Digicel Telesales & Digital Acquisition Channel

Timeline · latest first

1. Wed 28 OctDirecOneAccepted Digicel’s revised fee structure. Confirmed the first two months from go-live remain exempt from fee adjustments, accepted the revised Month 3 tiers, and said we look forward to next steps.
2. Mon 26 OctDigicelTwo-month exemption agreed; revised tiers proposed (8:11 am). No fee adjustment for the first two months from go-live. From Month 3: 100% payable at 90%+ of target, 85% at 80–89%, 75% below 80%. Asked for our thoughts. Our acceptance of the revised tiers is not recorded.
3. Thu 22 OctDirecOneCounter-proposal sent (6:52 pm): first two months exempt from adjustment, referencing 1 Nov go-live, to cover onboarding, product familiarity, process alignment and lead-generation campaign setup. Mutually agree monthly targets after that period using actual results and conversion data. From Month 3: 100% / 90% / 80% payable at 90%+ / 80–89% / below 80% of target. Agreed to a joint improvement plan when necessary.
4. Wed 21 OctDigicelProposal: hourly rate tied to a minimum sales target (Shelly-Ann, 12:26 pm). 100% of fees when monthly sales reach 90% or more of the agreed target; 20% reduction in hourly fees at 80–89%; 30% reduction below 80%; a jointly agreed improvement plan for any material underperformance. Digicel welcomes our thoughts or an alternative mechanism.
5. Wed 21 OctDigicelDiscussion on hourly-rate mitigation. Digicel will send its overall feedback by email on 22 Oct, mainly on hourly-rate mitigation, sharing its thoughts from the discussion; the aim is terms that are mutually sustainable. CFO sign-off is contingent on what is finally presented. Digicel asked for the security forms. The 1 Nov pilot start is still expected. The radio promotion (telco rewards) is set to kick off in December.
6. Thu 15 OctDirecOneOmari to Shelly-Ann: our IT team has started on both forms, and we accept Digicel’s clawback terms of 12 Oct.
   DigicelWorking session on the other commercial terms. Pilot start set for 1 Nov. Digicel agrees to the rate but still wants it fair to both sides, given the risk of a flat fee. Digicel is responsible for providing the dialer, the process and the eligibility requirements; it expects DirecOne to be responsible for the leads and lets us direct the dialer settings as we see fit.
7. Wed 14 OctDirecOneTechnical meeting held with Digicel. A follow-up meeting is set for later this week.
   DigicelShelly-Ann sent two forms for completion: the Supplier Creation Form and the Security & Data Privacy Vendor Questionnaire. Digicel’s IT and Security teams are available to help with the security and data form.
   DirecOneForms forwarded internally for completion.
8. Tue 13 OctDigicelCindy Beharry sent the Teams invite for the IT meeting (Digicel: Shelly-Ann Marrain, Anil Ramdhan, Keston Harewood, Jamalie Puran; DirecOne: Omari and G. Compton).
9. Mon 12 OctDigicelClawback counter-proposal. Voluntary churn only: where Digicel cannot provide service and an activation must be cancelled, it is not churn and is excluded; where a customer is activated or installed and then fails to keep up payments, it counts as voluntary churn. Threshold: clawback applies only to churn above 23% for Postpaid and 5% for Fibre. Tiers: no clawback on the first prorated bill; 100% if the customer fails to pay the first full bill, 75% the second, 30% the third. Also raised concern about the risk of an hourly rate model not linked to sales outcomes, and invited a minimum sales target linked to a portion of the hourly fees, or any alternative structure that shares risk appropriately. Asked for our feedback.
10. Wed 7 OctDigicelUpdate: Shelly-Ann has a meeting with her CEO and Tsola Barrow on the morning of 7 Oct to discuss the commercial terms, after which she will reach out to discuss, basically on the clawback terms. She does not yet have dates for the technical meeting but anticipates it will be next week. Digicel’s legal team has a template from the last service provider Digicel used. A 16 Oct pilot start is unlikely, but not much longer afterwards.
11. Mon 5 OctDirecOneOmari replied: happy with the October pilot and November go-live timeline, and the dealer code and reporting approach help. Comfortable with the clawback principle and the 3-month period. Suggested terms: (1) no clawback where our early churn is at or below 90% of Digicel’s current early churn for the same product; (2) exclude disconnections initiated by Digicel, including for non-payment; (3) exclude cancellations before installation, or within one week of it, where an installation issue affects the service; (4) tiered repayment of the acquisition fee on eligible churn: 100% for cancellations under 1 month, 50% from 1 to 2 months, 25% from 2 to 3 months, none after 3 months. Asked Digicel to send times for the technical meeting, as our technical team has flexibility this week.
