Arizona-based master agency PlanetOne Communications is highlighting a year of growth.
It recently brought its agents and suppliers together for a year-end event Nov. 5 and 6 at in Scottsdale, the last stop on the company’s 2013 Telecom Tour. With the theme of “Pure Imagination,” PlanetOne CEO Ted Schuman in his opening remarks noted that the company has expanded its horizons significantly, thanks to the hard work of its sales partners: The company was named as one of the nation’s fastest-growing private companies by Inc. Magazine for the third year in a row. PlanetOne also had Tour Stops in Long Beach, Denver, Connecticut and Charlotte, N.C. during the year, and brought agents to the Phoenix Open and Cabo San Lucas as part of its extensive incentive program.
“We have had an incredible year,” said Lauren Shapiro, president of PlanetOne. “And that’s thanks to our sales partners, who are an incredible group of people that I’m honored to work with. We wanted this event to showcase our new online sales help portal, which has been a big initiative for us and the product of a lot of imagination, but we also wanted to help our partners relax, have some fun and enjoy networking opportunities that they otherwise wouldn’t have gotten.”
The event opened with high-speed cart racing at the opening reception at Octane Raceway, with refreshments and networking. A full day of activities, including a major channel launch, kicked off the next day at Talking Stick Resort & Casino; the centerpiece of the event was the launch of the PlanetOne Telecom Partner Toolbox.
Featuring clips from Charlie & the Chocolate Factory (during which Schuman changed into Willy Wonka backstage, in keeping with the theme) and more than $10,000 in giveaways, including five Golden Tickets worth $500 each, the company unveiled its online destination for market intelligence and sales help.
Anchored by a mix of professionally developed reports, slide shows, videos, blogs, infographics and more, the PlanetOne Telecom Partner Toolbox offers information and marketing tools that are designed to be easy to use throughout the sales cycle, from generating leads to growing and expanding relationships. Partners can download the materials and use them in their own presentations and marketing pieces as well.
“I could not be more excited to cut the ribbon on what has been the fruit of months of development,” said Schuman. “This new self-contained portal has been designed to do something that’s never been done before—it offers an objective resource center, not tied to any vendor, that gives partners tools exclusively designed to be end-user facing.”
Agents and suppliers went on to an afternoon of networking in a suppler showcase, featuring tabletop displays and networking with the channel managers and other sales partners. Golf and a closing reception at Talking Stick rounded out the day.
