vB Easy Archive - Large Cingular Agents Jumping Ship?? (aka Titanic)

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Large Cingular Agents Jumping Ship?? (aka Titanic)
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Posted by: chargebk

Has anyone read the latest RCR magazine Note: Verizon looking to make a claim. Could have something to do with the fact that quite a few Cingular agents and I mean BIG agents with 50 or more stores are talking to the big V. Cingular is lost will they ever find their way? If Verizon signs even some of Cingular biggest agents it fair to say that Verizon will surely take the lead in NO TIME FLAT!

I know i cant help my self. No flaming please just your honest thoughts!!

Posted by: elushon

Well, even rats jump off a sinking ship.

Not saying Cingular is a sinking ship, but I know in my market that Verison is REALLY trying to push and get a bigger stake on the market (CIngular has roughly 80% of all the cell phone customers). So they're offering a LOT of really nice insentives to try and entice dealers to their side. And there will be LOTS of money made to those people who go, but if/when Verizon gets a nice market share they'll see what they get paid plummet down exponentially(sp?).

On a slightly related note, I'm kinda looking forward to the whole name change thing because this is gonna have a LOT of dealers with a nasty taste in their mouth and wanting to leave so I actually look for at&t to pony up and pay a little better.

Besides I think I'll be getting at least 10 people a day telling me what kind of a hole I am for changing the name to at&t and still not letting them keep their damn free 7 to 7, so hopefully they'll pay better just to keep reps in the store period.

Posted by: MenTLPiRacY

who cares bout agents.. all they do is care about making a commision on an account and telling the customer to call customer service to sort it it out if they do somthing wrong..

Posted by: SuxBeingU

lets ignore the previous post for lack of any real content shall we.

As an agent who left I can tell you the smart ones see the wrinting on the wall. The commissions are better with every other carriers and the way Cingular is closing down indirects the ones still standing have to be a little worried about how safe they are.

In So Cal they came though, about a year ago now and told everyone go exclusive or get out. They promise better commissions, spiffs and other enticemnts to go exclusive. nothing has come to fruition and they have gone and removed even more of the dealers.

Can't speak for other markets but in So Cal Verizon is definately making huge gains on Cingular. It would be interesting to see a market by market breakdown of activations.

Posted by: gregsmith59

Quote:

Originally Posted by SuxBeingU

...
Can't speak for other markets but in So Cal Verizon is definately making huge gains on Cingular. It would be interesting to see a market by market breakdown of activations.

Do you think some of it could be LA specific problems with the Pink (310-170) to Blue (310-380) network transition, rather than agent sales issues?

Posted by: SuxBeingU

Quote:

Originally Posted by gregsmith59

Do you think some of it could be LA specific problems with the Pink (310-170) to Blue (310-380) network transition, rather than agent sales issues?

part of it is the issues of combining the system part all the agents bad mouthing Cingular because they were dumped. Most are churning their customers to other carriers so they can make money. Part of it is Verizon has done a very good job in this market

Posted by: elushon

Well I for one think Cingular isn't paying very well at all, and that's gonna cost them. As it has been said many times over on here, Cingular has grown complacent and aren't really taking care of agents, and hell even most of the COR reps aren't being paid well. And Verizon is carefully positioning themselves to catch the windfall.

It would be GREAT IMO to switch to Verizon in my market, simply because there's an over exhaustive amount of COR locations and agents locations. Verizon has one COR location, and like 2 indirects. So yeah anyone getting on the bandwagon now will make a lot of money, but as I've said in an earlier post, that pay will sharply decline I think once Verizon gets themselves in a more favorable position. Then it'll be the same argument again, except Cingular (at&t by then) trying to leverage themselves into a position to take more market share.

Posted by: chargebk

Consider this when weighing the facts:

Holiday 2006 COR locations will receive Mystery shop relief will the agent....NO, is this really fair tying our hands in a ridiculous policy / process.

Upgrade comp cut for most if not all agents forced to earn less and in some instances lose money on deals.... Does churn matter???? It will when Verizon is #1 again

Customer service approves upgrades for cust quoting STD upg pricing when cust enters agent store they magically are NO LONGER elidgable. Cust leaves store mad, call CS they ship phone.hey approved again... We all look good on this one! I am sure a judge would like this activity as well...

Customer service and COR employees bashing agents to customers as well product agents sell... YES, again in a court of law not a good position for Cingular to be in if documented properly. Note product agent sells is a direct result of Cingular cuts and poor management (raping agents on eq pricing)

Promotions that if followed result in loss of profit for agents... Does Cingular care NO, I am positive the courts would rule in favor of the agent here. Fair trade what's that???

COR Building location on top of Agent top stores....YES, Heres to being a team player for years. This is the team to be on....

There is more and it will result in litigation and all agents reading know exactly what i mean. This is even more disheartening when you do in fact run an agency that prides themselves on doing the right thing and representing Cingular to the best of their ability.

Yes, there are agents that really do care how Cingular is viewed and made a career making sure agencies actually do it well. Has anyone compared COR stats to agents???

Hats off Stan, Ralph, Steve, and the rest of you "YEKNOM" employees take note you will see some familiar taillights through the front windshield. The Big V machine will pull ahead and will leave Cingular in the dust!

