HOW I RECRUIT 50 NEW USERS EVERY WEEKEND

“I KNEW THAT THE COMMISSION WOULD ROLL IN”

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Ismail’s mobile never stops ringing. But he wouldn’t want it any other way.

Anyone who has ever doubted the adage: ‘You only get out what you put in,’ should spend a day with Ismail Dedat – Preston’s answer to Derek ‘Del-Boy’ Trotter.

Ismail is a Lancastrian lad through and through. Born, bred and schooled in Preston he is now married with two small children. And unlike many young families today, the Dedat’s can look to the future with an assured confidence.

With a Marketing Degree from Preston University, and as a full-time Business Development Manager with the Royal Mail, Ismail knows enough about business to spy a good opportunity when it presents itself. When he began using Just Dial last year to call his grandmother in Canada he quickly saw the potential of becoming an agent and selling the service himself. Just like the real Del Boy, he wastes no time in exploiting a good thing.

As exited as Ismail was about this new venture he realised it would take a little while for business to boom: "I knew that the commission would roll in" he said. "I knew that customers equal cash and if I worked well at the start and aimed at getting 50 new users a week I would be laughing later on. It takes a few months before it really builds up but it’s worth it"

PERSPIRATION - INSPIRATION

Within weeks of becoming an agent, Ismail had designed his own flyer and negotiated a knockdown price with a Cardiff stationery firm to have 50,000 printed – he even talked them down on the postage charge! Then over several weekends he single-handedly distributed more than 10,000 to Asian communities in London and Leicester.

More recently Ismail has combined with Just Dial designers to have coloured business cards produced – depicting the flags of India and Pakistan – containing his numbers on the reverse. Ismail has begun circulating these cards in the northwest and says: "Asian communities are very close-knit and are passionate about the flag of their motherland. The cards look good and people are proud and like to keep them in their wallets and pass them on to family and friends."

Ismail enjoys the freedom of being his own boss and is pleased with a flexibility that allows him spend as much time as he wants with his children. He plans his time to suit the day to day needs of his family and even when he is busy building up his Just Dial business finds that he is as relaxed as ever. Ismail estimates that since those weekends he spent on the road he has recruited more than 50 users a week:"The service is so straightforward that once I can get a decent number of people using my numbers the rest follow by word of mouth" he explains.

And although Ismail’s efforts have not been so strenuous recently, they have not needed to be because the financial rewards of all his initial work and planning are now beginning to snowball. This has allowed him to concentrate on other business ideas – something he is never short of.

One thing is for sure; Ismail is not getting lazy – is probably the only word in any of the four languages that he speaks fluently that he does not understand. In fact he is about to embark on a project that he discusses with all the animated excitement of a child on Christmas morning.

He has just bought a shop in Manchester that he will turn into an Internet café. The property – ‘Get Connected’ – is situated on Oxford Road, right at the heart of the city’s vibrant student scene. It is clearly a project that has little down side. "I’m not doing this for the money," he says with a twinkle in his eye: "I’m doing it for the buzz."

Get Connected will open very shortly and Ismail – never one to rest on his laurels – also has plans to use it to boost his Just Dial business.Manchester is home to 60,000 students – the most in Europe – originating from an extraordinarily diverse range of ethnic backgrounds and Ismail is currently preparing to launch a massive new Just Dial marketing push. Besides Manchester, there are also billboard and flyer plans in place for Preston, London and beyond.

Ismail talks of how peers used to laugh when learning of his various moneymaking ideas. Rather than becoming disheartened though, he has used the negative attitudes of others to spur him on to greater and greater things. "If someone says I can’t do something I like to prove them wrong," he says with a huge grin.

After a day with Ismail anything seems possible – he is a remarkable, refreshing individual full of spirit and enterprise. Don’t be surprised to see a‘Get Connected’ in a high street near you – and sooner rather than later.

TIPS FROM THE MAIN MAN

1. Be prepared! Keep your numbers printed on cards in your wallet or purse. You never know when you might meet someone who will benefit from the
service – and from your numbers!

2. Go into the ‘Marketing’ section of the website and have a look round for new tools and ideas you can use. This section is designed purely for the benefit of agents and is always changing so should be visited regularly

3. You can promote Just-Dial in many different ways. Explore as many marketing strategies as possible - you will be more comfortable with some than others and can formulate your own marketing plan accordingly.

4. Using the Internet is a good way of promoting your Just Dial numbers – the method is cheap, simple and will appeal to a wide and varied target audience.

5. Check your traffic regularly once you begin earning a good level of commission. Identifying which numbers are the most successful can help you hone your promotional activity, making your business more productive.

6. Don’t limit yourself to domestic users. Many small and medium businesses make international calls and would love to make savings on their phone bills how – they just need to be told about Just Dial!

7. Make sure your customers know that the rates are per minute with BT. If they are calling from another service provider then they will need to check the rate with that provider.

8. Inform your users that they are charged from the time of connection to Just Dial and they can bypass the voice prompt at the beginning of the call. Once they know this they don’t feel like there is some kind of conspiracy to overcharge them.

9. Remember that Just Dial has a customer care department that you can direct your users to: care@just-dial.com.

10. Keep smiling - enjoy yourselves!

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