Ear To Ear Podcast | EPISODE 11: Full-Time Agent

Transcript:

 

 

Introduction (00:00):

Welcome to Ear to Ear by Altaworx a podcast for all things telecom.

 

Forrest (00:05):

Welcome to the Altaworx Ear to Ear podcast. Today we've got Ashley Roland, and I wanted to let her introduce herself and tell you a little

about herself. Go ahead, Ashley.

 

Ashley (00:15):

Alright, well I am the co-founder of the Technology Advisor Alliance. We're a community for technology advisors or agents to come in and have a safe space where they can share best practices learn about vendors that are, you know, kick and butt for their customers. And just share things that they're not, you know, really comfortable sharing on LinkedIn or, you know, in amongst their companies. It's a, it's a place to meet other advisors and bond over those common, you know, goals and struggles. I also own an agency myself, Adaptive Advisors with my husband. We are a small two person shop by design mm-hmm. <Affirmative>, and yeah, I'm just, I'm just loving the business that I'm in, so I'm happy to be here. Thank you for inviting me.

 

Forrest (01:04):

Now, when did you start the Technology Advisor Alliance? That was a couple years ago, or how long ago was it?

 

Ashley (01:10):

It was only last year. I can't even believe it we're That's, yeah. Yeah. Less than a year old. We, we launched last August and today we have, I think 103 members is what we have. So it's, when I, when we first launched, you know, I was, I was reaching out to people and saying, Hey, we've got this concept, do you want to join? And it wasn't working out too well, really. Even, even people I knew weren't like, yeah, sure, I'll join. But once we, once we got, you know, I don't know, 30 or 40 members it just started growing on its own. Yeah. So, I, you know, nobody wants to be sold to, right? Yeah. Like, nobody wants to know, hey, you want to know about my product? No. Yeah. So, I'm really thankful that now, I mean, every single member that joins comes from a referral from existing members. So, yeah. For me that's really cool.

 

Forrest (02:03):

Yeah. That's, that's neat. So, we're kind of on a, a similar journey in our area. We started a group called EOS. So Entrepreneurial operating system is a, if you're not familiar with that, is a, a system to manage your business. And so, there's a couple of us in the area that operate on EOS and we started saying, you know, gosh, there's got to be a place where we can come together. We do it in person, so we don't do it online, but there's got to be a place we can come in person, sit in a coffee shop and talk about our businesses. Yeah. And took me a little while, put some social media posts out there. One person showed up finally, then the next meeting I had 11 people show up. Wow. And now we've got about 20 different businesses that show up once a month for a meeting. And it's just a, it's, it's not a tips group, it's not a leads group. We're not trying to sell each other anything. Yeah. It is just iron sharpening iron, which is what I envision you guys are doing as well, is sharing information to help each other get better at their craft. So,

 

Ashley (03:00):

Exactly. A rising tide lifts all ships, you know? Yeah. And I love how you guys have grown. My father-in-law actually does EOS and mm-hmm. <Affirmative>, you know, I could see your group, I mean, really benefit, benefiting from sharing with each other. So that's so awesome.

 

Forrest (03:14):

So let, let's start talking about you. So how I came across you is that our CEO saw your eBook on I, what was the title of the eBook? I forgot the name of it.

 

Ashley (03:25):

So, it's, it's Advice from Top Agents,

 

Forrest (03:27):

Advice From Top Agents, right? Yep. And so, he sent that to me and he said, you need to read this, because I was doing some research on agencies and how do we help that community and read it. And I was I, what was interesting is I, I knew several people that you had interviewed. So, Devin Harris is somebody that I've gotten to know really well, dev Devin, and I she's in the area, she's down the street from me. And she's actually in the S group, believe it or not. So she joined the USS Group a couple months ago. Awesome. Awesome. So it's been neat making those connections, but what really inspired me from that was that you really dug into how do you start an agency? How do you get it going? What works, what doesn't works? What are the best practices?

