Before You Sign a Carrier Contract

Greg Howard, Co-Founder, US Telecom Group

If you are thinking about signing a contract with a carrier or a master agent, STOP! Spending time going through a contract will pay off in the long run. Go through the entire contract item by item and be sure it covers your needs. Most contracts are in the favor of the ones who wrote them, the carriers.

Your relationship may be going well with your carrier or master agent. Should something go wrong, the only thing that will be on your side is your contract. It’s what the courts will look at to determine your agreement.

Some of the things to look for or negotiate are monthly commitments, percentage payouts, termination reasons, non-competes, an evergreen clause and general responsibilities. Sooner or later all of these points in your contracts will come into play. Some of you may say, “I’m not concerned about that.” When it happens to you, you will have wished you had addressed that point prior to signing that contract. Remember, if a paragraph in a contract wasn’t important, it wouldn’t be in the contract, now would it?

In summary, take the time to read the contract, negotiate your terms and sign only once you are confident it meets your terms and conditions.

Greg Howard is co-founder of US Telecom Group, a telecom agency, that offers a full portfolio of voice, data, internet services and wholesale electric. The company focuses is on government, non-profit, educational and enterprise accounts and specializes in managing multilocation, multibill, multicarrier accounts. Prior to co-founding US Telecom Group in 2005, Howard spent 15 years in various positions in the telecom industry. He started his telecom career with CTC selling RBOC products nationwide, then held both sales and management positions with Network Plus before running Nextel’s Government Sector as a senior government sales manager in the New York market. He also is a member of the 2009-10 PHONE+/Channel Partners Conference & Expo Advisory Board.