Driving into work today I was listening to SEN, the sports radio station here, and they were talking about the World Cup with that idiot Patrick Smith talking with the great KB about it.
KB, like me, was enthused by the draw and said we should go in with some confidence, and Patrick Smith was saying that it was so difficult that we're unlikely to get passed the group stages - in fact bookies are giving us 150 to 1 odds of getting through, so I'm off to put some money down on that bet, because for $100 it will be the easiest $15,000 I'll ever win!
With my limited knowledge on the history of World Soccer, let's have a look at this.
Australia is currently ranked 21st in the world - in September we were ranked as high as 14th.
Serbia is currently ranked 20th and again in September were ranked 13th.
Germany ranked 6th, in September ranks 4th, and earlier in the year for over 12 months had bee ranked 2nd.
Ghana is ranked 37th, and in September were 32nd.
Yes, they're all good teams, Germany will be tough but not impossible - we played them once in a World Cup match were they beat us 3-0, but that must have been the first time we got to the world cup in the 70's and got smashed by everyone. Since then we've played once more, and lost 3-4, a very honourable score line for a country who has soccer ranked as their 4th or 5th major national team sport?
Ghana we've played a few times, and the ledger is on our side, so there's no reason why we shouldn't be able to beat these guys.
The game against Serbia I think will be the decider as to who goes through or not - we seem to be one rank behind them for some time and my gut tells me that we're an even stevens contest against them and will come down to who takes their opportunities.
My prediction is that we will lose to Germany 2-1, beat Ghana 2-0 and beat Serbia 2-1 putting us through to the next stage against England.
We'll be England because they're chokers and then play France in the Quarter Finals - now my head says we'll lose that, but then we performed incredibly well against Italy last time around, showing that we can compete, and we duffed a few goal scoring opportunities against Brazil in for me one of the most entertaining matches of the cup, even though we got a pasting it was non stop action. So if we do beat France, although that's unlikely even for an optimist like myself, guess who'll be the lucky buggers to play Brazil - we will in a 7-2 pasting goal fest, they'll smash the pants off us as if they were made of glass, but will be fun to watch none the less.
So to those out there that feel as though we don't have a chance, chance a $100, win $15k and enjoy the games because I think it will be a cracker, and you're a cracker if you don't think we have a chance.
Go boys!
Enjoy,
C
Monday 7 December 2009
Wednesday 2 December 2009
Over the weekend, I was thinking about my belly, and how I'd like to lose it for my upcoming wedding in June, and I've always been partial to those meal replacement drinks - mainly because I like milk shakes and they're easy, no thought required.
So I stumbled upon an aussie website call www.becominghealthy.com.au and what got my interest was that they had different shakes for different requirements, and also offered free help from their dietitian Bill Cootes.
I'm glad to say I've purchased my shakes, and am now waiting to get them across which should be a couple of days away, but that's not what I wanted to blog about. What I wanted to blog about was something that Bill ran through with e today...
I was talking to Bill about my height weight, what I want to get down to what I'm doing now, etc... and I mentioned that normally I would drink 8 to 10 coffees a day, a lot I know, but I have a habit of drinking it like water, I have my mug by me and just keep drinking away, then I might have one or two when I get home.
So Bill got me to write some figures down and do some calculations.
I have 2 sugars with my coffee, so 16 teaspoons of sugar a day, and there are 6 grams of sugar in a teaspoon = 96 grams of sugar x 4 calories = 384 calories from the sugar in my coffee alone per day.
Now in 1kg of body fat there are 9000 calories. So if you decide to eat someone, don't eat the crackling I guess?
So if you take 384 calories from sugar in my coffee multiplied by 365 days a year = 140,160 calories, divide that by 9000 calories or 1kg of body fat and that's a touch over 15.5kgs, 34 pounds or 2.4 stone in the really old measure.
Now I don't drink that many coffee's on the weekend, because I don't have a pot of coffee ready to be pured like I do in the office here, but I thought it was amazing to think with all the fad diets out there, that something so small a change in my life style could potentially have such an effect on me.
Cool huh?
Enjoy,
C
So I stumbled upon an aussie website call www.becominghealthy.com.au and what got my interest was that they had different shakes for different requirements, and also offered free help from their dietitian Bill Cootes.
I'm glad to say I've purchased my shakes, and am now waiting to get them across which should be a couple of days away, but that's not what I wanted to blog about. What I wanted to blog about was something that Bill ran through with e today...
I was talking to Bill about my height weight, what I want to get down to what I'm doing now, etc... and I mentioned that normally I would drink 8 to 10 coffees a day, a lot I know, but I have a habit of drinking it like water, I have my mug by me and just keep drinking away, then I might have one or two when I get home.
So Bill got me to write some figures down and do some calculations.
I have 2 sugars with my coffee, so 16 teaspoons of sugar a day, and there are 6 grams of sugar in a teaspoon = 96 grams of sugar x 4 calories = 384 calories from the sugar in my coffee alone per day.
Now in 1kg of body fat there are 9000 calories. So if you decide to eat someone, don't eat the crackling I guess?
So if you take 384 calories from sugar in my coffee multiplied by 365 days a year = 140,160 calories, divide that by 9000 calories or 1kg of body fat and that's a touch over 15.5kgs, 34 pounds or 2.4 stone in the really old measure.
Now I don't drink that many coffee's on the weekend, because I don't have a pot of coffee ready to be pured like I do in the office here, but I thought it was amazing to think with all the fad diets out there, that something so small a change in my life style could potentially have such an effect on me.
Cool huh?
Enjoy,
C
Friday 6 November 2009
Yes, it's been confirmed with the purchase of a new Trek, that I have turned... into a cyclist!
So here I am, recently I mentioned that I might have turned... into a cyclist, now I can confirm the change has occurred, with football only a faint memory in my mind I have now found my new sport to pursue, cycling.
I picked up my new Trek today, had it fitted, and got all my goodies that would allow me to be the fastest racer between the ages of 32.25 and 32.33 in the St Kilda East area that in live on the third floor of an apartment with a GF and a really big dog!
OK, so I'm aiming to be the champ within a field range small enough to be just me in it, or on the other hand unlikely to have a gun cyclist fit into the same category, but hey, it's a goal.
Now, if you didn't already guess, I love racing, as long as you can control/drive/ride it, I say race it, and sell the TV rights so I can watch it on a Sunday - and what I really like about the bikes, from a riders perspective, once you've got a bike and a helmet, you're pretty right to go racing.
In the past I'd looked at racing my RS250 that was sitting in the shed, but to be fair, with the cost of tyres, transport, upkeep of the bike, and other associated costs, you're talking quite big money, and that's before you consider being competitive.
So my true goal is now, to build up some miles in the old pasty white legs, lost a few kg's along the way, and hopefully before the end of Q1 for 2010, I will have gotten out there and at least had a race.
Can I also thank Jae from Omara Cycling for his advice with the bike, setup and all the extra goodies, and generally the deal he did for me, it was great, a pleasure to deal with, and the confidence that I can hit the streets with everything I need and armed with some helpful information to make it a good experience.
Jae has also promised to start using our service too, so kids, there might be a holiday afterwards!! Thanks Jae.
(probably not - holidays are for the weak :)
Enjoy and have a great weekend!
C
I picked up my new Trek today, had it fitted, and got all my goodies that would allow me to be the fastest racer between the ages of 32.25 and 32.33 in the St Kilda East area that in live on the third floor of an apartment with a GF and a really big dog!
OK, so I'm aiming to be the champ within a field range small enough to be just me in it, or on the other hand unlikely to have a gun cyclist fit into the same category, but hey, it's a goal.
Now, if you didn't already guess, I love racing, as long as you can control/drive/ride it, I say race it, and sell the TV rights so I can watch it on a Sunday - and what I really like about the bikes, from a riders perspective, once you've got a bike and a helmet, you're pretty right to go racing.
In the past I'd looked at racing my RS250 that was sitting in the shed, but to be fair, with the cost of tyres, transport, upkeep of the bike, and other associated costs, you're talking quite big money, and that's before you consider being competitive.
So my true goal is now, to build up some miles in the old pasty white legs, lost a few kg's along the way, and hopefully before the end of Q1 for 2010, I will have gotten out there and at least had a race.
Can I also thank Jae from Omara Cycling for his advice with the bike, setup and all the extra goodies, and generally the deal he did for me, it was great, a pleasure to deal with, and the confidence that I can hit the streets with everything I need and armed with some helpful information to make it a good experience.
Jae has also promised to start using our service too, so kids, there might be a holiday afterwards!! Thanks Jae.
(probably not - holidays are for the weak :)
Enjoy and have a great weekend!
C
Thursday 5 November 2009
So it's the Spring Carnival, and we're coming towards the end of the big races - and what a set of races it's been.
I must admit, it's great to be in Melbourne when it's all happening - all of a sudden racing experts appear out of the wood work, and people gather in the kitchen here in the office to watch the big races, speaking about trainers, jockeys and horses they hadn't heard of more than two days ago.
Personally I'd like to thank Faint Perfume for getting me back onto the right side of the ledger today - I lost $30 on the Melbourne Cup, and won $40 on the Stakes today (using a free bet :) ), so I'm more than happy.
In fact I think I might throw caution to the wind and put the $10 I'm up on another horse and see what happens!
Go horsies go!!
Enjoy,
C
I must admit, it's great to be in Melbourne when it's all happening - all of a sudden racing experts appear out of the wood work, and people gather in the kitchen here in the office to watch the big races, speaking about trainers, jockeys and horses they hadn't heard of more than two days ago.
Personally I'd like to thank Faint Perfume for getting me back onto the right side of the ledger today - I lost $30 on the Melbourne Cup, and won $40 on the Stakes today (using a free bet :) ), so I'm more than happy.
In fact I think I might throw caution to the wind and put the $10 I'm up on another horse and see what happens!
Go horsies go!!
Enjoy,
C
Monday 2 November 2009
Well done Mark
I just wanted to congratulate Mark Webber on an outstanding year, and an outstanding final race too.
I sat up until 2:00am watching the race, and was enthralled by it - with 9 laps to go Jensen nearly 5 seconds behind, started taking chunks out of Marks lead over him, and on the last lap with Marks car not handling as it had been to hold the world champ off to claim second was amazing.
Considering Jensen is the best over taker in the business, it was a pleasure to watch.
But for Mark who came fourth in the championship I think is a real testament to his driving ability when you consider the following.
During the off season he had a nasty accident where he broke his leg, and was in doubt to even start the season, and was using pain killers whilst driving all the way up to the Spain GP. Then with other things like battling against the double diffuser of Brawn and some issues with reliability to boot, I think he's done an outstanding job, and hope to see him higher in the order next year.
And I still think that his first win in Germany was one of the best I've seen - in the past, and was acknowledged by Vettel yesterday, generally speaking after the first couple of laps that order was generally the order the races finished in, and obviously this year has been different, but for Mark to get a drive through penalty, which I still think was too harsh, and yet still go on to win the race, after effectively pitting once more than his next closest challenger in the race, just shows some great driving skill.
It's only a shame that now, I have one more Moto GP race to watch, but three of my favourite sports are done now for about 6 months, I'm left wondering what I'll be staying up late for now?
Maybe I'll take up reading?
Enjoy,
C
I sat up until 2:00am watching the race, and was enthralled by it - with 9 laps to go Jensen nearly 5 seconds behind, started taking chunks out of Marks lead over him, and on the last lap with Marks car not handling as it had been to hold the world champ off to claim second was amazing.
Considering Jensen is the best over taker in the business, it was a pleasure to watch.
But for Mark who came fourth in the championship I think is a real testament to his driving ability when you consider the following.
During the off season he had a nasty accident where he broke his leg, and was in doubt to even start the season, and was using pain killers whilst driving all the way up to the Spain GP. Then with other things like battling against the double diffuser of Brawn and some issues with reliability to boot, I think he's done an outstanding job, and hope to see him higher in the order next year.
And I still think that his first win in Germany was one of the best I've seen - in the past, and was acknowledged by Vettel yesterday, generally speaking after the first couple of laps that order was generally the order the races finished in, and obviously this year has been different, but for Mark to get a drive through penalty, which I still think was too harsh, and yet still go on to win the race, after effectively pitting once more than his next closest challenger in the race, just shows some great driving skill.
It's only a shame that now, I have one more Moto GP race to watch, but three of my favourite sports are done now for about 6 months, I'm left wondering what I'll be staying up late for now?
Maybe I'll take up reading?
Enjoy,
C
Monday 26 October 2009
I thinking I'm turning?
Wheels that is. Bike wheels.
After years of being super negative towards cyclists, I think I'm about to turn into one - and I'm as shocked as anyone who knows me, and knows my distaste for cyclists.
During the last Tour de France, I must admit I'd really only watched it for the first time because it was on at the same time as the Ashes series in England, and during the breaks, and rained out sessions I'd flick across to SBS and watch the cycling.
