"20 Questions" for Vendor Interview & Telecom Talk Radio  as of 12/9/2003

At the vendor's request, Dan Baldwin, TAA Founder & Editor-at-Large conducts a vendor interview using the questions below so he can write an informed "TAA Review" of the vendor's agent program & service offering.  These questions are also used for the "Telecom Talk Radio" audio recordings. For more information please call Dan at 206-203-6115 x2.

1.  What are the "Top 10" services you would like agents or resellers to distribute to end-users?

2.  What type of end-users do you want the agents to sell to and are these the type of end-users you've had the most success with?

3.  Who are your primary competitors for these services to these end-users (against whom will your distributors be competing) and how is your service better, similar or worse than your primary competitors (what "pitch" or "angle" will agent find most effective)? 

4.  What are the "Top 10" reasons end-users choose your services?

5.  What type of agents or resellers are you looking to recruit and are these the types of agents or resellers that have had the most success selling your service to end-users?

6.  Who are your primary competitors for these agents (who else can the agent represent to offer similar services to end-users) and how is your agent program better, similar or worse than your primary competitor's agent program (why would an agent choose you over them)? 

7.  What are the "Top 10" reasons agents or resellers distribute your service?

8.  What is the geography of your marketplace for agents & end-users?

9.  Please describe in detail the process required for agent signup, order provisioning & commission payment.

10.  How do you handle "gotchas" like credit approval, order rejects, TPV, etc?

11.  Do you run retail pricing or agent commission promotions?

12.  Any significant program changes coming up in the future?

13.  How are the end-users supported after the sale?

14.  How are agents supported after signup?

15.  What non-TAA marketing channels are you using to solicit agents?

16.  What other sales channels are you using to solicit customers?

17.  Biography of company, owners, executives agent support staff?

18.  In what other ways do you hope TAA and or the agent community can help you?

19.  Other questions: