The Top 10 Reasons to Use Global Mission Telecom
Ever increasingly, businesses are choosing to get their telecom services from independent brokers like GMT instead of direct representatives. We look at the top 10 reasons why we see this shift occurring in the marketplace today. One factor that differentiates us greatly from out competition is 50% of our income goes to help the poorest of the poor around the world. Another is we have been around 29 years and love what we do. Here are the 10 reasons:
1.Mergers and Acquisitions
Sales is already known as a high turnover profession, but the recent rash of mergers and acquisitions in telecom make it highly unlikely the representative who signed you to your term agreement will still be there to assist you within a year. After making it past the phase of bankruptcies following deregulation, the next phase is mergers and acquisitions. In the past few years, a fraction of the major mergers include Comcast/AT&T Broadband, Level3/Broadwing (Focal), XO/Allegiance, ATT/SBC/Bell South, MCI/Verizon, Paetec/US Lec, and Time Warner/Xspedius, AT&T/Time Warner, Charter/Time Warner Cable, AT&T/Direct TV, Windstream/PaeTec, Century Link/Level 3, T-Mobile/Sprint/MertoPcs, among many, many others. By using a GMT Independent Telecom Agent, you can be sure that regardless of continued merger activity or bankruptcies, we continue to have the same contact phone number and email address. We will not be laid off or fired, and will continue to supply you all of the options you need at no cost to you.
2. Single Point of Contact
Regardless of whether we recommend a single carrier solution or a multi-carrier solution, you still have a single point of contact with a person who knows your account best and has a vested interest. During the pricing and evaluation process for a new carrier, it is typical to get at least 3 bids and have at least two appointments with at least three carriers. The number of appointments you have to schedule could easily reach up to a dozen before an educated decision is made on your company’s communications and you truly have not scratched the surface as there are hundreds of carrier solutions in the market today. If you use GMT, you can spend one appointment determining the best course of action, and just one more evaluating the best options available in your market. Having a single point of contact is a huge time saver!
3. We understand your company, how you make decisions, and why.
We act as your assistant buyer (your outsourced telecom partner) and we understand your business needs and preferences. We are completely unbiased and get to know your organization, your goals and long range needs, and how you make decisions and why. Why would you want to repeat that process every couple of years? We monitor your business trends and your calling patterns often and recommend, when the need arises, more competitive and or technologically advanced solutions for your business as they come to market. This is what we do “24/7”. We don’t get paid unless you continue as our client.
4. You get to hear the truth! Since we have contracts with 150+ telecom carriers, we have the ability to pick the right carrier(s) for your business. Our only goals are to save you money, provide you the most advanced telecommunication solutions and to help the the poor around the world.
Perhaps this should be ranked #1! When you use GMT as your outsourced telecom partner, you tap into a wealth of knowledge and experience of someone who has been in the field for many years-and has relationships with and intimate knowledge of multiple carriers. We will typically have experience dealing with multiple carriers in your market, and can tell you how they really perform, again, without any bias. We will never paint the rosy picture the individual carrier will try to paint for you. Who has the most reliable network? Who has billing problems? Who is going bankrupt or about to go through a merger? Who can make the desired install date? When using an Independent GMT agent, you don’t have to listen to “The Company Story” for each carrier, as they always tend to dress up their deficiencies. You get to hear the truth.
5. Unbiased opinion of multiple carriers and their product lines
Based on where your business is heading, whether that be expanding, streamlining, or contracting, your GMT Independent Telecom Agent can put you in the right situation. Just like buying an inexpensive phone system that you can’t grow with you, and can create the need for a forklift upgrade sooner than expected, getting stuck with a carrier that can’t meet your future expectations can be crippling to your operation. Since most carriers have gone to term agreements in the Hosted (Cloud) and data driven age of communications, it’s key to get set up with a carrier that can move with your needs. Do they have MPLS? Do they do SIP trunking? Can they offer an SD-WAN solution for your remote sites? Security? How about Microsoft Solutions? Your GMT Independent Telecom Agent knows the carriers’ products and limitations and can put you in the right solution for your company.