To my surprise it was actually enjoyable to watch, I think that Phil Ligget commentating had a lot to do with it, as he explained what was happening so that someone who had no clue, like me, could enjoy without dumbing it down sop much as someone who followed the sport would be turned off by it.
I can also point the finger at Paul, who has an office next to us, and is a big cycling fan and has been trying to rope Skye and I into the sport.
I think lastly, what's tipped the scales is that I'm now getting on in my sporting pursuits and playing footy isn't something that I can do any longer, or really feel the need to play, and that probably goes for all contact sports really - it's just so hard the following day, and walking around like a mummy for 2-3 days recovering isn't a fun thing. But I am looking for something that will help me keep my weight down, and that is competitive, that I can still be competitive in - and since I have my mums legs, I'd probably be a reasonable armature sprinter on the bike.
So I spend the weekend either going around to various bike shops, looking for my first bike, and gear to boot, or looking on the net, I've found three bikes that I thought was OK.
They are;
a Merida from St Kilda Cycles
a MBC from Melbourne Bikes
a Giant from eBay, that the bloke bought some time ago and basically hasn't used.
It is really confusing because I don't know much about bikes, and on the forums everyone has an opinion, and instead of getting an entry level bike, you're pushed into spending several thousands on a bike that you don't know which way to go.
So I think I've made a decision - I'm going to bid on the eBay bike, but if that's no good, then i think the Merida is the way to go. At least the frame is a good one, and if I want to upgrade the running gear I can.
The next step is to get the bike and take it for a spin - now that will be interesting, because I did take one around the car park on the weekend, and an onlooker might have described me as having less balance than a circus bear on a unicycle is probably true - but after a good ride, that should be sorted out.
At least I can still bunny hop - though road bikes now aren't made for it, it will still look cool?
Enjoy,
C
After years of being super negative towards cyclists, I think I'm about to turn into one - and I'm as shocked as anyone who knows me, and knows my distaste for cyclists.
During the last Tour de France, I must admit I'd really only watched it for the first time because it was on at the same time as the Ashes series in England, and during the breaks, and rained out sessions I'd flick across to SBS and watch the cycling.
To my surprise it was actually enjoyable to watch, I think that Phil Ligget commentating had a lot to do with it, as he explained what was happening so that someone who had no clue, like me, could enjoy without dumbing it down sop much as someone who followed the sport would be turned off by it.
I can also point the finger at Paul, who has an office next to us, and is a big cycling fan and has been trying to rope Skye and I into the sport.
I think lastly, what's tipped the scales is that I'm now getting on in my sporting pursuits and playing footy isn't something that I can do any longer, or really feel the need to play, and that probably goes for all contact sports really - it's just so hard the following day, and walking around like a mummy for 2-3 days recovering isn't a fun thing. But I am looking for something that will help me keep my weight down, and that is competitive, that I can still be competitive in - and since I have my mums legs, I'd probably be a reasonable armature sprinter on the bike.
So I spend the weekend either going around to various bike shops, looking for my first bike, and gear to boot, or looking on the net, I've found three bikes that I thought was OK.
They are;
a Merida from St Kilda Cycles
a MBC from Melbourne Bikes
a Giant from eBay, that the bloke bought some time ago and basically hasn't used.
It is really confusing because I don't know much about bikes, and on the forums everyone has an opinion, and instead of getting an entry level bike, you're pushed into spending several thousands on a bike that you don't know which way to go.
So I think I've made a decision - I'm going to bid on the eBay bike, but if that's no good, then i think the Merida is the way to go. At least the frame is a good one, and if I want to upgrade the running gear I can.
The next step is to get the bike and take it for a spin - now that will be interesting, because I did take one around the car park on the weekend, and an onlooker might have described me as having less balance than a circus bear on a unicycle is probably true - but after a good ride, that should be sorted out.
At least I can still bunny hop - though road bikes now aren't made for it, it will still look cool?
Enjoy,
C
Friday 23 October 2009
Talking again about being remarkable...
Following on from my last post about being remarkable, based on what Seth Godin speaks about in his talks and books, I found something remarkable too.
OK, so hands up this happened because I made a mistake, but with that said, it's still quite a remarkable result.
Now our service has a feature that allows you to send a SMS to a virtual number, and that message is then forwarded onto a group - great for sales people on the road to tell everyone about a new sale they got, or for emergency alerts to where it can reduce the time it takes to send out to people that need to know by some margin.
So, I had a school send me an email about it, and I thought, I haven't played with it for a bit so I'd refresh my memory about how it worked, trying things I knew would work to make sure they didn't and vice versa - since working in an IT world, I've learnt about replication, where as coming from an engineering background it was always a matter of getting on to rectify the problem.
So with that I logged into my web account and sent a SMS to a test group that was already in there.
Now, because I generally use my account for testing, I assumed the test group just had my number in it - but it didn't, it contained 125 mobile numbers, whom I have no clue who they were or are.
The service worked great, and all 125 people got the message "this is a test message".
Bugger it, I could have done with not doing that, but there's nothing I can do about it now, I'm sure someone would reply, and I'll just send back a message apologising for it and I had the wrong number.
So over the next hour or two, I checked the inbox a couple of times, nothing, no one replied - odd, but good in a way, so I didn't worry about it again and went on with what I was doing.
It did nag a bit at me, and late in the day I went back to my account and had a look around, oh no, the service alias (which means the originator of the message I sent) was set to a mobile number I didn't recognise?
The next day, Lorretta, the building manager came to see me asking a question about her phone, she'd received so many messages and a number of calls from people asking who she was? Strange, but then it dawned on me that the message I'd sent, I sent it from her number.
It was because a while before she had asked me to SMS someone who wasn't getting the messages from her phone, and so she would get the response I set the messages to come from her number, and then forgot to take it off again.
Is that remarkable? It's a remarkable stuff up, that's what it was, but that's not what it is.
It is remarkable because she received 60 messages back and 5 phone calls - that's a response rate, to a test message, of over 50% - in fact one caller told poor Lorettra that he needed to know what she did because he was so intrigued by the message.
Now of course you can't send out to a marketing list "this is a test message" to trap possible punters to buy your wares, but it does show with the right message, response rate can be massive.
Compared with more traditional methods where a 2% response rate is almost unheard of, 1% is a real win, and average is less than that. In a world where no hears you any more because the noise is so loud, this is what it was like when the idea marketing was born, and you only had to whisper to be heard!
Now that's what I call remarkable!
Enjoy,
C
OK, so hands up this happened because I made a mistake, but with that said, it's still quite a remarkable result.
Now our service has a feature that allows you to send a SMS to a virtual number, and that message is then forwarded onto a group - great for sales people on the road to tell everyone about a new sale they got, or for emergency alerts to where it can reduce the time it takes to send out to people that need to know by some margin.
So, I had a school send me an email about it, and I thought, I haven't played with it for a bit so I'd refresh my memory about how it worked, trying things I knew would work to make sure they didn't and vice versa - since working in an IT world, I've learnt about replication, where as coming from an engineering background it was always a matter of getting on to rectify the problem.
So with that I logged into my web account and sent a SMS to a test group that was already in there.
Now, because I generally use my account for testing, I assumed the test group just had my number in it - but it didn't, it contained 125 mobile numbers, whom I have no clue who they were or are.
The service worked great, and all 125 people got the message "this is a test message".
Bugger it, I could have done with not doing that, but there's nothing I can do about it now, I'm sure someone would reply, and I'll just send back a message apologising for it and I had the wrong number.
So over the next hour or two, I checked the inbox a couple of times, nothing, no one replied - odd, but good in a way, so I didn't worry about it again and went on with what I was doing.
It did nag a bit at me, and late in the day I went back to my account and had a look around, oh no, the service alias (which means the originator of the message I sent) was set to a mobile number I didn't recognise?
The next day, Lorretta, the building manager came to see me asking a question about her phone, she'd received so many messages and a number of calls from people asking who she was? Strange, but then it dawned on me that the message I'd sent, I sent it from her number.
It was because a while before she had asked me to SMS someone who wasn't getting the messages from her phone, and so she would get the response I set the messages to come from her number, and then forgot to take it off again.
Is that remarkable? It's a remarkable stuff up, that's what it was, but that's not what it is.
It is remarkable because she received 60 messages back and 5 phone calls - that's a response rate, to a test message, of over 50% - in fact one caller told poor Lorettra that he needed to know what she did because he was so intrigued by the message.
Now of course you can't send out to a marketing list "this is a test message" to trap possible punters to buy your wares, but it does show with the right message, response rate can be massive.
Compared with more traditional methods where a 2% response rate is almost unheard of, 1% is a real win, and average is less than that. In a world where no hears you any more because the noise is so loud, this is what it was like when the idea marketing was born, and you only had to whisper to be heard!
Now that's what I call remarkable!
Enjoy,
C
Thursday 22 October 2009
Being remarkable....
I’ve started reading a Seth Godin book called the Purple Cow – it’s about 7 years old now, and everything doesn’t just ring bells, it’s a blaring noise in my ear – it’s about noise, and the noise we create being in business.
My favourite business saying is that every business is first and foremost a sales business, we’re in the business of selling.
If you’re an accountant, you’re selling your accountancy services – the provision of the services is part of the deal, but it’s not the deal. If you’re a GP, you’re selling your medical skills, again providing those skills comes later after it’s done, and so on.
Seths book (I hope he doesn’t mind me referring to Seth by his first name) is all about being remarkable – Seth himself wasn’t remarkable to me until recently when one of the directors forwarded a clip online to me from one of his talks, so he must be right!
There are a host of concepts in there that he’s introduced from others, and recommended books by other that I will at some stage try and get myself across them, but I won’t comment on all of it, because then I’d be writing my own book.
Instead I’d like this think about what is remarkable, and how do we show we’re remarkable to our customers?
Well, as Seth says, being remarkable is about being worth someone remarking about you about, i.e. we have a good pizza place not to far from us that Lisa and I get takeaway from occasionally, it’s good but it’s not remarkable because it’s not GREAT and I wouldn’t tell friends about this place, but it is the best around me. I’ve got a GSXR1000 which also I think is good, good fun, but it’s not remarkable, my old R1 that was remarkable.
What really is remarkable, and here’s a nice plug, is my TIVO and my XBOX – both of these two items are remarkable.
After having Foxtel, it was costly junk, they couldn’t sort out whom I was a customer of be it Telstra’s or Foxtels? And I found 90% of the content unwatchable filler – so I guess it too is remarkable.
But for the TIVO, it’s remarkable, because it learns behaviour, what I like to watch, whom I like to watch and goes off and records things accordingly – along with the things I wanted to record aswell. It’s not pay TV so some of the new edgy US stuff isn’t there, but I have a PC and an XBOX and I’ll come to that.
The XBOX is also remarkable, because I don’t have pay TV, I do have a PC with internet that I can download content from, and my XBOX picks it up and lets me watch it on TV.
It’s great, it fills the cap between what I have currently, and what I want that I can have and at a fraction of the cost, that’s remarkable – my daily viewing experience have improved tremendously because of it and I’m always to watch something that I’m in the mood to watch.
Sure, reading the start of the book my mind was racing about how is Esendex remarkable – we do stuff others don’t, we include things others don’t, but it’s boring. But then I started thinking about our value prop, case studies on how we’ve effected customers, and that’s how we’re remarkable, to me at least and that’s important because I’m selling the stuff.
We’re remarkable, because we’ve save so many customers time – enough time to show significant labour costs. We’ve reduced complaints, evened out and raised the bar on customer service levels, reduced operating costs, increased profits and most of all... we’re made our customers remarkable by using us.
And that’s remarkable.
Enjoy,
C
My favourite business saying is that every business is first and foremost a sales business, we’re in the business of selling.
If you’re an accountant, you’re selling your accountancy services – the provision of the services is part of the deal, but it’s not the deal. If you’re a GP, you’re selling your medical skills, again providing those skills comes later after it’s done, and so on.
Seths book (I hope he doesn’t mind me referring to Seth by his first name) is all about being remarkable – Seth himself wasn’t remarkable to me until recently when one of the directors forwarded a clip online to me from one of his talks, so he must be right!
There are a host of concepts in there that he’s introduced from others, and recommended books by other that I will at some stage try and get myself across them, but I won’t comment on all of it, because then I’d be writing my own book.
Instead I’d like this think about what is remarkable, and how do we show we’re remarkable to our customers?
Well, as Seth says, being remarkable is about being worth someone remarking about you about, i.e. we have a good pizza place not to far from us that Lisa and I get takeaway from occasionally, it’s good but it’s not remarkable because it’s not GREAT and I wouldn’t tell friends about this place, but it is the best around me. I’ve got a GSXR1000 which also I think is good, good fun, but it’s not remarkable, my old R1 that was remarkable.
