How to Become a VoIP Reseller: Everything You Need to Know

The VoIP industry has seen a significant growth over the recent years – and this isn’t just a passing trend. With so many businesses, both big and small, looking to adopt VoIP communication solutions, no wonder the market is booming. In fact, according to Future Marketing Insights, the VoIP services market revenue was US$ 123.3 billion by the end of 2021 and is expected to reach US$ 354.7 billion by 2032, growing at a CAGR of 10.2%.

Becoming a VoIP reseller might be an excellent opportunity for your business to capitalize on the market’s growth and generate additional revenue by offering VoIP services to your existing customers. The best part is that you can benefit from offering cost-effective VoIP solutions to your clients without starting your own VoIP business and building a VoIP communication platform from the ground up.

If you’re not sure where to start and how to select a reliable VoIP reselling partner, we’ve put together this simple guide to help you get started.

How to Become a VoIP Reseller in 5 Simple Steps

From understanding the benefits of VoIP and evaluating potential VoIP providers to choosing the best VoIP reseller program that aligns with your business goals – here’s exactly what you need to become a VoIP reseller:

1. Have a deep understanding of VoIP technology and its benefits

As a VoIP reseller, you will partner with a VoIP service provider to sell VoIP services to your customer base. And to build a successful VoIP reseller business, you obviously need to have a solid understanding of VoIP itself and the benefits it offers to businesses. What is a VoIP phone system? How does VoIP work? How can businesses benefit from using VoIP phone systems? Knowing that will help you sell VoIP services to your customers more effectively.

We won’t dig deep into the details here, but let’s have a quick overview of the major VoIP benefits:

• Greater cost-savings: As the name suggests, VoIP (stands for Voice Over Internet Protocol) enables businesses to make and receive calls over the internet, meaning they can save significantly on long-distance and international calls. It’s been estimated that businesses can benefit from an average saving of 25% to 40% on telecom charges after switching to VoIP. Besides, there’s no need to invest in owning and maintaining PBX equipment.

• Scalability and flexibility: Unlike traditional phone systems, VoIP solutions are incredibly flexible and easily scalable, allowing you to add or remove lines whenever you like. That means you can easily scale up your operations (e.g., when you have an increased call volume during holidays) without having to purchase extra telephony equipment. And you can also add new features as needed, making it ideal for growing businesses.

• Advanced calling and texting features: VoIP business phone systems come with a range of advanced features that help businesses improve CX and increase productivity, such as IVR, call routing, call queue management, call forwarding, voicemail, call recording, SMS text messaging, auto dialing, and reporting, to name just a few. Moreover, many providers offer AI-driven features like AI call summary and AI speech analytics.

• Easy integration with existing infrastructure: One of the biggest advantages of VoIP is that it can be seamlessly integrated with your existing tech stack. Many VoIP providers like VoiceSpin integrate their solutions with popular CRM systems (such as Salesforce, Zoho, and HubSpot), helpdesk software, and other business apps. That helps you streamline workflows and boost your team’s productivity.

• Mobility and remote work: Lastly, VoIP allows for greater mobility and remote work. With VoIP telephony, your team can make and receive calls from anywhere as long as they have a stable internet connection and from any internet-connected device without having to be tied to a physical location. This is the go-to solution for businesses with distributed teams and remote employees.

2. Think about your target audience and their needs

Before becoming a VoIP reseller and choosing a VoIP provider to go with, consider your target audience and their specific needs. Firstly, SMBs, mid-sized businesses, and large enterprises would require a different set of features to handle their customer communications. Secondly, for smaller businesses, affordability of the VoIP solution might be a key deciding factor. 

On top of that, businesses will also have unique needs based on their industry. For example, those operating in highly regulated industries that deal with sensitive customer information, such as healthcare, finance, or insurance, would definitely be looking for a VoIP solution with robust data security and compliance features. Understanding the needs, challenges, and pain points of your potential customers will better guide you in shortlisting potential vendors.

3. Explore and shortlist VoIP service providers

How to choose a VoIP provider to partner with? When researching and evaluating different VoIP service providers, you may want to pay close attention to the following critical factors to shortlist the best options:

• Reliability: For one thing, you want to partner with a trustworthy VoIP service provider with a solid reputation, as your customers would expect their VoIP phone system to be available at all times. A reliable provider will have guaranteed uptime and minimal service disruptions to ensure the continuity of service, as well as robust disaster recovery capabilities.

