Constructing customer confidence: Excel independent reps build a Web presence

Teleglobe subsidiary Excel Communications bets that consumers would rather buy a product from someone they know than from some nameless telemarketer. The idea is simple: Enlisting independent representatives to sell long-distance services to friends and colleagues would be easier than branding the product with national advertising. Having achieved fair success in the real world, Excel is moving into the virtual world. In conjunction with its sister company, up2 technologies, Excel is offering its independent representatives a quick way into the online world with IR HomeSite. Developed by up2 technologies, IR HomeSite enables independent representatives to personalize a Web store via Excel Online.

"We believe that this is the ideal way to improve our current distribution channel," said Nick Merrick, president and CEO of up2 technologies.

Each representative builds an individual Web store that focuses on branding the representative, rather than Excel services. "People will come to a site because of a representative. The reason they will stay is because we offer great services," Merrick said.

Since the program's launch in August, more than 10,000 Excel independent representatives have signed up. "It makes their credibility skyrocket, and it takes advantage of everything that is sexy and sizzling but keeps that warm relationship [with the customer]," Merrick said. In addition, representatives can cut the time it takes to complete orders because they are moving away from a paper-based world.

Besides giving independent representatives a shiny new look, building a Web presence also will allow them to market to customers they were unable to target before. They can create stronger relationships with the customers they know personally and attack a new virtual market.

The strategy holds some merit, said Erich Almasy, vice president of Mercer Management Consulting. "How important is the brand Excel? What they are saying is [that] the local representative's brand is more valuable than the national brand."

The sweet spot for this type of marketing will be in the smaller business market where national brands are less important, Almasy said.

The service eventually will incorporate an online mall that will enable representatives to make money from other products, such as consumer goods. Excel will work as a broker for the various products and offer its independent representatives a commission, creating revenue for the representative and for Excel.

The idea of a portal branded with a personality is a different take on the current Internet sales goal of dominating the market with a huge brand.

By doing this, Excel can target specific segments of the larger market better. "You get the economies of scale. You can build Web sites that appeal to specific segments," Almasy said. Independent representatives will be able to use their personal contacts to create sales and keep customers coming back, although each sale may be small. "Most Internet companies that are going public have business plans that consist of stickiness," Merrick said. Because of the familiarity of marketing through independent representatives, Excel already has that. "It is a very crowded world out there, and we are using the inherent benefit of network marketing," he said.