Verizon Channel Chief Tackles Partner Feedback, Direct-Indirect Sales Balance
Direct and indirect teams can both get their piece of the pie, Wendy Taccetta said.
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Channel Futures: What got you involved on the partner side? Do you have a background working with partners?
Wendy Taccetta: I am actually 21 years into Verizon, and I like to say that’s from the last century. I actually started when we were Bell Atlantic Nynex Mobile, and I’m what sometimes is referred to as a baby bell. My dad was actually a field technician for 35 years with the company. So you can say it was in my blood. But I actually started here as a temp. This was my first temp assignment ever. Someone said, “I think this this phone thing is going to go somewhere in the future, and I think you should hang around.” And I did. And it was one of the times as a 20-year-old that you’re glad you listened to someone else’s advice. So I actually spent the first 18 years of my career on the wireless side. I’m part of the legacy of wireless-wireline business. That’s how we approached the customer. And I’ve had a bunch of roles: probably half of that time in operations, half of that time in business, and I also have done some pretty large consumer jobs. I actually ran the Southeast for a while – had about 400 stores down there – and I was the market president in the Midwest.
WT: So I’ve done a bunch of different things. And there was sort of this moment in 2018 when Hans [Vestberg] became CEO, and he said, in order to go forward, we’re going to have to do three things. We’re going to have to strengthen our business where we’re really good. That’s operational excellence; that’s network. We’re going to have to get better at some things: getting beyond connectivity. We’ve always had a portfolio, but how are you going to do it? And then there are some things that we’re going to have to abandon, and say, “The business looks different over the next 10 years than it did in the past.”
WT: So I was asked to come into this new organization we formed called Verizon Business, because at that point we divided the business not by product (wireless/wireline), but by customer. So you’re either a consumer customer or you’re a business customer. And that sort of leads to how we got here. So when we formed the business unit (and it’s a large business unit), what we found was that through all of Verizon’s platforms and products, we actually served customers from 14 different places. We had different approaches. We had different ways of doing things, and everybody was doing the best for their customer, but no one was really looking at it end-to-end and saying, “How does this all fit together for this customer’s plan?”
My last assignment before this one was running the commercial operation: How do we really bring this together and synthesize it? How do we hear customers? How do we design it? And through that, there have been a lot of “a-has,” and I’ll celebrate one as an example. We created a public sector business that was a standalone unit. And during COVID-19, we were able to respond to all of these needs in the 50 states to educate kids. One team doing that coast to coast. That wouldn’t have happened in our old structure.
WT: But another opportunity became channel, because what we found was we had multiple people talking to the same partner and partners dealing in multiple levels of the organization. And sometimes when people are selling different products, we’re giving the partner different direction. It all makes sense because everybody’s doing their best in their silo. But the whole point of 2.0 is, how do you unleash everything that Verizon is? When you say “Verizon” to a lot of people, they think of wireless. And what our partners know is, we are a whole lot more than that. I’m actually super impressed with what the business channel partners have built through our history. What we think now, though, is, it can be a much bigger part of our future.
So here’s the way I think about it. If you did business with Verizon for the first 20 years of our existence, you probably engaged with someone wearing a Verizon badge. You came to a store; you called us on a Verizon number. There was probably a Verizon employee. As we look forward, we still think that’s part of our business. We are super proud of the way we train our employees. We’re super proud of the way that we bring our products to market. But we also think customers are changing. Some customers want more agility, some customers want customization, some customers want additional services, some customers want products we don’t carry, and some customers actually do business with a partner somewhere else. And they’d love to just be able to do everything with that partner. Whether they want to sell with us, they want to sell through us or they want to sell to us for a customer – either way, we’ve got options for them. And I think that’s where I come in.
WT: I bring this 20-year background of getting things done in Verizon, whether you’re dealing with brick and mortar or whether you’re dealing with business, public sector, etc. Then I bring what has been a three-year journey of transformation and figuring things out. I also led the last year of our COVID-19 response for business. So I’ve also gotten the chance to see how businesses have reacted and responded to the fact that customer behavior has changed. So I bring those three things together and come into this role saying, “This is how we unlock 10 years of success.’