 

(04:08):

And, you know, I was thinking to myself, well, my goodness, why didn't you interview yourself when we decided to do this podcast? And so that's the premise of this. I just thought it'd be a good conversation to talk to you about you know, how you got started, where you found success. And so that's what I'd like to start off with. The first thing I want to do is, it was not on the questions that you asked, but it looks like I was looking at your LinkedIn profile, which, you know, obviously there's a lot of information out there, and I hadn't spent a lot of time on your profile, but I noticed that you, you got your start selling door-to-door Quill, is that right?

 

Ashley (04:40):

Yes, <laugh>. Yeah. It

 

Forrest (04:42):

Was, oh my goodness, that was hard.

 

Ashley (04:44):

It, you know, it was really the unluck of the draw there. I graduated college in oh seven Uh huh <affirmative>, and nobody was really hiring. Right? Yep. Yep. And I, I was, I wanted like a professional job. And so you know, the door-to-door quill, you actually had to wear a suit every day. Uh huh, <affirmative>, you know, and it was, it was really just a hard knock life. I mean, it was no salary, no mileages, no mileage expenses. Yeah. You know, just pure commission only. So, you know, since that job wasn't even paying my, my minimal bills that I had at the time, I just decided to like, throw a dart on a board and, and pick Denver. I, so I moved to Denver. I had a thousand dollars in my bank account and I had no job lined up <laugh> mm-hmm.

 

(05:31):

<Affirmative>. And so I actually landed in Denver and I drove to Denver and drove up to Denver and had a hotel for a couple days. And I went door to door to restaurants till I found someone that would hire me on the spot and have me start right away just so I could like, get some cash in the door, <laugh>. And truth be told, it only took three doors. So that, that wasn't the hard part. But you know, from there I was able to land a couple of sales positions. And I still always wanted something that was like professional in my mind. Mm-Hmm. Mm-hmm. And so that's how I kind of transitioned into to telecom sales. Yeah. So, very cool. Yeah. I mean, Comcast was hiring and they, they basically, like, they didn't care that, I didn't know what a static IP was or what, you know, 50 megabits per second was. They just took one look at my door knocking experience mm-hmm. <Affirmative>, and they were like, yes. You know? Yeah. So if you can sell, we can teach you what to sell. So, and

 

Forrest (06:31):

Yeah, if, if you could produce activity, you can be successful. And I think that's one of the challenges a lot of CDs salespeople don't realize is that the ones that aren't successful don't realize that you have to produce the activity. The activity is what drives the results. So my backstory, which is interesting, is I worked at an office furniture and supply company for 18 years. Oh wow. And I started there in college. So I've got this really, really long, expansive career of, let's see, 18 6, 26 years. Oh my gosh. I've worked at two companies. So I worked at an office furniture and supply company for 18 years. And then I worked, I've worked here at Altaworx for eight now. But in that office supply role, I had a lot of different roles and responsibilities. I was able to be a part of the, the e-commerce immersion. Oh, wow. So I set up the first e-commerce system for the office supply company, and I had to go out and train the customers and teach them and, and sell them on buying office supplies online, because at that time everybody was faxing orders. But

 

Ashley (07:31):

I remember, you know, it's funny, like I used to carry a giant catalog book Yep. When I was doing Quill. And then, you know, like within that year, that short time I worked there, they were like, okay, if you can get them to buy online and walk them through the website Yep. An extra, you know, 30 bucks or something. So yeah. That was part of the goal. Do you still look at each business and think like, I wonder which toner they order? Yes. Because I do that sometimes.

 

Forrest (07:57):

<Laugh>? Yes. Yeah. Still have that. And, and I, I still look, so when I go in, in a business, I'll look at the copy cap and next to the copier and see what kind of what, who they're buying from. Are they buying from? I don't, I don't know. Quill's still out there anymore. I, I don't know if they've got absorbed by all the different Yeah. But my, my funny quill story, this is my one little story I'll tell you on Quill. So I worked in an office supply company. It was a local regional company. And I remember being at the front counter. I was walking through helping somebody. cause I was in the IT department at the time, and this person dressed up kind of like you were probably walked in the office and flipped open the catalog and said, you know, Hey, I'm from Quill and we've got all these awesome things. And I looked at her and I said, did you look at the sign? We're an office supply company. It says that big letters, office supplies. And she was trying to sell me office supplies. Wow. It still stuck to me that that was a funny event.

