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It’s Your Call

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It’s Your Call

Telecommunications franchisees are a reasonably recent phenomena in the Southern Hemisphere, but in a short period of time they have revolutionised the Telco industry in Australia - and thanks to small enterprises like Kingfisher Connexions, New Zealand is next.

But the husband and wife team behind Kingfisher Connexions are hardly what you would expect to find running a nationwide telecom company.

Colleen Gray worked in educational leadership roles before spending 20 years as a primary school principal, while Bruce Gray enjoyed a long career in logistics, including close to 21 years with Freightways and 10 years as a consultant in transport, supply chain and third party logistics.

The pair spent a year searching for a franchise business they could run together from home, and despite no telcommunications experience, they decided to fuse their complementary skills to conquer the world of telecommunications by buying a Telcoinabox franchise.

Founded in 2002 in Australia after the deregulation of the telecommunication industry in the late nineties, Telcoinabox allows franchisees to essentially become a MVNO (mobile virtual network operator) phone company. This enables them to provide individuals and existing businesses with all the latest mobile, landline, broadband, toll free and mobile broadband.

Other services just around the corner are UFB (ultra-fast broadband) and VOIP (voice over internet protocol). What sets Kingfisher Connexions apart is that they can offer, in conjunction with their Franchisor, innovative solutions on products and services that can save their clients time and money. After total immersion in the telco world, the couple didn’t take long to uncover some very clever ways that big industry leaders were using to hide cost from their customers.

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“You may not think we have a telco monopoly here in New Zealand, but in actual fact we have an oligopoly, and with a small number of large sellers in the market, each company is likely to be aware of the actions of the others and makes decisions influenced by the other firms,” they say.

By making all costs transparent to their clients, Kingfisher Connexions quickly enabled individuals and businesses to save money on their telecommunications services by providing the same services for less time and money. ‘’We are loyal, trustworthy and innovative in our ideas with our customers, we are totally committed to providing New Zealanders’ with cheaper communications services,” they say. “For too long Kiwis’ have paid dearly for these utilities, but we play a fair game and ensure that our customer service is second to none.”

You don’t need to take their word for it - their first client, FCI-VISA Global Logistics Ltd, who have a $25 million annual turnover and operate on both sides of the Tasman, found Bruce and Colleen saved them $600 to $800 per month on mobile phone costs alone.

“As our other contracts expire we will be moving all our telecommunications across to them,’ says FCI-VISA Global Logistics Ltd Managing Director Benno Roehrig. As recession is still biting, Emmersen Bourne in Tauranga has found Kingfisher Connexions to be a lifesaver: ‘’After a bad experience with my previous internet provider, the service I received at Kingfisher Connexions was a much welcomed relief,” he says.

In charge of running a busy fashion PR agency in the lead up to Fashion Week, COCO PR director Miranda Likeman says, “I simply didn’t have time for delays in changing over my system; I needed the transition to be seamless with no down time.” The Gray’s even provided Likeman with a temporary handset, spoke to her existing Telco provider and arranged the switch so she didn’t even notice it had happened. Mt Maunganui based Process Plus Ltd specialises in making sausage seasonings and cures for ham. Owner Roger Webb stresses the importance of customer service and being able to speak directly to the owners of Kingfisher Connexions versus an employee of an offshore call centre in case of a problem.

In fact, so far Bruce and Colleen can’t recall one client who has not been amazed at the savings, innovated solutions and service provided by Kingfisher Connexions, and they aren’t the only ones happy with the company - making their way to the finals of The TUANZ (Telecommunications Users Association of New Zealand) “I Love My Telco” Awards 2011.

Despite having achieved so much as a young SME in the Telco industry, the Gray’s refuse to rest on their laurels. Next they plan to assist even more individuals, groups and businesses in effortlessly making savings with innovation and cost savings on their telecommunications. “Extra dollars are always welcome in today’s economic climate,” they say.

“We just want to make it as easy as possible for anyone to receive network services, easy to follow billing with no smoke and mirrors, payment processing and support frameworks without having to deal with the big fellas.”

ends

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