Wednesday, July 15. 2009Talk Is Cheap Unless It's A 1900 Number......John Linton .........but now it's action time and we are having to spend real money (at least for us) to make major changes to the ways we operate. We are only a few days away from the start of our HSPA data advertising campaign for rural/regional users in Queensland, NSW and Victoria and, as always, there is still a lot to do with very little time to do it. We approved the 'final version' of the ad yesterday morning which can be seen in its 'finished state' here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CGp2oMV7x1g and have got most of the main parts of the new country broadband web site on test here: http://www-dev.countrybroadband.com.au/ We will get the rest of the non-working pages working tomorrow and will then edit the rough draft text to at least one iteration closer to its 'final form'. The new site follows a completely different design to the current web site - partly because it has been designed to be simpler as well as being based on a single product/service and that product/service is provided via contacting an Exetel agent instead of by contacting Exetel. So a completely different kettle of fish and one we have embarked upon with a great deal of trepidation. Any way - onward and upward - second thoughts are for those didn't give a second and a third thought to what they were going to do before doing it. The separate web site is to give us an opportunity of both creating a separate 'identity' for our future country based focus and to determine how we might change some parts of the current web site. By changing many of our methods of operating over the balance of this financial year we hope to become more successful in meeting our overall aim of being in business as well as becoming more efficient in new ways we have not yet tested. We have been slowly growing and developing the services and resources we provide to our agents some of whom have now been working with us for almost as long as Exetel has existed. However basing a whole marketing program on third parties not 'controlled' by Exetel and spending more money up front to do that than we used to 'create' Exetel in January 2004 is a bit of a 'big adventure' for us. Our view is that the newish HSPA service and the future VoIP magic box services will require a much higher degree of 'hand holding' (paid for) than we can offer and aren't at all compatible with our web based, fully automated processes of providing the simple ADSL1 and ADSL2 services that we have been providing to residential users to date. I could be quite wrong but the view we are pursuing is to focus part of our resources on building our agent representation in rural and regional Australia far more quickly than we have in the past via several new programs including the advertising that only provides leads to rural/regional agents as well as new 'free' internet cafe agent program and a whole lot of new on line management tools for agents only...plus some new hardware when we finally get our hands on it. So we are proceeding on the basis that at some not too distant time in the future one third of Exetel's total business in Australia will be done through agents who would be overwhelmingly based in rural/regional areas of Australia and would be responsible for many of the things that Exetel itself currently does now. I realise that's a strange way to do things but then we have never had any interest in doing what other ISPs do - why bother with such a policy - if it's already being done what can a tiny company like Exetel add? I also think that the ***hole ratio to nice people is far lower in country Australia which encourages us to continue to do whatever is required to keep prices as low as possible for people who appreciate such efforts. If the new Country Broadband web site works out (pleases people/generates business/is easy to change) then we will look at splitting our current web site into three - Residential City, Business Australia and Agents Australia (perhaps 4 - a dedicated hardware sales part of the business) with a complete re-design along the lines of the new country web site. It is a very big change for us and something that makes me very apprehensive but with the big investments we are making in sales trainees and the requisite engineering support and research and other costs and it is probably past time that we should have put more effort in to our 'on line presence' for potential business users and make far more effort to promote some of our most interesting products and services.....and of course involve ourselves in marketing them. I believe we have done far too little to promote our exceptionally feature/function rich VoIP services that not only are rock solid reliable but, from what I've seen, offer far more than the largely generically boring offerings of the various other providers I have come across. This would also allow us to change the way the web site presents residential communications services as well as the overdue need to upgrade the agent web site. Despite what anybody has said in the past our current iterations of the web site that has created Exetel, it has delivered exceptional sales and support results each month we have been in business. However I have never had any aspirations as a web designer and, unfortunately or fortunately (depending on your viewpoint) I simply don't have the time I used to have to look at that aspect of our business objectively and even less time to remain involved in constantly updating it. Personally I would like to stay with some sort of front page that has some sort of 'message' and four links to the four (or 5) different aspects of our current business plus the ability to add in links to at least two new aspects of the future business should they actually become a reality. Then there's...........and so one thing constantly leads to another....and then that leads to another....which is why I suppose the years continue to disappear at an ever faster rate and one of the few remaining 'original' things that needs changing most about Exetel is me. Trackbacks
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I love the new country broadband site. and ad. I'm pleased a suitable candidate was found the ad (someone who appeals to us country bumpkins)
As you've said it'll be refined a few more times before official release, but on the forums I've posted a few things I found that may assist and reduce the time required on finetuning it I've quite often thought of becoming an Exetel rural agent, especially with wirefree performing so poorly in the area. But without a shopfront it makes it rather difficult to actually attain any decent 'exposure'. + The moment I signed up and started selling I'm 100% sure the local store (in the main street) would do it as well As much as this suprises you (I haven't been anything but critical on your blog) you seem to be doing a very good job, and the new HSPA offerings reflect that. Hold in at least until you reach your goals? Comment (1)
Thank you for the suggestions on the forum - we'll get them fixed.
