Convey's Channel Partner MicroCast
48 episodes - English - Latest episode: about 3 years ago - ★★★★★ - 1 ratingWe’d like to welcome our listeners to our Channel Partners MicroCast audio series. I’m Carolyn Bradfield, CEO of Convey Services, a technology specialist that runs an informational portal network in the channel used by over 23K sales partners.
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Episodes
March Madness in the Channel
March 24, 2021 20:00 - 6 minutes - 4.4 MBIt’s Been March Madness in the Channel Convey Channel Podcast Series I’ll admit that I’m not into basketball, but I do love watching Sister Jean on the sidelines, seeing the Cinderella teams knock out the top seeds, and enjoying the college kids having their moments of glory on the court. For those of you that like history, the term March Madness came on the scene all the way back in 1939 when it was used to refer to Henry Porter, an Indiana basketball official. But we all know it from ...
A Conversation with Dr. Sandy Newes - Developing Resilience in Uncertain Times
April 29, 2020 20:00 - 16 minutes - 11.4 MBConversation with Nationally Recognized Psychologist Dr. Sandra Newes Our social isolation, uncertainty about our business future, lack of entertainment outlets and having to home school our children have taken a toll on all of us. Learn the secrets behind how to maintain your resilience through the pandemic from psychologist Dr. Sandra Newes as she explains resilience, how you lose it and how you get it back.
Convey and UCX - David Converse Interview
April 27, 2020 18:00 - 15 minutes - 10.4 MBDavid Converse, VP of Sales at UCX Markets, visits with Convey CEO Carolyn Bradfield about the digital transformation that vendors and partners will engage in based on the evolution of the buying experience to a more virtual format. Take a listen and then attend Cloud Conventions to hear more from David and UCX. http://cloudconventions.com
Communication Strategies in the Age of COVID
April 17, 2020 18:00 - 17 minutes - 11.7 MBFireside Chat with Bob Paff, speaker at Cloud Conventions and Convey CEO Carolyn Bradfield Bob Paff will be leading a session on Wednesday, May 11th at 2:00 on communication strategies during the COVID crisis. Listen to a fireside chat between Bob and Convey CEO Carolyn Bradfield to explore what people need to be thinking about as they communication with employees, customers and prospects in the new virtualized world we find ourselves in. Register for Cloud Conventions »
Episode 42 - State of the Industry with Jon Arnold, Industry Analyst
April 16, 2020 20:00 - 23 minutes - 16 MBCarolyn Bradfield and Jon Arnold discuss Jon's upcoming speaker session at Cloud Conventions 2020, a virtual trade show. Session Title: The Evolution of our Workplace Strategies Session Description: Join Jon Arnold, communications industry researcher and strategist, to navigate the digital transformation of the workplace in our new virtual work from home environment and beyond. The marketplace is now disrupted, but learn how disruptive technologies will help us recover and rebound. Regi...
Episode 41 - Creating the Right Virtual Trade Show Experience
April 13, 2020 17:00 - 8 minutes - 5.53 MBA behind the scenes look at the Cloud Conventions Trade Show Strategy Convey went to a great deal of effort and research to understand how to take the elements of a live trade show and build as many of them as possible into a virtual environment to capture the interest and attention of the 30,000 sales partners and vendors we invited to be our guests as attendees. Here is a glimpse at our virtual event strategy that we will execute at Cloud Conventions and that you can use as a guide in th...
Episode 40 - Putting the Vibe back in Virtual
April 13, 2020 16:00 - 6 minutes - 4.44 MBAdjusting Your Virtual Strategy, A Lesson from Cloud Conventions As many of you know, our company Convey is producing an unprecedented virtual trade show and conference for the telecommunications and cloud channel, launching May 11 called Cloud Conventions. And yes, webinars will be part of the content we offer. But I promise you that we are cognizant of the fact that they cannot be delivered in the same way 95% of our industry does them today. Here is what you can expect from us and adj...
