UK Partner for Oddcast New York

[www.sitepal.co.uk]

Hi, my name is Tony Castle and i am the UK partner for Oddcast

Founded in New York in 1999, Oddcast creates conversational character products, also known as Avatars, for the Web and wireless devices and i have been their partner for UK clients since 2002.

The marketing value of the tool is clearly huge: the character interface improves communications by bringing digital content to life quickly, easily and cost-effectively.

Best

Tony

[Rob Holmes]

Hi Tony,

What a fascinating product :)

I've been pondering something like this for a while and will definately look into it more!

Rob

[top-click]

Hey Tony - welcome to the forum, just shout if you need any marketing help,

Rob
Top-Click

[Whistle Ink]

Hi,

What a truly fantastic product! I really am amazed. :D

I think it give businesses the chance to really add that personal touch.

[Whistle Ink]

Hi,

What a truly fantastic product! I really am amazed. :D

I think it give businesses the chance to really add that personal touch.

[coxadmin]

Hi Tony

This is a great place to get advice and information.

[Ozzy]

Hi Tony,
Welcome to the forums. Your product has a mixed response on these forums all ready, but you do have a test case on here for you with Matrixx :)

[bitsnstuff]

Hello and welcome to the forum.

What an excellent product! I have just whiled away an hour, fiddling around with the demo. Will definitely bookmark your site and come back to it later.

Kate.

[ertam]

Hi Tony, Great concept!

Can it be used with 1and1 website creator?

If yes - I will certainly consider this for a project I am working on.

Regards

Erty

[daveashton]

Sorry, Its not my cup of tea but would use it just becuase it would make people talk about our websites.

Mind you I hate BIG TIME is the pricing modle.

A one off fee would be ok, but monthly rental for software? Sorry that is a huge NO

[Ozzy]

Monthly/Annual licence fees are the way all software is going.

Sage are aboloshing their boxed product in favour of online rental products, and so are Microsoft aboloshing their boxed product ranges in favour of online Pay-As-You-Go priced models.

[Whistle Ink]

I think pay as you go for software is an really good idea, although the price for Site-Pal is way too expensive.

Pay-as-you go would put software like Dreamwaeaver, Illustrator , Photoshop into everbodys hands. This would then encourage young designers to experiment even more in their homes.

Well I think stuff like that costs a bomb!

[Ozzy]

I also agree with the PAYG model for software. For example, I use Linux as my desktop operating system but occasionally need MS Word to read formatted documents and hate the way I have to buy Office just for 30 minutes a month worth of useage I have for just Word alone!

[daveashton]

The problem we have is the added fixed monthly cost. It is very easy to get one off payments through the beenies, but not recurring costs.

This is also true of the bigger companies.

[daveashton]

just thought I would add our experience to date.

Thought we could use this in reverse ( would take ages to explain) and hence asked Tony to call. 3 attempts and I think I am getting somewhere he was reluctant to call). Alas. Next private message says call the states Tony is now out!

Now I have heard of making it hard to engage but this is going a bit far. All I want is a call!

Does anyone know how to get Tony to do this or a competitor?

[www.sitepal.co.uk]

just thought I would add our experience to date.

Thought we could use this in reverse ( would take ages to explain) and hence asked Tony to call. 3 attempts and I think I am getting somewhere he was reluctant to call). Alas. Next private message says call the states Tony is now out!

Now I have heard of making it hard to engage but this is going a bit far. All I want is a call!

Does anyone know how to get Tony to do this or a competitor?

Ref to the above

I ask you for more information to be sent because you sent an email quote (I dont fancy some yank getting upset! )

Please understand from my side as a Partner for the company. I receive loads of emails asking me to phone mob numbers with requests like yours.

Without some information with regard to your request, i must deal with clients that have supplyed a details in an email. In many cases it may require Oddcast in New York to deal with your question.

I spend hours on customer support and will phone you.

I am here in the UK to help, but please give me abit of info to go on.

Kind Regards

Tony

[creative-keyrings]

Hi Everyone,

Tony has helped me setup my sitepal which will be used in my new website design. He has been very helpful with phone and email support.

I just wish if everyone could have such friendly and caring support with things on the internet.


Keep up the good work with Sitepal i think it's a great idea that will succeed into the future.

Regards,

Callum.

[Rob Holmes]

Hey Callum,

I had a look on your site and can't find the sitepal?

Rob

[barry.hynd]

Hey, I'lll hopefully have my little butler friend up soon too and i'd like to just mirror callum's comments. I made a request to Tony to see if it was possible to get a butler outfit and hey presto job done. Now i'm not sure how many companies could be that impressive.

