Is being a satellite dealer profitable?

[califmerchant]

hi everyone, i am thinking of becoming a dealer for Dish and DirectTV, have completed pre-screen for DirectTV and approved, but now have doubts. DirectTV wants me to get liability insurance (i have home based biz now, no need) and DISH wants me to buy $2500 worth of equipment to start. Furthermore, cold calling is not allowed by DirectTV. Is this even a profitable business? How much can I expect to make? Please tell me, thanks so much

I am in Fullerton, CA.

[Bob Haller]

e mail Metro25@dishretailer.com

I USED to be a dealer but quit. It can be profitable but the charge backs can kill you.

sell a new install, elderly husband and wife. wife dies months later, husband moves cross country to live with their son. you the dealer did nothing wrong, but CHARGE BACK they debit the money back out opf your checking account without warning, can cause other stuff to bounce

stuff like this soured me on being a dealer.

claude runs the dealer board and can give you the insider view

[DishSubLA]

hi everyone, i am thinking of becoming a dealer for Dish and DirectTV, have completed pre-screen for DirectTV and approved, but now have doubts. DirectTV wants me to get liability insurance (i have home based biz now, no need) and DISH wants me to buy $2500 worth of equipment to start. Furthermore, cold calling is not allowed by DirectTV. Is this even a profitable business? How much can I expect to make? Please tell me, thanks so much

I am in Fullerton, CA.

Cold calling NOT allowed by Direc TV? Man, I have had at least 2 different people cold call us at home (door to door, no less) for Direc TV. This is interesting. Now I even have a lower view of local sat (Direc TV, at least) retailers.

[Islandguy43]

Cold calling NOT allowed by Direc TV? Man, I have had at least 2 different people cold call us at home (door to door, no less) for Direc TV. This is interesting. Now I even have a lower view of local sat (Direc TV, at least) retailers.

I haven't received a cold call on the phone or in person; however I constantly get mailings (every two weeks) from Directv, and a local dealer (Buffalo NY) is constantly advertising on the local radio, to call them rather the 800 number directv.

[Tom_P]

Well is like every business, you have ups and downs. Chargebacks are a pain. I used to make a good deal of money, even as a part time dealers(some weeknights and on weekends),but now there's too juch competition in Puerto Rico. And "Big" dealers stared doing custionable moves. We need bigger Dishes, so the customer pay for it. Equipment is free with a year contract and a Credit Card as security. But the Big dealers stared giving the dishes(we need 2) for free.(back then $70 per Dish) so many of us couldn't do it because a charge back will hot you harder and besides we were substracting revenue from our comissions.

To eliminate this issue my partner and I moved to mostly HD sales. And when we were making a good deal of money Dish stopped activating the Complete HD package lin Puerto Rico leaving us with 5 HD Channels for new customers.

Now we have a 29 Channel Spotbeam package, in 2010 there will be a new 30" Dish with both the 110 and 119 location capability and Dish Net. will cover its cost so we will have a level playing field again.

So again like every business your hard work and the quality of your installations will make the difference.

[boba]

Satellite sales has passed it's peak. Your biggest competitors are going to be your providers. DISH and Directv both have multimillion dollar advertising budgets, you'll be lucky to have thousands. Store front and advertising are going to be your highest costs. Million Dollar liability insurance isn't cheap either. With Directv once you sell that customer you are done with them. They will call D* for all future service and upgrades. How many "NEW" customers do you have in your area?

[Scherrman]

It can be very profitable. I am a Dish dealer in Iowa. We also sell other products as well, so we have something to fall back on. The biggest problem for us selling Dish is keeping up with all of their business rules. Charge backs can be an issue but you'll just have to do the best you can in getting quality customers. Sometime missing payments can be a problem. If you are going to sell Dish I would recommend going through a distributor as they can help you with a lot of problems if you have questions. Much easier than going directly to Dish.

[Stargazer]

When systems were retailing for $199 for those without credit cards, and most not having credit cards or wanting to use them at the time, and a mailer goes out in your area offering $69 systems (they shipped the people the system then they try to call for help and its a porno number) that hurts your business pretty bad. Then when locals in your area comes out, everybody wants a piece of the action and opens up shop then once the dust settles most quit, leaving you very little of the action. It is a very tough business and people do not care who they get it from, they just care about price or the first number they see. They think if they cal lthe number you will be sent out to do the job and you won't. That is the big misconception.

Yes, it can be a big money maker and a lot of my sales were referrals, but it can be a challenge too. The trick is keeping overhead low as sometimes it makes more sense to have fewer sales but having fewer upfront costs therefore lower risk. This way when sales drop off you are not shutting the doors.

[DishSubLA]

You will probably want to sell both Dish and Direc TV, as many retailers say that greatly enhances their chances of making a sell because some exclusives Direc TV has and the good prices/deals Dish has. I've spoken with many who say that selling both sat services is crucial for them to make money.

[Stargazer]

I would agree on selling both Dish and Direct. I have had people come to me wanting to switch or wanted Directv for certain reasons.