I am really not focused on a one-year plan. There’s a lot that would be easier if I could just scrap and start over. I’m actually focused on, “How do we keep you doing the things you’ve been doing?” Because it’s been good, and I think we have to acknowledge that the partners and the sales teams have worked hard for customers. But how do we make it easier so more of your time is with the customer and less of it is with navigating the labyrinth that can be Verizon?
So the last word from my team is that we’re the bridge for the partner to Verizon. You get to the toll bridge. We’ll figure it out from there and we’ll connect the dots while you go to the next customer and the next customer. And that that’s not going to be an overnight thing, because when you go from 14 places, when you go from wireless-versus-wireline, and you’re doing it while customers are really reengineering how they’re doing business, you’ve got to go slow to go fast. You’ve got to make the right investments and you’ve got to listen to the partners about what’s in their way and then prioritize how are you going to get it done. So that’s my not-short version of how my career tied into this opportunity. I actually feel like if I had planned it, I couldn’t have done it better.
CF: What does your day-to-day role look like?
WT: There are probably three things that are part of my job. One is, “Who do we have as customers today and how are we taking care of our existing business?” I think a lot of companies, when they start to decrease their focus somewhere, lose sight of “Who got you here to begin with?” So there was this piece, that is what we are doing with the existing base of customers. And that means partnerships with customers and partners and the sales teams. So there’s a lot going on there.
The second piece that I spend a lot of time on is, “What would you fix?” When you ask people for suggestions, they don’t always like to look in their own business and say, “Here’s what we’re doing wrong.” But if you say to people, “If I could fix a problem, what would it be?” Suddenly, everybody’s giving you ideas. A partner is telling you what they could do better. The sales team’s telling you what to do better. And then I have what I call P1 and P2 lists. Everything goes on the list. Everything doesn’t go on the list for today. And that’s probably the hardest part, because when your portfolio is wide, there are big things in every bucket. We should keep doing them, but maybe a little better than we do them today. And then there’s this bucket of wasted time. What are the things that are taking your time that are not about serving the customer? How do we fix it? Is it that we need to automate? Is it that we need to give you training? Is it that you need digital platforms? What is it that is in your way?
WT: And then I spend a lot of time connecting those 14 dots. Some of them we’ve fixed, some of them are in the process and some of them haven’t been fixed yet. I spend a lot of time going to the right rooms to connect it. Now, I’m lucky. I have a team of people, many of whom have been in this space for a long time. So the other rule of thumb for me is, I never want to be in a room with more than one person from my team. We need to divide and conquer. So if you’re clear about your mission, we’re not all showing up at the same session going, “Let’s all talk about this.” [Instead] we say, “Here’s what I’m doing. Where do you need my help?”
And then I have an incredible VP in Tom Zimmerman. He is out there making sure once we launch something, how’s it executing? And we were with a partner yesterday talking to him about some of the stuff we’ve done. And it was just so good to hear them excited. Because what they’ve seen over the last six months have been the operational improvements. Now we’re talking growth, and they’re really starting to get excited about what could be possible. And they ’re excited to hear us solving channel while we’re solving our internal sales.
WT: Here’s a good example. The biggest opportunity over the next 10 years is the spectrum purchase. The biggest opportunity by far, because what it brings is a consistent internet experience coast to coast. Today we largely are our very best in our Fios footprint, but we don’t have that same opportunity everywhere. Now we go to this business internet world, and basically if you’re doing business on the ground level, we’ve got an option for you. And they see what we’re doing is enabling them to sell.
