Last week a friend of mine told me that our weekly bulletin, CTW is too long for comfort. After my initial irritated resistance, I thought about it more and concluded there is substantial substance in what my friend said. These days, there is an over dose of information everywhere and readers will be benefited by a bulletin which is shorter, yet contains essential and quality information. If readers have to sift through pages and pages of content to find what they really want, it is an indication that CTW is not reader-friendly and some changes are in order.
A few years back, we finalized a real estate rental transaction with the very first house the customer was shown by us. He asked us to reduce our service charges as we did not have to work too hard to clinch the deal. What the customer did not realize is that our careful homework saved him several wasted hours of scouting for the right home.
More work and more content may not be what readers want from our weekly bulletin. They are probably looking for the right information they can use without spending too much of time searching. We have to do some intelligent homework before the bulletin is compiled every week and published on Fridays.
And, every week we have to ask ourselves how we can add value. When we submit ourselves to the discipline of adding value to the bulletin week after week, welcome changes will creep in. Our readers will treat us with greater respect for the great value we provide. That is when we can ask a reasonable price – for the value we provide.
One sees great examples of value additions in almost every sphere of life. Last Saturday’s newspapers had a news item about TN government’s plan to introduce 1 litre water at Rs.10 per bottle. And, the best part is, this water is going to be superior to the water being sold at Rs.25 per bottle by private distributors.
In the same paper, there was an ad of VGN Properties. The value additions offered by them for their new property on the coast included salon & spa, International designer gym and services by lesconcierges which was described as the world’s largest and finest work/life benefits provider.
I bristled with consternation at seeing the name of Les Concierges, our competitor in the ad. The quality of services provided by them is nothing to write home about. Yet, there they were on the front page ad, their name in bold letters, mocking our marketing efforts.
It is not enough to be good in a particular field of business. The crucial thing is to tom-tom to the world about your presence. Service Square is now beginning to move its cranky marketing engine and it is time we created some buzz in the market.
I cannot hold anyone else in the organisation responsible for the lack of marketing efforts or business till now. The buck in this regard, stops with me. From now onwards, I will have to be in the forefront directing the marketing efforts of Service Square.
Service Square has come a long way since the days of train ticket booking and payment of bills. We now sell services which yield reasonably good money. We have to be on the look out for services that will yield far greater returns for the same number of hours invested.
For Service Square, I have to be the rain maker.