6. We are invested in your success long term. As briefly explained above, we monitor your business trends and your calling patterns and recommend, when the need arises, upgrades to your telecom infrastructure.
This is an incredibly important concept to understand when choosing to use an Independent Telecom Agent like GMT. When you work with a direct sales representative for a telecom company, one that may be here and gone tomorrow (rep or company) as the turnover is great, they are paid only to bring in the sale. As we all know in the world of corporate sales, comp plans drive behavior, and sales reps are specifically told, “If the customer has a problem, send them to the Help Desk. Do not get involved. You are paid ONLY to bring in new business.” There is absolutely no motivation or service after the sale despite the direct representative’s best intentions for them to ever speak to you again after you sign the dotted line. It’s sad but true. On the flip side, because GMT Agents are commission only and residual based, earning a small percentage of the monthly bill, it takes them, in many cases, up to 24-36 months to get paid what the direct representative will get paid in month number one after the sale. The entire motivation for someone even becoming a GMT agent is to build a book of business of happy customers that don’t have to find someone new every couple of years to deal with. This relationship only makes sense for the agent if you stay with them for over 24 months, so they have EVERY motivation to assist you in solving any service issues that you may have. A good Independent Telecom Agent isn’t just another business associate; they become part of your team.
7. We don’t have a quota to make
One of the biggest issues I have with local telecom carriers is when you reach out to the call center to order new service, you will only be told about what THEY want to sell you. NOT what is best for you. Everyone LOVES to sell bundles in telecom, but let me ask you this. Why do you need Centrex calling features or voice mail on your alarm or elevator lines? Do you need call transfer or remote access to call forwarding on every line in your hunt group and on your fax lines? Do you have mysterious items in the back of your bill for web hosting or other items you are afraid to disconnect in case you actually use it? When I call the local teleco’s directly from the agent channel, I get offered different packages, and more attractive packages, than I get over the phone through the call center. It is very common for Independent Telecom Agents to uncover up to 10-30% of pure fluff on your bill during the auditing process. Why does this happen? Simple. The direct representatives you buy from have a quota to make and will often sell you what is good for them, not what is good for you. They are directed to sell what is profitable for the carrier they work for, and are paid accordingly based on their ability to do so. We do not carry quotas with any carriers and never will.
8. Countless hours of time is saved utilising GMT
The time a company spends on researching solutions for voice, data, security, internet, etc takes weeks and sometimes months, and even then, one may barely scratch the surface as to what’s available in terms of new technology, special pricing, etc. Of course, this happens every 3 years or so as contracts come up for renewal and technology and pricing changes. We broker in excess of 150 carriers and are electronically bonded to each of them and have this information at our fingertips 24/7/365. This results in greater bottom-line savings that is sometimes hard to calculate but surely is there.
9. Better Pricing
We will always provide better pricing to the customer as it comes available and when the contract is ready to renew. In spite of all of the additional knowledge you can tap into with a GMT Consultant, you can be sure you are not charged any extra for it. It’s an incredible model that helps the customer and agent win.
10. We understand how important Next Generation Technology is to your company and take advantage of it
We are better versed in MPLS, IP-VPN, VOIP, hosted (cloud) solutions, call center applications, and SIP technologies since we understand multiple carriers’ offerings and have attended their trainings. Direct representatives will not have the overall understanding of all that is coming with new technology. No carrier can be the master of all technologies and master of all niches. It’s a business impossibility. So, it follows that it is nearly impossible for a direct representative to have the same breadth and width of exposure to the applications you are facing decisions on. Business is fiercely competitive, and implementation of some of the new technologies correctly can literally save larger companies hundreds of thousands of dollars. That may be the exact edge your company needs to gain the competitive advantage in your marketplace for security, marketing, recruiting, or even retention. Likewise, implementing a bleeding edge technology that is not ready for prime time may cost you the same. Using GMT as your experiences and dedicated IT partner who looks out for your best interests makes all the difference in the world.
We truly look forward to serve you in the very near future. Start by clicking here.
Jimmy Miller, Jr.
Founder