What does it mean to be a business reseller?
A reseller solution enables you to offer a fully branded product or service without the initial capital investment. It's becoming more and more common for a business to start this way; you may have heard of terms like "drop shipping", "affiliate marketing", or "influencer products". Many of these terms probably trigger less than savoury first impressions! I'm sure we are all tired of checking our Instagram DMs to find them full of teenagers offering us a course in drop shipping that guarantees a massive return in as little as seven days!
However, this doesn't mean the core principle behind the idea is inherently wrong; for example, have you heard of the term MVNO? When Virgin Mobile launched in the UK, they were the first mobile operator to use this term, but how? Virgin Mobile had no network, no signal masts, and barely any staff, but it managed to launch a highly successful mobile business.
MVNO stands for mobile virtual network operator; in essence, Virgin rented spare air time from another operator with all the required infrastructure. It was a network called One 2 One (now part of EE) This enabled Virgin to rebrand, piggyback off the network, and launch with a minuscule budget compared to the investment required to start a mobile business.
Comprehensive Benefits to re-selling an existing product or service
Branding Consistency: Mirror your brand, providing a coherent customer experience and letting you retain customer ownership.
Cost Efficiency: Eliminate hefty initial investments required to get started, remove recruitment headaches and focus on driving new customers to your business.
Staffing Solutions: Say goodbye to the ongoing hassles of hiring, training, and managing entire staff teams.
Sustainable Revenue: Enjoy a consistent, month-to-month revenue stream with minimal overheads and monthly income that can compound significantly over time.
Just a few Service Features you should look for in a resale partner
Customisation: Make sure you can customise as much as possible to create tailor-made solutions fitting SMEs and large corporates.
Quality Assurance: Ensure you work with a company with a demonstratable track record of excellence; the last thing you want is to partner with an organisation that doesn't meet your standards.
Advanced Technology: Make sure your partner uses the best of the best cutting-edge technology; this makes life easier for everyone and helps to make sure you are in the best position to be able to resell.
Key points to look for
Lowered Expenses: Most resale providers let you partner with them for free; if a fee is charged, it should be modest, so bear this in mind when looking for a partner organisation to work with.
Core Business Focus: Ensure you have a clear plan of action ready for when you go live; many start with the best intentions but rapidly lose enthusiasm when they don't get instant results.
Flexibility and Scalability: Adjust the service volume as per your evolving business needs. Keep your costs as low as possible for as long as possible; it will make life much easier!
Predictable Expenditure: Make sure you do cash flow forecasts and a mini business plan every three months to track progress and see where things can be improved.
Revenue Growth: Continually pushing for revenue growth is the lifeblood of any business.
Find out everything you can
Before you get to work trying to be a resale partner, you need to know the product you are selling inside out. Research online, attend webinars, speak with anyone you know who may have some business expertise; if you don't see the product, you won't be able to sell.
How to get customers fast
Once you are up and running, the next step is to get your customer pipeline started; this is often easier said than done and an area of business many start-ups and SMEs struggle with. You have a few initial options, and the right one for you will depend on your budget. You could look at PPC (pay-per-click advertising) for the fastest results.
With PPC, you can instantly drive highly targeted traffic to your website from potential customers actively looking for your service; the downside? It can be very, very expensive. AD Budgets of 10' thousand pounds per month are far from uncommon, and it's very easy to waste a lot of it if you aren't sure what you are doing. This doesn't mean there isn't room for the little guy or much smaller ad budgets, but you should use a tool like Google Ads Keyword Planner to get an idea of how much it will cost.
Other things to consider
Once you're live and have started some of your marketing channels, you need to make sure your online presence looks presentable and trustworthy, as many potential customers will be rightly suspicious of an online brand they have not yet heard of. Set up a trust pilot page, activate all the usual social media pages, keep them up to date, and ensure your logos and style of writing are consistent across all of them.
It's good to talk
In an era where business communication is pivotal, the calibre of your call handling directly reflects your brand's professionalism.
Take some time to plan out how you will deal with customer queries and complaints. Set response times and stick to them, decide how customers can contact you, and promptly respond to social media questions.
Customised Brand Representation
One of the key benefits of becoming a white label provider is that you maintain full control of your brand, you can pick the name, logo, brand colours and more.
Have you used a white label service before?
YES
NO
Goverment funding
If you are a start-up business, the government often run funding rounds to help you get started; these usually take the form of grants or interest-free loans. These offerings generally come with strings attached, such as signing a personal guarantee or preparing a more formal business plan. Still, it can be an excellent place to start if you need to raise a little capital.
Affilliate links
If you sell a physical product, joining an affiliate network can be an excellent way to sell additional products; the concept is simple. Other website owners list your product on their website; if a visitor clicks on the product and makes a purchase, you get the order as usual, but you must pay a commission to the website that brought the sale.
The commission is usually a fixed pre-agreed % of the sale price; some surprisingly vast businesses have been built up using this formula, and some people purposely design websites that will rank well on Google for a particular term, let's say for example, "pink leather dog leads" they will then fill the site with products from other people who manufacture this product and make a commission on the sales all the while having never owned a single dog lead!
Teamwork makes the dreamwork
Build a team you can trust; your business journey will likely be long, so be surrounded by people you'd be happy to be trapped in an elevator with! As, at times, business can feel stressful! In the long run, you will need competent accountants, advisors, bookkeepers, HR teams, tech support, and marketing; the list is endless; the critical takeaway is to make sure you choose wisely.
Strengthened Customer Relationships
Once you have your customers, the next part is keeping them; it's regularly quoted that keeping existing customers is 8x more cost-efficient than finding a new one; if you've made it this far in the blog, you have probably realised just quite how expensive online marketing can be, so holding on to customers is critical. Make sure you have a process to deal with queries that crop up; if you operate in the B2B arena, it can often be an excellent choice to appoint a dedicated account manager for your critical clients if you have the budget.
Data Security and Confidentiality
Protect your customer's data; a mistake could cost your business. Stay on top of the latest GDPR rules; you will likely need to register with the Information Commissioner Office, and good record-keeping is critical. It would be best to ensure that any data stored on electronic devices is secure, so password-protect everything, shred any old documents, use reputable anti-virus software and train your staff to protect data at all times.
Real Feedback
Don't be scared to ask your customers for their thoughts; get honest feedback, both good and bad, so that you know what people think of your business. You can also take any negative feedback and see if a consistent pattern emerges; this will let you change processes to minimise the risk of repeated occurrences.
Implementation and Integration
Flamingo Digitals’ white-label call answering service is not just a solution; it’s a strategic partnership for businesses who share our passion for growth. Our blend of expertise, technology, and commitment to your brand makes us your perfect ally in the market.
Our bespoke approach, advanced communication solutions, and a team of UK-based professionals ensure your brand is represented at its best on every call. Partner with Flamingo Digital and experience a new standard in customer engagement and business efficiency.
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