How to Start your own Calling Card Business

One of the most common business models in the VoIP industry is calling cards. Starting a calling card business is an ideal business model for businesses with retail distribution channels, hosting providers looking to diversify their revenues, or entrepreneurs looking to get into the VoIP industry. In essence, a successful calling card business depends on marketing the calling cards to the targeted audience according to their specific calling needs and establishing a system to provide the service to them. One should target various market segments with customers needing calling cards and ask the question, "Why do they need calling cards?"

 

A preconceived notion most people have about starting a prepaid calling card business is that most people already have cell phones so calling cards cannot be a good business model. The fact is that even people with cell phones buy calling cards. A calling card is a great way to make international phone calls as it is both inexpensive to buy and very convenient to use. People with families overseas, people traveling abroad, small businesses that deals with international clients, and anyone else that makes long distance calls all want a calling card for cheap international calls.  

 

 

Develop a business plan for the calling card business by identifying the suppliers, hosting providers, targeted audience, and retail outlets will be. See how much it will cost for the first year and get a loan to cover the first year of the business. Make an advertisement plan with details on how to advertise to the targeted market and how much to spend. Keep track of all the financial needs of the business to ensure that there is enough initial investment to cover business expense for the first year. 

 

 

Calling cards requires a server to route the phone calls to various destination. Calling card software is also needed to manage the calls and account balances of customers using the cards. There are many different types of calling card software that performs activation of calling cards, verify the cards PIN number, and update the account balance of the card. Check the server hardware to see if it is compatible with the software and also the volume of calls being made. One server will be enough to handle 750 concurrent callers while over 750 callers will require multiple servers to handle the load. Colocation America offers colocation services for calling card servers and has managed services for calling card business needs. 

 

 

Purchase airtime from a long-distance carrier for an international phone card business. Long-distance carriers offers block of airtime which means several thousand minutes for each purchase. These minutes are then divided up into the calling cards and resold to customers. Buying the minutes in bulk and reselling them at a higher price will generate revenues for the business. There are many network carriers that provide this kind of service and will be happy to sell block of airtime for a reasonable price.

 

 

Now it is time to partner up with businesses to start selling those calling cards. Find a printer that has done business with other calling card companies before and ask for a sample. See how well the card looks, the quality of the card, and how durable the PIN number of the card is. Once the cards are printed it is time to find a retail outlet that is willing to carry the calling card. Usually, a calling card business will partner with retail outlets so that the cards can be sold in stores. Offering them a small fraction of the price of the card is a great incentive to getting the cards in stores. People do not buy cards directly from companies so it is ideal to get the cards to as many retail outlets as possible.