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A number of the new generic Top-Level Domains (gTLDs) have not fared well, as reflected in the dismal domain registrations.
Most often we’re told the problem is that end users don’t know about the gTLDs, or that they don’t understand or fully believe in the gTLDs’ benefits, or that they demand a tremendous amount of benefits before giving up the familiar for something new (so-called .com-stickiness). My point: Behind all these explanations there may be another, the lack of decent sales force strategies.
The registries/registrars seem to assume that the new gTLDs don’t require a sales force with new competencies. But a study by AFNIC shows that registrar dominance in old gTLDs does not automatically lead to prominence in the new gTLDs. The sales force has to understand the new domains’ benefits, how to identify their target audience, and how to modify lead-generating techniques (probably in a way that requires more cold calling).
There have been a number of predictions that the Internet would eliminate middlemen in a great change known as sales disintermediation. Instead the overall numbers of salespeople in the economy stays the same. Marketers are typically removed from customer contact, and salespeople definitely aren’t. That means salespeople always have a special role to play.
Registries and registrars have exhibited marketing naïveté. They need to regear their marketing and pricing strategies, and they need do research into why businesses don’t want the new gTLDs. And they have to update sales training.
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once again you nailed it Alex.
Having a TLD launch team that know all the registrars and contacts, as well as the process involved in building that series of important relationships is crucial. Unfortunately we are seeing many new entrants trivialize this or relegate it to inexperienced associate level junior staff that are from outside the industry, and not being aware of just how much they are hindering themselves.
This year’s NamesCon in January served as a healthy means to make connections and learn a lot of the institutions of the industry for many of those nascent teams, and we intend to have many more sessions and networking opportunities tied to the upcoming event in 2015.
Thanks Jothan!
With the brain power at the Namescon, I would have liked to see a serious session on abuse: cyber- and typo-squatting, phishing, counterfeiting, and other online criminal activities. Even the session on TMCH was very limited; it did not address the advantages and disadvantages of alternative TM database designs, and those of the non-synchronicity of the database validation with the timing of domain registrations.