 

Ashley (08:49):

So they really, you know, the, the like Quill program was very hard. It was very cult-like, though. It was very like mm-hmm. <Affirmative>, look, here's what you do. You go tight to the right, you hit every single door. I'm like, well, what if that door is Walmart? Yeah. And they're like, we don't care. You hit every door. I'm like, what?

 

Forrest (09:05):

Yeah.

 

Ashley (09:06):

Wasted my time.

 

Forrest (09:07):

Well, that, that must've been the education process that that person had because that Yes, they walked in the door. They were going to sell an office supply, company office supplies. I don't know how they were going to do that, but whatever. <Laugh>. Alright. So, you know, pivoting, you know, you, you got into telecom sales and mm-hmm. <Affirmative>, you know, you obviously were successful there. You said you worked at Comcast, is that right?

 

Ashley (09:25):

Yep. I was at Comcast for eight and a half years. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>, you know, so it, so I, I did, well, you know, my goal when I first started was to make a 100k. Mm-Hmm. Like, I was so excited about that number. And, you know, I, that a 100K turned into 200K mm-hmm. 200K turned into 300K, which, you know, really allowed me to go from struggling underpaid young adult to Yeah. You know, established home-owning, thriving adult. So, yeah. You know, it was, it was a, it was a great, you know, I, I thought, I thought that money was kind of what I was after. Yeah. and, and I accomplished that while I was there.

 

Forrest (10:01):

But you've pivoted away from having a quote corporate sales job to Yeah. Owning your own agency business, your own telecom consulting business. So tell me about how that process came about. How'd you decide to do that?

 

Ashley (10:14):

Sure. well, you know, like I said, I thought money was what I was after. And at first it really was just like to survive, right? Yeah. But turns out all along money, money just meant like I could achieve what I was really after, which was freedom. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>. So creating our, our telecom consulting business was, you know, really about being able to make every single choice for ourselves. You know, not, not taking a meeting if it wasn't our choice. You know, not traveling to events that weren't our choice. And just most importantly, it's about like, being there for our children anytime they needed us. So in my opinion, life is just too short to work all the time. Right. and, and that residual or that recurring income, it really gives us the freedom to continue to get paid for sales that we made in the past. So, you know, we get that freedom to spend, you know, our time in the present or our time in the future, however we wish.

 

Forrest (11:08):

That's very cool. Yeah. So, so how long did you think about it, <laugh>? So you obviously, oh man, wanted to do it, but how long did you think about it before you made the change and pulled the trigger to do it?

 

Ashley (11:18):

I mean, about six years. Really. I know that sounds crazy, that like, sleep on an idea that long, but it was kind of always in the back of my head. But I wasn't ready to leave that, you know, high paying Comcast sales job. But after, you know, after eight and a half years there, I just, I wanted out and I'll, I'll save that story for another day, <laugh>. But so I, I hunted a job with Sienna because really, I, I heard they paid well, right? Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>, and they did you know, I, I more than doubled my Comcast salary and I had a pretty nice looking on target earnings mm-hmm. <Affirmative>, but you know, one month and of like several work trips and go to this happy hour and this after work dinner, you know, I, I quickly realized that that wasn't going to work for my family. I mean, we had a less than one year old and a two year old. And so really the decision kind of hit us in the face, like, you know, my husband and I, as soon as we had that talk, like, Hey, this, this is just too much. This is not, the money is not worth it. <Laugh>. Yeah. You know, we just, we like pulled the trigger. I quit Sienna and boom, we launched Adaptive Advisors.

 

Forrest (12:25):

So, if I'm understanding Correct, did you guys both quit your jobs and start this, or did? No. Okay.