[Whistle Ink]

One of the problems I am finding is that ppl want information off you but in order to give them that you need a little info first, and you state that (sometimes its obvious that you need to give a little info to get your query answered) but ppl seem to ingnore it.

Im sure you're doing the best you can mate, spending hours on customers service is a good sign!!!! Although you must be knackered.

But remember try and become a mind reader for the others!

[daveashton]

We have a group policy of making sure that people are responded to in a manner of their own choosing within 1 day and where possible with .5 of a day.

We do not spend time explaining that we need more information because most of the time if people ask us for a call they have a reason. It also offends them if we do not respond in the manner of their choice because it shows that their wishes are unimportant to us. It also wastes time.

As a group we have gone from 2 people to 45 in 2 years and 0 to 3million + turnover.

Part of our sucsess is art of making it easy to buy, and I am sorry if it offends people that I look for suppliers to respond quickly and professionally in the manner I chose to request information.

Sorry if this sounds harsh. It is not intended to be, but it is clear people have different standards. Most business relationships go through a honeymoon period where there supplier is trying to impress the prospect/ client. If someone says they are to busy to respond in this period or do not respect my wishes as to the method, it is often a sign that caution needs to be taken because thing will often get worse.

So you do not need to be a mind reader. Just read what the prospect is requesting and act accordingly.

If only the rest of life was as simple!

[www.sitepal.co.uk]

We have a group policy of making sure that people are responded to in a manner of their own choosing within 1 day and where possible with .5 of a day.

We do not spend time explaining that we need more information because most of the time if people ask us for a call they have a reason. It also offends them if we do not respond in the manner of their choice because it shows that their wishes are unimportant to us. It also wastes time.

As a group we have gone from 2 people to 45 in 2 years and 0 to 3million + turnover.

Part of our sucsess is art of making it easy to buy, and I am sorry if it offends people that I look for suppliers to respond quickly and professionally in the manner I chose to request information.

Sorry if this sounds harsh. It is not intended to be, but it is clear people have different standards. Most business relationships go through a honeymoon period where there supplier is trying to impress the prospect/ client. If someone says they are to busy to respond in this period or do not respect my wishes as to the method, it is often a sign that caution needs to be taken because thing will often get worse.

So you do not need to be a mind reader. Just read what the prospect is requesting and act accordingly.

If only the rest of life was as simple!


Answer to the above (i have not got time for this but here it goes)

"We have a group policy of making sure that people are responded to in a manner of their own choosing within 1 day and where possible with .5 of a day"

Yes i agree with you that is why i email you with regard to your request within 24 hours.

"We do not spend time explaining that we need more information because most of the time if people ask us for a call they have a reason."

This is true but you tell me how many companies phone customers on mob number charges to ask what they need. If you send a email with your ideas of how you want to use the product. It gives me a chance to find out before wasting time on a call.

"It also offends them if we do not respond in the manner of their choice because it shows that their wishes are unimportant to us. It also wastes time."

Of course wishes of new customers are important but again with the product i sell. I have hundreds of requests and like the request to provide a butler outfit for a member of this forum, he gave me a clear request via email and i dealt with it in 24 hours.

"Part of our sucsess is art of making it easy to buy, and I am sorry if it offends people that I look for suppliers to respond quickly and professionally in the manner I chose to request information."

I agree make it easy to buy and that is what we all aim for. You may think that you are important and have the right to choose information in your way, but dealing with hundreds of requests everyday phoning mob numbers to ask a poss new customer what do they want? how many companies would do this.

"If someone says they are to busy to respond in this period or do not respect my wishes as to the method, it is often a sign that caution needs to be taken because thing will often get worse."

It is not always about jumping when a poss new customer says jump!, it's about understanding what the customer needs and that sometimes means requesting more written information first. When you are dealing with hundreds of customers everyday you must respond to those that have given you the most info first. I think they call it effective time management.


Thanks for your feedback

Tony

www.sitepal.co.uk

[Whistle Ink]

As a group we have gone from 2 people to 45 in 2 years and 0 to 3million + turnover.



well done - im sure we can all agree on this one

[billystar]

Hi,

I think the idea is one will that will take off and make you money.

But the only reason i can see for having it is if you have a poorly designed website.

Billy

[www.sitepal.co.uk]

Hi,

I think the idea is one will that will take off and make you money.

But the only reason i can see for having it is if you have a poorly designed website.

Billy

With the SitePal's Artificial Intelligence Knowledge Base feature
( Gold Package) which allows users to interact with SitePal scenes by typing in questions such as "How much does this product cost?" and getting back reasonably intelligent answers. The product can now offer much more intuitive and enjoyable way for visitors to any site, be good or poor design.

Thanks for your feedback

Tony