John Linton ......or is it just the feeling that I get every year when we complete the new year's business plan before any of the assumptions prove incorrect?
Two days to go until this financial year ends. Yesterday was another, unusually, strong day across our service offerings and we made more progress towards finalising our 'start of year' promotions - though we need to do some re-consideration. In most respects the planning is now completed for all major aspects of the business with the multiple checking and re-checking processes correcting the remaining mis-assumptions and incorporating the results of the ongoing 'negotiations with the various providers and suppliers as well as continuing to pick up minor errors in the newer formulae and changing minor aspects of bravery or unwarranted conservatism. Whether the realities of the coming financial year have been thought through more correctly than the previous three years remains to be seen. So far in Exetel's 'history' they are usually in the ball park.
One thing has become more noticeable over the last month or so. The level of 'interest' in the promotional residential ADSL plans has 'sky rocketed' to the point that our inbound sales people are complaining that they are becoming overloaded and are requesting we hire more people. I don't think I can ever remember such a view expressed by sales people who earn commission on sales they make.....why would they want to 'share' the commission with more people? I am only semi-serious in expressing that view but I have found it surprising. We are continually hiring new inbound and outbound sales people in Colombo but there are very finite limits as to how many new people you can hire at any given time if you want them trained properly and in the shortest possible time.
Our plans for July are to put in place new, larger, bonuses for our own customers who recommend our services to their family, friends and colleagues as well as, courtesy of our suppliers, an extra free month to the people they refer on the residential ADSL plans. We will also offer those of our customers who do not have an Exetel mobile service a new range of plans at even more attractive pricing than is currently available. We are also considering how we can offer a residential ADSL plan to new customers that would include 6 months free ADSL on a twelve month contract if they also bought a mobile phone service from Exetel. Something like months 1,2,3 and 10,11 and 12 at no ADSL charge on a service that includes a telephone line and a mobile.
The surprising jump in business VoIP sales in June (over 100 new business VoIP customers have been signed with 2 days to go) and the continuing strong growth in corporate data sales (June, I am assured, will be a new record month) are very positive signs for Exetel's overall business growth and we have planned to continue to invest heavily in those two areas of our business. I don't know what our competitors in those areas of the marketplaces have been doing over the past year but whatever it is hasn't been very successful in 'protecting' their own customers. Doubtless more effort will be made by them over the coming year.
So, although the weather round where I live seems to be largely very dark clouds and bouts of heavy rain, there are a few glimmers of sun in small patches - perhaps reflecting the future business outlook for the coming year?
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