12. Fri 2 OctDigicelShelly-Ann replied in-line to our 23 Sep questions. Pilot: targeting mid to late October, subject to execution of the final agreement and operational and technical readiness. Technical discovery session: Digicel will propose dates. Attribution: a dealer code will be assigned, with daily sales and activation reports. Leads: to be decided. Training: starts once the agreement is executed. Reporting: daily operational reporting plus weekly performance reviews, framework to be finalized together. Early churn (first 3 months): Postpaid 20–30%, Fibre 3–5%. Asked for our availability to meet next week on the completed-sale definition and the clawback.
13. Mon 28 SepDirecOneOmari confirmed Digicel had received our email response to their acceptance.
    DigicelShelly-Ann: response received. She is liaising with the commercial team for updated churn data and wants the agreement finalized by mid-October at the latest, so the pilot can commence and 1 Nov is the first full month after the pilot. Clawback is a key requirement for Digicel; she will send the data as soon as possible so we can discuss and align.
14. Wed 23 SepDirecOneReplied: open to discussing the sale definition and clawback, and asked for Digicel's expected 3-month early churn rate for Postpaid Mobile and Fibre. Asked five implementation questions (pilot go-live date, technical discovery session date, sales attribution in E-Care and CRM, leads and training, reporting). Will begin the draft agreement.
15. Wed 23 SepDigicelResponse after review: generally aligned with the proposed operating model and commercial framework. Proposed a completed-sale definition (activated in E-Care for Postpaid Mobile or CRM for Fibre, and no early churn within 3 months of activation) and a clawback provision (acquisition fees repayable for subscribers who early-churn in the first 3 months). Proposed next steps: finalize commercial alignment including clawback, hold the joint technical discovery session, and prepare a draft agreement.
16. Wed 23 SepDigicelReview meeting at 1:00 pm today. Shelly-Ann will send Digicel's response after that review.
17. Tue 22 SepDirecOneOmari asked Shelly-Ann for an update; the team is keen for news.
    DigicelShelly-Ann: working to complete the review and send a response that day, acknowledging it had been promised the day before.
18. Fri 11 SepDigicelAcknowledged receipt; will reach out if they have questions. Awaiting outcome of their evaluation.
19. Thu 10 SepDirecOneAddendum: alternative per-acquisition commercial model proposed, TT$75.00 per confirmed Postpaid activation and TT$95.00 per confirmed Fibre activation, limited to leads DirecOne itself sources.
    DirecOneSecond addendum: collaborative arrangements discussed in our meetings, joint curation of initiatives, on-air prize sponsorship for station giveaways, and a shared definition of "a sale".
20. Wed 9 SepDigicelProcurement requires three total submissions under Digicel's corporate governance: ours, plus two other quotations Digicel is soliciting. Romona may have to step aside later in the evaluation given her proximity to DirecOne; Digicel will keep us posted.
21. Wed 9 SepDigicelSite visit held, 11:30, DirecOne hosts. Privately, Romona Boisselle-Romano indicated the team is impressed so far.
22. Tue 8 SepDigicelShelly-Ann Marrain (Head, Channel Strategy & Operations) indicated the pilot is expected to begin with 10–15 agents.
23. Tue 1 SepDirecOneConfirmed. Calendar invite received for 11:30.
24. Mon 31 AugDigicelReview completing this week. Asked for Wed 9 Sep and offered to visit our office.
25. Fri 28 AugDigicelAcknowledged; review session to be scheduled the following week.
    DirecOneSupplement sent: radio-driven lead generation with BOOM 94.1 and LIT 102.3, and the pricing question put to them (per lead, per activation, or a blend).
26. Thu 27 AugDirecOneProposal submitted. All ten items answered in Digicel's numbering, plus corporate profile, recruitment section, reference letters and a "beyond this engagement" section.
27. Mon 24 AugDirecOneDraft v5 circulated to leadership. Commercial terms still placeholders at that point.
28. Thu 20 AugDirecOneInternal planning note, 1:09 pm. Omari circulated a response framework to leadership against Digicel’s ten requested items: blended inbound/outbound, lead generation, staffing ratios, productivity and conversion assumptions, and a two-week pilot proposal. Commercial pricing was still TBD. These were internal estimates and conditional proposals, not Digicel-approved commitments; see the planning brief below.
29. Thu 20 AugDigicelFormal request received, 8:00 am. Target: 600 Postpaid plus 450 Fibre activations monthly. Ten requested items cover the operating model, staffing, lead generation, digital acquisition, productivity, conversion, ramp-up, technology, QA/compliance and commercials. Digicel supplies Genesys, campaign licences, and product, systems and process training. DirecOne manages sales operations, WFM/performance, lead generation, digital optimisation, QA and compliance.
30. Wed 19 AugDigicelExecutive meeting. Shelly-Ann Marrain (Head, Channel Strategy & Operations), Omatsola Barrow, Romona Boisselle-Romano.