Episode 39 - Business is Never Going to be the Same
April 13, 2020 15:00 - 8 minutes - 5.77 MBUnderstanding the pivot point that business finds itself after COVID 19 Cloud Conventions, that likely will be the industry’s largest virtual trade show and conference, takes on a higher purpose. Even though our event is not until May, we know that survival is still going to be an issue for many partners and vendors well into late spring and summer. But even more than that, this disruption is going to lead to business process changes, innovation through technology, and a strong push towar...
Episode 38 - The Why Behind Cloud Conventions
April 13, 2020 14:00 - 7 minutes - 5.1 MBHelping the Channel Get Business Back on Track Cloud Conventions is more important than ever because its purpose is to motivate our industry to keep themselves in gear so they in turn could get their business and help their customers get their businesses back on track as we navigate and emerge from the COVID crisis. Launching on May 11, attendance is open and at no charge to the telecommunications and cloud channel. Listen to the “why” behind Cloud Conventions. Register for Cloud Conven...
Episode 37 - Avoiding Social Isolation in a Virtual Work Environment
April 01, 2020 14:00 - 5 minutes - 4.14 MBHow to keep employees socially connected Let’s face it. Times right now are pretty stressful at best and downright scary at worst. We’ve sent our employees home and changed the way we do business as we cope with how to keep our employees truly connected and business moving forward. Many of our people are more focused on navigating the dangers of going grocery shopping and how to keep their kids educated and entertained. Convey kept its office open and available to employees who wanted t...
Episode 36 - Pivot Don't Panic
March 11, 2020 17:00 - 6 minutes - 4.64 MBHow Businesses Can Adjust in the face of the Coronavirus You can’t turn on TV or the radio without having the media create a level of panic about the Coronavirus. The telecommunications, cloud and contact center industry’s largest trade shows were cancelled with moments to spare. And you all know the wild ride we are having on Wall Street. However, because we live in a technology-driven world, perhaps it is time to pivot, not panic and let technology step in while the virus behaves like t...
Episode 35 - Reasons not to DIY with Websites
March 11, 2020 17:00 - 6 minutes - 4.44 MBReasons why you should not “do it yourself” when it comes to your website Many small businesses think it’s OK to take a DIY approach when it comes to their website. They get free technology from WordPress or inexpensive site building programs, set out to build their website or engage an inexpensive intern to do the job for them. But much like those home DIY projects, the results are often not what the business needed or wanted and the results can be a website that is not interesting and e...
Episode 34 - Reasons not to use WordPress
March 11, 2020 17:00 - 6 minutes - 4.4 MBWhy WordPress sites are bad for small business The current market leader in websites is WordPress powering 50 million websites. It’s “free” technology for creating the site, appeals to the cost-conscious business, seems easy enough and offers some great looking layouts to make site creation easy. If you already have WordPress as the underlying technology your site is built on or are considering using it, here are some downsides that should give you reasons not to use this “market leader”.
Episode 33 - Hidden Website Gotchas
March 04, 2020 16:00 - 7 minutes - 5.15 MBAvoiding Website Gotchas We talk about understanding the hidden issues that can bring a website to its knees. When it comes to websites, most people realize that if the website looks bad, is outdated, and difficult to navigate, it hurts rather than helps a business. But what they may not know, is that there are some gotchas in their websites that are often nasty surprises that cause them to spend lots of money in redesign, maintenance or what’s even worse, legal fees.
Episode 32 - First Impressions Count with Your Website
February 27, 2020 15:00 - 8 minutes - 5.74 MB"You never have a second chance to make a first impression" People make the same snap judgments about website that they do about people. Google and other researched how people react to websites and found out that in about ½ a second, a person will form an opinion about your website and either stay to explore more or leave and go elsewhere. Explore how your website might be leaving a bad first impression.
Episode 28 - The Gift of Time
December 11, 2019 22:00 - 6 minutes - 4.43 MBSave time in how you manage, message, onboard and connect with your partners For this MicroCast series we are focusing on the topic of gifts. Now that doesn’t mean we are going to teach you how to find those deals and steals, get you informed about the latest gadgets or help you with the coolest trending Christmas gift. Rather, we are going to focus on the gifts that Convey’s technology brings to master agents, carriers vendors and sales agents to make their business lives easier. If yo...
