Rather than offering ongoing commissions based on billed revenues, BT is now paying lump sums to partners upon issuing the first bill. Furthermore, BT has incentivised volume sales and upselling by tiering commissions according to number of connections sold and product value.
This new scheme is proving attractive with partners, as Claire Dickinson, sales director at Scorch Media Ltd, explained: "BT has never been more committed to its partners. The introduction of the new commissions structure has enabled us to refocus our business strategy onto the broadband proposition, a product we believe is integral to our business and future revenues. BT has demonstrated consistently that it is willing to support Scorch in every way possible, and we have seen our sales increase by 420 per cent since the last quarter."
The new commission system is only one part of BT's drive to increase broadband sales. In addition to the new payment structure, BT is helping its partners to bring together their technical product knowledge and their sales skills with a series of new 'Powerday' initiatives. These day-long events combine on-site motivational and training tutorials with incentive-driven sales workshops to get partners selling. BT's partners have carried out six so far, which have delivered sales success rates of between 20 and 50 orders per day.
Rakesh Mahajan, general manager, marketing and strategy at BT Indirect Channels, said: "At Partners' Experience we promised to simplify broadband commissions to such an extent that if our partners told us what they'd sold, we'd write them a cheque. We're now following through on that promise and, combined with the training and marketing support we offer, more and more resellers are realising just what an attractive proposition our broadband offering has become. It's our commitment to helping our partners make money that differentiates us from the competition, and why an increasing number of resellers are deciding they want to sell BT above any other product in the broadband space."