Rocket Wireless

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Rocket Wireless
Building a cellular resale program to enhance
revenue Carole Sedlock carole.sedlock_at_utoledo.edu
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A brief history

• Started in 1994 with long-distance resale
• We purchased a call accounting system
• LD resale decline due to cellular service
• Debt service depended on our revenue
• Al Comley says if you cant beat them join them

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Is this easy money?
Easy is a relative term because you should be
ready to commit resources and labor to have a
successful program.
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Easy money? How much?

• Net profit for fiscal year 2003 through fiscal
  year 2006 was just over 570,000
• FY 2006 revenue was flat due to vendor changes
  and missed orientation sessions.
• This year we anticipate net revenue of 250,000
  with anticipated growth of 12 14.

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Easy money? How does it work?

• Sprint has an agreement with MiCTA with 24
  discounts
• Verizon has a GSA federal supply contract with
  19 discounts

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Sprint versus Verizon

• Sprint has 2-year contracts, 150
  service/equipment credits, 150 cancel fees,
  family plans, attractive discount structure.
• Verizon has no contracts, no cancel fees,
  unbeatable phone prices, NO family plans,
  discounts only on the voice or data plan.

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Sprint and MiCTA

• Corporate Liable customers are eligible for 24
  off every recurring charge. This includes plans,
  add-a-phones and all optional features.

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Sprint and MiCTA
My idea was to purchase family plans with the 24
discount and create individual plans under 35
for our customers. Family plans are uniquely
suited to provide you flexibility in plan
management. Think of them as little buckets of
minutes with small recurring monthly charges.
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Rocket Wireless Sprint

• Plan management and flexibility in changes
• Over minute costs and revenues
• True family plans
• Large individual plans over 1,000 minutes
• Planning ahead for changes down the road

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Verizon GSA 19 Discount
Verizon only contracted for individual voice and
data plans with the federal government. My scheme
was to purchase all plans with the sharing minute
feature with the lowest minutes available. We
offset any over minute usage with several high
minute plans.
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Verizon Individual Plans

• In July 2006 we had 651 lines that used 181,041
  minutes.
• All 651 lines are purchased on 200 minute shared
  plans. (200 x 651 130,200 minutes)
• Over minutes 50,841 or 17 3,000 minute plans at
  125.54 or 2,134.18
• Total cost 20,583 Total billed 27,590

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Rocket Wireless Verizon

• Requires close monitoring of monthly usage
• We enforce 1-year contracts with our customers
  with 100 cancel fees
• Our Verizon over minutes at 0.30 each
• There is no discount for popular optional
  features
• True family plans are coming 10 discount ?

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Other Revenue Streams

• Phone equipment
• Processing fees
• Downloads
• Casual web access
• Texts, Pics and Flixs

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The Back Office Tasks
Yes the revenue is appealing but you have to bill
your customers, you have to collect from your
customers, you must place orders and make changes
for them. And last but certainly not least there
are the payments to the vendors and the audit
process for billing errors.
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Sprint and Verizon Electronic Billing Websites

• Excellent source for summary detail and number
  specific detail
• Summary reports available in various formats
• Useful tool to complete monthly audit for
  billing errors.
• Need additional usage reports from Verizon
• Usage details are combined and formatted for
  import.

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Pinnacle and Cellular Billing

• Subscriber information is exported from Pinnacle
  into Excel
• Usage information is joined with the subscriber
  information in Excel
• Over minute usage is calculated based on the
  plan type
• Final product is imported into Pinnacle

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Pinnacle Customer Invoices

• Customers see number of minutes for each
  category plus all other usage amounts.
• Actual call detail is available upon request.
• Administrative users can pull invoice amounts
  from e-print and the amounts are exported into
  the general ledger by account and subcode.

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Pinnacle Customer Invoices

• All other customer receive paper bills we plan
  to move to electronic bills in 2007.
• Student invoices are posted directly to their
  SIS account and payments are made with the
  cashiers.
• Employee invoices are payroll deducted.
• Alumni/Retirees invoices are automatically
  deducted from a credit card.

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Placing Orders

• Work closely with your vendor to develop
  ordering routines for new activations, porting
  numbers, and numbers you assume the liability of
  the consumer contract.
• Make them commit to delivery times that are
  reasonable.
• Create a system to follow up or investigate
  orders that have not been filled.

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Plan Changes

• No worries with Verizon unless we sell a flat
  plan for 15
• Sprint family plans require careful maintenance.
  
• Keep the Sprint plans full to maximize revenue

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Auditing the Vendor Bills

• Look for incorrect plan charges
• Look for incorrect over minute charges
• Look for incorrect roaming and LD costs
• Premium services should be billed at the
  subscriber level
• Watch for taxes that are not applicable

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More Auditing Tips

• Watch termination fees
• Watch for service credits on equipment
• No charge to suspend and restore
• Audit your accounts to make sure that the number
  of optional features you are charged matches the
  number assigned to your customers

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Vendor Payments
Save yourself time and headaches! Set them up on
automatic payments with your institutions
purchase card. I use two, one for Sprint and one
for Verizon.
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Front Office Sign-up

• Create the forms to sign up your customers
• Use the terms and conditions from a vendor
  service order once legal approves it
• Check IDs and Credit Cards
• Use a web site and shopping cart
• Offer new service offer to port their numbers
  offer AOLs and offer cross market accounts

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Front Office Customer Service We Do It All

• Educate your customers to contact you and not
  the vendor. Your vendor should refer your
  customers to your staff
• Educate your customers on how to check their
  minutes to avoid ugly over minute charges. Happy
  customers are lifetime customers.

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Front Office Customer Service We Do It All

• We answer billing questions
• We provide service issue solutions
• We process insurance and warranty issues
• We provide call detail explain premiums
• We have spare parts and sell accessories
• We transfer contacts download pictures
• We process plan and feature changes
• We collect and suspend when past due

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Front Office Customer Service We Do It All

• Know your phones
• Know your plans and features
• Know your customers
• Be creative
• Be sensible

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What makes us unique?

• No credit checks
• No deposits
• No sales taxes
• Plans under 30 a month
• Popular features and low cost over minutes
• Excellent customer service and flexibility

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Will your vendor(s) be there for you?

• You need sales support for orders, deliveries
  and notification of changes in inventory, plans,
  pricing and new services
• You need assigned CSR for daily business
• You need technical support
• You need marketing support
• You need billing and AR support

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How will you market and grow?

• Build a web site and a shopping cart
• Participate in orientation how many new
  freshman come to your campus each year?
• Have brochures for fall move-in, RA training,
  parents day, etc.
• Offer monthly specials in the student planner

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