At the same time, we’re enabling our sales teams to sell. We’re giving them access to the same point-of-sale systems that our sales teams are using, and we are actually rolling it out to them the same way we rolled it out to our sales team with the same amount of resourcing. That looks different. I think partners would probably say that sometimes it seems like Verizon took care of the Verizon team and then we got around to the channel team. Now we are actually in the room with the Verizon team because the biggest message I drive to my team is this: My job is not to grow to partner share; my job is to grow Verizon share. And that means it’s not about moving customers from one segment to the other. It is about how we unlock the power of Verizon.
WT: So partners know they’re still getting the same network experience that everyone in our direct team is getting. There is so much opportunity out there. We can both go in. The Verizon sales team and the partner can go and win. And we shouldn’t be in a place where the partner feels like they’re in conflict. They shouldn’t feel as if we are fighting against them; they should feel like they’re at the table as a partner. And we have to be really transparent about that.
But my commitment to the CEO of Verizon Business, Tami Erwin, is, I’m going to help Verizon Business grow its overall share, and the customers are going to be the better for it. Where you have to start doing a lot of extra work is, you have to make sure the partners believe you. You can say anything. Let’s be honest; we’re all salespeople. You can say anything. Well, show me what it looks like. And I think most of the partners would agree that [about] the conversations we’re having about business internet – which we think is our biggest unlock in the future – and the conversations that we’re having about our Blue Jeans opportunity; we’re unlocking things we never would have done in the past or it would have taken us longer to do so. That’s the goal. I think we’re spending our time in the right place. But I also feel like if I don’t have a list that says, “There’s something you could do better,” we’re probably not asking the right questions. I’m not looking for the partners to say, “Great job. I’ve got it all figured out.” That would be pretty impressive in a few months. I am looking for them to say, “I see signs of what I want to see in a partner.”
CF: How do you talk about differentiating yourself in the market from how other carriers are approaching partners?
WT: I try very hard not to knock our competitors. I think they should make us raise our game. What I think about the Verizon strategy is that we are not saying that we are going to be a partner-only company. We believe there is value in our direct sales. We work very hard to recruit and to retain. We also believe that there are customers who prefer partners. I look at partners as a way for me to extend and expand what I can offer a customer, whether they only want to work with them and they’re looking to ride on our network or they are looking for someone that they have a different relationship with and they want a partner, or we are selling on their behalf. What we are committed to is widening the highway. There is a lot of opportunity out there. There are lots of customers who need technology.
I am “motherhood and apple pie.” I really do believe that for the country to come back from COVID-19, technology is a huge unlock. We start with kids. We see it with small business, and we see it with government. Businesses need, need, need to be able to expand with digital. No one has excess money. No one has excess resources and people. We can help. I think the difference for us is, we believe [the channel] is a complement to what we do. We believe it will expand what we can do for customers, and we’re trying to figure out how it interlocks. We’re not trying to figure out how to separate it.
CF: I’m sure a lot of partners appreciate that honesty, because there are other vendors who say they are 100% channel-driven when they aren’t.
WT: And I don’t think that’s what all customers want. I think we’re all adjusting to how customers are thinking about things differently. Someone I did business with the other day asked me to fax them something and I [said], “I really have to get someone to come talk to you. You really shouldn’t be using fax machines.” But that’s still out there. There are lots of companies that need the carriers. I personally think they need Verizon, but they need technology that’s reliable. They need technology that is going to be there for the long haul.
And I think that’s probably the big thing for us. Verzon’s a long-haul business. We look for what’s going to come 10 years from now. [Verizon CEO] Hans Vestberg defines [the spectrum purchases] as a generational investment. We doubled our capacity in one purchase versus what we built for the last 30 years. That’s a big bet for a company that uses the kind of capital we do to make. And I’m super excited about it around business because it unlocks the whole country. I think our Fios product is amazing. It’s what’s in my home. But I know we we don’t have Fios everywhere in the country. I do look at what we’re able to compete with as our network team does great work building out spectrum.
