You’ve decided to consider becoming a telco and cloud provider – congratulations! It’s an exciting and fast changing market with endless opportunities and you’ve taken the first step towards building a business of real value.

While there is plenty of money to be made in this space, you should consider the following points before taking the plunge to ensure this is the right opportunity for you.

How are you going to differentiate yourself?

There’s no denying telco and Internet services is a highly competitive marketplace – not only are you competing with the huge resources of the likes of Telstra and Optus, but also against many other smaller businesses.  But it is such a massive and growing marketplace there is always room for an innovative competitor.  Consider how you can stand out – some of our successful partners focus on very specific niches, others work closely with community groups. 

What is your sales and marketing plan?

Do you have a sales and marketing plan in mind?

While BTB can help you with sales proposals and rate cards, you still need to actively market yourself. It is worth investing in some graphic design ensuring your website, logos, business cards, email templates, and sales brochures are consistent and sharp looking.  With BTB’s 50+ staff acting on your behalf, you are able to present yourself as a much larger business, so your website and other materials need to reflect this.

Are you selling yourself?

You might be able to troubleshoot a PBX board in your sleep, but have considered whether your website is marketing yourself in a compelling way? First impressions count and people will judge you if your messaging isn’t up to scratch.

If you are intending on targeting the residential market you need to ensure social media is a central plank of your marketing efforts. Do you have a LinkedIn and Facebook page setup and a strategy for keeping the content fresh? Do you have alternative ways for your customers to interact with you, eg. via live chat, your Facebook page, or Twitter feed?

Does your website work properly on mobile?

Mobile first

Is your website modern and does it work correctly on mobile? It is vitally important you can be contacted via your mobile website – we cannot stress this point enough. Most major companies around the world are now focussing on a ‘mobile first’ strategy, in which customers can easily interact through their smartphones.

Have you registered your business with Google Maps? It is a simple and free process to ensure your business and website is listed and easily found via Google Maps.

Consider your demographics

While Facebook is the most used social platform in the world, it is fast becoming considered a place for “older people” to interact. Those under age 25 primarily use other communication tools such as Snapchat, Instagram and WhatsApp – and while they not currently be your target market, they eventually will be. BTB can help advise on trends in the industry and keep you informed about these developments.

Honestly assess your strengths and weaknesses

Do you love selling the big deal, but find the details irritating? Or perhaps you are technically orientated, but hate having to think about websites and marketing? Remember, you are often competing with companies that can afford to employ people to cover every base – as a smaller entity you may be wearing many hats. Consider carefully what your gaps are and evaluate whether you are really prepared invest the time in retraining yourself, or the money to employ others to do so. It’s a competitive space so you have to be fully committed – but the rewards can be huge!

BTB provide ongoing training sessions

Are you prepared to keep learning?

The telco and data market is an ever changing and exciting industry to be involved in – the convergence of traditional telecoms and IT continues, the number of buzzwords and technologies keep expanding and the opportunities keep increasing.  It can sound a little daunting, but BTB provides ongoing training and updates to ensure you’re abreast of industry trends.

Ensure your sales processes are geared towards long term results

Long term recurring revenue is your goal – you may have come from a culture of short term incentives eg. upfront commission for signing a contract. While this seems enticing to your sales staff, it is definitely not aligned to your long-term business goals and does nothing to help you retain that customer. In the BTB model you own the customer forever, so it is in your best interest to look after them and receive ongoing revenue every month.

Do you have the right technical ground staff?

While BTB provide services such as help desk, customer service and provisioning, through to complex product and network design, in most cases you’ll still need your own technical staff (or contractors) to install and service your customer base.

If you’ve read this far and think you’d like to be a part of this $54 billion industry, please contact BTB now and see how we can help you and your business succeed.