Saturday, September 18. 2010That Was The Week That WasJohn Linton We seemed to have more 'meetings' than usual over the past five 'working days'. Most of them were 'internal' involving making changes to various aspects of the way we do things in terms of selling our services and managing our businesses but a few key meetings with 'outsiders' as well as our monthly board meeting yesterday afternoon. Our key pre-occupations were with with the continuing issues brought about by the continuing 'turmoil' in the various residential market places brought about by Telstra's ever more aggressive 'marketing' and the 'actions' being taken by the companies affected by Telstra's marketing that in turn affect Exetel. I have 'been around' a fair while in the Australian communications industry but I have never observed so much change taking place so frequently over such a sustained length of time. Virtually all of the change is 'negative' as far as our company is concerned and it is becoming more and more evident that it is just as painful, perhaps more so in some cases, for many of the suppliers we are in regular contact with. Personally, I think it will all end in tears for everyone with the possible exception of Telstra. Again, personally, I think that may (emphasis on MAY) end up being the best long term result for the Australian residential user but will almost certainly do immense short term/medium term damage to the Australian industry and any beneficial longer term result in return for that possibility seems, to me, to be a ridiculously high price to pay. But then I am obviously biased in my view. Despite the current shenanigans in the residential marketplaces it's not all gloom and doom though. We continue to develop more and, hopefully, better plans to allow our company to continue to exist and continue to contribute to making Australia a better place. At yesterday's board meeting we discussed the need for an Auckland PoP in the immediate future - next 4 to 6 months and a similar need for PoPs in the UK and the USA in the longer term - perhaps before the end of 2011. We have discussed these issues more than once in the past but have not gone beyond brief discussions as we had many more 'pressing demands' on the limited financial and personnel resources we can deploy at any given time. There seems little doubt that we will go ahead with an Auckland, and perhaps, a Wellington PoP either on our own or in some sort of 'collaboration' with a New Zealand company that has presences in those two locations - all we need is a thoroughly costed implementation plan (not being a cargo cultist or Labor politician) and an associated business plan. We also discussed the timing of the development of an outbound calling capability in our Colombo office. Since we began our business back in January 2004 we have totally relied on our web site and 'word of mouth' supplemented by an initially very small number of 'agents' to bring customers to our residential services. That has worked very, very well for the whole of that time but, as I have been remarking, times are now very different. Annette and I will go to Sri Lanka in early October to conduct the quarterly reviews and part of those reviews will be to determine just how we can 'build out' an outbound sales capability for residential and small business services using the experience we have now developed over the past 18 months building an outbound corporate sales presence in Sydney. Hopefully we will have hired the first three people that will allow three of our current inbound residential sales personnel to move to outbound sales by our target date of November 1st 2010. This will be a whole new venture for us but, admittedly knowing nothing about how to do this, we can see huge advantages for Exetel and a new 'dimension' to our overall activities. We also are seeing the early signs that our contract programming and technical consulting business may become more successful than our original modest plans indicated that it might. We have a great deal of expertise (because of our own ongoing ever more sophisticated developments) in data base and voip integration and more expertise than we can find externally in voip and Asterisk development. Our sales of voip to small, medium and medium large businesses are beginning to grow exponentially and that has exposed us to the yawning and ever widening gap in general expertise in Asterisk and other aspects of VoIP implementation across all sectors of the business marketplaces. How we can identify suitable prospects for this part of our business remains to be seen but it may prove to be much easier than I thought when we decided to explore this possibility. So, the last few days have been very challenging (as always) but they also provided more positive signs than usual - perhaps I am so 'punch drunk' from the constant "issues" I deal with every day I am mistaking 'daylight at the end of the tunnel' for the onrushing freight train. Copyright © Exetel Pty Ltd 2010 Trackbacks
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Are you still thinking of offering internet services in Sri Lanka? If so, how's that going?
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We have made no progress in that difficult exercise.
We would only offer business services in Sri Lanka, in the event we could ever obtain the required licences. Comments (4)
Do people really buy ADSL etc from a second tier provider via outbound calls? I certainly wouldnt entertain the concept if, say, TPG or AANet called me and I doubt any Telstra/Optus etc would - especially with an Indian (to Australian ears) accent that your Sri Lankan staff would have.
