I asked the same question shortly after I started with Tucows and was told something like "we monitor you for a year before we will refer work to you". Seems like only the well established companies can get a Tucows referral, but Tucows does not seem to want to help the smaller companies (who undoubtedly provide the BEST service) many of which are the 1000's of customers that Elliot referred to in his epistle yesterday. It's the typical "make the rich richer" saga.
Every reseller should be listed and ONLY if a reseller proves to be problematic ... only then should Tucows remove them from the referral list. But the current situation of gaining credibility before being added onto the referral list just stinks. It's like you trust us enough to take our money and to sell domain names to us but won't refer work to us .... yet we are providing YOU with work ??? Mitchell KrogNetix Technologies www.krognetix.com -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] On Behalf Of Swerve Sent: November 29, 2002 4:30 AM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]; Elliot Noss; [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: what we think and what we think to Greg's request sounds reasonable and fair. Is their a reason why his and other smaller sites are not being referred to? Swerve > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Date: Fri, 29 Nov 2002 00:21:41 -0600 > To: "Elliot Noss" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Subject: Re: what we think and what we think to > > Elliot > I must say that is one of the best most honest notes I have ever seen > written from a CEO to there client bases. It is showing more respect > than one ever sees from most SUPPLIERS. I feel strongly though that > you did miss one sore spot with me and many on this list. The referral > system you changed this year. You give us (the small Guy/Gal ) credit > here but you have taken away one of the absolute best sources of on > line revenue that many of them had. We support you (strongly and > faithfully ) and did not leave even with that. We felt and still do > that you showed your favouritism of only the big guys who already have > the connections and client base. Please re address this issue....its > the small folks that need the exposure of our connection to you to > grow. It is not enough to have our connection to you on our site it > should also be on your site to "PROVE" you are also proud of your > association with us as you claim to be!. To let you know why I feel > strongly about this and have bitched at times loudly about it . Until > your removed me from your site I was receiving 20% of my new domain > and cert revenue from your site directly!. THAT IS NOW GONE. Yes I > know my volume doesn't get that large but it grows yearly and my > retention is super strong as you attest is with many small firms. I am > forced to work much harder than the big guys to get back that lost > source of revenue....We have less staff to help and our time is much > more valuable as there is far less of it. One point I fell strongly > about is your view about our ability to gain and keep clients > affordably. Our company goes along way to prove that. In 5 years of > business we have only lost 12 client out of the over 1000 we now have. > Of the 12 we lost 9 are off the web completely and not participating > in web in any business what so ever (there Lose). The balance (3) well > in all honest if they hadn't left we would have likely asked them to . > I don't know what that related to for numbers on your model but to us > our clients are the first priority...... All I ask is that > tucows/OpenSRS shows all there clients the same respect as you > currently show only a select few. Exposure your relationship to ALL or > NONE! Besides if you analyse the $ you will likely find those big guys > cost you more, return you less (they usually are discounted in prise) > And more often than not are more ready to switch to other suppliers > when they feel your stepping on there toes with things like the email > service, Which by the way is a super idea whose time has come. These > are only my thought and Elliot I know as always your open to hearing > them. That's why I'm here the best TEAM I have ever seen from top > down! Tucows does listen and does care, And has always proved that to > me. Your techs in the past have referred clients to us for the local > touch, have even set us up with contacts we needed for services we > needed from others. That is customer service to me... > > Greg Makuch > Whatever Computes Ltd. > http://www.whatevercomputes.com > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > phone: 306-569-4174 > Toll-free: 1-877-291-3269 > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Elliot Noss" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > To: "discuss" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Sent: Thursday, November 28, 2002 4:24 PM > Subject: what we think > > >> To all: >> >> INTRODUCTION >> ============= >> I wanted to send an email message to all of you reviewing my thoughts >> on > our >> relationship, your businesses and the future. Normally I like to talk >> in terms of "we" in my communication. Today I will often speak in the >> first person quite purposely. I note that our customers form such a > heterogeneous >> group that it is difficult and dangerous to generalize, but I will do >> so > to >> some extent here. It is the similarities, not the differences that >> are important. >> >> I apologize for the length. I have included headings to allow for >> easier skimming. >> >> What I will try and do in this message will be to provide context. I >> think it is important that you all understand the way we see you, >> what we think makes you successful, your place in our world, our view >> of our place in yours and how we think we can best help. To be clear >> upfront, help means help you win the battle for customers, to run and >> build successful