On Wed, Nov 27, 2002 at 09:32:01PM -0500, elliot noss wrote: > > If you offer your customers a great email service then you have no need for > this. If you don't then you do. This is the furthest thing from an ATTACK on > any customers.
Replace "any" with "some" and you're on the right track. The first thing this service offering does, from my perspective, is to establish a standard bottom price for email services. This is good for some, bad for others. At the very least, it will smooth out some of the differences between providers, making us all a bit more like each other. The second thing this service offering does is make email services more easily provided by less technically equipped resellers. While that's good for Tucows, it certainly dilutes our prospect base. If Joe Public wants email service, he'll be more likely to buy his domain from the first place he comes across, and will be less likely to search for things that might point him in my direction. And the third thing achieved by this service offering is to reduce the number of new RSPs who will hire me to set up email services for them. I have actively promoted Tucows to my customers who use me for system and service administration. If Tucows is offering something that I already offer (or get paid to manage), then I'll be shooting myself in the foot by promoting Tucows. Of course, I'll stuck between a rock and a hard place, since there will still be services which I can't easily get from any other company. >We see it as enabling our customers to do what they do best, > provide great customer service for their end-users and attracting more of > them. Not every Tom, Dick or Harry can offer great customer service, in fact > most companies cannot even offer good customer service. Um.... Notwithstanding that these two sentences contradict each other, do you realize how strongly they smells of bovine excreta? Who told you that the bulk of your RSPs primary focus is customer service rather than technical service? Whoever it was certainly doesn't speak for me. And if "most" companies focus on something other than good customer service, and those companies continue to exist, don't you think their focus is perhaps on something else? This service offering will force them to re-focus whether they're equipped or not. >I would strongly > suggest that building a great Internet service organization need not, in > fact should not be about running a mailserver or running spam filters. These > are repetitive business processes, like payroll, that can, and often should > be outsourced. Customer service is not. It is about care and love and > solving peoples problems. Elliot, how many Internet service providers do you know who *don't* run their own mail servers? Why shouldn't things like spam filters continue to be a distinguishing factor amongst ISPs? Are you saying that I shouldn't be able to market myself as having "better" email services than other providers, and that the only thing I'm allowed to use for marketing is the fact that I'm more polite on the phone than my competitors? Sorry, that's just not the kind of ISP I want to run. I'm afraid I have to side with Abel on this one. So far, Tucows' value to me has been that it allows me to provide services that are impossible for me to set up on my own, and does so in such a way as to provide me with the maximal degree of control over the services. I cannot afford the $100000 bond or whatever it is for my own accreditation, and the API provides a kick-ass way to integrate domain functionality into my own service offerings. I realize that there are RSPs who consider the technical expertise required to set up a mail server equally as unattainable as I find a $100000 bond, but (without any evidence) I suspect that following basic instructions or hiring a consultant isn't that far fetched. As for customer service, I consider after-sale support to be a necessary evil, and *certainly* not the thing on which I want to focus the bulk of my attention. If the direction of the industry is for all the services I offer to be re-sold re-packaged Tucows atoms, and the only thing that will distinguish me from anyone else is the manner of customer service, I should give up right now and start flipping burgers. Come February 2003, I will get fewer of those customers, thanks to this new service. Maybe not a whole lot fewer, but every single one counts. Now I have to re-think sales strategies, come up with alternate service packages and new products.... How can I focus on my own game if you keep changing the playing field?!? >I look forward to your thoughts. Hmm. 6AM. Time for bed. I think I'm getting cranky. ;) -- Paul Chvostek <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Operations / Abuse / Whatever +1 416 598-0000 it.canada - hosting and development http://www.it.ca/
