Broadvoice Bullish On Channel Strategy, Offers Cloud PBX, SIP Sales Incentives To Partners

VoIP and telecommunications provider Broadvoice, in the midst of growing a channel program, is offering second-quarter sales incentives for partners selling its cloud PBX and SIP trunking solutions.

Los Angeles-based Broadvoice is relatively young in the channel, having developed a partner program two years ago, and is now focusing its energies on boosting its sales through these partners. To court more master agents, telecom agents and VAR partners, Broadvoice is giving partners the opportunity to earn lucrative upfront payments -- on top of their typical recurring revenue commissions -- for selling its hosted voice and SIP trunking services during Q2 2016.

Partners selling Broadvoice's cloud PBX in Q2 can earn up to four times the monthly recurring revenue from the sale in the form of one upfront payment. Alternatively, partners can choose an upfront payment doubling the typical monthly recurring revenue, as well as a free lease on an HD voice IP phone for each hosted voice seat -- a value of about $120 per seat, Broadvoice CEO Jim Murphy told CRN.

[Related: 30 Notable IT Executive Moves: September 2015]

While some partners would rather take one upfront payout, Broadvoice wanted to let partners receive their incentives in the way that made the most sense for their business, Murphy said.

"We learned early on that not all flavors of incentives programs work for all partners," he said. "Some partners have told us, 'We want to make this as easy as possible for the end user, so I want to be able to give customers the free phones because they are coming from a legacy PBX.' We let [partners] pick as they see fit -- whatever works best for them and for each deal."

The SIP trunking incentive lets partners earn double the amount of monthly recurring revenue on the sale as an upfront payment on any SIP package. Broadvoice's SIP offerings include small-to-midsize, enterprise, call-center and unlimited packages.

All Broadvoice partners today are eligible for both the provider's cloud PBX and SIP trunking sales incentives, Murphy said.

The sales incentives are helping to drive revenue by getting the attention of agent partners, according to Alan Sandler, founder and managing partner of master agent and Broadvoice partner Sandler Partners.

The Hermosa Beach, Calif.-based master agent said he believes that while sales incentives help to attract partners, these incentives alone are not enough to drive long-term business if the provider doesn't hold up its end of the bargain.

"Incredible spiffs like what [Broadvoice] is offering grabs attention, but it's their underlying core commitment to take care of customers and agents that is growing the business," Sandler said.

Broadvoice treats Sandler Partners and its ecosystem of more than 3,200 agent partners like true partners, Sandler said.

"Apart from the quarterly incentives, the ongoing residual payout is tremendous, and [Broadvoice] management provides our agents with a true evergreen agreement," he said. "Broadvoice … is doing such a great job of supporting our partners and going the extra mile, from responding to very challenging [requests for proposals] that other carriers refused to put in the effort for to providing excellent support on provisioning and customer care."

Today, the channel represents 75 percent of Broadvoice's overall business revenue, and will be the "focal point" of the company moving forward, CEO Murphy said. Broadvoice's business revenue makes up about 50 percent of the provider's sales, with the rest coming from its residential business unit.

Since the provider began growing its indirect sales focus two years ago, Broadvoice has brought in more resources for partners in the form of channel managers. The provider has been targeting master agents and telecom agent partners through these master agent relationships. Broadvoice today has about 200 partners.

"We are trying to match our program to partners [for which] we can truly bring value to their business -- we just don't want to be another logo to these partners," he said.

Partners have been very receptive to the channel program, Murphy said. According to Broadvoice, its channel revenue and volume grew in Q1 2016 by more than 200 percent when compared with Q1 2015.

"We weren't a new company, but when you're new to the channel, you need to shake the tree a bit to get your name out there," Murphy said. "As our channel grows, we have more and more exciting opportunities that partners are bringing to us."