PipelineOps / Partner FAQ
Section 09The questions partners actually ask before signing
Eleven answers, followed by the full list of things we will not promise you.
Can we be paid per appointment instead of per seat?
No. Paying per appointment puts all the commercial pressure on volume, which is exactly the pressure that destroys acceptance. The flat seat rate funds the floor and the incentive band carries the performance conversation, gated on quality rather than volume.
How realistic is the twelve per cent incentive?
Reachable, but only by a floor that books fewer and better meetings. Every band requires acceptance at 80% or above and show rate at 65% or above in every month of the quarter. A team that pushes volume will breach the acceptance floor before it reaches 130% of target and will earn nothing.
Who decides whether an appointment is accepted?
The client, against five published qualification criteria, within two working days. Akontec adjudicates disputes against those criteria — not against the client's preference on the day and not against your effort. A rejection with no criterion named is not a valid rejection.
Do we need our own dialler and sales engagement platform?
Yes. You provide both. The engagement platform must log activity automatically and sync the suppression list — manual logging is not permitted, because a representative who can type in their own activity can type in activity that did not happen.
Can we start at ten seats?
Yes, and it is a pilot rather than a business. At ten seats the supervision overlay is still required and cannot halve, so base margin is around 21.8% and one resignation moves it several points. Ten is workable as a proving period with a committed path to twenty-five.
Can we source our own prospect data?
Only from a source Akontec has approved, and enrichment is expected from your research seats. Buying, scraping or importing a list from anywhere else is out of scope in every circumstance, because it puts the client's own compliance position at risk, not just yours.
Are the research seats really necessary?
They are the seats partners cut first and the most reliable way to lose the acceptance rate. A representative building their own list loses roughly two hours of selling time a day, and it shows in the appointment numbers within a fortnight.
Why does the ramp take eight weeks rather than six?
Because judgement takes longer to build than process does. The curve is 40% of the appointment standard in weeks one and two, 65% in weeks three and four, 85% in weeks five and six, and full standard from week eight. Training time is never billable.
What happens if acceptance drops?
Two consecutive months below a 70% acceptance rate triggers a written remediation plan and suspends the incentive until acceptance recovers. The base seat rate is unaffected — the consequence sits in the incentive, where it belongs.
Can our representatives use a working name on calls?
No. The representative gives their real name and states the client they are calling on behalf of. Working under an invented identity is a serious breach in both jurisdictions, and it applies to the social channel as much as the phone.
Who owns the client relationship and the data?
Akontec owns the client relationship; the client owns every prospect record, account note and sequence history. Nothing is retained, reused or carried to another engagement — which is precisely why clients are willing to hand over the domain and the calendar.
What we will not promise
This section exists because a partner who is told the truth at the start does not become a dispute in month six.
On money
- We do not guarantee the incentive will be earned. It is gated on acceptance and show rate, and most of the upside on this project sits inside it.
- We do not guarantee appointment volume, conversion or pipeline value. Seats are contracted; output is not.
- We do not promise a rate increase at renewal, and we will not agree an indexation clause we cannot fund from the client contract.
- We do not promise to reimburse certification, ramp, re-training or attrition cost.
- We do not promise the model works at ten seats indefinitely. It is a pilot size.
On people
- We do not promise this can be run with a lighter coaching ratio or without the research seats.
- We do not promise that an experienced outbound agent becomes a productive consultative representative inside the ramp window.
- We do not promise that your attrition will match anyone else's.
On operations
- We do not promise the client's proposition will resonate with its own target market. Where it does not, the profile is amended — but the quarter is still affected.
- We do not promise data quality. Where a list underperforms, it is replaced, and the intervening weeks are not compensated.
- We do not promise the client's sales team will attend every meeting it accepted. Show rate is influenceable, not controllable.
- We do not promise the ideal customer profile will stay still.
On compliance
- Akontec does not claim any certification it does not hold.
- We will not approve a data source we cannot trace, a working name on a call, or an automation tool against a social platform — for any campaign, at any target.
- We will not treat a suppression breach as an administrative slip.
- We will not accept a floor or a tooling stack that is not ready in order to hold a go-live date.
What we do promise
- You are paid against the seat register on the agreed terms, whether or not the client has paid Akontec that month.
- Sixty days' written notice on staffed seats. No same-week reductions.
- A base rate that does not move downward during the term.
- Published acceptance criteria that do not change mid-quarter.
- Adjudication of every contested rejection against those criteria, in writing, with the reasoning logged.
- An incentive calculation whose definition is fixed at contracting.
- A two-working-day acceptance turnaround obligation on the client side.
- That we will not place a second provider on your bay or your certified representatives during the term without telling you first.
Known risks, and who carries them
| Risk | Carried by | Mitigation in this structure |
|---|---|---|
| Client stops paying or becomes insolvent | Akontec | You invoice Akontec against the seat register, not the client |
| Acceptance rate below the incentive gate | Provider | Published criteria, 100% audit in the first fortnight, adjudicated disputes |
| Show rate below the incentive gate | Shared | Reviewed jointly; the client owns attendance, the floor owns the confirmation |
| Prospect data quality | Akontec | Data sourced and approved centrally; underperforming lists replaced |
| Representative attrition and territory knowledge | Provider | Rate held flat for the term; bench and certification sponsorship are yours to plan |
| Rupee appreciation against the dollar | Provider | Not hedged; price your cost sheet at a rate you can live with |
| Client proposition or profile changes | Akontec | Messaging and profile republished; re-certification runs on the change |
| Suppression or data-provenance breach | Provider | Daily shared suppression list, automatic activity logging, approved sources only |
| Loss of the client contract | Akontec | 60-day notice; where possible, seats redeployed to another Akontec process |
Next step
Raise a commercial problem during contracting.
It will not be held against the application. On this project in particular, an honest look at your cost sheet against a 31.9% base contribution is worth an afternoon.
Apply to deliver this process Read the commercial terms