Because it is easier, quicker and cheaper for resellers and carriers to acquire new customers from hardware dealers than it is to acquire them themselves.  Getting new customers is hard work and takes time.  Tapping into your customer base is an easy way forward for them.

You have built long-standing relationships with your customers over many years.  They trust you, and they listen to your advice on who best to supply their lines, calls, broadband and other services.

The problem is that as soon as your customers sign with your reseller “partner” they are no longer just “your” customers; your customers contract with the reseller, who then provides the service directly.

Whatever your contract says, you have handed over your customer base to a third party and are no longer in full control of your business.  On the flip side, your reseller has increased its customer base and the value of its business at minimal cost. A nice deal for them…

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Because they can afford to do so.

Network resellers are in the business of rolling up customer bases as quickly as they can, before selling their business on to the highest bidder.  Most of those customer bases were built by dealers like you who have no say whatsoever in the future ownership of their valuable customer details.

There are plenty of examples in recent years of how much money these roll-ups have generated for owners.  Eurocall, Project Telecom, Uniworld, V-Networks, and recently Daisy – to name but a few. How much did you as a dealer get out of it?

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Signing away your customer base to a third party will destroy value in your hardware business.

As a dealer, you have lost control of your most valuable asset – your customer base.  At some stage your customer base will be sold on with or without your knowledge or approval.  Maybe the new owner of your base is a competitor of yours, maybe the new owner will change the terms of your contract, maybe the new owner will mess things up, maybe your customer details will get into the wrong hands.  Who knows?  So why put your customer base at risk in the first place?

Because you will have surrendered rights to sell competitive services to your customers you will be unable to maximise the value of your business - particularly as service and product bundles become ever more popular.  The terms of your dealer contract will impose a number of non-competition restrictions that damage your business, while greatly enhancing value for your resale “partner”. You are simply transferring assets from your business to your resale partner’s business for nothing other than a monthly commission cheque.

Losing full control prevents you from realising the full value of your business.  Telecoms businesses are valued not only on the size of their current customer and maintenance base, but also on the future potential of the base to a buyer.  This potential rests on a future buyer developing the business further and cross-selling additional products and services.  But if your base has been compromised by the terms of a dealer contract, then the value of your business will be far less and the number of interested parties much smaller.

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Improvements in technology, competition, open systems and VoIP services have all conspired to drive down PBX prices, margins and maintenance revenues.  A customer today pays less than half the price of an equivalent PBX sold ten years ago.

Dealers must now look to provide other services to maintain profitability of their customer base.  Maximise revenue from your existing customer base by building recurring revenue streams that generate revenue and profits month in, month out.

Dramatically improve the profile of your business by selling telecom and data services directly to you customers. Transform your dealership into a reseller offering a full telecommunications service.  Build recurring revenue streams which you control, and which are of real value to potential purchasers when the time comes to sell your business.

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We understand how to create value in the telecommunications industry.

Mark and Martin founded Symphony Telecom Ltd in 1997 before selling it to Redstone Telecom plc for £17.1m in July 2006.  At Symphony, they developed a series of successful resale structures for hardware dealers to offer resale into their customer bases without compromising their customer bases.  All continue to trade successfully to this day.

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Sell a complete range of telecommunications services, under direct contracts between you and your customers.  Own and control the customer relationship, the contracts, the services provided, the prices you want to charge and invoice the customer each month in your name and with your brand.  We sit behind the scenes, and make it all happen for you.

• Calls through leading telecoms providers such as Cable & Wireless, Thus, BT and Opal;
• WLR3 for analogue, ISDN2, ISDN30 – plus all the calling features direct from BT Openreach;
• Broadband and Direct Connect from selected suppliers such as Demon, CW, Thus and Viatel;
• Business quality VoIP services, including monthly rental plans and associated calls, plus fully featured handsets from suppliers such as Cisco;
• Non-geographic and premium rate numbers.

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All you need is the desire to take back control of your business, and make money by selling a complete portfolio of telecommunications services to you customer base under direct contracts owned by you.

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Contact Mark Jones on 0845 873 7950 for more details

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No and no.

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Hardware dealers really have two choices.  Set up and run as a full reseller in your own right by acquiring the necessary operating systems, funding, supply contracts and staff.  Or reap the same benefits of resale by working with Blizzard.

Either way, we strongly recommend a move away from a dealer arrangement if you value your future wealth.

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