The next major media event was also connected with Sify. On November 28, 1999 the CEO of Satyam Infoway requested me to come to Mumbai to handle an important announcement. He would not give me the details over the phone. The next morning I went directly from the Mumbai airport to the office of DSP Merrill Lynch. There the investment bank gave a brief about the Indiaworld deal. Merrill had alerted the media about a press meet that evening without revealing the subject. I soon started getting calls from reporters wanting to know the details. I could not reveal anything to them though I felt a bit guilty not being straight forward with some of the reporters who had become good personal friends by then.
The game is tricky and sensitive. The consumer of wine is standing on a wine shop to buy it or he/she may be standing at the counter in a bar. The bottles adorned in their respective dresses are decorated on the racks easily visible to their prospective buyers. The one magical glance is critical here. Except for only those who have to go by the brand names, the consumers are to be guided for their choice only by the glance they throw over the bottles.
Like anything else in business, you simply need to go to professionals in this case as well. The best brains and talents are recruited in their service by the most successful advertising agencies. You may go to any of these successful firms for getting an impressive and lasting custom label for your product. Once designed the job left is that of getting that label printed.
Recent Analyst downgrades include Comtech Corp (NASDAQ: COGO) which was downgraded to a Market Perform from a market Outperform by JMP Securities, Martek Biosciences (NASDAQ: MATK) was downgraded to a Neutral from a Buy by first Albany, The Midland Company (NASDAQ: MLAN) was downgraded to a Hold from a Buy by AG Edwards, Freddie Mac (NYSE: FRE) was downgraded to a Neutral from an Outperform by Credit Suisse and AmSouth Bancorp (NYSE: ASO) was downgraded to an equal Weight from an Overweight by Morgan Stanley.
Have you thought about offering a deal to new customers? Get new patrons into your restaurant with discounts or free stuff. But be careful! Give the deal, coupon or free food a bit of thought. What’s your overhead on that time? If you were to sell out of the deal could your staff keep up with the influx of clients? Will customer service decrease if your business increases without new staff? These are all questions you should ask yourself or find the answers to before deciding to run a deal.
You might write a letter prior to calling them – but, be sure you have the proper person to contact. Then, when calling back, you’re following up with information on the letter. (This works well to get past difficult “gatekeepers.) I do this in my home area – I cover the entire state of California (except for the wine Country, SF & the peninsula). So, I write a letter “introducing” myself to contacts in the Central Valley-many of these people already know me. Then, I follow up with the media kit (unless I leave the letter with the media kit if I was in the area) being sent and finally I call them.
Finally, I showed him the crucial slide. Through the months of interaction with Raju one thought that hit me was that he rarely got in to the details of the running of an enterprise. All his statements were a bit philosophical and holistic. He also tended to go off on a tangent sometimes. To give him a branding that he would be comfortable donning I recommended that he be positioned as a Visionary.