 

Ashley (12:30):

Yeah. I always say we, cause my hu you know, my husband and I are, do we do everything together? Sure. Yeah. He, he kept his job. You know, we, we hadn't, we didn't save up that much money Right. <Laugh>, so. Right. I was really the face of adaptive and I was the only one selling, you know, he was always behind the scenes and did the website and did mm-hmm. <Affirmative>, you know, set the bank account, set up the e I n. So, you know, we do everything together, but Adaptive was really just me as customer facing for the first few years really, until he was able to finally quit and join and, and now we're both full-time on Adaptive.

 

Forrest (13:07):

So when did he quit his job in full-time with you? Just

 

Ashley (13:10):

Last year. Okay. So it took us to about three years almost of me being adaptive like two and a half, three years, somewhere around there. Yeah. Until we finally made enough money where we had, you know, we had our savings that we feel comfortable about, and we're able to, able to cover our bills and a little bit extra. And so once we realized we were at that point, you know, we knew, we always knew he, he was going to come in. We were always going to be, you know, going forward together. So, and yeah, it's been wonderful.

 

Forrest (13:44):

So was he selling telecom services as well before?

 

Ashley (13:48):

Yeah. So my husband and I met at Comcast. He was a engineering manager. Okay. And I, I was a sales rep. We never really worked together. We met on like a, an at an event. And yeah, so he's like a, he is a brilliant, brilliant network engineer. So I, I feel like sometimes I have an unfair advantage Yeah. Because I have in my in-house engineer, like anything, I don't know, he, he knows something about <laugh>. Excellent. And, and he's, he is really amazing with his customer. So yeah. So he's, he is VoIP expert, networking, you know, everything expert. Which is, which is quite wonderful. And I'm, I'm great at building relationships, you know, I'm great at like, hounding the vendors and, and getting things done. So we're really, I think we're a great match.

 

Forrest (14:34):

Sounds like a dynamic duo for the two of you to be together. So

 

Ashley (14:37):

It's very totally.

 

Forrest (14:39):

So what is your, you're speaking of services. What's your favorite service to sell and why is it your favorite service?

 

Ashley (14:46):

Oh, that's a great question. Well,

 

Forrest (14:49):

We came up with these questions, by the way, so, oh,

 

Ashley (14:51):

Yeah, that's right. These are my questions, aren't they? <Laugh>? I like, it's fun being interviewed with my own questions though. There you go. <Laugh>. my favorite thing to sell is, you know, my own product, which is the Technology Advisor Alliance community. So you know, I'm not dependent on a vendor or a distributor. I don't have to wait for an installation to get paid. You know, it's, it's certainly not the highest income product I sell, but it's certainly like the most rewarding by far. Yeah. every time someone joins the community, I like immediately go stalk them on LinkedIn, visit their website, send them a message, try to get to know them, because, you know, I don't, I don't know these people that are joining. They, they find us and, you know, see that what we have to offer is compelling, and so it's really, really cool. But, you know, as far as like channel products that I like to sell you'll probably be happy about this answer. You know, I'm kind of old school. I, I, I really like to sell VoIP. I really like to sell internet. That's what I'm good at, so what I stick to.

 

Forrest (15:52):

Yeah. Good stuff. So what do you think makes you successful besides your dynamic duo and your eng in-house engineer that you've got access to? You know, what, what are the other characteristics that you think make you successful?

 

Ashley (16:07):

I believe in myself. I mean, I really do. I truly believe that, you know, if there's a goal I want to achieve, there could be a million obstacles in the way, but I'm going to crush right through all those obstacles. I'm also not afraid of rejection. I know that I'm not for everyone, and I'm just okay with that. Yeah. So, I think mindset is, I know it sounds like hippie dippy, but it's really what makes a big difference.

 

Forrest (16:35):

Well, to be successful going door to door selling office supplies, you have to <laugh> be able to accept rejection and move on and know that that's one more No. Toward getting a yes. So that's, that's good stuff.

 

Ashley (16:47):

Yeah.

 

Forrest (16:48):

So, you know, you're not going door to door now, right now. Right. I, I've assumed that, you know, oh, no. <Laugh>, you've got your, your kids, you're staying at home. So yeah. Talk to me about how you prospect now.