businesses and to do it all in a way that can be >> enjoyed. >> >> First, let me thank you all for being involved with us. You are an >> amazing group of people who are in the main intelligent, thoughtful, >> know how to > run >> a business and have a strong positive ethic. This last point is most > brought >> home to me whenever we take the high road on an issue and you, as a >> group respond positively and in an appreciative fashion. I get the >> opportunity > to >> interact with many of you and nothing makes me prouder than when you >> tell > me >> what a great group of people we have. Believe me, it happens often, >> and it never fails to warm me. >> >> WHO YOU ARE >> =========== >> Often when describing who our customers are to third-parties I will >> conveniently say "small and medium-sized ISPs and web hosting >> companies". While this captures the two largest groups of customers, >> it doesn't > describe >> nearly half of you. You are an incredibly heterogeneous group. You >> are located in over 110 countries around the World, can provide >> marketing and customer service in just about every conceivable >> language and have a great appreciation of your users issues. You >> innovate and problem-solve. >> >> The definition of a reseller that I find most accurate is "companies >> building recurring revenue streams over the IP network by providing > Internet >> Services". >> >> What I most like about this definition is it captures the important >> fact that the services that are provided is a dynamic and changing >> set. This is extremely important in understanding what I view as our >> role as a > supplier. >> >> GROWTH IN INTERNET SERVICES >> ============================ >> Going forward, I forsee huge growth in the market for Internet >> services. People's interaction with the Internet is on the cusp of >> exploding. I > expect >> the number of personal web pages to increase dramatically. I expect >> personalized email to increase dramatically (spurred on by the recent > moves >> by Yahoo, Hotmail and othersto limit free service). I expect the >> number > and >> use of domain names to increase dramatically. All of these trends >> bode > well. >> In addition, I expect a whole new raft of services to emerge. I >> cannot > tell >> you if it will be music subscriptions, IP telephony or something none >> of > us >> have yet conceived of, but I do expect a continuing stream of >> innovation. It has always been the case in the Internet economy, and >> IMHO, we are barely at the beginning. >> >> It is also extremely important to understand that in my view todays > Internet >> Services become tomorrow's commodities. As an ISP in Toronto in 1995 >> the > key >> differentiators were i) no busy signals ii) being able to provide >> good scripting for Trumpet Winsock iii) having a great library of >> init strings for those lovely 14.4 modems. The value of all of these >> things was gone within a couple of years. >> >> All of us in the Internet Services business have watched today's > innovation >> become tomorrow's commodity. The only constants are innovation and >> the > fact >> that these innovations make most users feel stupid. That is why >> customer service is, IMHO, the key to a successful Internet Services >> business. The provision of any technical service is about solving >> problems, not brand > and >> not feature comparisons (think about how people sell hosting today >> and > this >> point is especially stark, they sell it like it was a database circa > 1993). >> There can be no bigger problem than "I don't get this!". Solve it, >> and > keep >> solving it, and you have a customer for life. >> >> LONG-TERM OUR CUSTOMERS CAN AND SHOULD WIN >> ============================================ >> I believe that you all make up potentially the most powerful >> distribution network in the Internet economy. You each touch >> thousands of end-users who look to you for the most important >> Internet Services today. You have an ongoing financial relationship >> with your end-users and provide first-touch customer service. These >> last two characteristics combine to give you a unique ability to sell >> additional services to your end-users. >> >> In my view retail Internet Services businesses are about attracting >> and retaining customers. Marketing and customer service. This view >> comes from > my >> years of doing it and years of supplying into it and watching who has >> won and who has lost. >> >> The biggest fallacy, IMHO, is that customer service for Internet >> Services > is >> viewed as a commodity. Customer service is incredibly differentiable. >> Customer service is best served in small increments. It is not >> amenable to scale. Systems that help support customer service benefit >> from scale, but they are much less important than effort and >> attention. They also tend to > be >> too far removed from understanding the real problem when employed by >> large companies. If you want to convince yourself of this point think >> about the customer service that you provide or that you believe many >> of the folks on this list provide. Now think of the customer service >> provided by telcos or cablecos or AOL or............ >> >> WHO OUR CUSTOMERS WILL BEAT >> ============================ >> It is clear to me that the competition here, in the near term, will >> be > AOL, >> Microsoft and Yahoo. The good news is they have little to no idea >> they are competing with you, and even if they did they would neither >> fear nor > respect >> you. This is always an advantage when competing, believe me. >> >> It should also give you confidence in that two of the three are known >> for poor customer service and the third has never provided any. >> >> WHY OUR CUSTOMERS WILL BEAT THEM ================================= >> I believe our most successful customers are those that focus on attracting >> and retaining customers. Thus, marketing and customer service. I know many >> of you have different businesses and business models, so please do not > take >> any of this to be exhaustive. I generalize quite conciously here. >> >> Great customer service leads to high customer retention ratios >> ("CRR"). Great customer service leads to a higher degree of >> word-of-mouth customer acquisition and word-of-mouth customer >> acquisition costs nothing. The more of this you have the lower your >> customer acquisition cost ("CAC"). One > thing >> I know for sure, any Internet service retailer that has a relatively >> low > CAC >> and a relatively high CRR will be very successful. This is easy. If >> you manage to these two variables, either explicitly or implicitly, >> and you do well at them you will win. >> >> By being closer to your customers you will provide better customer > service. >> This may be because of unique language needs. It may be because of >> unique usage needs. It may be because of persoanl relationships. >> There are countless reasons. I do know that the closer you are to >> your customers, > the >> better you will appreciate their problems, the more you are able to >> solve them. This is simply innovation existing at the edge of the >> network. This > is >> the beauty of the Internet. >> >> WHAT WE DO, WHAT YOU DO >> ======================== >> So here is the meat of the issue. If you are in agreement with the >> general thesis above than the below will hold together well for you. >> >> What we do is manage data for you and simplify complex business >> processes while providing a high-level of customer service around the >> tools we provide. We provide tools that are hopefully infrastructure >> or building blocks as parts of Internet services, but not "finished >> goods" in and of themselves. For instance, it is extremely difficult, >> bordering on > impossible >> for an end-user to become a reseller for their own purposes unless >> their volumes are very high and their level of technical >> sophistication or > access >> to same is also very high. Virtually all of our wholesale domain >> registration competitors offer "plug-and-play" solutions where they >> often take the credit card and provide end-user customer service. >> This makes no sense to me, for us, if you play it back against the >> thesis above. I am unclear as to what value-add those resellers could >> really provide to their customers in the long run. Therefore I am >> unclear as to what they could provide as business partners for us in >> the long run. >> >> There are many elements of your businesses that can and should be >> thought > of >> as repititive, best centralized and therefore prone to outsourcing. >> This obviously applies to many elements of domain registration like >> base > renewal >> messaging functionality or implementing a new registry protocol. Why > should >> 5,000 people do this when it can be done once and generalized. That >> is efficiency. I love to think about spam filters like this. Spam >> filters are not about brilliant technology, but are about keeping a >> constantly > evolving >> set of rules fresh and updated. 5,000 companies need not do this. >> Imagine > a >> service built on Spam Assassin rules as a base and supplemented by >> the experiences of the 30-40 million end users that we collectively >> reach. Now that is magic. >> >> We should enter areas where we can provide value based upon the > above-noted >> premises (manage data and simplify complex business processes) as >> well as where we can bring scale to pricing or regulatory issues. >> This does NOT > mean >> we will neglect important innovation or functionality in our core >> domain services. It does mean that we need to do everything we can to >> help you > all >> maximize your customer relationships and build long-term businesses >> for yourselves. >> >> That is what we do. You in turn provide your end-users with the >> highest level of service possible. Internet services are not >> dial-tone. They are complex and becoming moreso. End-users >> interaction with the Internet is > not >> simplifying, but is instead becoming more complex. Complexity >> requires service. It needs love and care and you all can provide >> that. This is why the markets for web services have NOT been >> dominated by large telcos and cablecos, but are instead all >> empirically extremely competitive markets. >> >> I will expand a bit in the next section on what this means and what >> it doesn't. To me, the most important point is you have the >> opportunity to be extremely close to your customers and to know what >> their specific issues are. This means you have the greatest ability >> to address them. Remember > that >> today most users (individuals and businesses) have multiple suppliers >> of Internet Services. You need to be the one that is thought of as >> the > "problem >> solver". Sometimes this may seem thankless, in fact often it is >> thankless, but it is also the role that makes you indispensible. This >> is what guarantees not just your survival, but your success. >> >> "MARKETING" and "CUSTOMER SERVICE" VS "TECHNOLOGY" >> =================================================== >> I want to direct special attention to a point that I felt was >> implicit in > a >> few of the initial comments about our new email service which seemed >> to imply that I felt that your role was to answer the phones, smile >> and be nice. I spent many words above talking about marketing and >> customer > service. >> Let me be as clear as I can be. I do NOT in any way suggest that this >> obviates the need for technical skill on your part. It does not >> "level the playing field" for any "Tom, Dick or Harry" to offer >> services. Many of our competitors do this with their "insert logo >> here" offerings. We are not really looking for those folks as >> long-term customers. >> >> I would strongly argue that the points I make above infer a PREMIUM >> on technical proficiency. >> >> Let me be more specific. It is the case with Internet services that >> things that