Verizon Details Metal-Level Conversion Program for Competitors Partners

CHANNEL PARTNERS — Verizon Enterprise Solutions (Booth 720 and a Premier Sponsor) is sharing the details of its metal level incentive announced on Monday.

If an agent, VAR or MSP who is part of a Verizon competitor’s channel program at a metal level (Silver, Gold, Platinum), Verizon will map you to its corresponding tier and immediately provide you with the compensation and benefits that go along with that ranking. To the latter point, advantages include:

The offer does not require exclusivity from partners and there is no loss of prestige, Verizon said.

For its part, the company has “aggressive expectations” for the results of this incentive, said Matt Montgomery, director of marketing for the Verizon Partner Program. Montgomery couldn’t share the numbers but said, “We hope to reach that pretty quickly.” Indeed, the company says it’s already seeing great results from this week’s Channel Partners Conference & Expo in Las Vegas.

Verizon said it continues to build its channel program with the feedback it receives from partners. That’s how executives came up with the idea to make it easy for partners with other providers to move with ease to Verizon. In other words, you don’t have to start from the bottom again and work your way back up – you start at the corresponding metal level right away.

Consider, too, that Verizon has made “multimillion dollar” investments in its internal systems, said Janet Schijns, vice president, global enterprise, public sector, medium business and channels marketing at Verizon Enterprise Solutions – what took days to quote now takes minutes and what took weeks to order now takes hours, she said.

There’s a reason for that, said Rashel Graves, part of the Verizon Partner Program marketing team.

“We heard that we need to be easier to do business with and we take that very seriously,” she said.

Such development will continue, Montgomery said.

“Our program is not static,” he said, noting that as partners’ needs and portfolios morph and grow, so will Verizon’s channel support and benefits. 

Chris Lizzio, manager of partner programs for Verizon Enterprise Solutions, agreed.

“We will continue to evolve to support partners,” she said.

Or, as Schijns put it, “We are becoming the easiest carrier to do business with.”