Wanting to launch new B2B mobile business

[Collateral]

Hi All,

I am looking for some advice, any help is most appreciated.

I am looking towards setting up a B2B mobile phone business, selling packages based on handsets and tariffs.
So basically company (a) has 10 mobiles within the company and are coming up for renewal, my company goes in and sells them a new package maybe with a new network provider or even the same one upgrade on handset etc.

My question is: Firstly is this still a profitable business?

I it a better idea to approach the network providers directly or through distributer?

The team working on this new venture will be quite small, so resources will be limited - will this matter - as the ideal way to move this forward would be to concentrate on the selling of the deals and collect the commision, and them someone else do the servicing of the contract is this possible??

I think i have asked too many questions already so i will stop, but any help is most welcomed.

Regards

[Dazza30]

Hi

The mobile phone industry is huge, so dont listen to people who say theres no room for you, they generaly dont know what their talking about or are your competition.

Have you thought about what the trading model of the business will be?

As you probably already know your choices are,

1) Retail

My advice would be to avoid the high street retail sector unless you have large financial resources.


2) Ecommerce

Obviously ecommerce is a proven lower cost route to market with lower overheads than the previous, but this will require you to have technical know how or resources.


3) Print

Print is an area i dont have a lot of experience with, but five years ago i was commisioned to look into the viability of producing a small mobile/gaming catalogue for distribution in the north west and north midlands regions.

The actual cost of getting the catalogue to print and then distribution was supprisingly cheap. Also there are companies out there that can provide you with info for targetting potential customers.


4) Phone/call center

Using the phone/call center approach is something ive been looking into myself. The question you need to ask yourself with this one is do you cold call or use leads ?

Obviously cold calling isnt the desired approach its going to cost more and unless you have a large team you will likely struggle.

There are companies out there that can provide you with leads, i cant remember the actual cost at the min but its probably something like £100 per 2000 leads.




You could also consider using a combination of the above, but id advise you to pick a trading model and fully research it, definantly write a business plan.

Approaching the distributors is the normal practice and there are a few, if you need help sourcing them or have any questions PM me and ill send you the details.

[Alchemy]

Collateral,

I worked for BT (British Telecom) for over 10 years providing mobile & data packages for all types of businesses including one man bands up to and beyond 200 handsets.

As for not listening to people from this board, I personally think Dazza30 is trying to promote business and not free advice I know of over 10 others on this board who have also had years of experience in this market.

If you want a chat of how I went about generating mobile business in the B2B market, I am more than welcome to give you some free advice and tips.

Yes, the market is still of large but there are so many people doing it these days that your packages and products have to be spot on. . .

I have popped my mobile number in a PM for you.

Kind regards,

Scott.

[Dazza30]

Originally Posted by Alchemy As for not listening to people from this board, I personally think Dazza30 is trying to promote business and not free advice I know of over 10 others on this board who have also had years of experience in this market.

Alchemy

Where in my post did i say dont listen to people on this board?

And yes im promoting business (The mobile industry)

As for free advice thats what i gave Collateral, i responded to this thread in an open manner, which will give others the opportunity to read my free advice in the future.

So i cant see where your coming from!

[Collateral]

Hi,

In Dazza's defence and to be fair, i have to say - Dazza has provided me with some valuable information on the open forum and on PM, so thank you for that.
And none of the info he has has gave me includes any self promotion.