What really is remarkable, and here’s a nice plug, is my TIVO and my XBOX – both of these two items are remarkable.
After having Foxtel, it was costly junk, they couldn’t sort out whom I was a customer of be it Telstra’s or Foxtels? And I found 90% of the content unwatchable filler – so I guess it too is remarkable.
But for the TIVO, it’s remarkable, because it learns behaviour, what I like to watch, whom I like to watch and goes off and records things accordingly – along with the things I wanted to record aswell. It’s not pay TV so some of the new edgy US stuff isn’t there, but I have a PC and an XBOX and I’ll come to that.
The XBOX is also remarkable, because I don’t have pay TV, I do have a PC with internet that I can download content from, and my XBOX picks it up and lets me watch it on TV.
It’s great, it fills the cap between what I have currently, and what I want that I can have and at a fraction of the cost, that’s remarkable – my daily viewing experience have improved tremendously because of it and I’m always to watch something that I’m in the mood to watch.
Sure, reading the start of the book my mind was racing about how is Esendex remarkable – we do stuff others don’t, we include things others don’t, but it’s boring. But then I started thinking about our value prop, case studies on how we’ve effected customers, and that’s how we’re remarkable, to me at least and that’s important because I’m selling the stuff.
We’re remarkable, because we’ve save so many customers time – enough time to show significant labour costs. We’ve reduced complaints, evened out and raised the bar on customer service levels, reduced operating costs, increased profits and most of all... we’re made our customers remarkable by using us.
And that’s remarkable.
Enjoy,
C
Tuesday 20 October 2009
Well done boys
Dear Mark and Casey - well done on your respective GP wins over the weekend in the F1 and MotoGP races respectively.
I thoroughly enjoyed watching the two of you pull out wins, when neither of you were favourites.
Though both seasons are about to come to an end, and you have both managed to be somewhere up the top of the tree, I'm looking forward to next year, where I hope you'll both be world champs!
Well done again.
C
I thoroughly enjoyed watching the two of you pull out wins, when neither of you were favourites.
Though both seasons are about to come to an end, and you have both managed to be somewhere up the top of the tree, I'm looking forward to next year, where I hope you'll both be world champs!
Well done again.
C
Is it really 2009?
For whatever reason last night I was looking at marketing companies in my local area.
There were tonnes of them, in fact I was surprised at how many there actually were - fair enough if I'd been looking in the CBD, but in around me, there were still tonnes.
The only thing that out amazed me were the number of MARKETING companies that didn't have websites!
"A marketing website that doesn't have a name?" I hear you saying, "Get out of town, it can't be possible!" but it's true.
I won't name and shame them - although I could because they obviously don't use the interwebbie thing so they'd never be able to see to it, but one thing I did was wrong was...
As a marketing company that doesn't have a website, I think the following rules should apply;
There were tonnes of them, in fact I was surprised at how many there actually were - fair enough if I'd been looking in the CBD, but in around me, there were still tonnes.
The only thing that out amazed me were the number of MARKETING companies that didn't have websites!
"A marketing website that doesn't have a name?" I hear you saying, "Get out of town, it can't be possible!" but it's true.
I won't name and shame them - although I could because they obviously don't use the interwebbie thing so they'd never be able to see to it, but one thing I did was wrong was...
As a marketing company that doesn't have a website, I think the following rules should apply;
- Marketing companies without a website are not allowed to have the following words in their business name;
- Better Results
- Idea Generators
- Creative
- International
- Enterprise
- Concepts
- Thinking
- Results
- and most of all MARKETING
Call me a snob, but if I was to employ the services of a marketing company, goodness, what message are they sending by snubbing the worlds most powerful marketing tool - the Internet!
Look I'm sure there are many back end marketers, and by that I mean they fill specific voids in the world of marketing, and they may never see the ultimate client, but work on behalf on behalf on behalf of the ultimate client, but I would have thought that if anyone should understand the principle that every company is a sales company, then why would they ignore to use something that ultimately will help their business grow - because as far as I see it you can never be too busy, and a company that isn't growing is dying.
Amazing, truly amazing.
Tuesday 1 September 2009
Mr Sheen good for everything, except floors!
Please, don't get me wrong, Mr Sheen is a great product, and I use it for almost anything - cleaning glass surfaces, great, tables, great, motorbike fairings, great, car interior, great, timber floors - shit house.
If it's an obvious thing to you, then well done - I however made the mistake of cleaning a part of my timber floors with it, and now every time I walk past I'm in danger of doing a hip!
Picture a bigger, fatter version of Bambi on ice (the frozen water stuff, not the amphetamine - although that would be interesting, seeing Bambi on ice at the disco?), and that's a bit like me around the kitchen area now.
Or was it a ploy to keep me out of the kitchen?
If it's an obvious thing to you, then well done - I however made the mistake of cleaning a part of my timber floors with it, and now every time I walk past I'm in danger of doing a hip!
Picture a bigger, fatter version of Bambi on ice (the frozen water stuff, not the amphetamine - although that would be interesting, seeing Bambi on ice at the disco?), and that's a bit like me around the kitchen area now.
Or was it a ploy to keep me out of the kitchen?
Friday 28 August 2009
There's no place like mums
I think the title says it all really, there absolutely is no place like mums place.
This week Lisa had to go to Darwin for work, leaving the dog and I at home by ourselves. Now normally the dog spends one day a week at mum and dads place, because mum insists on looking after her - mainly I think because we don't have any children yet, it's the closest thing to a grandchild from me she has.
Anyway, as soon as mum found out Lisa was away, she insisted that the dog and I come and stay there - and why wouldn't I?
Each morning I wake up to a cooked breakfast - not in bed, but I'm not complaining, and return to a cooked dinner.
It's not that I can't look after myself and the dog, I can, but truth be told I've never been very good cooking for one, mainly because it feels like too much effort to make anything decent if it's just me - although the dog gets feed well.
Ah, yes this is the life, thanks mum, it's been a great week!
C
This week Lisa had to go to Darwin for work, leaving the dog and I at home by ourselves. Now normally the dog spends one day a week at mum and dads place, because mum insists on looking after her - mainly I think because we don't have any children yet, it's the closest thing to a grandchild from me she has.
Anyway, as soon as mum found out Lisa was away, she insisted that the dog and I come and stay there - and why wouldn't I?
Each morning I wake up to a cooked breakfast - not in bed, but I'm not complaining, and return to a cooked dinner.
It's not that I can't look after myself and the dog, I can, but truth be told I've never been very good cooking for one, mainly because it feels like too much effort to make anything decent if it's just me - although the dog gets feed well.
Ah, yes this is the life, thanks mum, it's been a great week!
C
Wednesday 22 July 2009
Can you believe it? I can't...
Two junior football clubs, Diggers Rest and Rockbank, have been banned playing footy this weekend due to a brawl which occurred at an UNDER 12's footy match last weekend??
I believe it was the president of the Diggers Rest club who said that they and their coach's felt as though they had been punished before the investigation had concluded????
Further, it has been alleged that both players (10 and 11 year olds) AND PARENTS were involved!!!
Who are these people???
Banned? Without having all the facts, on face value the clubs should be removed for the rest of the season, and possibly from the league indefinitely. If my kid played for a club and this happened, it'd be the last time he played for them - UNDER 12's.
I'm not being funny, or a bleeding heart, or soft - but these are kids! They're still playing restricted rules for gods sake!
Unbelievable!
Two junior football clubs, Diggers Rest and Rockbank, have been banned playing footy this weekend due to a brawl which occurred at an UNDER 12's footy match last weekend??
I believe it was the president of the Diggers Rest club who said that they and their coach's felt as though they had been punished before the investigation had concluded????
Further, it has been alleged that both players (10 and 11 year olds) AND PARENTS were involved!!!
Who are these people???
Banned? Without having all the facts, on face value the clubs should be removed for the rest of the season, and possibly from the league indefinitely. If my kid played for a club and this happened, it'd be the last time he played for them - UNDER 12's.
I'm not being funny, or a bleeding heart, or soft - but these are kids! They're still playing restricted rules for gods sake!
Unbelievable!
Thursday 9 July 2009
So the 2008/09 financial year and finished, and a new one has begun, and what a time to be alive as we watch the world changing at a faster pace than ever before.
A couple of days ago we heard an uproar from the unions, government oppositions, and surprisingly (or not) the government themselves as the Fair Pay Commission decided against imposing a mandatory pay increase for workers on the minimum wage.
Fair enough the unions and the opposition political parties - the government one I thought was a bit cheap considering if they felt workers should get an increase then they have the power to do so. They don't because it would be economically irresponsible to do so - during times of uncertainty why would a government purposely put pressure of businesses fighting to stay afloat or keep in touch with the break even line? After all the pressure on the economy is worsened by people out of work.
So in an attempt to keep the wolves at bay, I think ultimately it's the right thin to do.
As that kicks off the new FY, what else will be in store?
GM in the US has gone broke, Pacific Brands moved offshore after not so long ago upgrading their plant equipment, Haymes Manuals sell their manufacturing plant and rights. then on the other hand we see the likes of Woolworths renovating old stores, and building new ones. and the head of Macquarrie taking the largest pay cut in Australian corporate history that went into the $20 millions!
Speaking to small business, there's a mixed attitude to the state of play, some are busier than ever and others frightfully quiet.
This business with the recession is some what like the argument of global warming, some say it's real and others don't.
My view is that although technically a recession is two concurrent quarters of negative growth, after years of positing 5% increases, if we posted a negative growth of .5% - aren't we just back where we were 6 months or less ago?
Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying it's no big deal - just not as big a deal as the media would have us believe. I base my belief on the fact that it's us that makes the difference. if we decide that we should squirrel our cash away, and don't buy our Friday night pizza, and our beers to watch the tellie, or don't go to the movies, hold off getting the car serviced until next month, don't get the blocked pipes dealt with - basically stop spending - then it's us that have caused it.
On the other hand (and can be seen in the retail postings) we can see that whilst we're spending at the shops, then the recession doesn't happen.
I'm not saying no company will go broke because they will - even in an economic boom companies fall over and the micro reasons are vast, but at the end of the day they ultimately fall over due to poor management decisions.
The CEO of Woolworths Australia came out and said (in response to Pacific Brands shutting up manufacturing locally and going to Asia) that good management was about managing the business in good times, and placing their business in a position so as to be able to weather the bad times - obviously something PB didn't do.
So what's going to happen? who knows, I'm not a economic guru, and I don't read the papers that much - but I couldn't let that stop me... :)
I foresee over the next 12-18 months, one or two major car manufacturers file for bankruptcy to be picked up by the real big guys like Ta Ta. Rio Tinto to close down operations in China.
In general terms, I think we'll see companies that we never expected to go bust, go bust and the rise of the super company to spring up.
I think there will be a growth in high-tech manufacturing, and a fall in manufacturing activity of day to day consumables.
Where the recession will hit home globally will be in Asia, as they traditionally have higher growth rates than western, more conservative, countries and the fall will hurt the most - no doubt causing a few civil wars throughout the region.
I believe, Victoria at least, will somewhat be buffered by the building activity which is about to be undertaken in bushfire effected areas from Black Saturday which will not only equal but surpass the impact that the K Rudd stimulus package had on the country.
Taking note from the past, when Ash Wednesday occurred, the construction that took place to rebuild there helped during those hard times, and although harder times now, we've got a significantly increased volume of rebuilding to be undertaken which will help everyone, manufacturers, unemployed, retail, you name it.
The biggest thing that I think will be effected is communication, and the way businesses communicate with one another, and internal and external staff - it's a time for reality checks, and opportunities for companies to take an inward look at cost and revenue leakage and for us I think we'll see companies for whom SMS is new to them taking up and feeling the positive benefits of it within their business as costing issues from telco's are relieved some, staff improve on efficiency and customers feel the benefits of quick sharp and to the point communications.
It really is an interesting time to be alive, and yes there will be casualties and hardship, and even I'm not immune personally to that, but as my dad says, a problem is an opportunity for change, and change is exactly what's about to happen for all and sundry.
Have a great day.
Cheers,
C
A couple of days ago we heard an uproar from the unions, government oppositions, and surprisingly (or not) the government themselves as the Fair Pay Commission decided against imposing a mandatory pay increase for workers on the minimum wage.
Fair enough the unions and the opposition political parties - the government one I thought was a bit cheap considering if they felt workers should get an increase then they have the power to do so. They don't because it would be economically irresponsible to do so - during times of uncertainty why would a government purposely put pressure of businesses fighting to stay afloat or keep in touch with the break even line? After all the pressure on the economy is worsened by people out of work.
So in an attempt to keep the wolves at bay, I think ultimately it's the right thin to do.
As that kicks off the new FY, what else will be in store?
