the bells and whistles that our full-service offering includes, such as *0 operator access, after-call reporting, free recording, extensive toll-free international access, etc. BUT, you will now have the ability to offer a toll-free service for less than most wholesale prices. Let me rephrase that… I said “now”, which is not technically correct. This service will be available to the channel on April 5, 2010.
If you currently have access to our services via a master agency, contact them for more information (but if you do it before April 5, they won’t have much information). This is just a “head’s up” so you know what is coming and so you can plan accordingly. If your master agency tells you that they do not have access to the Conference Group’s services, please have them contact me directly. Of course, those of you who have enjoyed years of success working directly with us will also be able to offer this service beginning April 5, 2010.
Oh, I almost forgot… If your name is Jake Peterson and your company is called City Communications Integrated, you DID win the Apple iPad just for stopping by our booth at the Channel Partners Conference. Congratulations, Jake! (Hey, Jake, do you sell any conferencing?)
If you currently have access to our services via a master agency, contact them for more information (but if you do it before April 5, they won’t have much information). This is just a “head’s up” so you know what is coming and so you can plan accordingly. If your master agency tells you that they do not have access to the Conference Group’s services, please have them contact me directly. Of course, those of you who have enjoyed years of success working directly with us will also be able to offer this service beginning April 5, 2010.
Oh, I almost forgot… If your name is Jake Peterson and your company is called City Communications Integrated, you DID win the Apple iPad just for stopping by our booth at the Channel Partners Conference. Congratulations, Jake! (Hey, Jake, do you sell any conferencing?)
Friday, March 19, 2010
Check Out Greg Plum at the Channel Partners Conference in Vegas!
Check out this video with Greg Plum at the Channel Partners Conference and Expo in Las Vegas, Spring 2010.
http://www.varvid.com/channel-partners/
http://www.varvid.com/channel-partners/
Monday, February 15, 2010
Thank You For Your Support!
February 09, 2010
Conferencing Expert Tapped as Finalist for Executive of Year Award
By David Sims, TMCnet Contributing Editor
Greg Plum (News - Alert), director of business development for The Conference Group, a provider of audio, video and Web conferencing services, has been selected as a finalist for an industry publication’s Channel Executive of the Year award.
Plum, who is one of 10 finalists, will be honored during an awards ceremony March 1 at the Channel Partners Conference & Expo in Las Vegas. The winner will be announced at the event.
Based in Newark, Del., The Conference Group (News - Alert) operates as a full-service audio, video and Web conferencing company. With a concentrated focus on collaboration, the company has been successful at creating a strong portfolio of satisfied sales partners and clients located in North America and internationally.
Driven by its collaboration services expertise, the Conference Group has developed tailored programs to meet a variety of its clients’ needs. Some of the main strengths of the company include a suite of online, real-time provisioning tools, as well as a strong international footprint providing toll-free access to participants located all over the world.
Plum joined The Conference Group in 2000, at which time he set out to further develop the company’s channel strategy. Since then, The Conference Group has experience substantial growth, expanding program to include hundreds of agents and resellers in the U.S., Canada, and the U.K.
Mike Saxby, a group publisher working for Virgo Publishing, said after a close race, "Where hundreds of votes were placed, these individuals clearly stand out as the cream of the crop. Each of the finalists should be recognized for the role they play in the success of the indirect channel model.”
To determine the Channel Executive of the Year, the organization solicited nominations from channel partners. To be eligible, a nominee must have been the top person in the company’s channel operations - at the executive level of vice president or higher - at a telecom vendor (network operator/service provider/manufacturer).
Channel partners were then asked to vote for the Channel Executive of the Year based on nominees’ leadership, longevity, innovation and contribution to the indirect channel.
David Sims is a contributing editor for TMCnet. To read more of David’s articles, please visit his columnist page. He also blogs for TMCnet here.
Edited by Amy Tierney
Conferencing Expert Tapped as Finalist for Executive of Year Award
By David Sims, TMCnet Contributing Editor
Greg Plum (News - Alert), director of business development for The Conference Group, a provider of audio, video and Web conferencing services, has been selected as a finalist for an industry publication’s Channel Executive of the Year award.
Plum, who is one of 10 finalists, will be honored during an awards ceremony March 1 at the Channel Partners Conference & Expo in Las Vegas. The winner will be announced at the event.
Based in Newark, Del., The Conference Group (News - Alert) operates as a full-service audio, video and Web conferencing company. With a concentrated focus on collaboration, the company has been successful at creating a strong portfolio of satisfied sales partners and clients located in North America and internationally.
