Telarus Launches 'Second Bite Of The Apple' Rewards Program For Partners Selling Fiber, Cable Services

The new program, called Second Bite Of The Apple, was formally launched Tuesday at Telarus' second annual Partner Summit, taking place this week in Park City, Utah. The aim of the program, according to Telarus, is to help partners multiply their fiber and cable sales and streamline the process through which they find new customer prospects.

"I think it's an awesome program," said Lance Akins, president of Crossvergence, an Austin, Texas-based telecom agent and managed services provider. "I have seen some of the stuff behind the scenes and it's really incredible how easy and fast [Telarus] is able to do this."

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Akins said the real value of the program will be sharing these leads with Crossvergence's VAR and solution provider partners.

"I if I can help them earn new clients, I can't do anything better for that type of partner," Akins said.

The new program works by Telarus checking the construction requirements of all metro Ethernet and coax sales submitted by a partner. If new facilities are scheduled to be built, the address of those facilities will be forwarded to the Telarus Marketing Department, which will then send the partner a list of CIOs for all other tenants in that facility. Telarus said it expects these prospects to be leads largely for voice and broadband services.

The launch of the Second Bite program coincided with the opening day of Telarus' Partner Summit, during which the master agent's co-founder and president Adam Edwards highlighted some of the growth Telarus has seen over the past year.

Edwards said Telarus' partner base doubled in 2012, and that Telarus' overall sales in 2012 grew by 60 percent year-over-year.

"It's not every day you see growth like that, especially from a company that's 10 years old," Edwards said during the opening keynote address. "After 10 years, we are seeing the biggest growth we have seen in our history. And it's really because of the partners we work with and the suppliers we work with. That growth is because of you."

Edwards also noted that Telarus added four new suppliers -- Masergy, DukeNet Communications, Optimum and StartMeeting -- to its portfolio last year, and expects "significant growth" again in 2013.

Telarus also used its opening keynote to pay tribute to 12 of its top agent partners, by sales volume, in 2012, with Bountiful, Utah-based Complete Communications leading the pack.

PUBLISHED JUNE 19, 2013