Tired of working for a telco? Start your own

If you’re an experienced telecoms professional looking for a change from the corporate world, UCS could set you up in your own regional franchise. We’re looking for motivated individuals, with a good network of contacts, who are looking to build themselves a successful business in selected regions around New Zealand.

By taking advantage of our established systems and processes, you could build a profitable business servicing small and medium-sized enterprises in your area. UCS will supply all the technology and superlative back-office support, leaving you free to bring in new business and profit from your hard work.

The cost of a UCS franchise? Just $30,000.

Take the time to read through the UCS franchise outline below or download it as a PDF. Then get in touch and we’ll talk about the next step.

Franchise Description

Introduction

Thank you for your interest, and taking the time to learn more about the UCS Franchise system.
This information is an initial description and we can send you further, in-depth information once we have your details and you have signed our confidentiality agreement.

The UCS Franchise System has been developed over the last three years. It offers a unique and exciting opportunity for the right people to take advantage of the methods and business systems we have developed, to build for themselves significant income and a capital asset with very tangible value.
If you have:

• Skills, experience and passion for telecommunications
• The desire to grow your wealth through building a business asset
• $30,000 you are willing to invest

Business Description

UCS is a sales and marketing operation and buys telecommunications services wholesale, reselling at a retail rate to Small and Medium Sized enterprises (SME) throughout New Zealand.

UCS provides these customers with high levels of service, tailored and personalised to the needs of the customer.

Our experience in the market has shown that these small and medium sized business customers respond poorly to the “mass” marketing systems employed by the major telecommunications companies. Most disliked is the extensive use by these large companies of automated telephone systems, seemingly designed to avoid personal contact with customers at any cost.

By contrast, UCS customers have a dedicated account manager who is available to help them when necessary. SME customers respond very positively to this level of personal service.

The UCS mantra is “Unbeatable Customer Service” and it is a promise we strive to live up to at all times.

Our ability to offer small and medium businesses the stable technology provided by Telecom and Telstra, underpinned by our exemplary customer service, makes us unique, profitable and successful.

We are explanding throughout New Zealand, from our current bases in Auckland and Wellington, by making a series of regional franchises available. The franchise owner is responsible for personal selling of the UCS service to their businesses contacts in the region. UCS provides all branding, customer service, product delivery and support.

Franchise owners receive revenue from UCS from the telecommunications billings of all the customers that they recruit. This ongoing income grows as the clients’ businesses grow. The customer base becomes a valuable, income-earning asset for the franchise owner.

Most small and medium sized businesses are owner operated and would prefer to deal direct with a local owner-operator – a UCS franchise owner – than a remote, faceless employee of a large telecommunications company.

UCS ensures franchise owners have, from day one, a highly developed and capable billing system, and centralised corporate style sales/Customer Relationship Management system, utilising international “best practice” features. Centralised customer support ensures a high quality service is given to customers and frees up franchisees to concentrate on ‘what makes them money’ - sales.

The franchise package includes day to day coaching, delivered by a professional coaching service, contracted for a minimum of 12 months to support the franchise operator with sales procedures, targets, tactics, and motivation.

Benefits of a UCS Franchise

When you become a UCS Franchise Owner, you will gain many benefits by joining this dynamic group:

You will build a steady cashflow as you will share in the monthly profits from each customer you bring on for as long as they remain a customer.
You have the opportunity to build an asset that has real value should you wish to sell the business at a later date.
There is no need to develop your own sales systems and processes by trial and error – UCS has already developed proven and successful systems including automated Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Systems.
You will only have one debtor – no debts to chase means dependable cashflow.
You will get the extensive support of UCS’s billing systems and customer support help desk.
You will automatically get the benefit of our improving buying power.
You will enjoy the benefits of being part of a winning team focussed on adding customer value. You can share experiences and learn from those of other franchise owners, and you can have input into the long term development of the UCS Group.
You will have the UCS franchisor team behind you working on improving the business for all, adding new products to further boost your profitability and managing the key supplier relationships.
In summary, as a UCS Franchise Owner, you will be able to implement already developed and proven sales systems, while the UCS franchisor team looks after supply, provisioning, billing, debt collection etc allowing you to get out there and sell, building your income and wealth with each new customer.

Support Services:

Franchising is often described as being in business FOR yourself but not BY yourself, and UCS ensures this is the case by providing a range of support services for the benefit of franchisees.

Administration:

• Centralised coordination of customer provisioning, billing, and debt collecting.
• A help desk at the first point of contact for a customer requiring support.
• On-going development of the billing and CRM systems.

Training:

• A comprehensive initial training programme for franchisees to learn about our products, systems and procedures.
• Extensive manuals detailing every aspect of owning and running the franchise.
• Ongoing training for introduction of new products and services.
• Centralised sales and motivation meetings and training.