Episode 27 - The Gifts That Keep On Giving
December 11, 2019 22:00 - 5 minutes - 3.96 MBExplore how where to find those gifts in our services. This time of year, we are obsessed over gift giving. We’ve now been through Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, and Cyber Monday trying to find just the right gifts for what seems like an ever-expanding list of people that expect them. What makes this time much more stressful is the gift buying season happens to be shorter this year based on the limited number of shopping days between Thanksgiving and Christmas. When those of us a...
Episode 29 - The Gift of Tools
December 11, 2019 22:00 - 6 minutes - 4.66 MBExplore the tools that make your channel life easier. During the holiday season, we are focusing on gifts. Not those deals and steals, cyber bargains or doorbusters, but the gifts that Convey’s technology brings to master agents, vendors, carriers and partners to make their business lives easier. Today is tool time. Everyone has a tool guy in their life like my husband who has a gadget for everything to build things, repair stuff that breaks or manage just about any landscaping need. He...
Episode 30 - The Gift of Efficiency
December 11, 2019 22:00 - 5 minutes - 3.55 MBWe help you get more done in fewer steps. For this MicroCast series we are focusing on the topic of gifts. Now that doesn’t mean we are going to teach you how to find those deals and steals, get you informed about the latest gadgets or help you with the coolest trending Christmas gift. Rather, we are going to focus on the gifts that Convey’s technology brings to master agents, vendors, carriers and partners to make their business lives easier. I know tons of people who obsess over watch...
Episode 31 - The Gift of Insight
December 11, 2019 22:00 - 5 minutes - 3.94 MBWe keep you from flying blind and make your decisions count. For this MicroCast series we are focusing on the topic of gifts. Now that doesn’t mean we are going to teach you how to find those deals and steals, get you informed about the latest gadgets or help you with the coolest trending Christmas gift. Rather, we are going to focus on the gifts that Convey’s technology brings to master agents, vendors, carriers and partners to make their business lives easier. Whenever I think about ...
Episode 26 - Gaining an Edge - Another Lesson from Nick Saban
December 02, 2019 22:00 - 5 minutes - 4.12 MBMicrocast Gaining an Edge This year Nick Saban and the Crimson Tide will not be making an appearance in the college football playoffs thanks to Auburn’s stunning victory in the Iron Bowl. But you can count on Coach Saban to be there just about every other year. He has many secrets to being at the top including the undying support of his university and the alumni, a huge budget and good coaches. We have focused our college football MicroCast series on why he has been so successful, and t...
Episode 25 - Leadership Counts - Another Lesson from Nick Saban
November 26, 2019 23:00 - 6 minutes - 4.29 MBMicrocast Leadership Counts Nick Saban, legendary football coach at Alabama, has produced more successful head coaches of other programs than anyone in the league. Kirby Smart is leading the Georgia Bulldogs, winning his SEC division 3 years in a row and already having an appearance in the National Championship. After a successful run at Colorado, Jim McElwain lead the Florida Gators, and Will Muschamp moved from Florida to lead South Carolina. The list goes well beyond these standouts ...
Episode 24 - The Process - Another Lesson from Nick Saban
November 26, 2019 22:00 - 7 minutes - 5.07 MBMicrocast The Process Because of his success winning national championships, Nick Saban is now the most successful active college football coach in history. He wrote a book called, “Think Like a Warrior” where he described what he calls “The Process” as his secret to success. Simply put, Saban shares that “The Process” is maintaining a relentless focus on things that we can control. It also means not being distracted by the opponent’s perceived strengths or the score, but rather do your...
Episode 23 - Partner Recruiting Strategy - Another Lesson from Nick Saban
November 26, 2019 21:00 - 6 minutes - 4.45 MBMicrocast Partner Recruiting Unless you are from Birmingham or Tuscaloosa, you may be getting tired of seeing the Crimson Tide of Alabama in the playoffs and as college football national champions year after year. For those who follow Nick Saban, he has many secrets to his success including the undying support of his university and the alumni, a huge budget and good coaches. But many will argue that what really separates his outstanding football program is his focus on recruiting. Unlik...