WT: I’ve lived in some pretty incredible markets. Lots of job opportunity coming from New York, lots of opportunity in Atlanta, lots of opportunities in Denver, and I continue to choose to show up here. Because I love that I could start from a frontline position to be here. I love that I’ve been able to have multiple careers at the same place. And I love that we have a CEO in Tami and I and a chairman in Hans who say, “I agree with your strategy; go make it happen.” And they’re not standing in my way. They’re asking what I need. I don’t think everybody’s company runs that way, and I don’t take it for granted.
CF: Could you talk about how the Verizon partner profile has changed in the recent year?
WT: When we talk about partners, we’re talking about a couple of different things. We are talking about what I call indirect fulfillment, which is where we don’t carry the equipment. Last year was a year where that became interesting, because as some of these schools decided on different products they wanted the kids to have, there wasn’t a supply chain for everything they wanted. You know, we went from kids in school to suddenly millions of kids needing devices. So there was a lot of creativity, and partners really helped fill some of those gaps because they had some of those unique SKUs that school districts were looking for across the country. There are no standards anymore. We don’t seem to have standard ways of doing things. Every state is different. Every municipality is different. And so are small businesses. So I think for this question of how you source equipment that’s maybe cutting edge and isn’t yet on sale for the consumer side of the business, partners are a great avenue for that.
WT: Then I think about what I’ll call integrators, and that’s where they’re taking our network and they’re bundling it into other things that they do. I think that space of integration is going to be interesting for business owners. If you’re a business owner who’s running a landscaping business, you don’t have time to understand the difference between cloud and the difference between which video platform you’re on. I think it’s going to continue to be important to be able to give one solution and unlock a dashboard that does many different things. We have some great relationships that we’re building where we’re able to really use partnerships – sometimes with people that customers know, like BlueJeans – and build other capabilities off it. So I think the partnership piece is important.
WT: Probably one of the more interesting [aspects] is around our indirect agents. One of the interesting things for the industry, and maybe for all markets, is advertising. How do you get your word out? None of us watch TV in the real form anymore unless it’s sports. We all have kind of gotten used to the white noise of internet prompts. You see the things coming up and you’re like, “Just don’t look over there.” So there’s this question of where are you having conversations to start someone thinking about something they don’t know about. It’s been interesting as our stores have been 100% open for quite some time now, but so have our agent partners. And sometimes when you don’t want to go out to the mall, having an agent in your local strip mall can feel a little more accessible and feel a little more personal to you. So we actually think that having agent doors and having company-owned doors is going to continue to be a big part of our strategy that, regardless of how you want to shop, we need to make sure there’s a location for you.
WT: And then probably the one I’m most excited about is the idea of what I call outside marketing. This is where we are using partners to reach out proactively to customers. There’s so much stuff on the internet. I feel like it’s all confusing when you hit the web. Having somebody call you and have you give me three minutes and I’ll explain something about one. If I say “One Talk” to you, you probably look at me and go, “I have no idea what that is.” But we need to we need to be able to have a 90-second conversation to explain that it is an auto-receptionist. Whether you’re at your desk or moving around, your phone is ringing and your customers can find you. And there is auto-routing. If you have a team of 10 people, the call will hunt until it finds somebody who can take the call. We’ve got to think about how to tell that story, because if I put an advertisement out there for One Talk, you have no idea why you care. So we’ve been using third parties and our agents and our partners to actually make those calls and to close that gap. We’ve got to think of new creative ways to tell customers about products they don’t know about because that’s how we’re going to grow.
CF: I’d love to know about the conversations you’re having with the indirect agents. What would you like to communicate to them?
WT: We are working on launching a digital portal in the second half of the year (probably sometime in the summer) that would allow a single door into Verizon. One of the biggest challenges for every partner is, how do I get my information to you? I’ve got people selling for me; it needs to come through me. How do you make this easier for me? And we are making some big investments to bring that to life. So we’re working really hard on doing that, and we’re actually using partners to give us feedback as we go. Our agent partners are the ones who own our company doors. This week we will be doing Small Business Days in our stores, and our agent partners are going to be part of that. So the same promos we’re offering in our company-owned doors, we’ll be offering in our agent doors. We have a ton of promotion coming with it and they’re participating in it. But that hasn’t always been our instinct. So when they see us doing those things on days that really matter, not just saying, “On a Wednesday in the middle of August when everybody’s on vacation, here’s something for you.” But when we’re doing a big push to align with a National SMB Day, we are bringing our partners with us, and they’ve been excited to see that.
