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#12006 07/09/06 08:33 AM
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rage Offline OP
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OK, I have been doing Comdial and Nortel for about a 6 years now and have most of Comdials certs and dealer status with them. The company I am currently with I am in charge of building the telephony side of it so I decided it would be best to get dealer status one some other systems.

However, it seems that the major systems out there expect a great deal of hassle just to get information and they mandate a huge upfront cost. Now we are small company and can't spend 10k with a company where we dont even know the system.

Prime example was Tadiran! We have a client with the ice system and reading here it seems they make a decent product. I submittted a request to become a dealer and the first thing they demand is that we buy 7-10 grand of stock up front!!! Sales rep said they can't even get us info on the systems until we do that! What a joke!!! If any other type of product wanted us to resell THIER product and make THEM money they would at least get me as much info as possible up front.

Now dont get me wrong, i dont mind paying for certs, training eqip, etc...but that much is insane!

Does anyone else feel the way I do? Or am I just wrong in my thinking?

-Rage

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#12007 07/09/06 09:14 AM
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I'm with you rage. I have always found it odd that manufacturers have almost no contact with the final customer. They market their product to us and we market the product to the customer. Look at the auto industry for example. Toyota runs TV advertisement and Joe Blow says ooh, I gotta have me a new Toyota, where is the nearest dealer. In our business Joe Blow needs telephones for his new office. He never says "I definately want a Nortel System, where is the Nortel Dealer. He says oh my, we gotta have phones. Then when we go see him or her the first time they have ever heard of Tadrian is when we mention it.If you are required to spend 10K to a manufacturer of a certain brand just to have the right to market their equipment, thats just goofy.

Keep lookin tho, not all companies are the same. Some make high quality products and bend over backwards to move them into the market.

#12008 07/09/06 10:40 AM
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RIP Moderator-Mitel, Panasonic
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Just an observation, have you considered NEC? We are Panasonic and at 1 time we looked at the DS1000/2000 as a lower cost unit for small companies. Systems are well thought out and seem to be feature-rich for the $. Since they're a Warehouse system, it's easy to get certified and cheap to get in, at least it was when we were looking. And no, I don't work for 'em and we decided not to carry an effectively competitive product. Now everybody else jump in with there suggestion/opinion and we can really make RAGE's head spin! John


When I was young, I was Liberal. As I aged and wised up, I became Conservative. Now that I'm old, I have settled on Curmudgeon.
#12009 07/09/06 11:38 AM
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grider you are right, that is why Voip is becoming more popular they advertise. rage thats one of the reasons I sell TransTel being a one man business I can't afford the time or expense of taking 2-3 weeks of training every time a new model comes out.


Merritt

Business Telephones & Equipment + Commercial Audio/Video Products
Commercial Communications . . . Turner, Maine
If it was built after 1980 don't expect it to work right.
#12010 07/09/06 12:43 PM
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rage Offline OP
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clightninghorse: I am actually already a NEC dealer and will be there for the launch of the new DSX here in Atlanta. I got in touch with them trough Famous Telephone Supply and the sales rep flew to Atlanta within a week and sat down with us for 3 hours describing the product. All i had to do was fill out a form and I was a dealer (since you dont need training in this system anyway).

#12011 07/09/06 12:47 PM
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I have checked into the dealer route. I am not opposed to someday becoming one. But, it will be a little while down the road.

As long as my business will function profitably without it, I am fine with not being a dealer.

I really don't want some of the headaches that could possibly come with it either. I have read about some of those headaches on this board. I have also seen 1st hand what can happen to some companies that rely primarily on being a dealer.
I have no problems with dealers at all. I know that some of the guys on the board are dealers, so please don't take offense :toast:


Richard
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#12012 07/09/06 12:48 PM
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(since you dont need training in this system anyway).
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
:confused: :confused:


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#12013 07/10/06 10:28 PM
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I think that $10K is the average for a stocking order when becoming a dealer.

In my opionion, this actually helps protect dealers. A company serious about becoming a dealer DOES have to make a significant investment in equipment and training. This helps protect all of the dealers from others who want to sell the product but can't give the proper support (electrcians, IT companies, trunkers, internet sales, etc...).

We sold Norstar for quite some time. I finally got fed up with all of the internet sites that could provide the equipment at my cost, so we finally became a Vodavi dealer.

#12014 07/11/06 06:22 AM
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Coming from the Manufacturers side for the past 15 years I would have to say nfcphoneman hit it on the nose. Manufacturers (at least the ones that have a conscience) typically don't want to stack dealers on top of dealers. Sure they increase their chances of getting a sale but they also end up decreasing their dealers profit margin which ends up resulting in a lot of unhappy customers. Now with that being said most Manufacturers either have a well know Distribution channel which sells to the smaller interconnects or they have a "Blind" distribution channel which they don't acknowledge but understand it is there.

Trust me if you want a product you can get it. If you want to be recognized by the Manufacturer then you either need to ante up or go through a recognized distribution network.

#12015 07/13/06 12:45 PM
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rage Offline OP
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First off, we are also an IT company, which also offers Telephony and security, surveilance. Our customers love us for that and so did Comdial which we are a partner for.

I can understand the manufacturers wanting a good dealer base but how do they expect a small company to build on thier product if they can't even afford to get information on the systems.

I have no problem paying for training AND certifications, which I think could weed out the idiots, just not 10k for a product when i have no idea what it does. I dont even mind getting some stock up front once i can get some inofrmation on certsd. Tadiran wouldn't even offer info on thier systems without the investment.

It just frustating being a smaller company and not be able to do what is right because everyone wants us to sign a huge check first and I refuse to sell a system if I dont have access to the manufacturer!

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