 

Ashley (16:58):

Sure. well, I appreciate my time, like a fine glass of wine, <laugh>, <laugh> or like, or something even better than that. Like, time is everything to me. Yeah. It's even more than money. So, you know, I'm all about working smarter and not harder. So, this means that instead of reaching out to people when it's convenient for me, like say I'm cold calling because I'm working that day mm-hmm. <Affirmative>, like, that's convenient for me. Yeah. I find ways to show up when it's the right time for the customer, because that's a shorter sales cycle for me, and that's a higher close ratio. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>. So, the way I do that is by building relationships with people that have access to my target customer. My target customer is, you know, not rocket science. It's, it's someone that needs to buy internet and phone service.

 

(17:44):

You know, we can, we can sell more into the account once they're our customer and they like us, but, you know, I go in for the internet and the, the phone. So, I think about like, who needs to buy internet and phone service. Well, the answer is every single person that's moving into a new office mm-hmm. <Affirmative>. So, what I do is I, I build relationships with commercial real estate professionals, like the brokers, property managers, building owners, even the developers, so that when someone signs a lease or mentions moving, you know, they get me involved to make it easier on the tenant. It's a win for the customer. It's a win for the referral partner. It's a win for me. So yeah, I, I find ways to show up when, when the customer wants it, and then it's, you know, it's an easy sale.

 

(18:26):

So, I also love working with other telecom and technology sales reps. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>, you know, like some people can only sell internet. They don't sell VoIP. Right. Some people can only sell VoIP. They don't sell the internet. So, you know, as long as you are a trustworthy person to work with, you do everything you say you're going to do, and, you know, you make sure that you don't mess with their part of the sale, people will work with you over and over and over again. Yeah. Like, I have people that I've been working with for years and years and years. <Laugh>.

 

Forrest (18:56):

That's very cool. Yeah. So yeah. You, you make your network work for you is what you're doing. Absolutely.

 

Ashley (19:00):

Yeah. Yeah.

 

Forrest (19:00):

Stuff. Yeah. A lot of people don't realize that I've been preaching that to my son. He's a junior in college, and I, I already told him, I said, you got to build your LinkedIn profile out. You have got to start connecting with people. You have got to build that network. That network is your livelihood, and it can be if you use it Right. Not to take advantage of people, but to build relationships where you help people and they're going to want to help you if you continue to help them. So,

 

Ashley (19:25):

Great advice, how it all works. Yeah. Sometimes I feel like a little mafia don, like, I'll give you a deal. You gave me a deal. Like, we'll do a favor for each other. Yeah. But, you know, it works. It works, it works great. <Laugh>.

 

Forrest (19:37):

Yeah. And so, I learned a concept and didn't realize I was doing it, but it, it stuck with me. I have a, a friend, a mentor in the industry that used the term net weaving, which I had never heard before. And we actually were on a fishing trip, and he just had some time where the fish were not biting. So we were talking about, you know, business and, and everything. And, and he says, he asked me, are you net weaving? And I said, I'm networking. He said, no, are you net weaving? And I said, I don't know what that is. And, and in its simplistic form, networking is trying to help somebody to get something out of them, whereas net weaving is trying to help somebody to help somebody. Ah. And if you're helping somebody to help somebody without looking for that immediate return, many times what'll happen is, one, you get the satisfaction of helping somebody, which is what you're doing with your technology alliance. You're not getting anything directly out of that per se mm-hmm. <Affirmative>. But if you help somebody when they come around and need something mm-hmm. Or when they see somebody that needs something, they're going to be very likely to refer that person back to you. So it's almost pay it forward kind of mentality where you're helping somebody not looking for that immediate return on investment, but knowing that they're going to remember you. And when they come across something that that fits in your wheelhouse, they're going to come back to you. So

 

Ashley (21:00):

That's amazing advice. And I think a lot of people overlook that and they, you know, they, they're like, well, how am I going to hit my quota or get to my goal by doing that? Right. And it's like, it comes back so much faster than you think. Yeah. You know?

