PHONE+ to Host Your Most Important Sales Meeting

PHONE+ magazine announces the Spring 2006 Channel Partners Conference & Expo will be held March 1-3, 2006, at the Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino in Las Vegas. The most comprehensive trade show for the indirect sales channel serving the converged communications market, the expo expects to draw more than 2,500 participants and more than 175 exhibitors.

With so many appointments, proposals and orders to manage, its easy to lose sight of your business goals and direction. The Channel Partners Conference & Expo is an opportunity for converged solutions providers to take the time to find out about new technologies, brush up on selling techniques, reconnect with vendors and learn best practices, says PHONE+ Group Publisher Mike Saxby. Think of it as your most important sales meeting.

Presented by PHONE+ (www.phoneplusmag.com) and its partner portal, CSP Network (www.csp-network.com), the Channel Partners Conference & Expo is the communications industrys only event devoted exclusively to converged solutions providers agents, VARs, VADs, systems integrators, interconnects and consultants.

The spring conference lineup is shaping up with some topnotch speakers and entertainment, as well as our largest expo hall and broadest educational program to date, says Saxby.

The Channel Partners Conference & Expo has a reputation as a fertile meeting ground for partners and their suppliers. It also is an opportunity for professional development for the indirect channel. We are totally committed to raising the level of competence and success among converged solutions providers, says Saxby. We have retained the three-track educational program with a few interesting twists.

First, he says, the event will deliver a complete, unabridged module from its new CSP Certification Program a $149 value free-of-charge to all attendees (see related story at right). We are convinced this is the best sales training course we can offer to our attendees, says Saxby. And, if they agree, they can sign up to complete the testing and training online.

In addition, the show will feature an allnew Wireless Dealer Track as well as a Wireless Dealer Pavilion on the expo show floor. The wireless dealers are up-andcoming players and yet they dont have a home among the industrys events, says Saxby. We think they are a perfect fit for the Channel Partners Conference & Expo, particularly as the mandate for mobility extends to the enterprise and converged fixed-mobile applications are increasingly the order of the day.

As part of the Wireless Dealer Track, attendees will get a sneak peek at pre-production wireless devices from some of the industrys top manufacturers. While this has appeal to the geek in all of us, it also will offer be a rare glimpse at the creative services solutions providers ultimately will be able to sell to their customers.

For more information on the educational, exhibition or sponsorship opportunities at the Spring 2006 Channel Partners Conference & Expo, visit www.phoneplusmag.com/channelpartners/vegas2006.

Channel Partners Gets a New Look

The Channel Partners Conference & Expo has a new look for spring. The March event in Las Vegas will mark the debut of a new logo and tagline: Exclusively for Converged Solutions Providers.

It is important for any event to mirror the transformation in its market. With all the changes going on in the telecommunications industry, we felt it was the right time to update the image with a more modern logo and a clearly stated purpose, says Sarah Waschler, trade show manager.

The new logo will replace one used since September 2001. Previous to that, the show was known as AgENt (Agent Educational Network) Trade Fair, which debuted in July 1997.

CSP Certification Added to Prime-Time Agenda

A full, unabridged module from the new CSP Certification Program will be a featured seminar during the Spring 2006 Channel Partners Conference & Expo. The session will be open to all full-package attendees at no additional fee. Preregistration is requested.

Thats a $149 value free, explains PHONE+ Group Editor Khali Henderson. PHONE+ and its partner portal CSP Network are administrators of the program along with training companies IPx Connect and Telecom Solutions Center.

The class, Seven Proven Methods of Prospecting, is designed to help indirect sales partners ensure a minimum of 60 percent to 70 percent close ratio. Among the topics covered are how to:

We believe attendees who take this 90-minute class will be convinced of the value of the CSP Certification Program and will be eager to sign up to complete the remaining five training modules and testing, says Henderson.

For more information on CSP Certification, visit www.cspcertified.com.