How to Start a SIP Reseller Business
In 2021, the SIP trunking services market was valued at nearly $12 billion. Analysts predict that this number will increase to nearly $44 billion by the end of 2031. With experts anticipating a CAGR of more than 14%, there’s been a steady increase in the number of business owners offering SIP services to their customers.
While you might naturally assume offering SIP requires an extensive background in technology, some of today’s most successful entrepreneurs knew very little about SIP trunks before launching their SIP reseller business.
Whether you’re running a successful company that’s been in your family for decades or investigating reseller opportunities for the first time, you may find it helpful to know that SIP trunking platforms are considered one of the best workplace communication solutions available, and they’re a way to help your customers overcome some of the many challenges of an increasingly mobile workforce.
Once you know what SIP trunking is and some of the many ways your customers will benefit, it’s easy to see why becoming a SIP reseller is a sound business decision. With the right partner, getting started is a lot easier than you might expect.
What Is SIP Trunking?
SIP stands for Session Initiated Protocol, a signaling protocol that converts analog voice signals to data packets. Instead of transmitting incoming and outgoing calls over the increasingly outdated “trunk” of physical wires connecting legacy phone systems, SIP transmits converted analog (and multimedia) signals over the internet. Since the system is maintained in the cloud, there’s no need to invest in costly infrastructure.
What Are the Advantages for My Customers?
Most telephone companies charge businesses monthly fees based on the number of PRI (primary rate interface) circuits assigned to their business. Each PRI has the capacity to support 23 calls and one data channel simultaneously. When your customers want more connectivity with this traditional system, they have to schedule a technician, absorb the cost of installation, and pay a fee for each line activated. Many companies inevitably discover they’re paying for lines they rarely need and services they may not use.
In addition to the high cost of maintaining an in-house phone system, many of your prospective customers also pay for communication services intended to keep their hybrid and remote workers connected, like video collaboration, file sharing, business SMS, and more. Over time, many realize their multiple “workaround” solutions are not all that efficient or cost-effective.
Reselling SIP allows you to give your customers a low-cost alternative to their legacy phone system, plus the efficiency-maximizing potential of providing their entire team with access to the cloud-sourced solutions they need when they need them.
What Are the Advantages for My Business?
Although taking on the role of a SIP service provider is a sound business decision, developing a private platform from the ground up requires a considerable investment. Once your system is up and running, you’ll also have to absorb the high cost of maintaining and monitoring your infrastructure. And that’s just the tip of a very large iceberg. In contrast, becoming a reseller means you’ll have a silent partner in the background, managing the technology-related aspects of your business. The rest is up to you.
The customers billed for the services you provide see your company name, your contact information, and your logo. You’ll get the training you need to provide expert service, complete ownership of the customer experience, and the opportunity to make an impressive return on your investment as you expand your reach.
All your customers will need to modernize their legacy phone system is an internet connection, the services offered by your company, and a SIP-enabled phone system (or low-cost adaptor).
Related: 10 Benefits to Becoming a SIP Trunking Provider
Choosing Your SIP Reseller Partner
While reselling SIP trunks can benefit both your business and your customers, it’s important to understand that reseller arrangements can vary significantly from one company to the next. With your brand image on the line, explore your options and choose wisely. Avoid getting locked into an arrangement that compromises your ability to establish your brand as a secure, reliable SIP service provider.
To help ensure you are partnering with a company that understands what its reseller partners need to ensure long-term success, pay attention to the following details before you sign on the dotted line.
Your Initial Start-Up Costs & Compensation
Some reseller partners charge for consultations, onboarding, and reseller support. Others don’t charge for those services but require a long-term commitment. If you sign on with a provider that delivers far less than they promise, you could end up paying hefty fees to terminate that relationship. As a reseller, the best arrangements require no up-front out-of-pocket costs or the purchase of expensive hardware. They offer contract-free service, and they reward your efforts with an attractive commission for every sale.
Call Minutes, Channels & Add-On Services
SIP trunks can support an unlimited number of channels. Each SIP channel has the capacity to support a single incoming or outgoing call. It’s important to know how much flexibility a SIP trunking partner offers.
Some of your customers might prefer investing in a set number of channels with unlimited minutes. Others may be better served with a bundle of minutes to use over multiple channels. Once you’re ensured flexibility, look for add-on services that could meet your customers’ specific needs and boost your revenue.
Reseller Support & Automated Services
It’s in the best interest of any SIP reseller platform provider to offer the support you need to not only get your business up and running but also to help you minimize consumer frustration, should a problem arise. You’ll also want to consider how much time you’re able to invest in administrative tasks. The best providers offer 24/7 support services, streamlined provisioning, and have automated systems in place to manage billing, state and federal taxes, commission tracking, and more.
How to Sell SIP to Your Customers
Most people won’t commit to a product or service until they’re reasonably sure their investment will fulfill a need, solve a problem, or help them achieve a goal. As a SIP trunk reseller, you’ve got those bases covered.
With so many business owners expressing mounting frustration over steadily increasing overhead costs, the limitations of outdated technology, and the additional burden of keeping remote team members connected, your services essentially sell themselves. All you need to do is listen and be prepared to present some of the following features and benefits as an effective solution.
Reducing Overhead Costs
As a SIP reseller, your customers are sure to appreciate how the services you offer could help them reduce their overhead costs. The savings begin almost immediately, with many companies slashing their business communication expenses dramatically. Since showing is far more impactful than telling, be prepared to offer concrete examples. Then, let your customers know they can save even more by adding and subtracting features as their business needs evolve.
Compatibility without Expensive Hardware
As a SIP reseller, you’re providing secure, reliable business communication services that don’t require expensive hardware or professional installation. That means your services could be just as beneficial for a customer interested in modernizing their legacy business phone as the business owner who wants a PBX but can’t absorb the cost at this stage in the game. As you’re highlighting features and benefits, be sure to mention that SIP requires no physical infrastructure.
Efficient, Effective, and Versatile Collaboration
If your customer has concerns about workplace efficiency, explain and demonstrate how a single SIP session can contain any combination of media—a definite plus for effective collaboration. Anyone initiating a collaborative session can change the method of communication at any time.
Team members can call anyone on their contact list from any device, share important files with individuals or large groups, and have access to optional features like fax from phone services. These tools and capablities add a vast amount of options to a businesses’ communication strategies, increasing efficiency and productivity.
Security and Service Reliability
Data security is a crucial issue when merging a cloud-sourced PBX (private branch exchange) and your customer’s local PSTN (public switched telephone network). It’s important for your customers to understand that individual SIP trunk platform providers offer various levels of protection achieved in different ways.
When you partner with the right SIP platform provider, you can report with confidence that you offer a tier one communication network equipped to detect and deter potentially fraudulent activity and security threats and a level of redundancy that ensures reliability.
Related: Definitive Guide to Reselling SIP Trunks
Are You Ready to Learn More About Starting a SIP Reseller Business?
As a SIP reseller, your platform provider takes care of the infrastructure; you own the customer experience. Although becoming a SIP reseller might be a bit easier when you’re already running a business with a customer base and online presence, many have started from square one with success. There are numerous resources that make it easy to design a business logo, secure a domain, build a website, and market your newly established business to those most likely to benefit. As long as you partner with the right SIP trunk platform provider, the rest will fall into place.
SIPTRUNK™ was founded by a group of telecom experts with 50 years of combined experience. Becoming a SIPTRUNK™ reseller is easy. Simply sign up for a reseller account, complete your profile, sign a partnership agreement electronically, and start earning commissions as a trusted provider of a secure, reliable SIP trunking platform.