Telnic is losing customers - Telnames isn't noticed - What's next?

telnic lost one third of all customers in 2012 caused by very slow development speed
telnames could attract only less than 5,000 customers in 2012 (what is extremely low for website offers) caused by too high registration fees and missing sub domains
how can we convince Telnic of including customer requirements in the future to attract more customers?

To understand the current crisis, you have to see the correlation of the latest events.
Telnic reduced development in favor of Telnames. Hence important tasks haven't been finished.
Telnic overestimated the power of the improved design at Telnames published last year.
Now we have 2 different .tel solutions and both are only half completed. Telnic has no nice design and Telnames has no subdomains.
Meanwhile it should have become clear that the new Telnames concept doesn't pay off.
Consequently Telnic should find back to the original plan.
What is needed now is that Telnic gets a design in the same quality like Telnames and that urgent developments like the roadmap get finally finished.
If Telnic is strengthening their efforts towards telecommunications at the same time, there is a big chance of finally succeeding.

Mad Max wrote:telnames could attract only less than 5,000 customers in 2012 (what is extremely low for website offers) caused by too high registration fees and missing sub domains

If a service is great and unique, the price doesn't matter. But a website with only very short text, no folders and no sorting possibility? You ask a lot! Customers know very well that they have the choice between hundreds of services!

Facing reality is a b*i^h, well if our/my expectations of how tel should be popular are not meeting with reality then I'm open to service change including price to recover the cost of the poorly performing tv adverts, but with telnames/telnic I don't know what they will do but I unwarrantably think that if they can afford to wait a while longer to build momentum they should as they're now just over 5000 registrations and at 10,000 registrations it might be fast and furious.
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Though if not at some point they may have to merge the two services as stated by most forum members but in a way that still keeps them separate and makes telnames a proxy developer brand aka a "powered by" brand for 3rd party proxies as well as it's standard offering service, even if I somewhat like having something unique that's a I get what I pay for it maybe time to change the old proxy, pull down the old themes and migrate the ads function to a hovering rounded right side boxes not linked to the center theme allowing for the background to be seen between it or remove ads completly.
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I would expect them to stop allowing registrars to run their own version of the old control panel and or give them the option of not running it and allowing them to just resell telnames "powered by" domains aka a none branded/marketed version with no gallery just one large image, aka a cut down service but with the sub domains you all so much desire and the theme, how ever the primary package for telnames is and would always be the single domain card with the pay by app, where as the secondary version as stated above would be as asked for the sub domains and the theme at a slightly higher price but not too high, perhaps £14 the original base price but with no possibility of extra features ever being added. Where as the the original branded/marketed version should retain the full telnames brand and get extra features like wallets, avatars etc and increase in price to reflect the extended services.
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So essentially placing the old proxy on a powered by telnames, but not branded or marketed as such and allow registrars to sell them using the CJ gateway but linking to version 2, I would expect them however to collectively contribute to the cost of running the DNS for them if they're no longer paying for the server to run the control panel, or they can still run the control panel but version 3 linked to a telnames powered by basic proxy.
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But it's all speculation and 5000 is not a lot but it's a start and if theres a price increase I'm happy with that as long as it's reflected in the development of them, as I'm willing to be happy and not moan if the old proxy is migrated over to the new single theme but with sub domains as long as I feel what I'm paying extra for is not being handed away for next to nothing for people who don't add content or take part in any community or just try to make/force telnic to make them look better to make more money off them by selling and not by contributing their own service/brand/craft to the pot.
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But then realistically who cares about my crappy opinion, telnic likely don't and I don't expect them too.

The reasons for the current failure are so obvious.
Of course Telnic won't admit it in public, but I guess they are not blind.
Let's hope they will do one day what the community has requested for so long, as example at Telnic's forum.

Merchant should sell what people want to buy.
People don't buy what the Merchant wants to sell.
That is the basics of marketing.

The same thing can be applied to www.teltalk.org.
This forum was originally started as a relief for the .tel Owners who could not voice their independent views in public on the Telnic Forum. We appreciate this initiative very much.
But, unfortunately this forum now carries many Advertisements all leading to Telnames, as if .tel's original concept with sub domains does not exist at all.
Therefore, this forum can misleads new comers or casual visitors.

One should not force a merchandise on prospective buyers.
Give as many options as you can, and let the buyer decide what they prefer.
Monopolies always fail in the long run.

I disagree that there is a conspiracy or monopoly taking place with or within Telnic or Telnames, etc.

For participants of these forum discussions that are business persons, you know that disappointment requires revisiting business plans and strategies.

Telnic provides a platform... a tool... a resource.. That's it.

It is our responsibility to leverage the platform (like anything else we purchase) and determine how to make it work for us and the communities we serve.

If we can not do that, then we always have the option to get out of the game. But if we determine that we want to stay in it, then we better have well thought out business strategies not dependent on any other party.

If you are in, then working Telnic or anyone else requires deep knowledge and understanding of Long lifecycles with Global projects. Speaking from experience running Mega Million and Billion dollar global projects is challenging and starts with the owner/project manager to have a vision for success at their level.

I desire to see us all work together in an effort to make this initiative work.

Regards

Dan Prather
www.danprather.tel

ntervu wrote:Telnic provides a platform... a tool... a resource.. That's it.

This is the core problem.
They created a system.
Sold the system to users with new/additional feature announcements.
Then suddenly withdrew most important features they announced.
Not only that but also created another system to compete with the existing system.
Totally ignored the existing customer base.

Where is the business discipline?
Where is the business ethics?

Respectully..

As managers of Large Scale software projects, this is typically referred to as "Requirements Management". Every successful Project Manager and Business owner knows that just because it is on the road map does not mean that it is a priority for delivery. Things happen, the world finance structure changes, the internet evolves, etc. In the end - a Road map serves as a guide NOT a contract.

Like many in this forum, I deal with companies to include Cisco everyday who do the same thing. Not all plans come to fruition. As a business owner, I realize that the way we make money has to be based on what we can work with today. Not tomorrow. Tomorrow is not promised.

Get disgruntled at Cisco or Apple if you like. They will either ignore you and keep moving forward with strategy that you and I are not privilege to because it is their company. If we don't like it, we can move on. At the end of the day, they know what they are doing and so should we according to our business plans. It is their puppy. The ironic thing is -- I bet if you get mad at Apple you will still use the products.

Many have found it easy to pick at Telnic due to the size of the company. They won't be small forever.

As it is written - "Let him without sin cast the first stone"

How do we all come together to make the .Tel ecosystem work with what is available. Cake is still cake without the icing.

Regards,

Dan Prather
www.danprather.tel