As the nation’s economy has faltered, many U.S. companies have started looking overseas both to cut costs (e.g., offshoring) and to increase growth (e.g., tap new markets). While the downturn has had an impact beyond our borders, surveys of U.S.-based multinationals indicate only a slowing of the meteoric pace of globalization that has characterized this decade to date. In other words, their overseas expansion continues in earnest. For telecom agents feeling the squeeze on domestic business, helping more U.S. companies go global or improve their global operations by supporting their telecommunications infrastructure requirements may be an opportunity they can no longer afford to ignore.
David Gardner and Steve Rome, managing partners for Advantage Communications Group LLC, an agency based in Roslyn Heights, N.Y., decided to take the plunge back in 2007. Like most telecom agencies, Advantage Communications referred its customer’s international business back to the carrier. Gardner recalled one client starting up its first operations overseas and wanted the agency to advise them with multicarrier proposals in other countries as it had done domestically.
“We fudged our way through,” said Gardner, noting it wasn’t an easy process. By answering client requests one country at a time, Advantage Communications has built up its international expertise over the past two years. Its international revenue has grown from zero in 2007 to about 15 percent in mid-2009.
Gardner said the increase Advantage Communications has seen in demand for international quotes may or may not be the result of an increase in globalization, but he’s sure that, in part, it’s because the agency is providing a resource to fill a void. “The value of agents is on steroids for the international market,” he said.
Agent Michael Murphy, CEO of NEF Inc., based in Framingham, Mass., agreed. “Each carrier positions its service in the best possible light and casts fear, uncertainty and doubt on other carriers,” Murphy said. In contrast, agents have access to network maps and performance metrics for multiple carriers and, on top of that, can negotiate the deal for its multinational customers. Murphy said his agency, which started selling international concertedly about six months ago, will derive 20 percent of its revenue from international services by the end of the year.
The noteworthy growth rates are due to some simple math: The average international circuit is $3,000 while a domestic one is $500 to $700, so the commission potential is four to six times as great, explained Robert Anderson, a channel manager for Telstra International.
