About the Brookside Group

What We Do
The Brookside Group, LLC is a leader and pioneer in the field of influencer marketing in the telecommunications industry. Since 1986, we have helped telecom equipment vendors and network services providers develop, implement and measure effective programs and channels designed to leverage the market influence of industry consultants to pull through new sales opportunities. 

We are also the leading information source on the telecommunications consulting market - its definition, segmentation, size, growth, services, market role, influence, etc. This includes compiling and managing the industry's most comprehensive database of consultants/market influencers. 

Industry consultants annually influence more than 20% of network infrastructure and network services sales. Consultants recommend what they know. 

We know what consultants need and want from industry vendors, what types of business relationships work for both parties, and who these consultants are. 

1. Market Coverage
2. Clients
3. Professional Staff

Market Coverage

The scope of our market research and consulting includes:

Telecommunications
  • Network Services
  • IP Networks
  • Voice Processing
  • Data Communications
  • Messaging
  • Internetworking
  • Computer-Telephone Integration
  • Wireless & Mobile
  • Network Infrastructure Equipment and Services
  • Cabling Systems

Consultants/Market Influencers

  • Telecommunications Consultants
  • Management Consultants
  • Information Technology (IT) Consultants
  • E-Consultants
  • Solution Providers
  • System Integrators
  • VARs
  • Engineers
  • Architects
  • Industry/Market Analysts
  • Venture Capitalists

Consultants' Client Segments

  • Enterprise/End-Users
  • Network Service Providers/Carriers

Geography

  • USA
  • North America
  • International

Clients
We have supported the consultant liaison programs or market influencer channels for most of the leading domestic and global telecommunications equipment vendors and network services providers. This includes working with all of the top ten industry CLPs, as ranked by industry consultants in our annual consultant market assessment and CLP benchmarking study. 

Our history and track record of repeat business with many of these clients is quite high. This repeat business is driven by:

  • Annual program support retainers to provide strategic/program planning direction and help target and initiate business relationships with key consultants;
  • Program development and management outsourcing;
  • Consultant database updates and/or maintenance;
  • Annual or bi-annual program tracking and measurement of program performance (including return on investment);

A growing number of mid-sized or more specialized vendors and emerging carriers are coming to us asking for help in effectively segmenting and targeting those consultants and other market influencers active in their served markets. 

Within many of our CLP client companies, our work has also extended to helping develop effective links and referral opportunities to "sister" channel programs such as Partners, Lead Referral and Strategic Alliance Programs.

We also conduct market assessments and competitor profiles for these types of programs and channels. 

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Professional Staff
The Brookside Group, LLC staffs seasoned marketing, telecommunications and consulting professionals. Collectively, the firm's staff of five has compiled more than 75 years of telecommunications marketing, channel, and business development experience.

We are:

  • Michael (Mick) Sawka, Owner and Chief CLP Consultant
  • Brenda Hartl, CLP Consultant
  • Julie Arendt, CLP Consultant
  • Paul Richards, Marketing, Market Research and CLP Affiliate
  • Allen Long, Strategic Planning, Business Development and CLP Affiliate

Some of our past employers include AT&T, SBC, Nortel Networks,  A.T. Kearney, The Regis McKenna Group, San Francisco Consulting Group, Johnson & Johnson, US Steel, Nestle Corp., and BBDO Advertising.

Some of the professional associations we belong to include the Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA)/MultiMedia Telecommunications Association (MMTA), The Society of Telecommunications Consultants, American Society of Mechanical Engineers, and the American Marketing Association.

We regularly speak at The Society of Telecommunications Consultants' (STC) conferences and contribute to the STC's quarterly newsletter. Recent articles include:

  • "Consultant Liaison Program Managers Need to Earn Their Rightful Place in the Marketing Mix"
  • "A Call to All Vendors: Don't Misread and Lose Out on the Telecom Consulting Market Opportunity"
  • "Telecom Consulting to Grow 15% Annually Through 1999"

Email msawka@brooksidegroup.com to request copies of any of these articles.

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? 2001 The Brookside Group, LLC

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