By Dr. Judy Reed Smith (judyrsmith@atlantic-acm.com) and Fedor Smith (fsmith@atlantic-acm.com)

Background:

This is the second portion of a two-part DATALINE.  Part 1 can be viewed here.

Analysis:

• Are sales reps are missing upsell opportunities?  When we asked respondents about the performance of sales reps, customers were complimentary about the technical and professional skills of wholesale salespersons but dissatisfied in performance in the areas of "proactive or consultative selling.”  Granted, there is a fine line between being proactive and being pesky when it comes to sales call frequency and persistence, but the low scores for most carriers in proactive selling suggests that wholesale customers are interested in learning about new and helpful products.  
  
  
• New network technologies can erode margins.  Part of the low satisfaction with proactive selling from representatives may be the avoidance, or delay, of revenue and margin cannibalization.  We note that Ethernet per gig is more cost effective for large buyers, therefore potentially lower margin for carriers, for example.  Is it possible that some of the gap between customer desire for new product information and the level of that information provided stem from salespeople not being well-rewarded by their companies for bringing lower revenue contracts (or low-margin products).
  
  
• Product satisfaction increased in 2009.  Year-over-year product quality satisfaction was especially high in 2009, as was satisfaction with customer touch points and price competitiveness.  Conversely, carrier product portfolios rated as much more important purchase drivers in 2008 than in 2009, suggesting that newly filled quivers of wholesale products are driving gains in overall product satisfaction.

The Bottom Line:

Wireless opportunities are some of the most promising for the coming year for wholesale as well as retail providers.  As handsets with readable screens and good connections proliferate, wireless carriers will need additional bandwidth.  These wireless carriers appear to be good wholesale customers, with wireless customers overall rating their carriers with the highest, most generous scores.  In addition, the typical contract length of approximately two years reported by CLECs, CAPs and ILECs reaches to closer to five years for wireless.  Let’s see…growing, satisfied with operations, satisfied with products, longer contracts...    Sounds like the ideal customers to us.