Glad the agents hard work is being pissed away without a care. And we all know Cingular got to where they are today with a little help from agents. Its actually more than a little help. A LOT!!!!

WE ARE ON THE TITANIC

Posted by: onthephone1

Interesting that RCR had a note on that. What would be interesting in that piece, is how many of those Cingular dealers that are leaving for Verizon, were actually former AT&T Wireless dealers. Many of the blue agents, really didn't feel the love from orange. I think many had a hard time with the transition, and with so many points of distribution...and Cingular's emphasis on COR distribution...I'm sure many felt that they should go where they might wanted/appreciated. I think Cingular's attitude at times was, "We're big, we're bad, we're nationwide." And if you don't like it- tough. Also, there were many of these larger agents who had many outstanding commission issues with AT&T Wireless that were inherited by Cingular...and was an absolute complete mess. Those issues, which although Cingular tried to resolve, were actually in many cases, unresolved, which was/is another reason for these agents to seek greener pastures.

Also, while AT&T Wireless has a strong non-exclusive/wholesale agent relationship, it was evident (when I made the switch from blue to orange) that Cingular did not like the non-exclusive game (outside of major retailers/big box stores), and really didn't want anything to do with them. Not surprised that in many markets, Cingular got rid of that distribution channel.

Posted by: CrazyKaks

well i work at an agent and we wont have mystery shopper for month of december in our area according to reps.

Posted by: Linkman

I love the way people always overreact and make wild assumptions about stuff like this.

It is really very simple. Verizon has always been more about COR stores, because they figured the customer would come to them and wait all day for service -- sounds a little like the land line business, huh?! When Cingular became #1 by buying AWS Verizon realized they needed more distribution. They have been putting on a hard court press since then for dealers. They are only now starting to see the results of those efforts as many larger dealers have their contract come up.

It has nothing to do with companies emotionally jumping ship. It has EVERYTHING to do with sound business decisions.

Posted by: Superpimp

It's the opposite over here, a Verizon corp store is opening right next to 2 wireless zones, a circuit city, a best buy, a bj's and costco, and it's all within a 5 mile radious

Posted by: Rcadden

personally I think this whole conversation is bunk. More agents or more corporate, who cares? People will go where they have at least 2 of three things:

1. Coverage
2. M2M
3. Call Quality/Ability

It's rare to find a family on one carrier and the rest of their relatives on another. M2M being unlimited nowadays makes a huge impact in the way people buy phones and the carrier they pick. Coverage is obvious, if it doesn't work it's useless. Call Quality/Ability I think doesn't change how people pick their carrier, but it affects how long they stay.

So whatever carrier can best 1 and 3, 2 will follow, and then THATS where you see who the winner is. Sure there's people for whom price matters, but they're usually also the people on the bottom rung of the plan ladder anyways.

Posted by: Soopafly

On the note about someone comparing indirect to direct...

Direct sells on average more features per opp which is the focus of Cingular. Indirect can sell more opps based upon location..

Posted by: chargebk

Not sure what market you are in but where i am from the agents rule the roost as far as revenue from features and data among other stats like, PTT, GoPhone, Mystery shop, Tier mix. The list goes on, The COR location have tried for years to match the agents performance metrics to no avail.

Posted by: onthephone1

No question, to answer a previous post, that ultimately...it's all about sound business decisions..for agents to jump ship from one carrier to another. But there is definitely some backstory there for many of them...and no doubt...that played a role as well.

Posted by: Soopafly

Quote:

Originally Posted by chargebk

Not sure what market you are in but where i am from the agents rule the roost as far as revenue from features and data among other stats like, PTT, GoPhone, Mystery shop, Tier mix. The list goes on, The COR location have tried for years to match the agents performance metrics to no avail.

I get my information from DSR for both channels, what I stated is correct for nationwide.

Posted by: Prometheus2k2

Quote:

Originally Posted by elushon

Well, even rats jump off a sinking ship.

Not saying Cingular is a sinking ship, but I know in my market that Verison is REALLY trying to push and get a bigger stake on the market (CIngular has roughly 80% of all the cell phone customers). So they're offering a LOT of really nice insentives to try and entice dealers to their side. And there will be LOTS of money made to those people who go, but if/when Verizon gets a nice market share they'll see what they get paid plummet down exponentially(sp?).

On a slightly related note, I'm kinda looking forward to the whole name change thing because this is gonna have a LOT of dealers with a nasty taste in their mouth and wanting to leave so I actually look for at&t to pony up and pay a little better.

Besides I think I'll be getting at least 10 people a day telling me what kind of a hole I am for changing the name to at&t and still not letting them keep their damn free 7 to 7, so hopefully they'll pay better just to keep reps in the store period.

In what world does cingular own 80% of the market... The koolaid better be pretty sweet on that one.

If I'm not mistaken Cingular has 58-59 million customers whereas verizon has 55-57. The gap is narrowing. VZ added 600000 more customers than cingular last Q. Agents definetely get the raw end of the deal.