Recruitment readiness

• Careers page rebuilt; Sales Consultant (outbound telesales) role live on preview, commission-ledDone
• Application handler written, attachments validated server-side; hosting decision with Computers & ControlsIn progress
• JobsTT posting for the telesales role is liveLive
• Second round of interviews being scheduled to build a shortlist above the 10–15 pilot requirement, buffering for attrition during training and the first weeks of productionIn progress

Volume recruitment is ahead of the contract, which is the right order. The proposal commits to a 10-seat pilot live within two weeks of signature. Pilot is now estimated to begin with 10–15 agents (Shelly-Ann Marrain, 8 Sep); the 9 shortlisted candidates cover the low end of that range.

Decisions and open items

1. Venue and route for the visitResolved · held 9 Sep Digicel visited 74 Independence Square for the review session on 9 September. Site visit held as planned.
2. Procurement process at DigicelIn progress · Digicel Per Romona Boisselle-Romano (private conversation, 9 Sep): Digicel's corporate governance requires three total submissions, ours plus two other quotations Digicel is soliciting. Romona may have to step aside later in the evaluation given her proximity to DirecOne. Digicel will keep us posted.
3. Lead-generation pricing modelProposed by DirecOne, 10 Sep We asked Digicel to choose between per high-intent lead, per completed activation, or a blend. On 10 Sep we proposed a per-acquisition model in an addendum: TT$75.00 per confirmed Postpaid activation, TT$95.00 per confirmed Fibre activation, DirecOne-sourced leads only. Under review against our original TT$79.00/hr submission.
4. Digital acquisition spend capOpen · ours Submitted as a separate, guardrailed pass-through governed by a CPL ceiling and a monthly cap, figure "subject to collaborative discussion". It needs real CPL benchmarks for Google Search and Meta in this market before we put a number in the room.
5. Station-integrated promotion & collaborative arrangements (BOOM / LIT)Kick-off December Airtime, giveaway prizing and co-branded production sit outside both the agent rate and the digital spend. On 10 Sep our second addendum covered joint curation of initiatives, on-air prize sponsorship for station giveaways, and a shared definition of "a sale"; a working session is still needed to lock the model. On 21 Oct Digicel said the radio promotion (telco rewards) is set to kick off in December.
6. Clawback and churn dataAgreed · 15 Oct Digicel proposed on 23 Sep that acquisition fees paid for subscribers who early-churn in the first 3 months after activation be repayable. On 2 Oct Digicel gave its early-churn benchmarks (Postpaid 20–30%, Fibre 3–5%) and asked to meet. On 5 Oct we said we are comfortable with the principle and the 3-month period, and suggested: no clawback at or below 90% of Digicel’s current early churn for the product; exclusions for Digicel-initiated disconnections (including non-payment) and for installation-related cancellations; and tiered repayment of 100% (under 1 month), 50% (1 to 2 months), 25% (2 to 3 months). On 7 Oct Digicel said Shelly-Ann meets her CEO and Tsola Barrow that morning on the commercial terms and will then reach out, mainly on the clawback. On 12 Oct Digicel countered: clawback on voluntary churn only (cancellations where Digicel cannot provide service are excluded; non-payment after activation or installation counts as voluntary churn); clawback only on churn above 23% for Postpaid and 5% for Fibre; tiered by unpaid bill: none on the first prorated bill, 100% if the first full bill is unpaid, 75% the second, 30% the third. On 15 Oct DirecOne accepted these terms.