GM in the US has gone broke, Pacific Brands moved offshore after not so long ago upgrading their plant equipment, Haymes Manuals sell their manufacturing plant and rights. then on the other hand we see the likes of Woolworths renovating old stores, and building new ones. and the head of Macquarrie taking the largest pay cut in Australian corporate history that went into the $20 millions!
Speaking to small business, there's a mixed attitude to the state of play, some are busier than ever and others frightfully quiet.
This business with the recession is some what like the argument of global warming, some say it's real and others don't.
My view is that although technically a recession is two concurrent quarters of negative growth, after years of positing 5% increases, if we posted a negative growth of .5% - aren't we just back where we were 6 months or less ago?
Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying it's no big deal - just not as big a deal as the media would have us believe. I base my belief on the fact that it's us that makes the difference. if we decide that we should squirrel our cash away, and don't buy our Friday night pizza, and our beers to watch the tellie, or don't go to the movies, hold off getting the car serviced until next month, don't get the blocked pipes dealt with - basically stop spending - then it's us that have caused it.
On the other hand (and can be seen in the retail postings) we can see that whilst we're spending at the shops, then the recession doesn't happen.
I'm not saying no company will go broke because they will - even in an economic boom companies fall over and the micro reasons are vast, but at the end of the day they ultimately fall over due to poor management decisions.
The CEO of Woolworths Australia came out and said (in response to Pacific Brands shutting up manufacturing locally and going to Asia) that good management was about managing the business in good times, and placing their business in a position so as to be able to weather the bad times - obviously something PB didn't do.
So what's going to happen? who knows, I'm not a economic guru, and I don't read the papers that much - but I couldn't let that stop me... :)
I foresee over the next 12-18 months, one or two major car manufacturers file for bankruptcy to be picked up by the real big guys like Ta Ta. Rio Tinto to close down operations in China.
In general terms, I think we'll see companies that we never expected to go bust, go bust and the rise of the super company to spring up.
I think there will be a growth in high-tech manufacturing, and a fall in manufacturing activity of day to day consumables.
Where the recession will hit home globally will be in Asia, as they traditionally have higher growth rates than western, more conservative, countries and the fall will hurt the most - no doubt causing a few civil wars throughout the region.
I believe, Victoria at least, will somewhat be buffered by the building activity which is about to be undertaken in bushfire effected areas from Black Saturday which will not only equal but surpass the impact that the K Rudd stimulus package had on the country.
Taking note from the past, when Ash Wednesday occurred, the construction that took place to rebuild there helped during those hard times, and although harder times now, we've got a significantly increased volume of rebuilding to be undertaken which will help everyone, manufacturers, unemployed, retail, you name it.
The biggest thing that I think will be effected is communication, and the way businesses communicate with one another, and internal and external staff - it's a time for reality checks, and opportunities for companies to take an inward look at cost and revenue leakage and for us I think we'll see companies for whom SMS is new to them taking up and feeling the positive benefits of it within their business as costing issues from telco's are relieved some, staff improve on efficiency and customers feel the benefits of quick sharp and to the point communications.
It really is an interesting time to be alive, and yes there will be casualties and hardship, and even I'm not immune personally to that, but as my dad says, a problem is an opportunity for change, and change is exactly what's about to happen for all and sundry.
Have a great day.
Cheers,
C
Tuesday 16 June 2009
Over the last few weeks, something interesting has begun happening - we've started getting calls from night clubs, and night club promoters who traditionally have take the cheap and cheerful route looking at using the services of our business.
Why?
Good question, when I asked Dean from one of the promoters who called in, it was because the services that they had been using, less than 90% were actually getting to their contact list.
Well if you're paying peanuts, then that's OK isn't - well, it's easy to say yes, but no not really.
I'll give you a hypothetical for a moment.
I'm a promoter for Night Club A - I have a contact list of 2300 members (OK, so we're a boutique bar) that I want to contact once a week.
In order to get a really good price I need to buy up, so I'll buy 60,000 messages which will cover me for six months which I can get from a provider for 8 cents per message.
The problem is I'm having to pay upfront, which means in rough figures, it's costing me another 5% in lost interest that I could have accrued over that period - so on average the messages are actually costing me 8.2 cents.
I'm sending 2300 messages, give or take, each week, but because only 90% at best are getting through, I'm only hitting 2070 contacts.
Because SMS is such a great way to market, I get a great response of 25% - at $20 per head from the door, my business earns $10,340 per week.
However, I'm missing out getting to 130 contacts - which based on the same ratio means I'm missing out on a possible $460 per week in revenue. Well, it's not huge... that's $11,960 in lost revenue within 6 months - nearly $22k over a year!!
If you add the lost opportunity cost to the cost of the messages purchased in the first place, then actually your message costs work out to be closer to 28 cents per message - which is nearly 2.5 times more than what you would have paid if you had of used a local service and bought that many messages in the first place.
Obviously the figures can be pushed around depending on the size of the club, the upshot though is that even at 90% hit rate, which I think is generous, will still always equate the cheap and cheerfuls of this world to end up being more expensive than the local guys!
Have a great day,
Enjoy,
C
Why?
Good question, when I asked Dean from one of the promoters who called in, it was because the services that they had been using, less than 90% were actually getting to their contact list.
Well if you're paying peanuts, then that's OK isn't - well, it's easy to say yes, but no not really.
I'll give you a hypothetical for a moment.
I'm a promoter for Night Club A - I have a contact list of 2300 members (OK, so we're a boutique bar) that I want to contact once a week.
In order to get a really good price I need to buy up, so I'll buy 60,000 messages which will cover me for six months which I can get from a provider for 8 cents per message.
The problem is I'm having to pay upfront, which means in rough figures, it's costing me another 5% in lost interest that I could have accrued over that period - so on average the messages are actually costing me 8.2 cents.
I'm sending 2300 messages, give or take, each week, but because only 90% at best are getting through, I'm only hitting 2070 contacts.
Because SMS is such a great way to market, I get a great response of 25% - at $20 per head from the door, my business earns $10,340 per week.
However, I'm missing out getting to 130 contacts - which based on the same ratio means I'm missing out on a possible $460 per week in revenue. Well, it's not huge... that's $11,960 in lost revenue within 6 months - nearly $22k over a year!!
If you add the lost opportunity cost to the cost of the messages purchased in the first place, then actually your message costs work out to be closer to 28 cents per message - which is nearly 2.5 times more than what you would have paid if you had of used a local service and bought that many messages in the first place.
Obviously the figures can be pushed around depending on the size of the club, the upshot though is that even at 90% hit rate, which I think is generous, will still always equate the cheap and cheerfuls of this world to end up being more expensive than the local guys!
Have a great day,
Enjoy,
C
Wednesday 10 June 2009
Jaw pump!
This is going to sound ridiculous, and it is, but today I felt something that I hadn't encountered before in my known lifetime.
Since Skye and I have started going to the gym, I've bought up a bunch of (legit) supplements from a health store in order to get MASSIVE, and improve on my already amazing human strength.
Anyway, Skye went off to gym at lunch today, so I thought I'd carb up on some lunch before he got back and i went over.
I made up my banana roll (which is mash banana in a roll, for those internationals - p.s. it's the most aussie roll about). The roll itself was a touch chewy, nice and moist on the inside, but the crust took some effort to get through... So, as I'm trying to much my banana roll good bye, I notice that I was starting to get sore muscles in the side of my head.
But the end I was struggling to knock it back - I think for big eaters, it's called hitting the wall, or eating it, not sure, anyway only through shear determination did I manage to finish it.
I have another one, but wasn't prepped as yet, but I just couldn't do it.
If you put your hands on your head, each one just in front of your ear and clench your teeth, you'll feel a muscle on each side tense up - this is what I had!
I checked the mirror, and you wouldn't believe it - I had jaw pump and you could visibly see the muscles on each side blown up, like i was some kind of eating builder? Like a bodybuilder, but instead I specialise in eating things.
If this keeps up, if I'm ever trapped in a cave that's incurred rocks fallen in, I won't be bothered, because these choppers are definitely able to eat their way out!
Since Skye and I have started going to the gym, I've bought up a bunch of (legit) supplements from a health store in order to get MASSIVE, and improve on my already amazing human strength.
Anyway, Skye went off to gym at lunch today, so I thought I'd carb up on some lunch before he got back and i went over.
I made up my banana roll (which is mash banana in a roll, for those internationals - p.s. it's the most aussie roll about). The roll itself was a touch chewy, nice and moist on the inside, but the crust took some effort to get through... So, as I'm trying to much my banana roll good bye, I notice that I was starting to get sore muscles in the side of my head.
But the end I was struggling to knock it back - I think for big eaters, it's called hitting the wall, or eating it, not sure, anyway only through shear determination did I manage to finish it.
I have another one, but wasn't prepped as yet, but I just couldn't do it.
If you put your hands on your head, each one just in front of your ear and clench your teeth, you'll feel a muscle on each side tense up - this is what I had!
I checked the mirror, and you wouldn't believe it - I had jaw pump and you could visibly see the muscles on each side blown up, like i was some kind of eating builder? Like a bodybuilder, but instead I specialise in eating things.
If this keeps up, if I'm ever trapped in a cave that's incurred rocks fallen in, I won't be bothered, because these choppers are definitely able to eat their way out!
Thursday 4 June 2009
SMS that just makes sense
Recently I asked Ann, our Marketing Manager in Nottingham, UK, if we could send out an email to customers giving them idea's on ways people can integrate Business SMS into their business operations that would one, save them money at the end of the day, and two improve on what they are currently doing.
She told me to blog it, so I'm blogging it.
Please note that these figures are approximate averaged numbers, and not exact, but gives a good guide to how simply you could be improving you middle line, and therefore the bottom line.
I've taken A Business as our example, and A Business makes at least 10 calls per day feeding small bits of information to stakeholders whether it be about appointments for sales staff, sending phone messages through, delivery notes and pick up acknowledgements, sending business data to the board, etc...
Using Telstra as my example network with whom A Business have their phone lines with, they are charged a flag rate to mobiles of 39 cents + GST, then depending on whether it's on net (with Telstra) or off net (not with Telstra) will then depend on how much they are charged there after.
Now for a bit of generalisation, if Sandra who is the fictional admin/receptionist for A Business needed to make on average 10 calls a day passing on the above mentioned information, then the average cost to the business for the phone bill would be $1.44 per call (includes flag rate, and then xxx timed charges) times the 10 calls made, the business is being charged $14.40 + GST per day.
Over a 5 day week, that's $72.00 + GST per week, that's $312.00 + GST per month and $3744 + GST per annum.
Again, I've taken these figures straight off the Telstra site, and if there are better plans, then I didn't see them.
Now, according to various websites I found out that an average admin person earns between $39,000 and $58,000 per annum plus super - so to average it out (and to be fair Sandra's pretty good at what she does and is appreciated by her boss) Sandra earns $48,000 per annum (forget about the super for the moment).
So Sandra makes 10 times 5 mintue calls per day - that's 50 minutes spent on the phone, which is fine.
Based on a 37.5 hour week, Sandra earns $24.62 per hour, so 50 minutes of her time equals $20.51.
Each day A Business spends $20.51 for Sandra making calls, extrapolated out, that's $102.55 per week, $444.38 per month, and $5332.60 per annum.
let's combine the two major costs for the moment.
It costs A Business $34.91 per day for Sandra to make these 10 calls, $174.55 per week, $756.38 per month and $9076.60 per annum.
More than you thought I bet!
So, down to business, what would it cost if those messages were sent out via SMS?
The average cost of an SMS from Esendex is 15 cents + GST (because I've been talking averages everywhere else), so 10 SMS's at 15 cents per day is $1.50, over a 5 day week that's $7.50, a month it's $32.50 and over a year that equates to $390.00 + GST.
For argument sake, and the fact I'm feeling generous, I'm going to say it takes Sandra 1 minute to send a single SMS (because she has unusually large fingers for a person of her size and is a slightly slower typist than you would otherwise expect) via Email SMS - it wouldn't take you that long, and I'd argue really if it would take 30 seconds to sent a simple message out, but we'll say 1 minute.
Based on the same figures as above, if Sandra sends 10 SMS messages, which takes her 1 minute to send each, so 10 minutes in total, in terms of what A Business pays her only $4.10 per day to send the messages, $20.51 per week, $88.89 per month which works out to be $1066.67 per year.
Combining the two figure together again, that's $5.60 per day, $28.00 per week, $121.33 per month and $1456.00 per annum.
In this typical example of how A Business would use SMS within their business, the cost savings are like this.
Per day - $29.31
Per week - $146.55
Per month - $635.05
Per annum - $7620.60
** The cost savings don't take into account the GST portion, and ancillary costs associated with staff, power, rent, etc...
It's amazing how something so simple, can be so effective, but I've only shown you the cost saving side, and I did mention about how it would improve on what they are already doing.
So....
