It is a little known fact except in the telecom industry that a sales rep, broker or agent for the big providers, (call for names) can pre-sell a project under the cover name of an agreement. After signatures are acquired, it then goes to the construction department for ROI and budgeting. Then the project, not the agreement or order is submitted to MDR who deals with the landlord for access and ROE. 90 days to six months later it may get to scheduling after an arduous permit process.
During this process, the business is usually under the assumption that they are going to have services in the next few weeks or possibly a little later. So they make their plans to buy, move, expand or whatever. This process alone could take up to 18 months. And that is if the project is accepted by the telecom…. In the meantime, the business is in limbo with no guarantee that services will even be delivered. Try finding an update with the provider where no order number is in the system!
Case in point. A potential customer called NCT for services and after our research; we told them the truth, no fiber, no sufficient infrastructure, no service to properly operate their business. We knew the situation and provided options until services could be provided as needed to properly operate their business. In the mean time, a big provider’s sales rep said that there was a pedestal on their property (which we knew about) and service would be operational in a month. After the customer waited three months, their update was an unexpected $28,000.00 bill which was incurred for the build out, trenching, equipment and other essentials for service. Pretty sure that expense was NOT in the budget…
The customer did not like what we had to tell them, but it was the truth and we provided options so that they would be in business. They went with the rep, and they are still without sufficient service.
Commercial brokers, franchisees are you aware of this?
Businesses need to protect themselves and there are many ways to do that. Conduct full due diligence, ask questions, call someone who cares about your success and business. 800-987-0100
