Click here to view a different video of the four business applications for cellular gateways

Cellular Gateway Sales Opportunity Summary

Also known by the term "fixed cellular terminal", cellular gateways as described in this video save a business money by cutting their cell phone bills four ways:

1. Cost for calls from the office to an employee's cell phone (normally two charges - an outbound landline call charge & an inbound cell phone charge) go to zero when the office phone system calls the employee's cell phone accessing the cellular gateway. The cellular gateway AKA a fixed cellular terminal connected to the PBX or phone system turns the "off-net call" (landline to cell phone) to a cellular only "on-net call". This is achieved because the office PBX or phone system connects directly to the cell network through the cellular gateway.
    
2. Cost for calls from an employee's cell phone to the office (one charge if the cell phone calls the office landline phone number, two if the cell phone calls the 800 number) go to zero when the employee calls the office cellular gateway phone number.
    
3. Cost for other calls from an employee's cell phone drop when the calls are made through the cellular gateway. Certainly the cost of international cellular calls are cheaper when connected through the office landlines. In addition, employees will not use the cell phone for unauthorized calls when the employee knows that calls calls not made through the gateway are not authorized and that calls made through the cellular gateway are being tracked.
    
4. Costs associated with employees maintaining two voicemails drop when the office phone system routes all employee calls not answered at the employee's desk to the employee's cell phone.

 

How telecom & technology distributors make money with this information

Business cellular gateways or fixed cellular terminals, while very popular overseas (Google the two terms & most sites are outside the US) are just now catching on in the US - probably because the US seems to always be a year or so behind the rest of the planet when it comes to incorporating great new cellular technologies.  This cellular technology adaptation lag though creates a tremendous opportunity for telecom & technology solution providers as follows:

1. Find businesses with a lot of cell phones
   
   Obviously you'll want to target businesses you know that have high cell phone bills due to outside employees. The best way to find such companies is to partner with business cell phone distributors. Once they learn you're going to help them cell additional activations to power the cellular gateways they'll be happy to work with you.  If you know of a particularly hot business SIC code or yellow page listing that uses a lot of cell phones give TA a call and we'll hook you up with a big prospect list of those businesses with that SIC code or yellow pages heading in your area.
    
2. Direct mail or telemarket the prospects to set up appointments
   
   Because using plug & play cellular gateways or fixed mobile terminals is a relatively new way to help businesses cut their cell phone bills, getting appointments with lead statements like, "Let me show you how we help businesses like yours cut their phone bills in half using plug & play cellular gateways." Another great lead would be, "Let me show you how to cut your business cell phone in half even if you're in a contract and can't switch cell phone carriers."
    
3. Screen prospects by getting them to fax you their phone bills
   
   You may or may not have time to personally visit every business that has a cell phone. Start by calculating the categories of cell phone calls. The target category is calls between corporate cell phones and the corporate offices that could install a cellular gateway. All these calls can be switched from "off-net" (from the cell network to the POTS network). Another category of calls would be 411, international or other premium cell calls that would be cheaper if routed over a land-line through the cellular gateway. Finally look for off-net calls over 2 minutes that could be routed over the office's landlines. 
    
4. Calculate ROI before calculating the solution price
   
   When a new solution with limited competition is rolled into the market, it is more appropriate to base the solution price on the customer's expected and/or accepted calculations for ROI or return on investment rather than some arbitrary "cost plus profit margin" model.
   
   For example, let's say a business is spending $10,000 a month on its current cell phone bill. The customer agrees that with a cellular gateway in place their cell bill will drop to $6,000 a month which provides a $4,000 per month savings to pay for the investment of the cellular gateway. If the customer accepts that six months is a proper time frame to recoup their investment for the cellular gateway (a 6 month ROI), then the cellular gateway solution price (equipment, installation, programming & follow-up) should equal no less than $24,000 or six times the monthly savings figure of $4,000.
   
   The six month ROI used in this example is the absolute minimum "ROI rate" among successful cellular gateway distributors - many are getting 12 months ROI or more. If you can't get your prospect to pay at least a 100% margin on your costs for the packaged cellular gateway solution then keep looking for better prospects - they're out there and they're waiting for your call!
    
5. DON'T DIRECTLY SELL THE SOLUTION COMPONENTS
   
   Selling equipment is a lot different then selling service. You can't "give it away and make it up on volume". In other words, don't give away the equipment at your cost or with a cost-plus markup. In fact, don't ever tell a client that the cellular gateway pieces can even be purchased as individual components.  Every "value added reseller" (VAR) worth their salt never sells components separate from the total "value added solution" package (hence the VAR title). If your cellular gateway supplier (or any other cellular gateway distributor on the planet) discovers that you've posted a retail price for a cellular gateway solution component on the Internet, expect a severed horse head in your bed.
    
6. "Loan" your client the solution in exchange for other business
   
   Since the cost of the solution is cheap in comparison to its ROI value (a lot of telecom equipment is sold that has a 24-month ROI) you should seriously consider not selling the cellular gateway solution to your client at all but simply "loan it to them" for the duration they contract with you for other services, an MPLS data network for example or to enhance your return on a TEM/TCM (telecom expense/cost management) agreement you sign with them where you get paid on how much money you save the customer. (In an arrangement like this you'll want to first make sure you can block the customer's cell phones from calling off-net to force the cell phone users to use the cellular gateway for off-net calls.
    
7. Use a demo as a door opener for your other solutions
   
   Even if you know a business client or prospect does not have a lot of cell phones, the appointment getting lead statements in #2 above will likely get you a  demo appointment with those C-level technology business decision makers who loves to see any and every new business cost saving solution so they can impress their bosses. The cellular gateway demo is very easy to do, can be done in all of 5-minutes and is an efficient way to prove to the decision maker that you're the go-to guy for all his or her telecom and technology solutions.
   
   Click here to watch a

 

Next Step, Get More Information and/or Buy a Demo Unit

To take the next step in distributing cellular gateways, to get more information or to buy a demo unit like the one in the demonstration video please contact:

Fred Palacios, Director of Sales
951-243-2253 tel
fredp@its-tel-us.com

ITS Telecom
28930 Stevens Avenue
Moreno Valley, CA 92555

800-991-8186 toll free
909-494-4470 fax

 

Comment on PBX Cellular Gateway Solutions

I have created a topic in an Internet group to field feedback from telecom distributors with experience installing cellular gateways for business customers. If you would like to comment on cellular gateways or read the comments of others please click here or go to http://groups.google.com/group/alt.cellular-phone-tech and search on "PBX cellular gateway".