Most of the issues (real and percieved) with offshore call centres is outbound calls Comments (2)
You could be right. I suppose my very different background doesn't consider racial prejudice to be as widespread as you imply it is.
Personally, I would have thought a tertiary educated fluent English speaker with a wide vocabulary (stemming from their education)and an attitude rooted in Buddhism (plus the benefits of a charming feminine voice) would be better than the pushy ocker idiot that called me up the other day to sell me a Telstra ADSL service. I guess we will fail to sell to racists so we would need to hope that they don't comprise the majority of Australians who answer the telephone in their residences. As for representing a "second tier" organisation.....words fail me... perhaps it's time for you to consider moving away from using an inferior service provider.I'm surprised you don't use a "First Tier" provider.....whatever that means. I've used Exetel for a variety of services over almost seven years and I would only classify those services as better with better support than any service I have ever bought from Telstra over the past 40 years - but then what the f*** would I know about anything? Comments (4)
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I confess that I hang up on cold-callers no matter what their nationality - but I presume I am in the minority or companies wouldn't persist with the practice.
I had a cold-call the other day which started with a recorded message informing me that all operators were busy and would I hold please. Words failed me! Comment (1)
Sorry my comment re second tier had no reference to quality/value or any other attribute other than that Exetel has neither the scale, brand recognition or "peer users" of Telstra and Optus. IInet and Internode would also in my opinion be considered "second tier" with not every man on the stret recongnising their name, logo or being able to state what they even do.
I don’t know how racist Australia really is. I am multi generational Australian but my wife is mainland Chinese and has been in Australia only around five years and we have an extended Sri Lankan family as lifelong friends and I can't highlight an example of active racism I have seen or heard of against someone I closely know. However the dinnertime antics of "Indian" call centres I do believe have collected their industry quite some dislike in general population of Australia especially with respect to the sale of telecommunications and associated products. I do believe that your call from a company that they have never heard of from an "Indian" call centre is going to be difficult to keep going more than 20 seconds. I hope I am wrong - I want to see Exetel grow and people giving something a go to succeed - but my gut reaction is.... Last time I called American Express the first words from the ethnic sounding operator was "Welcome to American Express in Melbourne this is ...." I don’t for a second believe the call was really taken in Melbourne (AMEX being a trail blazer in offshoring) but they must solidly believe this is necessary for them to say this for their customer base at least. Comments (2)
I don't doubt your views of residential sales calls are shared by many people including me.
The fact is that we keep losing customers to residential sales calls from Telstra's contracted call centres and, perhaps, their own personnel - so your/my views are not shared by at least those people. I have absolutely no doubt that should we proceed with such a process it will be incredibly hard to make work effectively - however how hard can it be compared with building Exetel from zero to wherever it is today? I have achieved very little in my life but the little I may have achieved has not come very easily. Comments (4)
I going with Neil on this one. Cold call is tainted. On sheer volume of calls you would get sales... but I fear the word of mouth would not just be a "Whirlpool" issue.
Has any agent known to have done a Exetel "lemonade stand" experiment ? I know there are rules on footpath useage however I am unaware as to what permit or fee would be due. Comment (1)
This tier 1 business is just awful.
Having worked in the industry for a while, I can think of more reasons to not choose someone considered "tier 1" than to buy their services - Optus, Telstra and Verizon regularly ask for my custom and get told why they're not getting it. The same logic applies for business and residential services, with even more reasons for not selecting these companies in a business setting. As a relative example, I can't see why mortgage brokers exist given you can see a mortgage provider's rates online and playing two off against each other takes but a few phone calls - being in control of one's finances is the common link here, and those who would select Telstra or Optus for their home or business services are unlikely to do any research on the services they're paying for. On the subject of cold-calling customers, comparing Exetel's plans with the practices of Optus and Telstra is not reasonable - Exetel has a much better product set and has a real value proposition over the long term. Comment (1)
I suppose my very different background doesn't consider racial prejudice to be as widespread as you imply it is.