One Love,
Prom

Posted by: nhink@cingular

Wow... 600,000 more?... wish I had a dollar for each customer lol. I've been told by my boss, my regional and my account executive that soon cingular will be merging with AT&T (not wireless) once that is over and done with I believe Cingular(AT&T) will be the largest out of all cell providers in the world possibly... I may be wrong its just AT&T is such a big name, not just in the USA, but Worldwide..

But as for now I agree about the jumping ship, its not going to be good for cingular.. not in the least.

Posted by: irockash

Anybody here work for an agent that has exclusive cingulars in some states, and exclusive verizons in the other? It happend last year or so... and i think cingular is doing away with premier dealers... as in, making them display they are dealers... wonder what else will happen....

Posted by: thechosenway

This is all super interesting ... anyone know where I can get a subscrition to RCR ?? Help please....

Oh and I think RCR has always been on VZW's side anyhow!!

Posted by: gregsmith59

Quote:

Originally Posted by thechosenway

This is all super interesting ... anyone know where I can get a subscrition to RCR ?? Help please....

Subscription info is right on their website.

Posted by: eq0120

Quote:

Originally Posted by chargebk

Consider this when weighing the facts:

Holiday 2006 COR locations will receive Mystery shop relief will the agent....NO, is this really fair tying our hands in a ridiculous policy / process.

Upgrade comp cut for most if not all agents forced to earn less and in some instances lose money on deals.... Does churn matter???? It will when Verizon is #1 again

Customer service approves upgrades for cust quoting STD upg pricing when cust enters agent store they magically are NO LONGER elidgable. Cust leaves store mad, call CS they ship phone.hey approved again... We all look good on this one! I am sure a judge would like this activity as well...

Customer service and COR employees bashing agents to customers as well product agents sell... YES, again in a court of law not a good position for Cingular to be in if documented properly. Note product agent sells is a direct result of Cingular cuts and poor management (raping agents on eq pricing)

Promotions that if followed result in loss of profit for agents... Does Cingular care NO, I am positive the courts would rule in favor of the agent here. Fair trade what's that???

COR Building location on top of Agent top stores....YES, Heres to being a team player for years. This is the team to be on....

There is more and it will result in litigation and all agents reading know exactly what i mean. This is even more disheartening when you do in fact run an agency that prides themselves on doing the right thing and representing Cingular to the best of their ability.

Yes, there are agents that really do care how Cingular is viewed and made a career making sure agencies actually do it well. Has anyone compared COR stats to agents???

Hats off Stan, Ralph, Steve, and the rest of you "YEKNOM" employees take note you will see some familiar taillights through the front windshield. The Big V machine will pull ahead and will leave Cingular in the dust!

Glad the agents hard work is being pissed away without a care. And we all know Cingular got to where they are today with a little help from agents. Its actually more than a little help. A LOT!!!!

WE ARE ON THE TITANIC

if i had ten sets of hands they'd all be clapping!

perfectly said, Cingular is basically raping their dealer/agent channel, almost intentionally putting them out of biz, and believe me, the agents that are still left and havent been terminated are even worse off, cause now they are subject to a 90 review, and if cingular isnt happy for any reason can terminate you. They are basically digging their own grave.

Posted by: corys00

Quote:

Originally Posted by irockash

Anybody here work for an agent that has exclusive cingulars in some states, and exclusive verizons in the other? It happend last year or so... and i think cingular is doing away with premier dealers... as in, making them display they are dealers... wonder what else will happen....

Prime Communications, based out of Sugarland, TX, has a large amount of Cingular Primier stores in some states while having exclusive VZW in other states. The odd thing, they say Cingular treats them better...

Posted by: tkdlove

Quote:

Originally Posted by corys00

i confer here, VZW was the worst to deal with and the Red Markets were the worst in the company.
but being a former employee of thiers i can say that cingular really keeps a close eye on them. a lot of sketchy-ness from the "home office" and some poor business practices keeps them under the microscope.

sucks for them

Posted by: celluser7

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rcadden

personally I think this whole conversation is bunk. More agents or more corporate, who cares? People will go where they have at least 2 of three things:

1. Coverage
2. M2M
3. Call Quality/Ability

It's rare to find a family on one carrier and the rest of their relatives on another. M2M being unlimited nowadays makes a huge impact in the way people buy phones and the carrier they pick. Coverage is obvious, if it doesn't work it's useless. Call Quality/Ability I think doesn't change how people pick their carrier, but it affects how long they stay.

So whatever carrier can best 1 and 3, 2 will follow, and then THATS where you see who the winner is. Sure there's people for whom price matters, but they're usually also the people on the bottom rung of the plan ladder anyways.

Very Well Said..!!

I agree, what good is the carrier if their coverage is bad. Id rather pay MORE $$ and have a good provider with impressive coverage and stong network than to pay little $$ and have poor coverage with a weak network..

But on the other note, to some people, cost is the most important regardless of the coverage & call quality... Its that simple..

Posted by: cingman66

Quote:

Originally Posted by eq0120

if i had ten sets of hands they'd all be clapping!

People, I have been saying this for I don't know how long...the cheese is getting moldy...Cingular does not want us around.

Hats off to Chargebk for speaking his mind!