Sandra call A Customer about their goods, letting them know that they're ready to be collected, but the person she wants to speak to is on the phone, she holds for a bit, then decides to leave a message with the person on the other end - but they got busy, and forgot to pass the message on straight away.
She then called Another Customer, and let them know that their goods were actually delivered by their driver 5 minutes ago, however John from Another Customer was in the factory working on a break down and not at his desk when the call came in and Sandra left a message - he was furious because he needed the goods for the breakdown and because he wasn't alerted he was really frustrated and took it out on the sales rep from A Business.
The great thing about SMS is the ability to get delivery receipts when the handset receives the message, it's logged by time, date, user and so on, and is kept for prosperity.
Speaking with Roy from R J Sanderson and Associates one time, he said to me that to ask his staff to not use SMS anymore would be like asking them to not use email either, because it was a part of their business systems - his staff preferred it because it meant allowing them to be more efficient and get information across to customers quicker, easier and with the exact details required, and the customers like it because it's direct to them, personal, they themselves can keep it for reference later and all in all feel like they are dealing with a professional outfit.
I think over the next few weeks, I'm going to try and give different examples of using Business SMS with an array of different businesses to show both the cost and customer service benefits of using it within your business.
have a great day, and hope you enjoyed the blog.
C
She told me to blog it, so I'm blogging it.
Please note that these figures are approximate averaged numbers, and not exact, but gives a good guide to how simply you could be improving you middle line, and therefore the bottom line.
I've taken A Business as our example, and A Business makes at least 10 calls per day feeding small bits of information to stakeholders whether it be about appointments for sales staff, sending phone messages through, delivery notes and pick up acknowledgements, sending business data to the board, etc...
Using Telstra as my example network with whom A Business have their phone lines with, they are charged a flag rate to mobiles of 39 cents + GST, then depending on whether it's on net (with Telstra) or off net (not with Telstra) will then depend on how much they are charged there after.
Now for a bit of generalisation, if Sandra who is the fictional admin/receptionist for A Business needed to make on average 10 calls a day passing on the above mentioned information, then the average cost to the business for the phone bill would be $1.44 per call (includes flag rate, and then xxx timed charges) times the 10 calls made, the business is being charged $14.40 + GST per day.
Over a 5 day week, that's $72.00 + GST per week, that's $312.00 + GST per month and $3744 + GST per annum.
Again, I've taken these figures straight off the Telstra site, and if there are better plans, then I didn't see them.
Now, according to various websites I found out that an average admin person earns between $39,000 and $58,000 per annum plus super - so to average it out (and to be fair Sandra's pretty good at what she does and is appreciated by her boss) Sandra earns $48,000 per annum (forget about the super for the moment).
So Sandra makes 10 times 5 mintue calls per day - that's 50 minutes spent on the phone, which is fine.
Based on a 37.5 hour week, Sandra earns $24.62 per hour, so 50 minutes of her time equals $20.51.
Each day A Business spends $20.51 for Sandra making calls, extrapolated out, that's $102.55 per week, $444.38 per month, and $5332.60 per annum.
let's combine the two major costs for the moment.
It costs A Business $34.91 per day for Sandra to make these 10 calls, $174.55 per week, $756.38 per month and $9076.60 per annum.
More than you thought I bet!
So, down to business, what would it cost if those messages were sent out via SMS?
The average cost of an SMS from Esendex is 15 cents + GST (because I've been talking averages everywhere else), so 10 SMS's at 15 cents per day is $1.50, over a 5 day week that's $7.50, a month it's $32.50 and over a year that equates to $390.00 + GST.
For argument sake, and the fact I'm feeling generous, I'm going to say it takes Sandra 1 minute to send a single SMS (because she has unusually large fingers for a person of her size and is a slightly slower typist than you would otherwise expect) via Email SMS - it wouldn't take you that long, and I'd argue really if it would take 30 seconds to sent a simple message out, but we'll say 1 minute.
Based on the same figures as above, if Sandra sends 10 SMS messages, which takes her 1 minute to send each, so 10 minutes in total, in terms of what A Business pays her only $4.10 per day to send the messages, $20.51 per week, $88.89 per month which works out to be $1066.67 per year.
Combining the two figure together again, that's $5.60 per day, $28.00 per week, $121.33 per month and $1456.00 per annum.
In this typical example of how A Business would use SMS within their business, the cost savings are like this.
Per day - $29.31
Per week - $146.55
Per month - $635.05
Per annum - $7620.60
** The cost savings don't take into account the GST portion, and ancillary costs associated with staff, power, rent, etc...
It's amazing how something so simple, can be so effective, but I've only shown you the cost saving side, and I did mention about how it would improve on what they are already doing.
So....
Sandra call A Customer about their goods, letting them know that they're ready to be collected, but the person she wants to speak to is on the phone, she holds for a bit, then decides to leave a message with the person on the other end - but they got busy, and forgot to pass the message on straight away.
She then called Another Customer, and let them know that their goods were actually delivered by their driver 5 minutes ago, however John from Another Customer was in the factory working on a break down and not at his desk when the call came in and Sandra left a message - he was furious because he needed the goods for the breakdown and because he wasn't alerted he was really frustrated and took it out on the sales rep from A Business.
The great thing about SMS is the ability to get delivery receipts when the handset receives the message, it's logged by time, date, user and so on, and is kept for prosperity.
Speaking with Roy from R J Sanderson and Associates one time, he said to me that to ask his staff to not use SMS anymore would be like asking them to not use email either, because it was a part of their business systems - his staff preferred it because it meant allowing them to be more efficient and get information across to customers quicker, easier and with the exact details required, and the customers like it because it's direct to them, personal, they themselves can keep it for reference later and all in all feel like they are dealing with a professional outfit.
I think over the next few weeks, I'm going to try and give different examples of using Business SMS with an array of different businesses to show both the cost and customer service benefits of using it within your business.
have a great day, and hope you enjoyed the blog.
C
Two sayings care of the aussie Esendex boys
It was a funny thing, that last night I said something to Lisa which actually was quite deep and could be applied to behavioural avenue one could take, to come in this morning and have Skye show that the Marketing Manager from Financial Synergy has quoted him on their website!
Skye's saying was...
"If you always do what you've always done, you'll always get what you've always got"
It about running in circles and breaking the mould to achieve something else, or more... It was born from a conversation about their marketing strategies and how they always sends the same type of gifts along with new products, etc...
Mine's a little different, and born from something more a bit more obscure...
"Sometimes you need to push things away from you a little bit, in order to get them closer"
Deep isn't it? It does sound a bit familiar, not the exact words - but until someone can point out the same saying that was obviously published earlier than this, then I'm afraid my saying stands.
It came up when I was lying on the couch and reached across to the coffee table to grab Lisa's laptop, and I had to push it away a bit so I could get my fingers under it for grip.
I think it's up there with the way Newton came up with his laws of gravity, don't you think?
Enjoy,
C
Skye's saying was...
"If you always do what you've always done, you'll always get what you've always got"
It about running in circles and breaking the mould to achieve something else, or more... It was born from a conversation about their marketing strategies and how they always sends the same type of gifts along with new products, etc...
Mine's a little different, and born from something more a bit more obscure...
"Sometimes you need to push things away from you a little bit, in order to get them closer"
Deep isn't it? It does sound a bit familiar, not the exact words - but until someone can point out the same saying that was obviously published earlier than this, then I'm afraid my saying stands.
It came up when I was lying on the couch and reached across to the coffee table to grab Lisa's laptop, and I had to push it away a bit so I could get my fingers under it for grip.
I think it's up there with the way Newton came up with his laws of gravity, don't you think?
Enjoy,
C
Tuesday 2 June 2009
Best dinner in the world!
Last night I got home, rest my weary legs on the couch and watched the last bit of who wants to be a millionaire, when I was pleasantly surprised by Lisa giving me a choice of three different possibilities for dinner.
The first was spag bol (which I nearly jumped at straight away), the second was a pumpkin risotto (keep going...) or pancakes - pancakes please!
Just to make sure I asked Lisa what the options were again, yep, pancakes were the winner - actually I shouldn't call them pancakes, they're really crepes which I reckon are even better.
I love spag bol, but I have to say nothing beats crepes for dinner, sure it's not all that great for you, and you probably couldn't live on them as the main part of your diet, but for a once in a year thing, it's the best dinner you could have!
I must admit, I had so many that when I was sitting on the couch eating them, that I noticed the plate was really heavy and my wrist was getting sore holding up the weight of lots of pancakes!
Thanks Lisa, you're the best!
The first was spag bol (which I nearly jumped at straight away), the second was a pumpkin risotto (keep going...) or pancakes - pancakes please!
Just to make sure I asked Lisa what the options were again, yep, pancakes were the winner - actually I shouldn't call them pancakes, they're really crepes which I reckon are even better.
I love spag bol, but I have to say nothing beats crepes for dinner, sure it's not all that great for you, and you probably couldn't live on them as the main part of your diet, but for a once in a year thing, it's the best dinner you could have!
I must admit, I had so many that when I was sitting on the couch eating them, that I noticed the plate was really heavy and my wrist was getting sore holding up the weight of lots of pancakes!
Thanks Lisa, you're the best!
Monday 1 June 2009
The other night Lisa I was searching through Ebay looking at cars, just because - we've had one car between us for the last couple of years, and I ride my GSXR to and from work each day, which doesn't bother me, but there are some days that I think to myself I'd prefer to be driving in rather than riding.
Anyway she made a comment about a car I had and how I shouldn't have gotten rid of it - although whilst I had she complained about it.
It got me thinking, I've had a couple of cars, and out of the cars I've owned (work cars are excluded from this) which one was my favourite?
Well, to start with I had an old TC Gemini which was fun as a first car, 4 speed manual, and revved it's little head off - until it was written off in a head on.
Then came an early 80's Mazda 626 - this was really cool at the time, 2lt 4 speed manual, so quiet I had to wind the window down to hear if it was on. It was really quite square and low which I really liked, and riving it was good.
Then onto the VK Calais - this was very cool, dark bronze over silver trim with a Group 1 grill and Centreline mags, digital dash and all leather interior. It was only the 6 and not the V8, but still cool.
From there it was back to a TD Gemini which had been worked (on the inside only), it had a 2lt engine from a Rodeo, with Webber carbies, mild cam, 5 speed manual, lowered and 5 slot mags - this thing flew. it was like putting a F1 engine into a go kart. I bought it off a guy who had done it all up, and got it for a steal - following advise from a boss once upon a time of if you want a done up car, buy one that someone else has already done, or get your ate to fix up his car and drive that. If you dropped the clutch in this thing it flicked out sideways, and once it got grip you were off. An amazing little car.
Then there were the Falcon utes, two of them, one a XF ute and a XG - they look pretty much the same too! Reliable, kind of, good for getting out of having to be the nominated driver too!
More recently came the 1976 XJ6 long wheel base - this was great, full eclectics, independent rear suspension, all leather interior with wood grain highlights. When you drove it you had to open the vents and have the windows open a bit because of the smell of fuel made you light headed. It also struggled starting quite often, leaving deposits on the spark plugs, changing the dizzy was a two day job which involved about 5/6 guys, but it was beautiful, and once going (as long as you only wanted to cruise) the drive was great, like being out on port phillip in a nice little cruiser boat.
Then most recently is the big 5.8lt Berlina - every time you put your foot down, you need to plant three trees. It's great, all the mod cons you could want, of course very reliable (I think the only trouble I really had with it was a flat battery caused by having the GPS constantly plugged in) and comfy on those long drives.
So which one was my favourite? Definite the Jag - race breed, once the auto got into gear it could go, the engine sounded awesome, and it was stylish with the shiny cat leaping off the front, this is the one car I should have tried to keep - although with it's fuel vapours in the cabin, massive oil leaks, leaking out as quickly as you put the oil in, the way the fuel gauge didn't quite work, and that you couldn't switch from one fuel tank to the other whilst driving was a bugger, for getting about the change in balance to the car (good idea at the time, but not in practice), the fact that starting it was a lucky dip and getting parts for the roadworthy that never quite happened was a nightmare, it was still cool, and would definitely look at buying one again!
Cheers,
C
Anyway she made a comment about a car I had and how I shouldn't have gotten rid of it - although whilst I had she complained about it.
It got me thinking, I've had a couple of cars, and out of the cars I've owned (work cars are excluded from this) which one was my favourite?
Well, to start with I had an old TC Gemini which was fun as a first car, 4 speed manual, and revved it's little head off - until it was written off in a head on.
Then came an early 80's Mazda 626 - this was really cool at the time, 2lt 4 speed manual, so quiet I had to wind the window down to hear if it was on. It was really quite square and low which I really liked, and riving it was good.
Then onto the VK Calais - this was very cool, dark bronze over silver trim with a Group 1 grill and Centreline mags, digital dash and all leather interior. It was only the 6 and not the V8, but still cool.