are magical today become commodities or irrelevant >> tomorrow (see the Trumpet Winsock example above). Things are >> innovative in these > marketplaces >> ever so briefly. You guys have to be the ones running at the front of >> the pack. >> >> It is the case that there has been virtually NO significant >> innovation in the marketing of domains or web hosting in the last 24 >> months. There has certainly been some evolution, but nothing that >> looks like revolution. > This >> is astonishing. To me, if Tucows is removing the need for you to run >> a > mail >> server and operate spam filters, for instance, that time can now be >> spent working on the following: >> >> - what other services can I include in a standard domain name or >> hosting package that provides more value to end users? >> - what tools can I create that will incent my customers to make more >> use > of >> their domain name/email box/website (because usage is the greatest >> determinant of renewal)? >> - what tools can I employ to help me interact more with my customers >> so I can better understand their problems? >> - what tools can I employ to either make my direct marketing more > effective >> or to allow me to get started with some direct marketing (think here >> about measuring conversion and numerous other variables and think >> about Overture and Google and local and....)? >> - what tools can I push out to my customers that will reduce my >> customer service costs and increase my customer satisfaction? >> >> and there is of course much more. Any of you who say "I don't need to >> do > any >> of that or don't want to do any of that" are fooling yourselves. That >> is where the winners and the losers will be determined. There will be > elements >> of the above that we can and will assist with, but again it will be >> in the form of tools (think about useful data that will make some of >> the above tasks easier) that you will need to supplement. >> >> We need you to deal with local language, local marketing, currency >> and taking payments, helping us understand and respond to local >> issues (and > this >> is local as opposed to global not national or regional). These are >> all non-trivial. >> >> I really want all of you to be able to look at a new service like >> email > and >> say "great, I can offload this burden and spend more of my time >> innovating and differentiating". I know that I am both a purist and >> an optimist, but such is my curse. >> >> DISCUSS-LIST AND NEED FOR ALTERNATIVE CHANNELS >> =============================================== >> I do want to talk a bit about discuss-list and other means of > communication. >> First, I am perhaps the luckiest CEO in the World in that I am able >> to see every day what my customers are thinking about in real-time. >> This is a > huge >> benefit. I appreciate that any list has its share of lurkers and >> folks who are very vocal. This is simply a filter that need be placed >> on the data. > The >> list is an invaluable resource to me and the rest of the folks here, >> as > well >> as to all of you IMHO. That being said, it is now a much broader >> community than simply OpenSRS resellers. Most every competitor, >> competitors > customers, >> suppliers, registries, regulators, press, analyst and other folks > interested >> in DNS issues now either subscribes to the list or reads it in >> archive > form. >> That can make communication a little bit more challenging for us. We >> need > to >> find a way to keep the list the vibrant community and resource for >> our customers that it is, while finding a way to discuss other issues >> in a > more >> discrete environment. >> >> With email, we engaged in surveys, held focus groups at a few >> different stages and had a number of one-on-one discussions. We plan >> to do much more "offlist" communications going forward. This is not >> to replace the list, > but >> to supplement it. If you EVER want to be more involved or more aware >> of > any >> issues I encourage you to speak to an account rep to and let them >> know you want to do focus groups or simply to have a dialogue. >> >> CONCLUSION >> ============ >> I want to stress that the comments above are truly macro comments. We >> have thousands of customers so I have no choice but to generalize. >> There are of course exceptions. This is akin to someone being a great >> golfer with an unconventional style. Please take these comments in >> that spirit. They are macro not micro. >> >> Many, if not most of you are able to do work you enjoy on your own >> terms. You are able to help many people, employ others and make a >> good living > while >> doing it. Anyone in this situation is indeed very lucky. I know I >> feel lucky. There is no question in my mind that an entity providing >> a full > suite >> of web services to a few thousand people is a viable business and can >> support a nice life. >> >> I believe, we believe, that you can win the battle for the hearts, >> minds > and >> wallets of end-users. Our role is to bring some of the elements of >> scale > to >> you so you can compete on a more even footing. >> >> I am very excited about the future. I have seen extremely positive >> signs > in >> the last little while that lead me to believe you will all be able to > expect >> an even higher level of service and innovation than you have received >> to date. Remember that while Tucows has been around a long time as a > business, >> OpenSRS and Internet services are still relatively new (a couple >> months > away >> from celebrating its third birthday).We all truly believe that our > business >> is simply an extension of yours. By thinking about the health of your >> business we are taking care of ours. >> >> While I know all of you will not agree with the above, I hope it will >> at least help you understand our thinking. As always, please pile on >> with comments. Thanks again for being part of us. >> >> Regards >> >> Elliot Noss >> Tucows inc. >> 416-538-5494 > >
