Hallam’s Wish for B2B sales

In three short years, Wish Communications has emerged as one of Yes Telecom’s leading dealer partners. Founder Mike Hallam discusses the changing dealer market

Northamptonshire-based Wish Communications has been in business only three years and already it boasts one of biggest customer bases among Yes Telecom dealers. From nothing in 2006, it is shortly to report annual turnover of more than £6 million.

Wish was set up by managing director Mike Hallam, operations director Simon Pickering and sales director Phil Butts. Their intention was to sign new business customers to all five networks, and take the joyous upfront loot. But 2006 was really the tail end of the dealer gold rush, as the market got saturated, networks looked to change their sales processes and mobile technology finally advanced beyond voice.

However, the trio, all veterans of The Caudwell Group’s old 4U business sales operation, also noted the shifting tectonic plates in the industry early. Speculation around networks moving away from upfront commissions and towards ongoing revenue share models was rife.

Vodafone has just bought up Manchester service provider Yes Telecom, and looked to be drawing its allies close. In November 2007, Wish set down deliberate allegiances with certain network suppliers. It retains indirect dealer codes with all five, it claims, but chooses to connect all its business with Orange and Vodafone, via Mainline and Yes Telecom respectively.

The latter accounts for 80 per cent of its base – around 12,500 connections, including 8,000 last year alone.

Hallam explains: “We set out to be all things to all men, by appeasing all networks and chasing the riches of commissions. The industry has now changed and we are seeing more alliances formed through ongoing revenue. The way the networks steered the market as a whole lead to us to make some strategic alliances of our own.

“The reality was, before, dealers weren’t interested in the longevity and the sustainability of the customer. They were more interested in how many customers they could acquire in a month. I would be amazed if any dealership is left feeding four or five networks in the next 18 months. Most B2B dealers will align themselves with two networks. Yes Telecom and Mainline, or Vodafone and Orange, are our preferred partners; wrongly or rightly, only time will tell.”

Source: http://www.mobilenewscwp.co.uk/