PHONE COS. SELL SERVICE WITH OTHER FIRMS AS PREMIUMS
By Adnews Staff
Five of the 11 telephone companies that make up the Stentor alliance have joined in a scheme to draw more revenue from small business people. Bell Canada and four other phone companies are offering discounts at non-telephone companies to entice people in the small office/home office (SOHO) market to sign up for the Advantage Performance program. Bell Canada, AGT in Alberta, BC TEL, Manitoba Telephone System and SaskTel in Saskatchewan are the first phone companies to offer the deal, with more Stentor phone firms expected to come aboard in the future. Companies that do business with the telephone companies, under conditions that vary from province to province, will be eligible for discounts averaging about 15%. The phone companies are using a direct mail push to drum up business, consisting of quarterly newsletters and brochures. Bell started offering the deal in Ontario and Quebec this week. The program will kick off Feb. 26 in Manitoba, April 1 in Alberta and May 1 in Saskatchewan. Each phone company will handle its own ad campaign.
Before implementing the program, Stentor went out to the SOHO market and asked people what industry sectors and specific companies they wanted to do business with. Armed with this information, Stentor rounded up an initial trio of companies to take part in the Advantage Performance Program: Purolator Courier, HB Group Insurance Management and Kodak Canada. Other companies will be joining in the future, notably The Document Company, Xerox Canada and Sun Life Assurance Company of Canada.