Late arrivals need brilliant strategies

JAKARTA (JP): History has many times proven that early birds sometimes catch no worms. Not to mention the late ones.

But in business, the early birds often get the precious worms, if not chubby ones.

Generally, those who come later can only follow, spy or imitate.

Only few dare to compete fairly and legitimately. Usually, companies that come late into the market fear that customers will doubt the quality of their goods and services, particularly when earlier established companies already provide adequate products and services.

About two or three years ago, consumers in Indonesia were skeptical when new products from South Korea, from automobiles to electronic appliances like TVs, washing machines and refrigerators, flooded the market.

With reliable and first-class service, some of the producers managed to grab a significant portion of the market within a short period of time.

In the cellular phone business, PT Excelcomindo Pratama (previously called GSM XL) is another good example of a new player cruising in the competition fit.

It is the latest player in the business, but it has succeeded in winning a respectable position in the market.

Excelcomindo came into business when giant rivals, Telkomsel and Satelindo, were in their peak.

Like many late comers, it challenged competitors by its strategies.

A first-class tactic -- based on an in-depth survey -- is important for any "new kid on the block'. Otherwise, its demise is certain.

Now that one does not need a publishing license from the government, the country has seen the collapse of so many dailies, weeklies and tabloids a few months after their launch because they could not survive the stiff competition.

Very few publications have survived. Some publications even publish irregularly.

Excelcomindo, however, had a carefully planned strategy.

First, the company established a fiber optic cable network as its operational backbone in Java. In terms of capacity, the cable exceeded the needs of its customers at that time, and Excelcomindo could have used it for a multimedia network, such as cable television.

But the company did not use the extra lines in the cable network for other profit-oriented ventures but instead used it to satisfy its customers who wanted super clear voice quality which could not be provided by satellites and ordinary cables.

Furthermore, Excelcomindo had also realized that the massive cable networks of state-owned telecommunications firm PT Telkom was already being used by its competitors, so naturally PT Telkom will take the side of its prime clients.

Second, Excelcomindo, to attract customers, activates the line shortly after the customer registers so that customers do not have to wait for two or three days like with other cellular mobile operators.

This strategy enabled Excelcomindo to win new cell phone users. Other operators then had no choice but to follow suit.

Third, Excelcomindo managed to meet customers' need of not having to change their cell phone numbers when they changed their payment system from prepaid to a monthly subscription.

Fourth, this operator once lured customers by charging a monthly fee of only Rp 20,000 for sending as many SMS messages as they wanted. (Excelcomindo later stopped the scheme due to an oversubscription of the package).

Fifth, Excelcomindo has positioned itself for the middle to top income group as it realizes that it will not be able to compete with rivals, such as Telkomsel and Satelindo, which are still the leading players in the business.

But there is no guarantee that Excelcomindo will be able to retain its current position forever since its competitors also have superb strategies.

Let us see who will win the battle in a honest and professional way.

Like in a bird's life, it's not simply about waking up early but how to wake up the worms.

-- Tjipto Ramuni