Episode 22 - Lessons from Nick Saban
November 26, 2019 20:00 - 7 minutes - 5.4 MBMicroCast Lessons from Nick Saban This is the time of year when we get fired up about the college football playoffs, who is going to which Bowl game, and which teams will be in the elite four for a chance at the college football National Championship. Nobody in college football has been to the “big dance” more often and won more national titles than Nick Saban, the coach of the Crimson Tide of Alabama. Now, it pains me to say that because I’m a Georgia Bulldog fan, so Alabama is consider...
Episode 21B - The Power of Gratitude in the Insurance Industry
November 26, 2019 18:00 - 5 minutes - 4.12 MBMicroCast The Power of Gratitude Being in insurance can be a challenge, to say the least. We have to balance personal lives with our careers, manage through complex relationships, get people to notice us when the field of people who want attention is crowded, and deal with the uncertainties of businesses that combine with each other, go under, or fail to perform like we think that they should. Having said that, there is quite a lot to be grateful about when we think about the decisions ...
Episode 21 - The Power of Gratitude
November 26, 2019 16:00 - 7 minutes - 4.88 MBBeing in “the channel” can be a challenge, to say the least. We have to balance our personal lives with our careers, manage through complex relationships, get people to notice us when the field of people who want attention is crowded, and deal with the uncertainties of businesses that combine with each other, go under, or fail to perform like we think that they should. Having said that, there is quite a lot to be grateful about when we think about the decisions we made to chart our careers...
Episode 20 - The new mission of InterAct LifeLine featuring guest speaker Curt Allen
November 20, 2019 16:00 - 22 minutes - 15.8 MBListen in to a conversation between Curt Allen and Carolyn Bradfield as Curt shares his transition out of Windstream and involvement in InterAct LifeLine. Carolyn and Curt share the mission of InterAct LifeLine and how this new technology company is poised to take on the opioid crisis and disrupt broken processes in addiction prevention and treatment.
Episode 19 - Define Your Channel Program
November 13, 2019 22:00 - 6 minutes - 4.49 MBConvey Channel Helps You Define Your Channel Program. Let’s face it. Most of you don’t really want or need every partner out there to try and sell your services. You could try that strategy, but you end up with endless quotes, frustrated partners and very few deals. To have an effective channel program, you have to define who you want to do business with, both on the partner and customer side. Vendors who participate in Convey Channel have numerous opportunities to use their content cata...
Episode 18 - Eating a Balanced Channel Marketing Diet
November 13, 2019 18:00 - 6 minutes - 4.41 MBA Balanced Channel Marketing Diet It's easy in business to limit yourself to just a few marketing techniques especially if you are in the channel with limited resources and marketing budgets. You might look at the success others are having on social media and want to confine your marketing to LinkedIn and Facebook. Or, if your company has been around for a while, you might feel reluctant to dive into new digital marketing techniques and try instead to keep growing your channel using sponsor...
Episode 18b - Eating a Balanced Insurance Marketing Diet
November 13, 2019 18:00 - 6 minutes - 4.35 MBA Balanced Marketing Diet It's easy in business to limit yourself to just a few marketing techniques especially if you have limited resources and marketing budgets. You might look at the successes that others are having on social media and want to confine your marketing to LinkedIn and Facebook. Or, if your company has been around for a while, you might feel reluctant to dive into new digital marketing techniques and try instead to keep growing your business using sponsorships and events. ...
Episode 16 - Communicating the Right Message
November 13, 2019 17:00 - 4 minutes - 3.08 MBFull Transcript Communicating the Right Message Convey Micro-Cast Series This is Carolyn Bradfield and you’re listening to Convey’s Micro-Cast audio series. The way we communicate has changed forever. In our personal lives, we send text messages, use Facebook messenger, and use Instagram. Our communication has gotten shorter, more direct, and to the point. In business, however, we fail to recognize that short, sweet and to the point is the way people like to receive our messages. C...
