Utility Warehouse (Telecom Plus) Discussion

Mike_by_the_Sea

Cardew wrote: »

Not sure what you are saying here Mike.

Are you saying that Distributors don't recruit friends and family, because that would be exploiting them, and they "value the relationships".

Or they do recruit them, but don't make money from them?

You know full well that the initial recruits for many distributors are friends and family, and it would be disingenuous to say otherwise.

It seems everyone is now using the cashcard as the UW trump card. However that is a recent innovation and distributors have been using the same recruiting techniques for years - using the worthless TVG as the trump card.

Hi Cardew

What am I saying?

I am saying that yes, my first approach was friends and family. What I object to is the assumption that this means they are being exploited by signing up. I found that the hardest audience I had were friends and family. They were not afraid to ask challenging questions and test the value of what was being offered.

My approach has always been to offer people the opportunity to save money. If they won't save money then I tell them that. I even tell them that they could save more money by going for cheaper deals on the internet and switching providers on a regular basis etc. If this is what they want to do then that is fine. Unsurprisingly, not everybody has the inclination to do that and they often prefer to go with uw as it gives them better value than their existing providers.

Also, they value the fact that they can contact me if they need to and I will help them out to the best of my ability. Personal customer support is, for me, a far better "trump card" than anything else on offer.

I hope that explains things a little better

Mike

Cardew

Mike_by_the_Sea wrote: »

Hi Cardew

What am I saying?

I am saying that yes, my first approach was friends and family. What I object to is the assumption that this means they are being exploited by signing up. I found that the hardest audience I had were friends and family. They were not afraid to ask challenging questions and test the value of what was being offered.

Then you, your family and friends are atypical.

and you haven't been paying attention to the training videos;)

also I was talking about UW reps in general.

Mike_by_the_Sea

Cardew wrote: »

Then you, your family and friends are atypical.

and you haven't been paying attention to the training videos;)

also I was talking about UW reps in general.

I do watch the "training videos" and have even been to the annual "rally", but I still have a mind of my own, I think.

We all need techniques to do what we do, and we can all learn from others, particularly what not to do and what doesn't work. At the end of the day there are "scripts" that could be followed, but I would struggle to remember them most of the time. I find listening is better than pitching, but that's just me.

1carminestocky

I note the Phone/BB bundles (certainly the LLU ones, anyway) seem to have escaped the 91p hike that the phone line rental has endured (presumably to help fund the inclusive 0845/0870 deal?). Any idea if this is an oversight or will this be increasing in line with phone line rental? If they stay at this level they represent even better value. Whilst i am by my own admission[STRIKE] cra [/STRIKE] rubbish at maths, I worked out earlier that the nearest equivalent phone/BB package that I would qualify for on my proposed deal would cost £8 a month more with talktalk. Almost a ton a year! Can't be right, surely? Gotta be so careful with headline figures. Talktalk quote £17.74 for phone/BB but to bring it up to a similar deal to my proposed one would cost £28.66 over the min. 18 month contract term. And that wouldn't include inclusive 0845/0870 numbers, I believe that comes in early June (and I believe co-incides with the scrapping of inclusive international numbers for new customers? I may have got that wrong, so apologies to talktalk if I have).

epsilondraconis

Following on from the posts "in the interests of an attempt to lighten the mood:", I found this quite amusing:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/cornwall/7981904.stm

Mike_by_the_Sea

Hi Carmine

No info on broadband bundles changing price, only the line rental change.

1carminestocky

epsilondraconis wrote: »

Following on from the posts "in the interests of an attempt to lighten the mood:", I found this quite amusing:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/cornwall/7981904.stm

I know I shouldn't laugh but this bit really made me LOL:

Officers later found her heading along the A3075 towards Newquay.

:rotfl:

Cardew

ANNOUNCEMENT

As part of the improvements to the Forum, and this thread in particular, Quentin has been appointed as the moderator.

1carminestocky

And how happy he looks about the news....

billsavings

1carminestocky wrote: »

(and I believe co-incides with the scrapping of inclusive international numbers for new customers? I may have got that wrong, so apologies to talktalk if I have).

Talk Talk started charging customers £3.95 a month for free ? calls to 36 Intl Landline Destinations from the 1/4/2009.