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the embedded link above is wrong - it points to http://www-dev.exetel.com.au/country/, not http://www-dev.countrybroadband.com.au/.
it might also be useful to somewhere include the numbers that "exetel" corresponds to on the new web site (eg. it might be 393735 - that's just a guess because my work phone doesn't have "letters on the numbers"). Comment (1)
I would think that besides the obvious goal of getting HSPA customers there's the added benefit that you may raise awareness for potential agents that you may not have otherwise had a chance to talk to, in which case perhaps it could also be beneficial for the 'Become an Agent' link to be more prominent during the ad campaign
Would it also be worth having something explaining who is behind it all, eg, Exetel, 5 year old company, 100,000 customers, bringing city pricing and services to country customers, something along those lines anyway, just so you're not perceived as a startup with no history overall though I really like the look and feel of the site Comment (1)
The current iteration is a 'first attempt'.
We will make changes over time. Comments (3)
I like the look of the "country" site (http://countrybroadband.com.au/index.php). The Packages selection method is "neat" and works well enough. However, I'm one of those people who likes to see the options tabulated so I don't have to do several iterations to work things out. That is, perhaps also include "static" package information in a table, as done on the current Exetel site.
Also, perhaps some explanation of what installation costs might be, or what DIY people need to obtain. I understand the costs may be difficult if they are set by the individual agents. But it wasn't obvious whether there actually are installation costs involved. Also, could not see anything about "excess" data costs (particularly relevant for zero included data plan). And given the variability of wireless, is there any "try it out first" option? Or is that what the Techie can test before finally signup? But I suppose that would involve a call-out cost, anyway. I hope the venture works well for you (and the customers!). Comment (1)
Hi Bob
I am one of the Exetel Agents (or techies). In my area, I provide a free signal check using my laptop/modem. In a good signal strength area, no DIY/installation is required, just plug in the modem, install the software, and you are online. In a low signal strenth areas (and even in an area with no visible signal), an external antenna can be attached (even a std GSM antenna in 900MHz areas) to boost the signal. Many farmers already have one on the roof for their mobile phones. The best boost to signal is via a yagi antenna pointed towards the nearest tower. Installation is very similar to the tv antenna installaton. If you feel capable on intalling a tv antenna, you should be able to DIY. Comment (1)
Have to agree. The ad turned out very well. Not over the top with ridiculous claims like some companies do ('unlimited downloads*' etc).
Congrats Comment (1)
I'm getting MySQL errors on the http://countrybroadband.com.au site when getting a plan recommendation.
Comment (1)
Simple and effective. It's down home and country without being too patronising or cheesy. The production values of the commercial + professionalism of the site are actually surprisingly high. Good job, hopefully this will raise awareness of the Exetel brand in the target market and deliver the business objectives set.
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