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losing business

 
 


Maurice
User

Jul 22, 2002, 8:59 AM

Post #1 of 9 (4476 views)
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losing business Can't Post
We have installed a few article managers now and getting the hang of it.
We use them for intranet’s and internet’s.
At a certain point we orders were canceled why we did not now. we found out that customers where buying there own Article manager and other products because they saw at the back end the logo credits and so own.

We lost a lot of business by the way interactive tools works, has any one had the same experience? And how did u handle with it?

We love the products IT makes but we hate losing business a specially in these recession times.

IT please come with a good solution.
-------------------------------------------
www.intraserve.nl

Soon! cmsBy.intraserve


fraser_itools
Staff


Jul 22, 2002, 10:59 AM

Post #2 of 9 (4468 views)
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Re: [Maurice] losing business [In reply to] Can't Post
Maurice,

I'm surprised you've had people actually return their license of Article Manager and then just buy it again from us directly.

Before I offer some suggestions, let me just say that we're in the process of developing a version of Article Manager that will allow you to *completely* remove all mention of Interactivetools.com. So, unless your clients have some pretty clever detective skills, they won't be able to see where the software came from. We'll announce it when it's ready, but I can't say when yet.

That said, it's a decision that we didn't come to lightly. Allowing people to rebrand our software has some serious issues (and not just less branding for us). Technical support is a big issue, because if you remove all mention of Interactivetools.com, you need to be able to completely support the product yourself - and you'll never know as much about it as the people who actually created it.

We usually recommend that you're completely up front with your customers that you've purchased software from Interactivetools.com. Either charge them the regular price (i.e. $299 for Article Manager), or even pass along your reseller discount price to them (40% off if you buy 5 licenses).

Anyone who's running Article Manager on their site knows that just purchasing the software is only a part of the development cost to actually integrate the software into a website. As a web developer, you can make money through fees. In fact, many of our clients (web developers) make many thousands of dollars in fees by designing templates, training and customization. In fact, we've got a big page that explains it:

http://www.interactivetools.com/order/charge_clients.html

We think of our software as just that... software. People don't want to remove the branding from Oracle 8i. In fact, clients feel confidence that a solid piece of software has been installed on their website.

Any developers want to jump in with your experiences?
Fraser Cain - Product Manager

interactivetools.com, inc.
Tel: (604)689-3347 - Fax: (604)689-3342 - Toll Free: 1(800)752-0455
Software for your Website - http://www.interactivetools.com/    


Dave
Staff / Moderator


Jul 22, 2002, 11:19 AM

Post #3 of 9 (4464 views)
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Re: [Maurice] losing business [In reply to] Can't Post
I just wanted to add that we absolutely do not want to take business away from anybody. We'd much rather spend our time doing what we do best, making software, and let web shops do what they do best which is bring all the tools, talents and resources together to put together a great website or intranet.

We've always recommended people be upfront about the origins of the software and charge for design, setup and implementation. The one scenario where this doesn't always work so well is when the end customer has web development skills or web developers on staff.

We want to give everyone as many options as we can for billing and packaging the software so our software for this is that all future projects and major revisions will have zero branding. Furthermore, we're going to make it really easy to brand the product as your own. This should also help for people who use a product for something else (eg: Realty Manager for Boats), it will be much easier to "rename" the product.

The only issue we've come up against so far is having to have our name in the license agreement during install). We're looking at ways around that such as allowing sublicensing.

Dave Edis - Senior Developer
interactivetools.com
 


Maurice
User

Jul 23, 2002, 12:27 AM

Post #4 of 9 (4449 views)
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Re: [Fraser] losing business [In reply to] Can't Post
Hai Fraser,

It is a way of looking at it but I do not agree I do agree that interactivetools deserve a big credit because all the products work great and our clients love them. However you can not compare your product with a Oracle 8i. Oracle gives u the freedom to change the complete look and feel at the front and back and so dos Microsoft with there cms.

Maybe it is a idea to have two applications one for the resellers and one for the consumers that just buy’s one product. You get your credit and money and we keep our business.

Please don’t get me wrong we like doing business with interactivetools and we hope to do this for a long time because for our small customers IT gives a very good solution.

Maurice
-------------------------------------------
www.intraserve.nl

Soon! cmsBy.intraserve


osluk
User

Jul 25, 2002, 7:57 AM

Post #5 of 9 (4412 views)
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Re: [Maurice] losing business [In reply to] Can't Post
Great news - allowing easier rebranding will mean it is easier to explain why realty manager has office furniture displayed in it or whatever.

Some clients will always underestimate the cost or cost involved in setting up and or learning a product. Some network managers, even like playing with templates more than doing their other stuff. So the client maybe not actually have a dollar cost (maybe the network is neglected - maybe not).

In the UK we have seen finance directors to copy clerks have a go with design and or installation - sometimes we get the business back (if the onwer is smart and understands the issues) sometimes we don't but we are always careful about the client then wanting unpaid support.

We got caught out a few times in the past we we soon learnt.
_______________________
Chris from Optima 
"please always add logical keywords to help find items"

[url "http://www.osl.net "]Optima Solutions Limited[/url]
http://www.osl.net
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WebGuys
User

Jul 25, 2002, 4:58 PM

Post #6 of 9 (4393 views)
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Re: [Maurice] losing business [In reply to] Can't Post
Hi everyone, hate to beat a dead horse, but how long can we expect before we see something in the form of brandability? I dont mean to nag but i have been watching these posts and well, My clients wouldnt accept "we will announce it after its done"



Just like a time line to work with



Thanks

Great products i must say, but lets get that ball rolling


Damon
Staff / Moderator


Jul 26, 2002, 4:11 PM

Post #7 of 9 (4370 views)
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Re: [WebGuys] losing business [In reply to] Can't Post
Hi Maurice,

Our next release of Article Manager (final stages of development) will include the following brandable features:
  • substitute any of the login screen images with another image.
  • enter your own custom Titlebar Message and Footer Message in the admin interface


As well, this upcoming release includes the new archiving feature. As soon as the developement and beta testing is complete, I will post on the forum that the upgrade is available.

--------------------------------------------------- 
Cheers
Damon Edis
interactivetools.com

Hire me! Save time by getting our experts to help with your project.
http://www.interactivetools.com/consulting/

(This post was edited by Damon on Jul 26, 2002, 4:12 PM)


WebGuys
User

Jul 26, 2002, 5:00 PM

Post #8 of 9 (4366 views)
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Re: [Damon] losing business [In reply to] Can't Post
Will that also include the meta tags that are put in?



Thanks


Damon
Staff / Moderator


Jul 26, 2002, 5:27 PM

Post #9 of 9 (4365 views)
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Re: [WebGuys] losing business [In reply to] Can't Post
You bet. You will have the option to turn meta tags and date/time stamp generation on or off.

Have a nice weekend.

--------------------------------------------------- 
Cheers
Damon Edis
interactivetools.com

Hire me! Save time by getting our experts to help with your project.
http://www.interactivetools.com/consulting/