Frequently Asked Questions
What are the Types of Access Agreements?
There are 2 main types of Access Agreements, Bulk, and Non bulk
Bulk Agreement:
- Community agrees to use only one provider in favor of a substantially reduced rate for all residents
- Requires 100% participation from all residents all year round
- Typically a 5 year agreement
- In addition to low rates and competitive deal points, the community can negotiate an upfront signing bonus, called a “Door Fee”
Non-Bulk Agreement:
- Community offers residents a choice of providers.
- Typically a 10 year agreement
- Allows residents to choose whichever provider they want for retail rates
- Community can negotiate an upfront signing bonus called a “Door Fee” and possibly negotiate a portion of all of the revenue generated by the community called “Rev Share”
What is a Door Fee?
You are going to hear this mentioned in the case studies. A door fee, is a signing bonus paid to the Association by the provider. It is a signing bonus, or could also be looked at as a rebate. This is the signing bonus we can command based on the total of number of units in the community.
What is Rev Share?
Revenue sharing is a percentage of the revenue generated by the community. There are scenarios where the community can not only arrange upfront signing bonuses (door fees) and courtesy accounts, they can also get quarterly rebates for the duration of the agreement based on a percentage of the total revenue generated by the community each month.
What if we don’t have a contract/access agreement?
If you don’t have an access agreement, it could mean your board is unaware of its existence, or its potential value
What happens if we have Access Agreements and they expire?
If left unaddressed, your agreement could auto-renew indefinitely (usually on an annual basis), often with fine print. Don’t leave this stone unturned.
Why would the cable and internet companies pay our Association an upfront signing bonus?
The number 1 motivator for any provider is a bulk contract. This allows them to dominate the market share of any community. If they cannot get a bulk agreement, the 2nd motivator for the provider is to make sure the Association doesn’t engage in a bulk agreement with anyone else! Such a scenario would all but eliminate them from getting any market share. If they can’t get all of the business, they at least want to make sure they hang on to as much of it as possible
What if we have a bulk contract and it is up for renewal?
The best time to look into a renegotiation is whenever you have 18 months remaining on your existing agreement. You have the opportunity to get better terms, and another door fee/signing bonus.
Why can't we just negotiate this ourselves?
You could. Many of our clients try this on their own before they hire us. We negotiate 20,000 units at a time, so we are able to get deal points and signing bonuses that are not available to individual communities with limited volume
What if we are already in the middle of negotiating? Is it too late to hire a consultant?
Not at all. If you haven’t signed yet, we would only ask for compensation on the additional value we bring to the negotiation.
How do you get compensated?
We are totally performance based. We only get a percentage of the signing bonus/door fee that we make the provider pay you, and not until after you receive it. We must present you with an agreement you are satisfied with, or else we don’t receive any compensation at all.
Your Next Steps are to Contact us: Reach out for a free analysis and contract review. It doesn’t cost anything to see if you’re eligible for compensation.