 

Forrest (21:14):

Yeah. Our philosophy at, at the company I work for is, is really structured around making sure we have a positive impact on everybody, and that includes our vendors. So there's a lot of times we'll net weave with our vendors and hand opportunities off to them that there's nothing we're ever going to get out of that mm-hmm. <Affirmative>. But when we call those vendors and need something, they remember that we referred something to them to help them out. So in all those relationships, net weaving that's something that has stuck with me ever since I had that, that talk on the back of a fishing boat where we weren't catching any fish <laugh>. So

 

Ashley (21:44):

Best time to get good advice, <laugh>.

 

Forrest (21:46):

Yeah. So what's the best part about being a telecom agent? I think I know the answer to this, but I want to, I'll make sure I understand the answer from you, <laugh>.

 

Ashley (21:54):

Okay. One word. I'll let you guess. What do you think?

 

Forrest (21:57):

Freedom.

 

Ashley (21:58):

Yes. <Laugh>, dinging, ding, dinging.

 

Forrest (22:01):

Yeah.

 

Ashley (22:02):

Yeah. Really, it's the freedom. You know, I'm not making the most money I've ever made in my life right now, but I'm just able to make all the choices for myself and spend my time. Like everything I do is a choice, you know? Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>, being here for me is a choice. I want to be here. Yeah. and I, and I also get to say no is whenever I want <laugh> Yeah. Which is great. So,

 

Forrest (22:27):

Yeah. Don't have anybody telling you what to do. Right.

 

Ashley (22:30):

Yeah, totally.

 

Forrest (22:32):

So what advice would you give people that are looking to become a telecom agent? You, you're obviously giving advice all the time through your channel but what advice sticks out to you the most that you want to give somebody when they're first looking at becoming an agent?

 

Ashley (22:46):

I would say, you know, make strong relationships with your, your existing referral partners or your existing customers, because you know, that's going to be a really quick way to launch your business. Also get to know everything you can about the industry. There's a, there's a journalist that I am a huge fan of. He works at Channel Futures, his name is James Anderson. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>. He writes amazing articles, you know, he, and he really breaks it down and kind of cuts through, cuts through all the noise. There's a lot of like information out there, but a lot of it is agenda specific, you know, like about, you know, put out by vendors. But James is really great at, you know, kinda breaking down like how the industry works. So he, he's awesome. And then really just, you know, decide if you want to work for someone else or you want to work for yourself if you're working for yourself, save a lot of money or, you know, have a plan for how you're, how you'll pay your bills, because it really takes an eternity to get paid in the beginning.

 

(23:48):

Yeah. your first year income, like, if you just start out on your own, it's going to be like poverty level. Right. but once your deals roll in, you know, you know, it's just, you're getting paid like clockwork. You know, it's like your deals in the past work for you in the future, which is amazing. So I have friends that have cashed out 4 0 1 Ks. I have friends that, you know, luckily have a spouse that's working. That was actually my position. So just know that it's going to be a, it's going to be a different lifestyle at first and just plan for it.

 

Forrest (24:18):

Yeah. You got to look long term. Can't look short term. Look

 

Ashley (24:21):

Long term. Yeah. Term. Yeah. Totally.

 

Forrest (24:23):

So what mistakes have you made in this agency, telecom business over the time you've been doing it?

 

Ashley (24:31):

Oh, too many. <Laugh>, <laugh>. You know, when I first started, I met with too many vendors. You know, I thought that being a telecom agent meant that I had to learn how to sell everything. Even though my customers weren't asking me for those things. And so every time I said yes to a vendor who said, Hey, I see you're an agent, let me tell you about Tax eight, or, you know, like, cloud Warriors or whatever it is, I, I'd be like, sure, I need to learn this. But it really wasn't, it really wasn't the, it just put me behind and like mm-hmm. <Affirmative>, you know, every time you put these meetings on your calendar, you're using brainpower, then you got a code switch. You know, I would say my, I guess more advice, <laugh>, that's not the question, but you know, find a, a handful of vendors, just a few that you're, you're, you know, you want to learn a ton about and you want to get really comfortable and just sell those vendors consistently.