You are very naïve if you think that other Australians must feel and think the same way that you do. Sure, many do (including myself), however the vast majority are very racist in their thinking (if not their actions) and the normal reaction to a cold call from anyone with a sub-continental accent is to almost immediately hang-up the phone. (hopefully without a rude comment) Personally, I would have thought a tertiary educated fluent English speaker with a wide vocabulary (stemming from their education)and an attitude rooted in Buddhism (plus the benefits of a charming feminine voice) would be better Except the called person on the other end of the phone doesn't know they are tertiary-educated, and if they did, they would probably consider it a sub-standard education anyway. And the charming feminine voice is still going to be "tainted" with that accent. (sorry about being so blunt. I must say that even typing this makes me feel a little sick, but it's the truth, and it's what you (and your staff) are going to have to cope with) The fact is that we keep losing customers to residential sales calls from Telstra's contracted call centres and, perhaps, their own personnel - so your/my views are not shared by at least those people. Perhaps you're not seeing what this is telling you... that unlike yourself, Mr average Joe aussie is quite comfortable with those "pushy ocker idiots" that call from Telstra. Posted by Ben Carroll.... I certainly wouldnt entertain the concept if, say, TPG or AANet called me and I doubt any Telstra/Optus etc would - especially with an Indian (to Australian ears) accent that your Sri Lankan staff would have. This is so common and so true. Unfortunately, Australia is a very racially biased country, despite what many people would have us think, or would like to believe themselves. I have had to cope with racism and prejedice all my life, even though I was born and (well) educated in Australia, and I am 5th generation Australian (on my mother's side), just because I had an Italian surname. (my Grandfather on my Dad's side was Italian) It only stopped when as a 30 year old, I made the decision to anglicise my surname. Magically, I was now "one of us", and the villification ceased. Same person, same attitudes and education, same life, but suddenly, I was "acceptabe" to other Australians. Racial prejudice not widespread in Australia???? You must be kidding. As a longtime Exetel customer (over 5 years), I really like the things that you and Exetel have achieved, and the way you do business. I want Exetel to stick around and be successful into the future. But I see nothing but despair in the direction you're considering heading. With respect, you don't always get things right (Advertising country HSPA on TV?? - Customers don't want to pay for Telstra ADSL2?? - 12 hours of offpeak?? (you still haven't got that one right BTW), just to name a few) My take on this??? Do the same thing as Telstra... just do it better than Telstra. Don't be "pushy", but DO explain the benefits of changing to a good competitive and efficient Aussie company like Exetel. Don't be "ocker", but DO use someone (preferably that "charming feminine voice"), who has an educated, easily understood Australian accent. Don't give them "idiots", but DO give them representatives who know the product (and have the ability to explain it to non-techheads), and who know the benefits that the customer will receive if they choose the product. And show the customer enough respect to not treat them like idiots. (even if they are) To my mind this is all pretty basic stuff, but it's amazing to me how many good companies get it so, so wrong. I wish Exetel (and yourself) all the best of luck. Comment (1)
I don't know that customers are going to Telstra due to "pushy ocker idiots", call centers, and the third party companies that Telstra get to do these campaigns seem to be full of lowest common denominator staff and complaints about the claims made by these staff members in order to win the business are often made, they are only focused on getting numbers so you can easily understand how some temp staff don't really care what is said to get the business
the benefit that Exetel has enjoyed for so long of being very much self serve, automated and everything in writing could be open to problems if you were to move to a sign up over the phone type arrangement, even if calls are recorded there can often be a lot of difference between what is said, and what is understood to have been said Comment (1)
Exetel has done many things over the last years but none of them, today, are enough to 'impress' the various residential market places we operate in.
This initiative is just one of the many changes we have made over the past year. When we let it be known that we were going to try and set up an operation in Sri Lanka 'every one', from our High Commission in Colombo on down told me I was stupid/naive/uninformed etc. It was one of the best business decisions I have ever made - not that says much. I actually don't think I'm stupid, I'm certainly not naive and I am very well informed....perhaps I am better informed on the small range of tasks I undertake than so many of the people who, without anything like the knowledge I have, comment adversely on the thoughts I choose to share. Comments (4)
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