I’d like to personally thank our dealer account team at AT&T for their support over the last several weeks and months, as we’ve labored together to articulate the requirements for an entirely new API to support the channel, to establish an implementation team that clearly represents some of the best and brightest from both companies, to build and launch the modules that have already made a dramatic impact on the business that we are able ...

Remember Sequoia Capital’s “RIP Good Times” presentation?  Like just about everybody else, we faced a tough environment this year, and ended up taking a sound beating in the first half.  Fortunately, we heeded Sequoia’s sage advice (which was echoed by our own investors), and were ready to weather the storm as it descended upon us.  Not only did we do what was necessary to adjust our cost base, but also made some targeted ...

Earlier this year, as part of our strategic planning process, we set out to reestablish our Mission, and in doing so, to clarify our higher purpose.  We want to earn a profit, sure.  We want to treat our employees well, of course.  But our Mission rises even higher than those goals, and addresses that significant contribution we want to make as a company, and serves as an important underpinning to our value system.  If done ...

Back in 1996, Adam Brandenburger, a Stern School of Business professor, along with Barry Nalebuff, published an important book on business strategy, called Co-opetition.  The authors take on an increasingly relevant topic in our now hyper-connected world: how should you think about whether and how to enter into business partnerships with companies who are also your competitors?  Example - two electronics manufacturers entering into a strategic sourcing deal to get better terms from the common ...

‘To affiliate or not to affiliate?’ … that is the question that so many acquisition marketing execs and advertisers face as they consider whether to open the affiliate channel to their brands.  The skeptical camp accuses the affiliate channel of generating orders that they would have collected anyway, and of lessening the advertiser’s ability to control brand messaging.  The supportive camp insists that an order is an order – as long as the average cost ...

There’s something I don’t get.  Many of us in this field operate performance-based models, so you’d think that there would be a high premium on partnership support to help drive success.  If we don’t partner together effectively -- for example, to share ideas, plan for successful roll-outs, consult on opportunities for improvement, and so on – then the results are likely to reflect that passivity and apathy (the proverbial, ‘it’s not worth the paper it’s ...

Being out in the sales trenches day after day, I hear it more often than I want to admit: “So and so offered me $10 more, so if you can match it, I’ll go with you”. Does that imply that if I don’t match it, the deal is off? What a shame, because it doesn’t take much to see that this particular negotiation, and likely the partnership itself, will be built on fairly short-sighted thinking, ...

When’s the last time you heard someone complain that they were having a hard time finding suppliers for major service brands like Comcast, AT&T, Rhapsody, Netflix, or others? Maybe never, because they’re practically ubiquitous -- as the now legendary Coca-Cola strategy used to go, “… within an arm’s reach of desire”. But don’t be fooled, because unlike a Coke vending machine, not every source for service brands is the same, and one of the key ...

There’s an upside and downside to selling major consumer and B2B brands.  While the necessity to educate the market and/or build brand awareness is minimal, it’s often a crowded field of affiliates who are authorized (and in some cases, not authorized) to offer the brand.  So how can an affiliate position itself to stand out from the pack and take a “fair” (read, “outsized”) share of that market demand?  In short, add value to the ...

Ok, you’ve chosen your services aggregator and merchandising platform partner and closed a great deal … you’ve carefully determined what products and services you want your store or call center agents to sell … you’ve worked with your new partner to set up the sales and order fulfillment process and all the supporting technology … so now all you need to do is flip the switch, and watch the sales start streaming in, right?  Wrong.  ...

Whether the holidays are your make-or-break selling season, or just another Quarter, who isn’t interested in boosting revenue, differentiating themselves from competitors, and better serving customers?  Bridgevine’s extensive services catalog and turnkey merchandising platform can help with these objectives.  Let’s say you’re an electronics manufacturer or reseller, and are expecting robust volume from your inventory of HDTV’s, PCs, Blue Ray disc players, and digital cameras.  By pairing each of these items with a complementary service ...

Great news for affiliates of Bridgevine’s Charter Only program – we’ve teamed up with Charter to drive Q4 volume for its great line up of video, broadband, and digital phone services.  The multi-faceted campaign will be supported by increased commissions for all three service types, new consumer incentives ($150 cash back rebate on the triple-play, and $100 on any double-play), and a new banner gallery to help affiliates get the word out.  Current and new ...