 

(25:28):

You know, maybe in three years, five years, you can add more products, learn more things, whatever your heart desires. But at first you know, you, you've got to, you got to make your money, you got to get, get up. So find those partners that are supporting you and helping you and providing what you need and taking care of your customers and just sell those ones. So and then just really focus I didn't focus on my business. I was like, sure, I could have subagent, so I spent a lot of time like helping other people. Mm-Hmm. you know, because everyone's like, oh, you should get subs, and then you have all these people under you and you make tons of money. And it's like, no, you make like this much off your subs. Right. Like, you make, and I'm Pi if this is not on video, like I'm pitching my fingers really close together. Right. You don't make a lot of money off other people. Yeah. so just, that was a waste of my time. And then I, I didn't shop the t the TSDs, the TSPs, you know, the distributors. I just went with the like first person that asked me, and I lost a, a, a big chunk of money by doing that. So yeah, those are, those are my big mistakes, <laugh>, and I'm still making them. But, you know, you learn, you learn as you go.

 

Forrest (26:35):

Well, but that's what your, your alliance is about, is to mm-hmm. <Affirmative>, anybody that's even looking at getting started in this industry, they could get in there and they can learn from each other. So that's, that's good to share that. Definitely. so what should other people do to be successful?

 

Ashley (26:49):

Oh, I probably already answered that, but you

 

Forrest (26:51):

Probably have already answered that. <Laugh>. Is there anything else that you haven't mentioned that you thought would be helpful?

 

Ashley (26:56):

Yeah, I would say just, I mean, really like focus, focus, focus, focus and prioritize your time. You know, don't think you need to shape your business like anyone else's. There's, there's a lot of like, keeping up with the Joneses on LinkedIn. You'll see someone's, you know, fancy office, or I just hired five reps, and you might think, oh, I want to build my company like theirs. But really do you, you know, like whatever's important to you, maybe, maybe that is important to you. Maybe it's not, figure out what that is. You know, whether it's money, time, you know, cl prestige, like put, put that why up in front of your face and just design your business or build your business to fit your why. cause At the end of the day, you know, the only person you need to satisfy is yourself.

 

Forrest (27:43):

Yeah. cause you've got the freedom to do what you want, so you have to figure out the why. So. Totally. All right. So what about best practices? You know, you mentioned calendar management. That sounds like a best practice to make sure that you're using your time wisely and not taking appointments just to take appointments. But what are some other best practices you, you have?

 

Ashley (28:02):

I'm big on habit tracking, so I'll actually list, you know, the habits that I want to track every single week. And they're usually a little different each week. But whether it's a personal habit, like I want to read every single night, you know, or I want to walk on my treadmill for three miles a night, or, you know, whatever it is. Like, I want to make sure I prospect, like put, write that down and then check it off every single day. So then you can see like, are you doing the activity on the front end to net the results that you want on the back end? Or, you know, are you just winging it <laugh> Yeah. Seeing how it goes. So sometimes I just wing it and you know, it, it shows Right. But whenever I track my habits, you know, it, it makes a huge difference.

 

Forrest (28:52):

Yeah. Checklists are good. I'm, I'm a big checklist person and I like to be able to go back at the end of the day and check things off. It gives me satisfaction to say, okay, I did these things. These are the important things to do. So,

 

Ashley (29:03):

Totally.

 

Forrest (29:04):

Alright. So big question. How do you get into the channel? So for any of the listeners out there that are, you know, some people don't even know what the channel is I'm sure, but how do you get into the channel?

 

Ashley (29:16):

Yeah, well I'll say that channels are everywhere and channels are here to stay. Channels are growing. You know, Amazon is a channel, right? Mm-Hmm. <affirmative> the grocery store is a channel. Like, you, you don't go to like the gif store for your peanut butter, and then you walk into the Peter Pan store for the other peanut butter, right? Or, or like the different cereal brands. You each, each type of food doesn't have a its own store. That's the same as a technology space. So, you know, if you, if you buy directly from Comcast, that's like buying directly from the, the Jif peanut butter store kind of thing. So the channel is just a, a wonderful model where, you know, you can get everything in one place. And it really is customer focused because, you know, you're focused on finding the right solution to meet the customer's problem, not trying to fit, you know, your one product into the customer's exact needs.