From there it was back to a TD Gemini which had been worked (on the inside only), it had a 2lt engine from a Rodeo, with Webber carbies, mild cam, 5 speed manual, lowered and 5 slot mags - this thing flew. it was like putting a F1 engine into a go kart. I bought it off a guy who had done it all up, and got it for a steal - following advise from a boss once upon a time of if you want a done up car, buy one that someone else has already done, or get your ate to fix up his car and drive that. If you dropped the clutch in this thing it flicked out sideways, and once it got grip you were off. An amazing little car.
Then there were the Falcon utes, two of them, one a XF ute and a XG - they look pretty much the same too! Reliable, kind of, good for getting out of having to be the nominated driver too!
More recently came the 1976 XJ6 long wheel base - this was great, full eclectics, independent rear suspension, all leather interior with wood grain highlights. When you drove it you had to open the vents and have the windows open a bit because of the smell of fuel made you light headed. It also struggled starting quite often, leaving deposits on the spark plugs, changing the dizzy was a two day job which involved about 5/6 guys, but it was beautiful, and once going (as long as you only wanted to cruise) the drive was great, like being out on port phillip in a nice little cruiser boat.
Then most recently is the big 5.8lt Berlina - every time you put your foot down, you need to plant three trees. It's great, all the mod cons you could want, of course very reliable (I think the only trouble I really had with it was a flat battery caused by having the GPS constantly plugged in) and comfy on those long drives.
So which one was my favourite? Definite the Jag - race breed, once the auto got into gear it could go, the engine sounded awesome, and it was stylish with the shiny cat leaping off the front, this is the one car I should have tried to keep - although with it's fuel vapours in the cabin, massive oil leaks, leaking out as quickly as you put the oil in, the way the fuel gauge didn't quite work, and that you couldn't switch from one fuel tank to the other whilst driving was a bugger, for getting about the change in balance to the car (good idea at the time, but not in practice), the fact that starting it was a lucky dip and getting parts for the roadworthy that never quite happened was a nightmare, it was still cool, and would definitely look at buying one again!
Cheers,
C
Friday 29 May 2009
'ish is the best!
There's no better vocal add on than 'ish - 'ish is one of those sounds that let you say hand on heart what the other person wants to hear without lying!
For example, last night Lisa went to bed early (as usual), and as she was getting into bed, she said with hope in her voice "are you going to bed now too?" - to which I replied "yes....'ish".
Yeah, the 'ish is a bit more quiet than the yes bit, but all in all it keeps everyone happy - Lisa will be asleep in about 5 minutes and won't notice that I'm not there until much later when I finish up playing Nascar '08 - which by the way has to be the hardest racing game on XBox ever, I'm really struggling to get a feel for these cars - and I'm happy because I've had my fill of teenage entertainment!
But it works in just about all situations - will you do this, that, come here or there with me, etc... tag 'ish on the end of your answer and all will be happy days!
Enjoy...
C
For example, last night Lisa went to bed early (as usual), and as she was getting into bed, she said with hope in her voice "are you going to bed now too?" - to which I replied "yes....'ish".
Yeah, the 'ish is a bit more quiet than the yes bit, but all in all it keeps everyone happy - Lisa will be asleep in about 5 minutes and won't notice that I'm not there until much later when I finish up playing Nascar '08 - which by the way has to be the hardest racing game on XBox ever, I'm really struggling to get a feel for these cars - and I'm happy because I've had my fill of teenage entertainment!
But it works in just about all situations - will you do this, that, come here or there with me, etc... tag 'ish on the end of your answer and all will be happy days!
Enjoy...
C
Tuesday 26 May 2009
OP or not OP
Over the summer I thought long and hard about whether I would play one last season of footy - I'm turning 32 soon, and although when I was 23 playing I'd look at the old blokes still going and think, geez, they're a bit old to be still playing, and now I've fallen into the same category.
I thought, well if I'm going to go around one more time, I'd invest in getting my body to the point where I could perform at my best, with really only the amount of time I could work on it being a real limitation.
Hours of physio, orthodics, specialised training, and I was well on my way - I didn't do any running for three months and still managed to get into the 7's in my beep test, which would have gotten me into the army or the fire brigade, so I was fairly happy.
That was until it happened, I started getting a pain in my right groin, which developed into server pain, so much so that I couldn't run or kick or anything.
Initially I was diagnosed with an over active adductor, but the training I was given wasn't helping, in fact it was getting worse. I saw the club physio who diagnosed it as ostititus pubis - and inflamation of around the groin and lower abs where they attach to the pelvis - yikes, this finishes careers, and at my age I'm pretty much done.
I went through and mostly stuck to the regime I was given, and again not much was happening - two things helped, anti-inflamitories and strapping the old pelvis and groins.
So recently joining a gym, I thought as part of my work outs I'd find some exercises for my hip - bingo. One exercise I hang off a bar raising my knees to my chest, and the other I knee down with a couple of dumbbells and stand up on my knees. Guess what, each time I do it, the pain I was feeling goes - so what is it? beats the hell out of me, I'm just glad I stumbled across it and it works!
I thought, well if I'm going to go around one more time, I'd invest in getting my body to the point where I could perform at my best, with really only the amount of time I could work on it being a real limitation.
Hours of physio, orthodics, specialised training, and I was well on my way - I didn't do any running for three months and still managed to get into the 7's in my beep test, which would have gotten me into the army or the fire brigade, so I was fairly happy.
That was until it happened, I started getting a pain in my right groin, which developed into server pain, so much so that I couldn't run or kick or anything.
Initially I was diagnosed with an over active adductor, but the training I was given wasn't helping, in fact it was getting worse. I saw the club physio who diagnosed it as ostititus pubis - and inflamation of around the groin and lower abs where they attach to the pelvis - yikes, this finishes careers, and at my age I'm pretty much done.
I went through and mostly stuck to the regime I was given, and again not much was happening - two things helped, anti-inflamitories and strapping the old pelvis and groins.
So recently joining a gym, I thought as part of my work outs I'd find some exercises for my hip - bingo. One exercise I hang off a bar raising my knees to my chest, and the other I knee down with a couple of dumbbells and stand up on my knees. Guess what, each time I do it, the pain I was feeling goes - so what is it? beats the hell out of me, I'm just glad I stumbled across it and it works!
Monday 25 May 2009
Thanks Recruitment Systems!
(At the risk of sounding American) can I get a big shout out for Recruitment Systems.
We have a shared customer who wants to integrate our service into their CRM.
Recruitment Systems already have four other providers as recommended, none of which are Esendex (yet), and initally when I enquired to get a look at a demo, I couldn't. So when I called today I was kind of thinking that in fact they'd be in the narky side because we weren't yet preferred providers.
I called, and spoke with Rob, who to my surpirse was the complete opposite, and it was refreshing to not have any hurdles thrown up, and instead, it was "let's get this customer up and running, I'll get a support guy to give you a call at some stage today".
And a little while later, and to be fair sooner than expected, I got my call and we were away.
So thanks guys, you've made my life a little easier, and it's good to know there's another business out there who believes in good customer service!
Cheers,
C
We have a shared customer who wants to integrate our service into their CRM.
Recruitment Systems already have four other providers as recommended, none of which are Esendex (yet), and initally when I enquired to get a look at a demo, I couldn't. So when I called today I was kind of thinking that in fact they'd be in the narky side because we weren't yet preferred providers.
I called, and spoke with Rob, who to my surpirse was the complete opposite, and it was refreshing to not have any hurdles thrown up, and instead, it was "let's get this customer up and running, I'll get a support guy to give you a call at some stage today".
And a little while later, and to be fair sooner than expected, I got my call and we were away.
So thanks guys, you've made my life a little easier, and it's good to know there's another business out there who believes in good customer service!
Cheers,
C
Thursday 21 May 2009
As time goes by, the world of SMS becomes more and more interesting.
With Telstra on the move set to change the landscape of the market locally - people complaining on forums about the big telcos being greedy, it's interesting.
Over the last two years or so, we have seen companies draw a line in the sand, pick their mark and go for it.
SMS global was at the Cebit trade show and according to reports, used models to run around the place promoting their business - it'll be interesting when Telstra shut down their routes, and what will happen to them then - surely they will have enough traffic to justify good pricing locally, but because of the off net rates, it will be interesting to say the least. if they give me a call, we might help them out.
We have Message-Media who are now more advertising company than anything, who have set sail to try and play catch up with channel 9 owned Fifth Finger and Belong - who developed into an advertising and general development company long ago.
So what about us, where are we sitting, with new bits and pieces due out in the short term to keep people talking about us at the water cooler, the future is very interesting.
it's a type of psyche to identify where we belong in the lives of our customers, and the role that we should be playing that brings great benefit and value to those that choose to do business with us.
Without giving the game away, this big boat are pulling out from the docks, and will no doubt be heading off into a different direct with a flurry of ideas and concepts, they will be whittled down into a clear and concise focus as we pull away from what you might expect are our traditional competitors.
definitely interesting times ahead.!
With Telstra on the move set to change the landscape of the market locally - people complaining on forums about the big telcos being greedy, it's interesting.
Over the last two years or so, we have seen companies draw a line in the sand, pick their mark and go for it.
SMS global was at the Cebit trade show and according to reports, used models to run around the place promoting their business - it'll be interesting when Telstra shut down their routes, and what will happen to them then - surely they will have enough traffic to justify good pricing locally, but because of the off net rates, it will be interesting to say the least. if they give me a call, we might help them out.
We have Message-Media who are now more advertising company than anything, who have set sail to try and play catch up with channel 9 owned Fifth Finger and Belong - who developed into an advertising and general development company long ago.
So what about us, where are we sitting, with new bits and pieces due out in the short term to keep people talking about us at the water cooler, the future is very interesting.
it's a type of psyche to identify where we belong in the lives of our customers, and the role that we should be playing that brings great benefit and value to those that choose to do business with us.
Without giving the game away, this big boat are pulling out from the docks, and will no doubt be heading off into a different direct with a flurry of ideas and concepts, they will be whittled down into a clear and concise focus as we pull away from what you might expect are our traditional competitors.
definitely interesting times ahead.!
Wednesday 20 May 2009
Lou Richards, a ledgend of the game?
This is the question that running around Melbourne talk back radio, regarding Lou Richards not being made a legend of the game.
When I was a kid, on Sunday mornings watching the footy wrap ups, Lous handball competition, I think I was one of many kids that learnt to appreciate and love the game through Lou. And there's no doubt he's a legend for what he did for the game since finishing his career at Collingwood a thousand years ago.
The problem that I think most people have, including myself was that we're actually far too young to know what kind of player he was - I know that my old grandfather didn't much care for him, being a staunch saints man himself.
When I first heard he wasn't being inducted as a legend of the game, I was appalled, at first, then I guess the thing that first got my mind going in the opposite direction was that I heard that Collingwood didn't even include him in their team of the century - so when their club president gets on the radio to make comments about it, it's pretty surprising seeing as he didn't seem so supportive at the time of drumming up the list for Collingwood?
I guess then you look at his playing record, and there's nothing that really stands out as being a champion, and when considered against players who are already inducted, you've got to be joking.
So far the list reads;
Darrel Baldock
Ron Barassi
Kevin Bartlett - god bless you Uncle Kev
Haydn Bunton
Roy Cazaly
John Coleman
Gordon Coventry
Jack Dyer
Polly Farmer
Peter Hudson
Bill Hutchinson
Alex Jesaulenko
Jock McHale
John Nicholls
Bob Pratt
Dick Renyonds
Barrie Robran
Bobby Skilton
Norm Smith
Ias Stewart
Teddy Whitten
And if you can say Lou Richards, based on playing ability, is up there with these guys with a straight face, then he should be in, but until that happens you've got to be joking!
Have a great day!
When I was a kid, on Sunday mornings watching the footy wrap ups, Lous handball competition, I think I was one of many kids that learnt to appreciate and love the game through Lou. And there's no doubt he's a legend for what he did for the game since finishing his career at Collingwood a thousand years ago.
The problem that I think most people have, including myself was that we're actually far too young to know what kind of player he was - I know that my old grandfather didn't much care for him, being a staunch saints man himself.
When I first heard he wasn't being inducted as a legend of the game, I was appalled, at first, then I guess the thing that first got my mind going in the opposite direction was that I heard that Collingwood didn't even include him in their team of the century - so when their club president gets on the radio to make comments about it, it's pretty surprising seeing as he didn't seem so supportive at the time of drumming up the list for Collingwood?
I guess then you look at his playing record, and there's nothing that really stands out as being a champion, and when considered against players who are already inducted, you've got to be joking.
