“Over the last couple of years switchless resellers have demonstrated a definite reaction to this, with a large percentage investing all their efforts into building up a base with the intention of capitalising on that base and starting all over again.
This means larger switchless resellers have been highly active in acquiring small telecoms businesses and the market is continuing to consolidate. Recently, the acquirers have become increasingly creative when making acquisitions and no party loses out. This is good news for the future of switchless resellers.
Chess is one of the larger businesses that have stepped up their acquisition activity in response to market conditions, having made a total of 24 to date.
We have implemented an innovative acquisition model to enable smaller resellers to capitalise on their established customer base and continue to operate as a Chess partner, without having to exit the market.
Smaller resellers may have been investing so much time and money on administrative functions, that sales were taking a hit as a result. By signing up as a partner of a business like Chess, the smaller reseller can wave goodbye to the considerable expenditure associated with back office operations and concentrate on what they are in the market to do – sell and build their business.”
The selling and acquiring of customer bases is not without its risks however. All resellers, whatever size must keep a watchful eye on both newly acquired and established customers to prevent them from slipping away. New customers must be welcomed and integrated and existing customers must be rewarded for their loyalty. This is a key focus for Chess into 2008 - providing exceptional service and minimising churn.
Pryer, “We have, and are continuing to, put a great deal of effort into looking after our channel partners and all customers. We have a dedicated sales support team and we hold regular training sessions, roadshows and feedback forums to enable our partners and us to always be on top of what we are doing. We have also developed a unique portal that enables a high level of control and visibility into customer accounts and greatly simplifies processes. This is designed to increase the ease with which resellers do business with Chess.”