 

(30:14):

Right? So channel is wonderful. You can pick and choose your, your vendors. How you get in is you know, you just start, you just, you start with a vendor. You start with an Altaworx, you know, you, you find someone that you like to sell for and you go do that. And then, you know, as your customers, you know, are buying VoIP, they're, they might ask you for the internet mm-hmm. <Affirmative>. So then you, you make an agreement with one of the, you know, the major TSDs, there's about seven left. And you know, you, you get an agreement with them, you pay attention to your LA contract language mm-hmm. <Affirmative>. Yep. And edit that. I would highly recommend it that to make it more friendly to you. And, and then, you know, then you have access through those distributors to any vendor you want to sell. And so, you know, then you're able to fulfill those, those other needs for your client. But really it's just, you can start with one vendor, you know, and then, then you're in. Yeah. You grow from there.

 

Forrest (31:13):

Yeah. And I think it's also good to, you know, there's a couple of different major trade shows around the country that are good for agents. So it expo and channel partners, both of those are, are good to get exposure to. A lot of different Yeah. Other people in the agent community. So I guess last question, and it's, what do you see in the future of telecom?

 

Ashley (31:32):

Oh, man. You know, I'm, no, I wouldn't say I'm an expert <laugh>. I just like to share my thoughts and my feelings. Yeah. And well, that's

 

Forrest (31:41):

What we're here for.

 

Ashley (31:42):

Yeah, exactly. But I do see, you know, I see a lot of things happening. I see that every business has, you know, or at least wants a recurring revenue or a subscription model, right? Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>. So you see like everything as a service, like marketing this as a service or blah, blah, blah as a service, right? So and because of that, that's just more opportunity for us. You know, that's wonderful opportunity for the channel. I see this, you know, big ecosystem of the channel growing even more. And I see the technology partners, the agents, I see us being more instrumental in like, the entire sales process and the entire customer journey. Like, not just the sales process, but, you know, the renewals mm-hmm. <Affirmative>, and you know, even the, the support. And, you know, there's a lot of things that you know, that we'll be able to do in the future, I think that we're not really focused on now. And I think it's growing and my outlook is very optimistic.

 

Forrest (32:49):

Very good. Yeah. I read a article recently that the car manufacturers, some of them have started selling heated seats as a service.

 

Ashley (32:58):

Oh,

 

Forrest (32:58):

Wow. And so there's some car companies over across the, across the pond over in Europe who are starting to do that. And it, it seems like that's where even the car manufacturers are going to go. So if you want heated seats, you can pay an extra fee per month, and they can turn it off and on as you need it, because, you know, there'll be a connected SIM card that gives them remote access to, to control those types of things. So I'm with you. I, I think every, every business I talk to is looking for recurring revenue somehow. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative> and industry's constantly changing. So it's a wide open field of opportunities,

 

Ashley (33:32):

Really is. I'm excited to be here and I just, I'm thankful for, you know, the, the people that really started this model and started, created all these opportunities for people like me to, you know, join the channel in 2019. And I just like, it's beautiful. It's just a beautiful model and I'm really thankful for it.

 

Forrest (33:55):

Well, thank you for participating and yeah. Letting me My pleasure. Let play the role of asking you your own questions. You did a great job in answering them, and thank you. Hopefully everybody all the listeners out there have gotten something valuable. And if you're interested in learning more about the channel, connect with Ashley she can definitely help you get steered in the right direction and, and connect you with a bunch of other advisors. That would be a good peer group for you.

 

Ashley (34:20):

You bet. Sounds great.

 

Forrest (34:22):

<Laugh>. Thanks again. We'll talk to you later. Thank you. And I'll talk to you on the next episode.

 

Ashley (34:26):

Alright, sounds good.

 

Forrest (34:27):

All right. Bye.