What to Look For in a SIP Reseller Platform
SIP Reseller Platform: Basic Concepts
If you are looking into joining a SIP reseller platform, you probably already know that SIP is an acronym for Session Initiation Protocol: digital signals that set up, connect and disconnect communication sessions, such as calls.
SIP acts as a mediator between analog (traditional telephone networks) and digital (Internet-based) communication technologies via SIP trunks. In other words, it serves as a virtual link between a phone company and an Internet provider by using lines that connect SIP trunks to other IP traffic or via the Internet using a Virtual Private Network (VPN).
SIP trunking is becoming increasingly popular in companies worldwide, especially since analog systems are slowly shutting down. When a business implements SIP trunks, it virtualizes its phone lines. Voice, video and other call-data travel through the internet while maintaining Private Branch eXchange (PBX) functionalities, such as call management, caller ID, auto attendants and voicemail.
Business communications flow better with SIP, and it helps cut down costs. Other advantages include plug-and-play implementation, the ability to recover communication data after any kind of disaster and enhanced call quality and stability for a better operation.
H3: Related: How to find The Best SIP Trunk Provider
What is a SIP Reseller?
You may hear the titles SIP Reseller, SIP trunk service provider, SIP reseller platform or SIP trunk reseller, interchangeably. They are a group of people with backgrounds in diverse fields (telecommunications, technology dealers and IT consultants) who join a program to help companies migrate their phone systems to SIP trunking.
How to Find the Best SIP Reseller Platform
SIP trunking reseller programs come in all shapes and sizes. By simply googling the term “SIP trunking reseller,” you will find the platform options are endless.
Due to the increased popularity of this technology, as we briefly mentioned above, reselling SIP trunks has become a lucrative option for more providers, but how do you choose a reseller program that fits your needs and fulfills your potential clients’ requirements?
Here are a few important criteria to consider:
Platform Interoperability
A good reseller program will offer platform interoperability for your customers. The SIP trunking services you provide will be more attractive if they work with various IP PBX platforms. Platform interoperability will allow you to tailor your services to your customers’ unique communication needs.
Real-Time Data
Your ability to provide exceptional customer service will depend on how much data your SIP provider makes available to you. If your program doesn’t offer real-time data access, such as call records, you won’t be able to give your customers the information they need to drive their sales, marketing and customer service.
Protection
The protection your SIP reseller platform provides will directly affect your ability to protect customer data. Research how secure each providers’ options are against toll fraud and other kinds of hacking.
H3: How to Make Money as a SIP Provider
Internet Provider
Many SIP reseller platforms limit you to the Internet provider they choose. A more flexible option for your reselling business is choosing your Internet provider and allowing your customers to do the same. This criterion is also important because many regions in the United States offer only a handful of Internet provider options. Removing provider limitations lets you to sell a more robust SIP trunking option, despite your customer’s location.
Redundancy
A good SIP trunking provider will have redundancy capabilities to enable your customers to seamlessly route calls in case of network failure. Make sure you ask about this feature before you enroll in the program.
Tech Support
Research your potential platforms in terms of the tech support they offer. You can interview other customers and ask the provider for their tech support details. Do they have enough qualified staff? What is the expected level of support?
Competitive Cost and Value
It’s not enough to be a low-cost provider of SIP trunking services. Top performers offer a high level of customer service and will work with your clients directly to configure their SIP trunk to operate with almost any brand of IP-PBX or softphone. When clients have carrier issues, an excellent SIP trunking provider will intervene to help resolve the problem.
Free Trial
SIP trunking is flexible enough to meet the unique needs and challenges of every customer. Adding a free trial to that mix will let you sell the service easier, and allow your client to experience the benefits of the technology first-hand. Make sure the reseller program you are choosing includes free trials for your customers.
Education
A solid SIP provider offers comprehensive SIP trunking education to program members and their customers. This will help you increase your knowledge but will mostly add value to your consulting services.
Automation
Ask your SIP provider if they automate their implementation and maintenance to minimize the amount of human intervention. Manual processes are still common in the telecommunication industry for ordering, provisioning and billing. A top SIP trunk provider will install the service in seconds, with real-time monitoring and updating capabilities.
Does your client need a new telephone number? Do they need to add a couple of channels to their unlimited SIP trunk? Maybe they require checking their call detail records? Automation will translate into lower costs, fast deployment and greater flexibility for these and many other of your customers’ needs.
No Bureaucracy
As a SIP Reseller Platform member, you want to spend your time supporting your customers and attracting new ones, not filling out endless forms and other paperwork or waiting for responses from your vendor. Find a SIP service that makes deployment, administration and billing easy.
White Labeling
Your customer’s experience with SIP should be seamless. A leading SIP reseller platform will let you add your logo and brand identity to the online control panel and other system notifications and invoices.
SIP Reselling is a Healthy Business
Now that you have enough criteria to find the best SIP reseller platform for you, you may ask yourself, how is it a good business model? People who decide to resell SIP trunks have the opportunity to generate monthly recurring income based on fees that grow over time.
The best programs offer commissions for each customer every month as long as they remain subscribed to the service. Adding a new client doesn’t cost much time or effort, therefore, this model will let you grow over time and more accurately predict your income.
But let’s remember: Your choice of SIP trunk provider will either make your reselling business a success or drive it into the ground. Your clients will rely on you to obtain a stable, quality SIP service.
SIPTRUNK helps your customers obtain a SIP trunking service for IP-PBX systems and analog/digital gateways. It works with your client’s existing Internet connection and supports any SIP-compliant device, including IP-PBX, SIP softphones, analog telephone adapters or T1 digital gateways. SIP trunk installation is immediate and comes with a free trial that includes up to 60 minutes of calling, allowing you to make sure everything works to your client’s satisfaction. SIPTRUNK has a simple yet powerful online control panel that enables your clients to manage their SIP trunks and telephone numbers easily. Contact us today to find out more.