Agents Navigate Hiring Challenges, Rural Health Care Commissions

The modern technology sales agent must navigate talent shortages, increasingly complex technology, and issues with the FCC rural health care program.

These are some of the topics partners will discuss at the Agent Peer Group at the upcoming Channel Partners Conference & Expo, April 11-14, in Las Vegas. IQ Wired CEO Darcee Nelan, The Alliance Partners CEO Bill Power, V1 Data Communications CEO John Griffin and Top Speed Data vice president of technology Allan Jaffe will lead the discussion.

They’re officers and board members of the Technology Channel Sales Professionals (TCSP) watchdog group, which they formed in 2020 out of a need to represent the industry to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). For now, the group is looking to mend a ruling that has threatened the commissions agents earn on health care deals.

In this session preview, Griffin, Jaffe, Nelan and Power share their thoughts on the opportunities and challenges facing agents.

Channel Futures: What is one of the biggest challenges facing agents in 2022?

IQ Wired’s Darcee Nelan

Darcee Nelan: The labor market will continue to be a challenge for agents in 2022. A myriad of factors including COVID, supply-chain issues, baby boomers retiring and people staying home to take care of their families has resulted in low labor force participation in United States, making it more difficult for companies to find and maintain top talent. While the U.S. economy is expected to grow by 4% in 2022, on the heels of a 5.7% growth rate in 2021, demand is strong but the supply of top talent is low.

V1’s John Griffin

With millions of people changing jobs, many of the providers that we work with have experienced massive employee turnover, making it more difficult and time-consuming for us, as agents, to deliver their products and services to our clients. This puts additional pressure on agents financially as our cost of goods sold increases while our commissions percentages are fixed. Since by nature, agents are focused on providing a better customer experience, I expect we will have our work cut out for us this year.

John Griffin: It’s the continuation of a theme. Disruptive technologies continue to dramatically reshape the revenue environment (public network replaces private, SIP/UCaaS replaces PRI) and the old-school network services are no longer sufficient to make a meal.

Top Speed Allan Jaffe

Allan Jaffe: Succession planning. Many agents started their businesses over 20 years ago in the middle of their careers. How do they want their agencies to continue when they’re ready to slow down or stop?

Bill Power: Staying focused in light of all the distractions present. I talk with so many agents who are intrigued with the possibility of a big M&A payday. There’s certainly a lot of activity going on right now, and the time may be right for some agents to sell or partner in some way with another entity, but I encourage folks to keep their eye on the ball and continue to grow their businesses in a smart way as they explore their exit options.

The Alliance’s Bill Power

CF: What do partners need to know about the FCC rural health care policy?

DN: In the interest of ensuring “fair and open competition,” the Federal Communications Commissions (FCC) issued an order that became effective on July 1, 2020, prohibiting service providers (carriers) from compensating third-party consultants (agents) for any new services ordered on behalf of not-for-profit health care providers (HCPs) that are reimbursed under the Rural Health Care program (RHC).

Unfortunately, the FCC Order has proven to be overly broad causing significant confusion among the carriers as to which services qualify under the program and whether agents should continue to receive commissions for services that were sold prior to July 1, 2020. This has led to some providers to cease paying commissions …