Marketing:

We provide uniform marketing materials for all franchises, maintain the UCS website and coordinate national sales campaigns for the benefit of all franchises.

Product Development:

In the fast moving Telecommunications environment, it is essential to keep up-to-date on new product developments and emerging technologies as well as government regulations effecting what we can sell. As a franchise owner you can be confident that UCS will be actively developing ways to take advantage of new opportunities on your behalf.

Franchise Owners

Each Franchise will consist of one employee (the franchise owner) who will be chosen based on;

• their potential to achieve the required sales, and
• their financial standing to both purchase the Franchise and finance the cashflow requirements.

All UCS franchise owners undergo a minimum of 1 week training at UCSF where they learn about our products, systems, and procedures, and are be fully briefed in the Franchise Manual.

For the franchise fee, franchise owners get the “non-exclusive area of primary responsibility” for selling in a defined Territory, and are responsible for all sales from this area. Sales outside their area are allowed if the lead can be traced to be initiated within their Territory or is deemed to be a “personal contact”.

Each Franchise subscribes to our Sales/CRM service and records all sales activities via this interface. They are also required to employ the services of a coach who will be their primary contact for on-going management and sales support.

All customer support, accounting and billing will be provided by UCS, with any on the spot customer support provided by the Franchise owner.

Franchise owners typically work from home, and need a high speed Internet connection (Jetstream, Whoosh Wireless or similar). They also require an up to date computer which will be setup and configured with the appropriate software.

Telecommunications Market

Potential for growth into this market is illustrated by the fact that Telecom NZ still controls 80% with TelstraClear claiming about 16% and other providers about 4%.

The SME portion of the market is estimated at 320,000 businesses consisting of companies with up to 50 employees with a potential spend in the order of $1.6 billion.

The UCS approach of having real people dealing with these businesses is proven and, given the size of the market, even a modest market share will provide success to those involved in the UCS Group.

Investment

The investment required to secure a UCS franchise is $30,000. The costs consist of a License and Training fee and the purchase of any necessary computer and communication equipment, which many will already have.

Franchise owners will need a presentable late model motor vehicle and sufficient working capital to fund yourself through the early stages of building the business cashflow.

Potential Return

The actual results for any franchise owner will depend on their own abilities and hard work.

The great benefit of this business is that your income is based on your clients spend, which is continual as long as you retain them. This means that in the case where you take say 2 weeks vacation, your income is not effected unlike many other businesses.

Is Franchising Right for You?

Before considering taking this opportunity any further, take the time to consider if franchising is indeed the right option for you. Please consider the following points carefully before deciding to continue:

Can you work under someone else’s guidelines?

As a franchise owner, you would be working within a clearly defined set of procedures and codes of practice. The Franchisor sets the standards, rules and regulations and although you may have some input into these, it is the Franchisor who defines the operating systems.

Although you will be owning your own business, you will not be free to run it however you wish, but rather subject to the Franchisor’s rules, which benefit the entire chain of franchise owners.

Do you understand, UCS will not be responsible for your success?

You will receive a great deal of support from UCS and the support team, but your success ultimately depends on your own commitment and drive.

It is in our best interests for you to do well and your success will be positive for the entire UCS group. You can expect them to provide a high level of support and encouragement, but at the end of the day it is your business.

Are you genuinely interested in telecommunications for SMEs, and fully committed to providing the highest level of service to customers?

The reason a UCS franchise is a recipe for success is that it caters to a specific market and has tailored it’s offerings to meet that market’s specific requirements, including the provision of excellent, personal service.

You will only succeed with a UCS franchise business if you are truly committed to customer service and have a passion for the telecommunications business.

Do you have good Sales ability and a focus on ongoing Business Development?

With UCS systems and procedures in place, your key role as a franchisee will be to gain new business through active prospecting and networking. To do well you will need to be very motivated and effective at this.

Next Steps.

If you think a UCS franchise could be right for you, we’d like to hear from you. You can either give us a call with any questions you might have or press ahead right now.

The next step is to complete the Confidentiality agreement and Expression of interest forms.

• Confidentiality Agreement (pdf 53kb)
  
• Expression of Interest (pdf 104kb)

Once we have received these from you we’ll get in touch to arrange a meeting. If the meeting goes well for you and us we will then take you through all the details and financials for the UCS franchise in our Disclosure Document and Franchise Agreement. You’ll need to get advice from a lawyer and an accountant at that stage.

If you have any questions about these forms please just call us. Once you’ve filled them in just send them to:

John Wheatcroft
UCS Ltd.

Postal:
PO Box 8868
Symonds St.
Auckland

Email:
john@ucs.net.nz

Mobile:
021-658-555