• Scalability: Whether your customers are small businesses looking to grow or larger companies with fluctuating call volumes, the scalability of the VoIP phone system is going to be extremely important for them. Unfortunately, not all VoIP solutions are easily scalable. Look for a provider that will allow your customers to seamlessly add new numbers, users, or features with no interruption to their operations.

• Feature list: Your customers may have specific feature requirements. For example, businesses who need a VoIP phone system to handle inbound call center operations would prioritize features like IVR, call routing, call forwarding, call queuing, voicemail, and call monitoring, while those doing outbound phone sales would need a solution with auto dialing and outbound call management features.

• Security and compliance: As we’ve already mentioned above, data security might be absolutely crucial for businesses in certain industries, where protecting sensitive data and adhering to regulations are non-negotiable. If that’s the case with your customers, look for VoIP providers that offer industry-specific solutions and advanced data protection and compliance features (like GDPR and HIPAA).

• Integration capabilities: For many businesses, the ability of the VoIP phone system to integrate with the rest of the tech stack might be a critical deciding factor. When evaluating providers, make sure to shortlist those that have integrations with third-party systems like CRM, helpdesk tools, and productivity apps. Even better, look for providers that offer custom integration options and APIs.

• Customer support: Finally (an aspect that is often overlooked), the availability and responsiveness of customer support offered by a VoIP provider is essential. VoIP phone systems are complicated solutions – and you want to make sure your customers will be able to get quick, professional, and efficient support whenever they need it, not only during the onboarding stage. Ideally, they should be able to get support 24/7.

4. Choose a VoIP reseller program that suits your business model and goals 

Once you’ve shortlisted potential VoIP vendors, take a closer look at the details of the affiliate and reseller programs they are offering. VoIP service providers may offer different commission-based payouts to affiliates and resellers. Typically, you’ll be able to earn either a one-time commission or recurring commissions for each customer you refer. Here’s the difference:

• One-time commission: With the one-time commission model, the provider will pay you a set commission for every new customer that signs up for their service (and some will even pay you for qualified leads). That may be a flat rate or a set percentage of the customer’s first payment. While you receive immediate payouts, the downside of this model is that you won’t earn anything more beyond the initial sale, no matter how long the customer stays with the service.

• Recurring commission: With the recurring commission model, VoIP resellers earn a percentage of the referred customer’s payments for a fixed period (e.g., 12 months) or for as long as they remain a customer. The percentage varies across providers and may be anywhere between 5% and 30%. That allows you to benefit from ongoing, long-term income. And if the provider has a high customer retention rate, your total earnings over time may be significantly higher than what you would earn with a one-time commission model.

Additionally, some VoIP providers offer white-label reseller programs. It basically means that you will sell the VoIP service to your customers under your brand name as your own product. With this model, the reseller can completely customize the branding, logo, colors, and other aspects of the service to create a unique product. While the VoIP vendor will provide the service and tech support, the reseller will be solely responsible for the pricing, marketing, sales strategy, and customer relationships.

5. Build your marketing and sales strategy

Once you’ve chosen a provider and signed up for the VoIP reseller program, it’s time to start marketing and selling your VoIP services. Whether you’re going to sell VoIP services to your existing customers along with your other offerings or attract new ones, there’s an array of channels and strategies you can use – from content and email marketing to SEO and PPC ads. 

Usually, VoIP vendors provide their resellers and affiliate partners with all the sales and marketing materials, training resources, and ongoing support they need – so you won’t be alone on this journey!

Join VoiceSpin’s VoIP Reseller Program and Earn up to 30% Recurring Commission

Becoming a VoIP reseller isn’t as challenging as starting your own business. With the right VoIP partner and effective marketing strategy, you can establish a steady stream of recurring revenue by reselling VoIP services to businesses that want to benefit from this cost-efficient, secure, and flexible communication technology.

Join VoiceSpin’s VoIP Partner Program now and earn a lifetime recurring commission of up to 30% for every customer you refer for as long as they use the service.

With over 15 years of delivering cloud-based VoIP phone services and AI contact center solutions to thousands of customers across various industries – we’ve earned the reputation of a reliable VoIP partner. Want to know more about VoiceSpin’s AI contact center solutions and our revenue share programs for affiliates, resellers, and distributors? Book a demo call now.