Episode 17 - Communicating at the Right Time
November 13, 2019 17:00 - 3 minutes - 2.64 MBFull Transcript Convey Micro-Cast Series This is Carolyn Bradfield and you’re listening to the Convey Micro-Cast audio series. One of the key concepts every vendor must keep in the forefront of their mind when it comes to keeping sales partners engaged and interested is “out of sight, out of mind”. With so many vendor choices and services out there, it’s just not enough to sponsor partner events, go to trade shows and travel to meet partners. Communication must be continuous, online,...
Episode 15 - 5 Reasons to Know About Convey Channel
November 08, 2019 20:00 - 5 minutes - 3.79 MBSome of you listening to this MicroCast don’t know who Convey Channel is. Others of you are wondering how we fit into your channel marketing strategy, and yet others are thinking about expanding your relationship with us. For those of you that don’t know us, Convey Channel is designed to be part of your digital marketing strategy. We run an industry content distribution and marketing network in the channel linking over 40 master agents with their vendors and distributing information to th...
Episode 14 - Sales Leads
November 08, 2019 13:00 - 9 minutes - 6.5 MBTranscript Sales partners expect more from their providers these days but as we all know there many complexities to building a successful channel strategy. Providers that are winning the channel game have adopted agile and innovative solutions to control their message, push their sales strategy, and provide the right tools, all while responding to constant change in their business and in the marketplace. The concept of providing partners with sales leads is not a new one, but automating th...
Episode 13 - Partner Marketing Tools
November 07, 2019 13:00 - 8 minutes - 5.97 MBTranscript Sales partners expect more from their providers these days but as we all know there many complexities to building a successful channel strategy. Providers that are winning the channel game have adopted agile and innovative solutions to control their message, push their sales strategy, and provide the right tools, all while responding to constant change in their business and in the marketplace. Most of the providers that Convey works with would love to have partners use marketin...
Episode 12 - Engaging Partners
November 06, 2019 13:00 - 9 minutes - 6.65 MBTranscript Sales partners expect more from their providers these days but as we all know there many complexities to building a successful channel strategy. Providers that are winning the channel game have adopted agile and innovative solutions to control their message, push their sales strategy, and provide the right tools, all while responding to constant change in their business and in the marketplace. Nowhere is the old phrase, “out of sight, out of mind” more true than in the channel. ...
Episode 11 - Automate Partner Management
November 05, 2019 13:00 - 8 minutes - 5.99 MBTranscript Sales partners expect more from their providers these days but as we all know there many complexities to building a successful channel strategy. Providers that are winning the channel game have adopted agile and innovative solutions to control their message, push their sales strategy, and provide the right tools, all while responding to constant change in their business and in the marketplace. Convey is a big believer that every channel program should be automated, have a digita...
Episode 10 - Automating and Upgrading Your Channel Program
November 04, 2019 13:00 - 8 minutes - 5.53 MBTranscript Automating and Upgrading Your Channel Program Sales partners expect more from their providers these days but as we all know there many complexities to building a successful channel strategy. Providers that are winning the channel game have adopted agile and innovative solutions to control their message, push their sales strategy, and provide the right tools, all while responding to constant change in their business and in the marketplace. Because Convey lives in the world of a...
Halloween Special 5 - The Nightmare on Channel Street: The Invasion of the Sales Partner Snatchers
October 25, 2019 20:00 - 5 minutes - 3.61 MBFull Transcript Convey Micro-Cast Series This is Carolyn Bradfield and you’re listening to the Convey Micro-Cast audio series. This week is our Halloween Micro-Cast series and we gave Freddy Krueger a shout out in our first episode, the Nightmare on Channel Street. We identified nightmares in the channel that keep you up at night, can ruin your channel program and destroy your revenue. Today we’re going to focus on the “Invasion of the Sales Partner Snatchers. You used to go to Chann...