So far the list reads;
Darrel Baldock
Ron Barassi
Kevin Bartlett - god bless you Uncle Kev
Haydn Bunton
Roy Cazaly
John Coleman
Gordon Coventry
Jack Dyer
Polly Farmer
Peter Hudson
Bill Hutchinson
Alex Jesaulenko
Jock McHale
John Nicholls
Bob Pratt
Dick Renyonds
Barrie Robran
Bobby Skilton
Norm Smith
Ias Stewart
Teddy Whitten
And if you can say Lou Richards, based on playing ability, is up there with these guys with a straight face, then he should be in, but until that happens you've got to be joking!
Have a great day!
Tuesday 19 May 2009
Arming the guns!
Well Skye and I have been speaking about joining a gym for ages now, with the choice being either the Brighton Baths, or One.
The baths were cool, a tiny little gym that looked out into Port Phillip Bay, or One, which is literally across the road, but no view to speak of.
We ended up going with One, for me it was because it's across the road so you don't lose any time getting there - and whilst riding a my GSXR is cool, fast and cool, trying to find a place for my helmet and jacket, then having to put it on and off, ah, too difficult.
For Skye it was the fact that they did a two for one deal for six months! Bless him.
So now it's time for goal setting.
Skye wants to put on a few kilo's of bulk on his skinny little frame - my goal? Um, I'm not sure, but I'm pretty sure it will involve being able to lift more than Skye at all times!
Stay tuned for updates - we may even get some pics going!
The baths were cool, a tiny little gym that looked out into Port Phillip Bay, or One, which is literally across the road, but no view to speak of.
We ended up going with One, for me it was because it's across the road so you don't lose any time getting there - and whilst riding a my GSXR is cool, fast and cool, trying to find a place for my helmet and jacket, then having to put it on and off, ah, too difficult.
For Skye it was the fact that they did a two for one deal for six months! Bless him.
So now it's time for goal setting.
Skye wants to put on a few kilo's of bulk on his skinny little frame - my goal? Um, I'm not sure, but I'm pretty sure it will involve being able to lift more than Skye at all times!
Stay tuned for updates - we may even get some pics going!
Wednesday 13 May 2009
Sense of humour doesn't alway work
I'm glad I'm not a comedian, because I don't think there's anything worse than sliding in a small amount of humour only to get silence coming back through the phone line - the thought of having that amongst a room full of people would be absolutely terrifying!
I slipped in a crack about having to kick the monkey that turns the wheels of my PC today (which is a bit of a dad joke, even though to my knowledge I'm not a dad) and I got donuts!
Each time I speak to this person I forget that she doesn't find me in anyway the least bit amusing, and actually get on better when I display an a-type personality (i.e. none to speak of) - which doesn't do my confidence any good.
luckily I have bundles of the stuff - so much so, that the government has issued a pricing floor on it, so it can only be devalued by a certain amount!
I slipped in a crack about having to kick the monkey that turns the wheels of my PC today (which is a bit of a dad joke, even though to my knowledge I'm not a dad) and I got donuts!
Each time I speak to this person I forget that she doesn't find me in anyway the least bit amusing, and actually get on better when I display an a-type personality (i.e. none to speak of) - which doesn't do my confidence any good.
luckily I have bundles of the stuff - so much so, that the government has issued a pricing floor on it, so it can only be devalued by a certain amount!
Tuesday 12 May 2009
multibolg!!
this is a multiblog - a bit like a multibet, but not as good!
Last night Lisa gave me an idea for a possible invention that removed the potential for men not to get in trouble from their other halves for not paying attention - TIVO for men, which allows us to go back in conversation to pick up things we didn't want to listen to in the first place.
This morning I came into the office the to be greeted by a thank you message from Meri at Vodafone, thanking me for my feedback I gave her eval. She said to me that it was funny that someone who only knew of her last year had more insight about her than people she's worked with for years. - what can I say, I'm perceptive.
Also got an email from our Accountants today regarding property investment, and how the first home buyers grant for new builds is what Australia needs to lead us out of a recession - probably true, probably the fact that hundreds of houses that burnt down recently here in Vic might also help too. But it got me thinking... The grant is great, and the stimulus package was great too - what would have been better is that in times of economic uncertainty most companies generally have a last in first out policy (unless you're over paid, or not very good at your job), and these comments rely on people entering the market, where as the people already in the market are probably better placed to generate the stimulus required. So with that, I would have thought that it would have been a better idea to instead give a new build grant. if you bought a new build over the next 18 months, then the government gave you $10k towards a new house, or $5k towards a new flat/apartment? And maybe a bonus on top for a new build in a remote location?
Going through the forums today, it's easy to see where the shady offshore SMS providers now raising prices sighting increased Telco costs - interesting to see people blaming the Telco's for being greedy?? I wonder how many of them just won't use the service, because they're paying for it?
Saints on a roll! St Kilda by far has the best defense in the universe - according to fictional sources, the US department for defence has contacted the Melbourne based AFL club requesting further information on how to achieve such a tight defense using a fraction of the US budget. A non-existent speaker for the club apparently told the US to let Sam Fisher play loose in the back line!
Skye showed me some photo's of his friend who came first runner up in the Miss Australia Swimware Competition - I wish I could boast that - either the title of the fact she was a friend, whatever.
VAFA requiring clubs have Match Day Managers - basically they are a volunteer from the home club wh0 wears a bright white (as white is) jacket saying Match Day manager. Their role is to speak with umpires, and if they say upset because someone called them a name, the Match day Manager has to go over there and say something like "I know he's a *&*$%$ *%^&^%, but you've hurt his feelings, and would you please refrain from calling him a &$^^ 9(@&#^&? Thank you". Sounds like a top job, book me in, I'd like to do it twice on Saturdays, not!
Some people are stalkers - called a lead today, and the guys was well, uncomfortable talking with me. Some people are short and you expect that, fine, but when I asked what he was looking at using the service for the reply I got back was "I'm really busy....". Strange? I had a look at the trial traffic because I felt it was suspicious only to see that he had been sending an ex-girlfriend (or wannabe girlfriend) messages claiming he was a another guy before revealing his true identity. Fair enough the guy was hurt and like he said he was quite upset when she told him she was not attracted to him, but I'm not sure he thought it through before carrying out his dastardly plan - I mean, making yourself out to be a psycho always wins the ladies over, doesn't it?
On the weekend Skye ran 8km's in over 40 minutes - he claims he ran it, must have been going backwards??
Last night Lisa gave me an idea for a possible invention that removed the potential for men not to get in trouble from their other halves for not paying attention - TIVO for men, which allows us to go back in conversation to pick up things we didn't want to listen to in the first place.
This morning I came into the office the to be greeted by a thank you message from Meri at Vodafone, thanking me for my feedback I gave her eval. She said to me that it was funny that someone who only knew of her last year had more insight about her than people she's worked with for years. - what can I say, I'm perceptive.
Also got an email from our Accountants today regarding property investment, and how the first home buyers grant for new builds is what Australia needs to lead us out of a recession - probably true, probably the fact that hundreds of houses that burnt down recently here in Vic might also help too. But it got me thinking... The grant is great, and the stimulus package was great too - what would have been better is that in times of economic uncertainty most companies generally have a last in first out policy (unless you're over paid, or not very good at your job), and these comments rely on people entering the market, where as the people already in the market are probably better placed to generate the stimulus required. So with that, I would have thought that it would have been a better idea to instead give a new build grant. if you bought a new build over the next 18 months, then the government gave you $10k towards a new house, or $5k towards a new flat/apartment? And maybe a bonus on top for a new build in a remote location?
Going through the forums today, it's easy to see where the shady offshore SMS providers now raising prices sighting increased Telco costs - interesting to see people blaming the Telco's for being greedy?? I wonder how many of them just won't use the service, because they're paying for it?
Saints on a roll! St Kilda by far has the best defense in the universe - according to fictional sources, the US department for defence has contacted the Melbourne based AFL club requesting further information on how to achieve such a tight defense using a fraction of the US budget. A non-existent speaker for the club apparently told the US to let Sam Fisher play loose in the back line!
Skye showed me some photo's of his friend who came first runner up in the Miss Australia Swimware Competition - I wish I could boast that - either the title of the fact she was a friend, whatever.
VAFA requiring clubs have Match Day Managers - basically they are a volunteer from the home club wh0 wears a bright white (as white is) jacket saying Match Day manager. Their role is to speak with umpires, and if they say upset because someone called them a name, the Match day Manager has to go over there and say something like "I know he's a *&*$%$ *%^&^%, but you've hurt his feelings, and would you please refrain from calling him a &$^^ 9(@&#^&? Thank you". Sounds like a top job, book me in, I'd like to do it twice on Saturdays, not!
Some people are stalkers - called a lead today, and the guys was well, uncomfortable talking with me. Some people are short and you expect that, fine, but when I asked what he was looking at using the service for the reply I got back was "I'm really busy....". Strange? I had a look at the trial traffic because I felt it was suspicious only to see that he had been sending an ex-girlfriend (or wannabe girlfriend) messages claiming he was a another guy before revealing his true identity. Fair enough the guy was hurt and like he said he was quite upset when she told him she was not attracted to him, but I'm not sure he thought it through before carrying out his dastardly plan - I mean, making yourself out to be a psycho always wins the ladies over, doesn't it?
On the weekend Skye ran 8km's in over 40 minutes - he claims he ran it, must have been going backwards??
Friday 8 May 2009
Cheap and cheerfuls
So I wonder with Tesltra shutting down grey routes what's going to happen to our cheap and cheerful mates?
There are already posts floating around Whirlpool forum as the spin machine winds up blaming Tesltra for being greedy - which is probably more to do with peoples perception of Telstra than anything.
So what will happen? I wonder will people be prepared to stick with them and pay a higher price, put up with less and less messages going through or will they decide that in order to get the service they have to pay the money?
There are already posts floating around Whirlpool forum as the spin machine winds up blaming Tesltra for being greedy - which is probably more to do with peoples perception of Telstra than anything.
So what will happen? I wonder will people be prepared to stick with them and pay a higher price, put up with less and less messages going through or will they decide that in order to get the service they have to pay the money?
I love football!
Can I say, I love football, AFL football that is - and I miss it so much during the summer it's not funny, almost to the point where I think what am I going to do this weekend, again?
Sure cricket during the summer is good, the IPL is good to watch - although being in South Africa, it's not that great this time around, they're just not as crazy as the locals in India about cricket which is part of the spectacle as far as I'm concerned.
The other thing is, cricket's only good to watch, unless you live for the game standing in the Australia summer sun all day hoping the ball might come to you at some stage while you watch some bloke blocking every ball is a rubbish way to spend the day, and you have no right to tell people you play sport. I mean I ride an exercise bike, but I don't tell people I'm a cyclist!
No, football is brilliant - it has speed, power, agility, and as an elite player, you simply must have well rounded sporting characteristics.
Rugby and soccer are OK too - rugby union, not that league stuff, it doesn't make sense, why do they scrum? No reason, they just want to make sure they resemble union because it's a better game and they want to pretend they're just as interesting. But still they don't beat AFL.
Guys constantly crashing packs, hard tackles, jumping on the shoulders to take flying marks, kicking the balls on angles for the right bounce to get the goal as their toes touch the boundary line.
It's amazing, and I still say nothing beats getting some take out, a beer turn the heater on and settle into the couch to watch the game on a Friday night - it doesn't even matter who plays, I'll still be there watching.
Also, there are very few other football codes where fans of different teams sit in relative harmony amongst each other, with the occasional banter being thrown around the terraces all in good fun*.
* This comment excludes Collingwood and Port Adelaide supporters who tend to be on the feral side of things - quick tip, should you ever be surrounded by these supporters and feel you need to get away quickly? A simple but always effect trick is using the power of confusion - I use the old "if I have an apple in one hand and an apple in the other, how may apples do I have?" and while they think about it run.
Essendon supporters are OK, but they're stuck in a time warp, I call it football Alzheimer's - they keep thinking they're a good team and winning premierships, but it hasn't happened for ages, and isn't going to happen anytime soon.
St Kilda supporters are the best, they've always been proud even though the old trophy cabinet is bear, we've been up there several times, we never let that get in the way of our enthusiasm.
Cats supporters used to be as good as Saints supporters, until recently - the best team in the league for the last two seasons, still only manage one trophy, but have become super arrogant and c'mon what's that about, they're from Geelong and their team colours consist of hoops! HOOPS! What? Yes hoops! They also seem to forget that they are and always will be know as the handbags of the competition - not my words, but it's just the way it is.
And when we get 18 teams into the comp, then all the better, as games will go from Thursday to Monday nights, we just need another four teams, and we could have a 7 day a week competition - we'd probably have to extend the season to 12 months - sounds like nirvana to me!
Cheers,
C
Sure cricket during the summer is good, the IPL is good to watch - although being in South Africa, it's not that great this time around, they're just not as crazy as the locals in India about cricket which is part of the spectacle as far as I'm concerned.
