Over the past few years Telarus has been the beneficiary of referrals from our carrier partners. Most of them have very high quotas and minimum activity requirements in order to even enter into a contract, not to mention low commission for low volume agencies. When carriers come across these agents they refer them to us, where they can use our contracts without risk, quotas, etc. Carriers do this to limit the support load placed on their shoulders, making large master agencies like Telarus the caretakers of the smaller fish. Although we are deeply grateful for these referrals, unless we can help them produce, we all lose in the end.
With that in mind, Telarus created MARS - the Master Agent Reporting System. I allows other master agents that work with Telarus to essentially become a mini-Telarus. The software is actually the second revision of our original idea, and took over $1M and 2 solid years to develop. Below I've listed a small list of features we've build into MARS:
- unlimited sub-agent management (masters can load thousands of agents into the system if needed)
- customized commission levels (masters can pay agents a simple split (ex: 50/50), a fixed commission level (ex: 10% across the board), or a fixed margin (ex: I want to make 4% on all this agent's business, regardless of the total payout)
- real-time data quotes (DSL/T1/DS3 - through GeoQuote, of course)
- real-time voice quotes (Integrated/PRI/Local/LD - ahhh, the real deal-breaker. NO ONE else has anything voice in their "real time quote" software)
- automatic proposal generator (our agents can create, send, save for later, and customize official proposals in just seconds)
- VAR Network leads to your VARs (sub-agents can recruit VARs into VAR Network, where they will receive equipment leads from our system. Happy VARs make for great T1 referral partners!)
- turn-key marketing web sites (sub-agents can use GeoQuote PLUS sites to generate their own leads)
- CRM package for subagents (sub-agents can run quotes, set tasks, queue up delayed-send emails, keep notes on each contact at the company they are dealing with, including birthdays, anniversaries, etc.)
- access to 30 carrier contracts (which now includes Cavalier, our newest carrier partner!)
- 100% SPIFF pass-through (some people think we're crazy for passing through ALL of the cash bonuses that our agents earn, but we think it's the right thing to do)
- complete financial reporting suite (it's important to know how much money you make, and have the ability to upload commission reports from non-Telarus carriers as well).
- full accounts payable modules (since the Master agent is responsible for paying his sub-agents, knowing exactly how much to pay them is a good thing!)
- associate administrator access (since most master agents have employees who help support their sub-agents, it's necessary for a master to create associate admin accounts to that each employee can access selected parts of MARS in order to do their job.)
- custom URL masking capable (right now, the URL for MARS is http://www.t1backoffice.com, but we can 'make' it anything a master wants using Microsoft IIS. EX: http://www.PatricksCoolTelecomCompany.com could also be set up to bring up MARS with my own logo, etc.)
As you can see, the real secret of Telarus is that we are really a software company with a really good sales division. In fact, half of our employees are IT-related. It is these code-writers that allow us to develop these tools based upon agent feedback. They are surely earning every dime we pay them, and then some.
If you'd like to learn more about MARS, check out the press release that we over the AP news wire this morning:
http://www.prweb.com/releases/2007/6/prweb531902.htm
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