7. Hourly-rate risk-sharingDigicel revision 26 Oct · ours Latest from Digicel, Mon 26 Oct: the fee adjustment will not apply during the first two months from go-live (agreed). From Month 3, Digicel proposes 100% of the hourly rate at 90% or more of target, 85% at 80–89%, and 75% below 80%. Our response to these revised tiers is open. DirecOne’s 22 Oct proposal was 100% / 90% / 80%, with monthly targets mutually agreed after the initial period using actual results and conversion data. Digicel’s reply does not explicitly confirm that target-setting method. DirecOne’s proposal references 1 Nov 2026 go-live; no actual launch is confirmed. Clawback was agreed on 15 Oct. CFO sign-off, security forms and the December radio promotion remain as last reported on 21 Oct.
8. Completed-sale definitionProposed by Digicel, 23 Sep A completed sale is a subscriber activated in Digicel’s systems (E-Care for Postpaid Mobile, CRM for Fibre) that does not fall into early churn within the first 3 months. We said we are open to discussing it. On 2 Oct Digicel asked to meet this to discuss it together with the clawback. Not yet agreed.
9. Implementation questions to DigicelRoles set, 15 Oct Digicel answered on 2 Oct. Pilot launch targeted mid to late October, subject to the signed agreement and readiness. A dealer code will be assigned and daily sales and activation reports provided. Leads are still to be decided. Training starts once the agreement is executed. Reporting will combine daily operational reporting and weekly performance reviews, framework to be finalized together. The joint technical meeting was held on 14 Oct (Teams invite from Cindy Beharry, 13 Oct), and a working session followed on 15 Oct. Roles agreed then: Digicel provides the dialer, the process and the eligibility requirements; DirecOne is responsible for the leads and may direct the dialer settings.
10. Supplier onboarding and security formsIn progress · ours Digicel sent the Supplier Creation Form and the Security & Data Privacy Vendor Questionnaire for completion. Digicel’s IT and Security teams are available to help with the security and data form. Forwarded internally the same day; our IT team started on both on 15 Oct. On 21 Oct Digicel asked for the forms. To be completed and returned.
11. Agreement timelinePilot 1 Nov · CFO sign-off pending Digicel wants the agreement finalized by mid-October at the latest, so the pilot can commence and 1 Nov is the first full month after the pilot. On 2 Oct Digicel said it is targeting pilot launch in mid to late October, subject to execution of the final agreement. On 5 Oct we confirmed an October pilot and November go-live. On 7 Oct Digicel said a 16 Oct pilot start is unlikely but not much longer afterwards, and that its legal team has a template from the last service provider Digicel used. On 15 Oct the pilot start was set for 1 Nov, and on 21 Oct it was still expected. CFO sign-off at Digicel is contingent on what is finally presented.

What we submitted

Commercial

TT$79.00 per agent logged hour, bundled: agent time, supervision, QA, WFM, recruitment and training, HR and fraud management, reporting. 10-agent minimum (subject to discussion). 6-month initial term. Valid 45 days, exclusive of VAT.

Context

Legacy rate on the 2024 campaign was US$12.00 per logged hour with DirecOne carrying platform and training. TT$79 is roughly US$11.65 at 6.78, so leaner, with Digicel now supplying both.

Staffing

1 supervisor : 15 agents · 1 manager : 4 supervisors · 1 QA analyst : 15 agents · dedicated WFM · trainer pool. Pilot runs leaner: one working supervisor, fractional QA and WFM.

Addendum (10 Sep)

We proposed an alternative per-acquisition model: TT$75.00 per confirmed Postpaid activation, TT$95.00 per confirmed Fibre activation, limited to DirecOne-sourced leads. Under review against the original TT$79.00/hr submission; not yet agreed.

These are our modelled starting ranges, not agreed figures. The pilot exists to validate them against real Digicel lead quality before either side commits to scaled headcount or price. The 1.0 SPH mentioned verbally on 19 August was corrected in the written proposal.