The other thing is, cricket's only good to watch, unless you live for the game standing in the Australia summer sun all day hoping the ball might come to you at some stage while you watch some bloke blocking every ball is a rubbish way to spend the day, and you have no right to tell people you play sport. I mean I ride an exercise bike, but I don't tell people I'm a cyclist!
No, football is brilliant - it has speed, power, agility, and as an elite player, you simply must have well rounded sporting characteristics.
Rugby and soccer are OK too - rugby union, not that league stuff, it doesn't make sense, why do they scrum? No reason, they just want to make sure they resemble union because it's a better game and they want to pretend they're just as interesting. But still they don't beat AFL.
Guys constantly crashing packs, hard tackles, jumping on the shoulders to take flying marks, kicking the balls on angles for the right bounce to get the goal as their toes touch the boundary line.
It's amazing, and I still say nothing beats getting some take out, a beer turn the heater on and settle into the couch to watch the game on a Friday night - it doesn't even matter who plays, I'll still be there watching.
Also, there are very few other football codes where fans of different teams sit in relative harmony amongst each other, with the occasional banter being thrown around the terraces all in good fun*.
* This comment excludes Collingwood and Port Adelaide supporters who tend to be on the feral side of things - quick tip, should you ever be surrounded by these supporters and feel you need to get away quickly? A simple but always effect trick is using the power of confusion - I use the old "if I have an apple in one hand and an apple in the other, how may apples do I have?" and while they think about it run.
Essendon supporters are OK, but they're stuck in a time warp, I call it football Alzheimer's - they keep thinking they're a good team and winning premierships, but it hasn't happened for ages, and isn't going to happen anytime soon.
St Kilda supporters are the best, they've always been proud even though the old trophy cabinet is bear, we've been up there several times, we never let that get in the way of our enthusiasm.
Cats supporters used to be as good as Saints supporters, until recently - the best team in the league for the last two seasons, still only manage one trophy, but have become super arrogant and c'mon what's that about, they're from Geelong and their team colours consist of hoops! HOOPS! What? Yes hoops! They also seem to forget that they are and always will be know as the handbags of the competition - not my words, but it's just the way it is.
And when we get 18 teams into the comp, then all the better, as games will go from Thursday to Monday nights, we just need another four teams, and we could have a 7 day a week competition - we'd probably have to extend the season to 12 months - sounds like nirvana to me!
Cheers,
C
Wednesday 6 May 2009
An open letter apology to David Thorne
Dear David,
Can I start by saying that I've found a lot of amusement in your website at www.27bslash6.com - I particularly liked the emails about the moving in party and the Nigerian scam.
However, and the reason for this open letter, I would like to apologise to you for the behaviour of Skye for biting off more than he can chew. Whilst Skye is a Brighton, intelligent individual, why he decided to provoke you like a boy with stick is beyond me.
Initially I did find your email responses mild, and when you advised Skye that you had copied 6.4 meg of his Facebook got him going, although to be honest I found it very chat room 1990's when to scare someone you would comment that you liked their desktop, which lead to a quick disappearance of the avatar.
I do have to say though setting up a secondary Skye Facebook account, and then posting comments as if Skye had wrote them was awesome - especially the admission that he photo shopped a friends head on to another body and sat on the couch eating Skittles before having to each the picture to get rid of the evidence before Bec came in was great.
So to that end, if Skye has caused you any inconvenience my apologies, thank you for being such a good sport, and enjoy.
Regards,
Chris
Can I start by saying that I've found a lot of amusement in your website at www.27bslash6.com - I particularly liked the emails about the moving in party and the Nigerian scam.
However, and the reason for this open letter, I would like to apologise to you for the behaviour of Skye for biting off more than he can chew. Whilst Skye is a Brighton, intelligent individual, why he decided to provoke you like a boy with stick is beyond me.
Initially I did find your email responses mild, and when you advised Skye that you had copied 6.4 meg of his Facebook got him going, although to be honest I found it very chat room 1990's when to scare someone you would comment that you liked their desktop, which lead to a quick disappearance of the avatar.
I do have to say though setting up a secondary Skye Facebook account, and then posting comments as if Skye had wrote them was awesome - especially the admission that he photo shopped a friends head on to another body and sat on the couch eating Skittles before having to each the picture to get rid of the evidence before Bec came in was great.
So to that end, if Skye has caused you any inconvenience my apologies, thank you for being such a good sport, and enjoy.
Regards,
Chris
Tuesday 24 February 2009
Inentions/ideas, always rear their head when people do stuff they don't like dong, and think to themselves "I don't like doing this, it would be better if I could just do this..." and there we have an idea.
Well I had one of those, and I wish someone would come up with the answer - that is if this idea doesn't already exist, because if it does then I'm going to look foolish.
Anyway, I had to make adjustments to an account today, and had to enter in exactly the same information many, mnay times.
That's not my issue, what my issue is that there were two fields of informaiton to enter, so you need to make a choice of which is the longer of the two pieces of info to add to cut and paste that and the other bit you enter in manually.
What I'd like to see is a second hot key, so start off with Ctrl+V and the second one might be Ctrl+D+V - because I looked at my fingers and one hovered naturally over the D key.
I'd also like to see a hot key which converted case - so from lower case to upper case and in reverse, because lord knows I hit the caps Lock often, and regularily have to rewrite what I've typed - but that's a blog for another time.
Cheers,
C
Well I had one of those, and I wish someone would come up with the answer - that is if this idea doesn't already exist, because if it does then I'm going to look foolish.
Anyway, I had to make adjustments to an account today, and had to enter in exactly the same information many, mnay times.
That's not my issue, what my issue is that there were two fields of informaiton to enter, so you need to make a choice of which is the longer of the two pieces of info to add to cut and paste that and the other bit you enter in manually.
What I'd like to see is a second hot key, so start off with Ctrl+V and the second one might be Ctrl+D+V - because I looked at my fingers and one hovered naturally over the D key.
I'd also like to see a hot key which converted case - so from lower case to upper case and in reverse, because lord knows I hit the caps Lock often, and regularily have to rewrite what I've typed - but that's a blog for another time.
Cheers,
C
Wednesday 18 February 2009
Well, hasn't TV warmed up in the new year here in Oz!
Kicking our evenings off watching fatties run around, cry and bitch about each other during their struggle to lose the pound, whilst I sit there eating my dinner really gets the endorphins going.
Then later at 8:30pm comes Underbelly - which I'm sure is about a pair of boobs, with a few ancillary characters with guns and drugs thrown in for the ladies - you really need to see it to appreciate what I'm saying here :) - although I'm a little surprised that it's on so early, there was nothing like it when I was a kiddy - well, there was Chances, but it's not really in the same ball park.
And then at 9:30pm we get Ladette to Lady - it must have been a toss up for Channel 9 to decide which one went first - until they watched a few minutes into the first episode, and then the decision was made for them.
There's a character in there called Skye, and I must admit every time she's on I think about Skye here in our office - of course our Skye is a bloke - but it does make me giggle.
What i love can be found right at the very beginning, when the girls are on the bus to the school and they stop for a pit stop where Skye can be seen squatting in the middle of the road in front of the bus - she goes on with other shenanigans, has a number of tantrums and general cringe worthy behaviour.
It's not until the very end, during the assessment, where one of the teachers advises Skye that people think she's scum, "Scum" she bites back, quickly replied back from the teacher "yes, scum" - and then Skye rolls her eyes, and is obviously offended.
Its' the offended bit that I like - she does what she wants, behaves fantastically poorly, not bothered about other people but is insulted when she's made aware of it :)
Just great, I love it - and the English gentlemen make me love, ever the opportunists :)
Cheers,
C
Kicking our evenings off watching fatties run around, cry and bitch about each other during their struggle to lose the pound, whilst I sit there eating my dinner really gets the endorphins going.
Then later at 8:30pm comes Underbelly - which I'm sure is about a pair of boobs, with a few ancillary characters with guns and drugs thrown in for the ladies - you really need to see it to appreciate what I'm saying here :) - although I'm a little surprised that it's on so early, there was nothing like it when I was a kiddy - well, there was Chances, but it's not really in the same ball park.
And then at 9:30pm we get Ladette to Lady - it must have been a toss up for Channel 9 to decide which one went first - until they watched a few minutes into the first episode, and then the decision was made for them.
There's a character in there called Skye, and I must admit every time she's on I think about Skye here in our office - of course our Skye is a bloke - but it does make me giggle.
What i love can be found right at the very beginning, when the girls are on the bus to the school and they stop for a pit stop where Skye can be seen squatting in the middle of the road in front of the bus - she goes on with other shenanigans, has a number of tantrums and general cringe worthy behaviour.
It's not until the very end, during the assessment, where one of the teachers advises Skye that people think she's scum, "Scum" she bites back, quickly replied back from the teacher "yes, scum" - and then Skye rolls her eyes, and is obviously offended.
Its' the offended bit that I like - she does what she wants, behaves fantastically poorly, not bothered about other people but is insulted when she's made aware of it :)
Just great, I love it - and the English gentlemen make me love, ever the opportunists :)
Cheers,
C
Monday 16 February 2009
Is there a change in the air?
It's no secret that I'm not a huge fan of of shore services for a number of reasons, I honestly don't think that an offshore service is as good a quality and offshore services, international time stamps, delayed message delivery and lost messages, etc...
When I bought my car, I sat in the salesman's office and on the wall was an old sales saying which went something like this "the sour taste of buying a lemon stays in the mouth long after the sweet taste of buying cheap deal" - it was very interesting, I didn't get the cheapest car for my make/model, but I've had it now for a few years, and not once has it broken down on me - I haven't had to spend anymore than the standard servicing on it and in general has been a great car, and still is.
Late Friday afternoon I received a called from Steve about wanting to sign up to a service with us. I'd spoken with Steve a while a go about using our service to SMS his staff for their rosters, and at that stage he decided to go with a competitor because they were 60% cheaper, but then they used offshore routes to deliver their messages - a risk at the time Steve was willing to bear, mainly because he thought the risk was negligible, which is fair enough.
Speaking with Steve I asked what the problem was, why did he want to change? "Chris, it's because I'm having to send 2-3 messages to the guys because they are not receiving them, and it's ending up costing me a fortune".
"Steve, how many messages are you sending?"
"Umm, last month we sent about 200 messages"
200 messages per month he sent last month, but bearing in mind that he's sent messages 2-3 times, so really he wanted to just send 70-100 messages.
This is an excellent example of the perils of using offshore services for mission critical messaging requirement because Steve isn't a big user, and yet is having real drama's getting messages to his staff.
If Steve was sending tens of thousands of messages or more, then you might say, well a few lost messages is acceptable, but if on such a low number of messages he's feeling the effects, then can you imagine what larger volume customers must be experiencing?
Admittedly Steve's only looking at the fact that as he has to send multiple messages, that that's what it's costing him, but that's not strictly true, what he's not factoring in is the phone calls he's ended up making to check if they had received the messages, what that cost is, and what the cost of his time is in all o this extra effort.
Unfortunately Steve is tasting the lemon, however he's seen the light, and now at least he'll be able to worry less about landed messages and more about growing his business.
Cheers,
C
When I bought my car, I sat in the salesman's office and on the wall was an old sales saying which went something like this "the sour taste of buying a lemon stays in the mouth long after the sweet taste of buying cheap deal" - it was very interesting, I didn't get the cheapest car for my make/model, but I've had it now for a few years, and not once has it broken down on me - I haven't had to spend anymore than the standard servicing on it and in general has been a great car, and still is.
Late Friday afternoon I received a called from Steve about wanting to sign up to a service with us. I'd spoken with Steve a while a go about using our service to SMS his staff for their rosters, and at that stage he decided to go with a competitor because they were 60% cheaper, but then they used offshore routes to deliver their messages - a risk at the time Steve was willing to bear, mainly because he thought the risk was negligible, which is fair enough.
Speaking with Steve I asked what the problem was, why did he want to change? "Chris, it's because I'm having to send 2-3 messages to the guys because they are not receiving them, and it's ending up costing me a fortune".
"Steve, how many messages are you sending?"
"Umm, last month we sent about 200 messages"
200 messages per month he sent last month, but bearing in mind that he's sent messages 2-3 times, so really he wanted to just send 70-100 messages.
This is an excellent example of the perils of using offshore services for mission critical messaging requirement because Steve isn't a big user, and yet is having real drama's getting messages to his staff.
If Steve was sending tens of thousands of messages or more, then you might say, well a few lost messages is acceptable, but if on such a low number of messages he's feeling the effects, then can you imagine what larger volume customers must be experiencing?
Admittedly Steve's only looking at the fact that as he has to send multiple messages, that that's what it's costing him, but that's not strictly true, what he's not factoring in is the phone calls he's ended up making to check if they had received the messages, what that cost is, and what the cost of his time is in all o this extra effort.
Unfortunately Steve is tasting the lemon, however he's seen the light, and now at least he'll be able to worry less about landed messages and more about growing his business.
Cheers,
C
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