|
Destin resident leaves retirement to help businesses cut costs
Feb 18, 2009 (Destin Log - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) --
"We know how the game is played,'' Pete Wilson of the Destinbased TelAuthority company says. "We helped create the game."
"We" is TelAuthority founders Pete Wilson and Bob Arnold, former telecommunications executives who now use their experience running a company to teach businesses how to get a "worldclass contract" when negotiating for services.
"The difference between 'world class' and ' average' is pretty huge," Wilson said. "The difference in money could be 25 to 30 percent ... given this economy, real jobs could be at stake. Nobody in this economy can afford to leave any stone unturned. This is one of the reasons I came back out of retirement to do this."
Wilson said that no matter how skilled most corporate shoppers may be, "they need our services because they don't negotiate and procure their telecom services every day ... They're really not good at it. They get by, but it's like buying a car: You don't really know what the dealer paid for the car, what bells and whistles are put in, what to ask for."
Wilson said he and Arnold, on the other hand, know the score: "Who better to buy the service than the people who set up how they're sold?"
Wilson said that for a "world class" contract, the price has to be right, which can be a challenge when the cost of services fluctuates constantly. In addition, the contract terms have to be right, for example protecting Wilson's clients from risk if the carrier doesn't perform.
"A lot of times, people get the pricing but they don't get the contract terms," Wilson said. "It will eventually come back to bite you in a big way."
Wilson said as his company grows, the administrative center will remain in Destin, but negotiators and consultants on staff will be based out in the larger cities. He said since his former company, Telwares, involved a lot of traveling anyway, it made sense to relocate to Destin a decade ago, near his wife's parents in Niceville" "Why not, when I'm not on an airplane, be in a place that's paradise ?"
To see more of The Destin Log or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to
http://www.destin.com/. Copyright (c) 2009, Destin Log, Fla. Distributed by
McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For reprints, email
tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax
to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave.,
Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.
[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
|
TMCnet LOGIN
Webinars