Driven by its collaboration services expertise, the Conference Group has developed tailored programs to meet a variety of its clients’ needs. Some of the main strengths of the company include a suite of online, real-time provisioning tools, as well as a strong international footprint providing toll-free access to participants located all over the world.
Plum joined The Conference Group in 2000, at which time he set out to further develop the company’s channel strategy. Since then, The Conference Group has experience substantial growth, expanding program to include hundreds of agents and resellers in the U.S., Canada, and the U.K.
Mike Saxby, a group publisher working for Virgo Publishing, said after a close race, "Where hundreds of votes were placed, these individuals clearly stand out as the cream of the crop. Each of the finalists should be recognized for the role they play in the success of the indirect channel model.”
To determine the Channel Executive of the Year, the organization solicited nominations from channel partners. To be eligible, a nominee must have been the top person in the company’s channel operations - at the executive level of vice president or higher - at a telecom vendor (network operator/service provider/manufacturer).
Channel partners were then asked to vote for the Channel Executive of the Year based on nominees’ leadership, longevity, innovation and contribution to the indirect channel.
David Sims is a contributing editor for TMCnet. To read more of David’s articles, please visit his columnist page. He also blogs for TMCnet here.
Edited by Amy Tierney
Friday, February 12, 2010
From Provider to Consumer…
From Provider to Consumer…
I have been in business development for a conferencing provider for almost 10 years now. That’s right… sales. For 10 years I have worked with thousands of people telling them about how our conferencing solutions will make them more efficient, save them money, and make their businesses more productive. Today, the teacher became the student… er, the customer. With mother nature’s wrath in the form of back-to-back Nor’easters hitting the mid-atlantic region, I found myself smack dab in the middle of a Governor-declared state of emergency for the second straight day.
Oh, Great! Another day with watercooler banter being replaced by the delirious shrills of a cooped up 6 and 8 year old. But what about that full calendar of meetings and presentations? Not everyone is house bound with a raging case of cabin fever… for most of the world, this was just a typical Thursday, the day of the week where we stuff as many activities in as possible to be able to take it easy on Friday (in theory anyway).
First on the docket, a conference call with the fine folks at Phone+ and the Channel Partners Advisory Board to discuss the upcoming conference. Except for my complaining to the others on the call about my snow-induced woes, the call was like all previous advisory board conference calls. Next, a presentation of the latest developments in our wholesale program to a long-time agent who is excited about ratcheting up his conferencing business. Surely, this presentation could have been moved to a more convenient time – one when the country road outside of my house looked less like Siberia and I would have all of the comforts of my office at my fingertips. It could have been rescheduled, but why?
We spent an hour reviewing everything that we would have covered had I been sitting in my office, or even via a face-to-face visit. They even got to see my snow-beaten face, complete with an exaggerated 5 o’clock shadow on steroids, thanks to the integrated video…
Today, this sales guy became a customer. In a former life, my company’s slogan was “Think of Yourself as a Customer”. And what better way to think of yourself as a customer, than to “walk a mile in their (snow filled) shoes”?
I have been in business development for a conferencing provider for almost 10 years now. That’s right… sales. For 10 years I have worked with thousands of people telling them about how our conferencing solutions will make them more efficient, save them money, and make their businesses more productive. Today, the teacher became the student… er, the customer. With mother nature’s wrath in the form of back-to-back Nor’easters hitting the mid-atlantic region, I found myself smack dab in the middle of a Governor-declared state of emergency for the second straight day.
Oh, Great! Another day with watercooler banter being replaced by the delirious shrills of a cooped up 6 and 8 year old. But what about that full calendar of meetings and presentations? Not everyone is house bound with a raging case of cabin fever… for most of the world, this was just a typical Thursday, the day of the week where we stuff as many activities in as possible to be able to take it easy on Friday (in theory anyway).
First on the docket, a conference call with the fine folks at Phone+ and the Channel Partners Advisory Board to discuss the upcoming conference. Except for my complaining to the others on the call about my snow-induced woes, the call was like all previous advisory board conference calls. Next, a presentation of the latest developments in our wholesale program to a long-time agent who is excited about ratcheting up his conferencing business. Surely, this presentation could have been moved to a more convenient time – one when the country road outside of my house looked less like Siberia and I would have all of the comforts of my office at my fingertips. It could have been rescheduled, but why?
We spent an hour reviewing everything that we would have covered had I been sitting in my office, or even via a face-to-face visit. They even got to see my snow-beaten face, complete with an exaggerated 5 o’clock shadow on steroids, thanks to the integrated video…
Today, this sales guy became a customer. In a former life, my company’s slogan was “Think of Yourself as a Customer”. And what better way to think of yourself as a customer, than to “walk a mile in their (snow filled) shoes”?
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