WT: I think what they’re what they are asking, though – and this is just the transparency of it – is, “Hey, we’ve heard Verizon’s serious about channel before. Is this time different, and how is it different?” I always assume that the people who came before me did the best they could do in the moment they were in. That’s my philosophy. And there have been so many things that happen that are outside of our control. But I do truly believe, one, we have a belief system in Verizon of partnership right now like none I’ve seen in my 20 years. You are seeing us do things that we wouldn’t have done 10 years ago. And I think this is the unlock in business. And I know at least the expectations for what I need to deliver with the partners is not that I go do something else and find another way in six months. They’re seeing us show up. They’re seeing us show up with our product team. That’s the other thing that they talk to us about. Can you bring the products faster? Can they be built for channel? Can they plug into my systems? Help me sell it.
5G business internet is the biggest thing we talk about right now. We’ve rolled out 21 cities. This is new. When I met with a partner yesterday, he said to me, “We’re going to try it with you. We’re going to figure it out too. You want to have calls where we talk about our feedback? Yeah, let’s do that.” That hasn’t always been the case. They haven’t always been the early mover. And now we’re starting to see them move with us when we’re trying new things. And that’s what the industry has to do right now. They have to try new things because customers don’t have all all the answers.
WT: I think what they’re what they are asking, though – and this is just the transparency of it – is, “Hey, we’ve heard Verizon’s serious about channel before. Is this time different, and how is it different?” I always assume that the people who came before me did the best they could do in the moment they were in. That’s my philosophy. And there have been so many things that happen that are outside of our control. But I do truly believe, one, we have a belief system in Verizon of partnership right now like none I’ve seen in my 20 years. You are seeing us do things that we wouldn’t have done 10 years ago. And I think this is the unlock in business. And I know at least the expectations for what I need to deliver with the partners is not that I go do something else and find another way in six months. They’re seeing us show up. They’re seeing us show up with our product team. That’s the other thing that they talk to us about. Can you bring the products faster? Can they be built for channel? Can they plug into my systems? Help me sell it.
5G business internet is the biggest thing we talk about right now. We’ve rolled out 21 cities. This is new. When I met with a partner yesterday, he said to me, “We’re going to try it with you. We’re going to figure it out too. You want to have calls where we talk about our feedback? Yeah, let’s do that.” That hasn’t always been the case. They haven’t always been the early mover. And now we’re starting to see them move with us when we’re trying new things. And that’s what the industry has to do right now. They have to try new things because customers don’t have all all the answers.
The new Verizon channel chief is reassuring partners about the company’s commitment to indirect sales.
Verizon’s Wendy Taccetta
Wendy Taccetta joined Verizon in December as its channel chief. Taccetta, who also leads Verizon’s small business efforts, has overseen the centralization of the company’s partner program. The realignment matched Verizon’s restructuring away from technology-focused business units like Verizon Wireless, to customer-focused units.
Taccetta recently shed light on the Verizon approach to indirect sales channel. She said the company sees strong opportunities for direct and indirect sales to “interlock” with each other.
Here’s our most recent list of important channel-program changes you should know. |
“The Verizon sales team and the partner can go and win. And we shouldn’t be in a place where the partner feels like they’re in conflict. They shouldn’t feel as if we are fighting against them; they should feel like they’re at the table as a partner,” Taccetta told Channel Futures.
Taccetta also pointed to opportunities Verizon sees around selling 5G business internet.
You can read Taccetta’s full Q&A with Channel Futures in the slideshow above. We have edited the transcript for length and clarity.
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