Halloween Special 2 - The Nightmare on Channel Street: Disappearing Commissions
October 25, 2019 20:00 - 3 minutes - 2.75 MBFull Transcript Convey Micro-Cast Series This is Carolyn Bradfield and you’re listening to the Convey Micro-Cast audio series. This week is our Halloween Micro-Cast series and yesterday we gave Freddy Krueger a shout out by entitling our first episode, the Nightmare on Channel Street. We identified nightmares in the channel that keep you up at night, ruin your channel program and destroy revenue. Today we’re going to focus how you wake up from the nightmare, run away from the monsters...
Halloween Special 3 - The Nightmare on Channel Street: The Walking Dead – Bad Referrals
October 25, 2019 20:00 - 4 minutes - 3.26 MBTranscript Convey Micro-Cast Series This is Carolyn Bradfield and you’re listening to the Convey Micro-Cast audio series. This week is our Halloween Micro-Cast series and we gave Freddy Krueger a shout out by entitling our first episode, the Nightmare on Channel Street. We identified nightmares in the channel that keep you up at night, can ruin your channel program and destroy your revenue. So many of you have seen the Walking Dead, that wildly popular series that has lasted for 9 ye...
Halloween Special 4 - The Nightmare on Channel Street: Marketing Development Funds
October 25, 2019 20:00 - 5 minutes - 3.8 MBFull Transcript Convey Micro-Cast Series This is Carolyn Bradfield and you’re listening to the Convey Micro-Cast audio series. This week is our Halloween Micro-Cast series and we gave Freddy Krueger a shout out in our first episode, the Nightmare on Channel Street. We identified nightmares in the channel that keep you up at night, can ruin your channel program and destroy your revenue. Today we’re going to focus on vendors that checked into the Bates Motel, handed over their MDF funds,...
Halloween Special 1 - The Nightmare on Channel Street
October 25, 2019 20:00 - 6 minutes - 4.3 MBFull Transcript This is Carolyn Bradfield and you’re listening to the Convey Micro-Cast audio series. This week is our Halloween Micro-Cast series and we’re going to give our old friend Freddy Krueger a shout out by entitling our program, the Nightmare on Channel Street. For those of you who don’t remember Freddy, he starred as a character in the Nightmare on Elm street, an insane child killer, released on a technicality and murdered by the town’s parents. He comes back in people’s dre...
Episode 4 - Communicating to the Right Audience
October 23, 2019 16:00 - 4 minutes - 3.16 MBFull Transcript This is Carolyn Bradfield and you’re listening to the Convey Micro-Cast audio series. It’s natural to want everyone to like us and nowhere is this more true than in the channel. We get sucked into the idea that engaging thousands of sales partners will create the path to revenue. However, nothing could be further from the truth when it comes to executing a good channel strategy. It’s very rare when a service appeals to every partner, that they are comfortable selling, ...
Episode 3 - The 3 C’s of Channel Communication
October 17, 2019 17:00 - 5 minutes - 4.06 MBFull Transcript: Hi, this is Carolyn Bradfield and you’re listening to Convey’s Micro-Cast audio series. Many companies focus on customer communication but communicating with channel partners is every bit as important because they are your customers. Communication is a second only to financial incentives as the most important tool to motivate and manage partners. Channel partner communications should be strategic, cost-effective and focus on motivation, education, and engagement. Comm...
Episode 2 - Crafting the Right Online Experience for Your Channel Program
October 03, 2019 21:00 - 8 minutes - 5.75 MBHi, this is Carolyn Bradfield and you’re listening to Convey’s Microcast audio series. We’d like to welcome our listeners to our Channel Partners microcast audio series from Convey Services, a technology specialist that runs a content and marketing portal network in the channel used by over 23K sales partners. Today’s series is all about crafting the right online experience for your channel program. Without fail, most of us begin our buying experience online. We google the product we want ...
Episode 1 - New to the Channel? Our Advice
October 03, 2019 20:00 - 9 minutes - 6.54 MBIn this episode, we are going to focus our time on vendors that are new to the channel, pointing out some of the misperceptions they have about developing a channel program that will likely cost them time, money, and results. What used to be the traditional telecom channel has grown by leaps and bounds over the years transforming the type of services that are being offered attracting vendors that focus on cloud services, security, the internet of things, mobility and a host of other offerin...