Posted: 11/2001
Wholesale Channel
Agent-turned-Reseller Profits from Focus on Customers' Demands
By Tara Seals
Company CEO Lance Honea says the privately-held firm's secret is keeping a tight focus on what the market demands.
"Our corporate philosophy is customer-driven as opposed to technology-driven," says Honea. "There's a lot of trendy products out there, and if you gear your company around a trend there's a possibility you could be very successful, or you could be out of business. Look what happened with the three main DSL providers."
Chicago-based Access One offers data (including frame relay and point-to-point circuits), Internet, long distance in the 48 contiguous states and local service in Illinois, Pacific Bell Corp.'s California territory and 20 additional U.S. markets.
The company expands its portfolio according to what its customers ask, says Honea. "We've kept a long-term view of what the customers are looking for and where the industry and the revenue dollars are going."
Its latest product addition is unbundled network element platform (UNE-P) service, which is available in California and Illinois. By year's end, Access One will offer UNE-P service to the entire Ameritech Corp. region and Texas. The reseller plans to take the service nationwide.
Access One began life long before UNE-P existed. In 1993, the company was brainchild of Honea, company president Brian Barkley and vice preisdent Mark Jozniak, who were working for long-distance providers at the time.
"We realized that most of the carriers out there did the majority of their marketing through direct sales, and service was falling by the wayside," Honea says. "There was a lot of turnover" and the sales representatives lacked incentive because the commission structure had no residual structure.
The trio launched a consultative agency to represent multiple providers. It found itself placing most business, around 70 percent, with resellers, because Honea says resellers offered the "best price-to-service value."
"There were fewer headaches, and they were more accommodating to our needs than the bigger carriers," Honea recalls.
Equipped with that knowledge, the three decided in 1997 to make the transition to reseller.
"We took that same philosophy. We have the best network quality because we only deal with the top carriers, and we offer the best, most comprehensive, easiest-to-read bill that's available, and competitive pricing and customer care service," Honea says.
Access One sells primarily through agents, and it focuses only on small and medium-sized customer accounts. It also strives to deliver customer perks and attention that aids retention.
The company, which is debt-free and profitable, pays attention to business practices.
"The key is that's put us in a position to hire, expand and grow in a relatively stagnant economy," says Honea. "We had the financial wherewithal, and the background, experience, knowledge and management."
Business basics have helped the reseller look into the future.
Honea says that based on customer feedback the most promising product for the company is local dialtone, despite the CLEC shakeout.
"We've been fortunate, and we've chosen providers that are solid, we do our due diligence," he says, adding, that agents, in general, are "somewhat jaded" about local service.
"They need to be somewhat careful in terms of who they choose to align themselves with, and it's a case of once bitten twice shy," Honea explains. "They've gone with some CLECs and lost bases [and] they've lost commission."
Nonetheless, Access One has sold local service for two years successfully, and it sees a strong opportunity in the local arena.
"I think the great thing about that is that we realize that we are just barely scratching the surface with this thing," Honea says. "I think this is where agents stand to make the majority of new revenue in the next two years. It's an untapped market.
