Yup. I have to concur with the group to some extent. I have
no misconceptions that my goals are OpenSRS' goals, but I do
think you will start realizing negative returns once you have
all but eliminated barriers to entry.
This may have happened already.
There are other markets to investigate
and communicate to, but if the fundamental model is that "it looks like
a winner from a distance, but then you have no business and can't afford
to market effectively", it will take little or no time for word to get around.
Then registrations simply become some cheap value-add that has no real value
(like MS Front Page extensions :-p ).
I've worked with the McDonald's corporation a number of times, and I think
there is no better proof that keeping your "franchisees" happy and fat will
make you rich. 18,000 restaurants each doing upwards of $1.5 - 2 million /year,
the world's best recognized brand, gargantuan national advertising and co-opped
local advertising, more real estate (value) than any other company, etc, etc.
However, they got greedy for the market grab in the late 80's and started building
so many restaurants they started cannibalizing existing restaurants to the point that
the operators formed a group referred to as "the Consortium". Things did not go
well....
The key WAS (meaning the original concept that worked so well...) that if you
WERE willing to work hard, you *were* going to make
quite a bit of money. In this environment each operator is inspired. If each
operator is simply grumbling about how there IS no market anymore, and that the
parent company/franchiser/whatever is leading them on, they will
spend NO money building the brand at the street level, but instead bastardize it
for every penny of profit they can while the getting is good.
For the last two years McD has incorporated an entirely new "operating system" and this
was funded, in large part, BY THE CORPORATION. They set up a matching fund for capital
reinvestment to get all their restaurants BACK up to par.
The moral of the story *I* think, is that you can pay now, or you can
pay later, but you have to take care of the people that take care of you.
Scott Schiller
VP
GIA Web Services, Inc.
Get your @ together!
---http://domainalchemy.com---
