Selling 0800 phone numbers

[barry3652]

Hi I am trying to sell 0800 phone numbers but I am new to sales and I guess I am doing it all wrong. I think the price is very good " No set up fee and with VAT only £4 a month". I have used flyer's tried telesales (using all the lines I was taught). But I still cant manage to get customers. With the number you also get £10,000 accidental death cover. Can anybody offer any suggestions on what I might be doing wrong and how I could start and get myself some customers?.
Thanks in advance for any input.

[fisicx]

Is this an affiliate deal or do you have your own company?

There could be any number of reasons why you aren't making any sales. I do know that we are plagued at work by companies cold-calling to sell us all sorts of products and services. Flyers, mailshots and faxes go straight in the bin and unsolicited emails get junked long before that hit my inbox.

The other issue is the competition. I quick search reveals thousands of companies offering 0800 services, which means you are fighting for a very thin slice of the cake.

The other question is the actual usefulness of the 0800 number to a business. If you are selling nationally and you profit margin is healthy then maybe it can help. But if you are a local merchant with a very small profit margin on each sale then the 0800 number will lose you money. Which is why the 0845 number is more popular. The point is that you need to target the right customer. There is no point in offering the 0800 service to the local butcher and cold callling a national chain is equally poitless. You need to identify those businesses who would benefit from an 0800 service. The problem is that everybody else is doing the same thing!

[barry3652]

Thanks ewd.
It is an affiliate business which I receive commission from. I kinda understand the market (I think), I know that they is no point trying to sell 0800 to the local butcher I was targeting more in the line of Taxis, Fast food, Cleaning companies, One man set up like plumber's joiners IT consultants etc. one of the adds I put together went like this.

Who would you ring first??
(then I took they business number and an add of theirs and then I did the same with the 0800 number).
Then it went into the detail of the 0800 number No set up charge No min contract, and the fact at only 7p a min its cheaper than a mobile call. With no minimum calls per month. etc etc.
Also the fact that the 0800 number would enhance the image of the business.

Do you think that maybe the add I have put together is not right? Please give me your input I really want to learn how this kinda thing works. And I can take criticism on the chin

[fisicx]

One man set up's don't want and don't need 0800 numbers. Most mobile companies provide xxx minutes free per month and the land line companies are now so cheap the calling the plumber on his mobile costs next to nothing. Furthermore, all the people you talk about are local. That means local calls which are often free.

In any case, the taxi company that cal the local number 21212 isn't going to want to change all of it's vehicles, business cards, adverts etc to get 0800 924719!

I don't think this is a vaiable proposition, sorry 'bout that.

[Mantis]

Originally Posted by barry3652

Hi I am trying to sell 0800 phone numbers but I am new to sales and I guess I am doing it all wrong. I think the price is very good " No set up fee and with VAT only £4 a month". I have used flyer's tried telesales (using all the lines I was taught). But I still cant manage to get customers. With the number you also get £10,000 accidental death cover. Can anybody offer any suggestions on what I might be doing wrong and how I could start and get myself some customers?.
Thanks in advance for any input.

Hi

I can't help you with marketing but we have a freephone number so I can give you our reasons for doing so and what steps we took to purchase one.

We sell nationwide, none of our competitors offer a freephone number, our target market is within an expensive hobby and often families on low incomes.

We took the decision when starting up our business to have a freephone number so we could target the low income market due to our cheaper prices. We searched many online companies and as a new business took the cheapest option which suited us. I think it was something like £5.95 set-up and the only other charges are usage around 4p per minute to a landline number.

To be honest, comparing the service we have and the one you are promoting it seems the £4 a month is accidental death cover and the freephone number is free! Perhaps you could try promoting it that way around?