Taking an early morning walk around Lonehill last Sunday, I was struck by the number of competing security company boards encroaching on walls and fences of properties on critical corners and visible approaches where Lonehill Residents Association (LRA) boards used to be and/or should be.
I was also struck by the high visibility of three competing security company vehicles CRUISING around Lonehill in the hour that I spent around the village - almost in a show of DOMINANCE.
Anyone with the slightest semblance of marketing nous can see what's happening... competing security companies know that 'he/she who visibly dominates a community wins'. It's a game of persistence... and the persistent slowly eat away at the edges until they dominate. Which is where they were in this community before we residents changed the rules of the game back in 2000.
Seems to me that the battle is seriously on to wrest Lonehill's security revenue back from the hands of the LRA - representing contributing residents. And our own internal forces don't seem to see it happening right under their noses.
If they did, they would be making MASSIVELY VISIBLE innovative marketing/promotion 'noises' in the community to stand out above this clear competition... or to at least bring the competition into the community contributing loop.
Oh yes, I'll get the argument: '..but we have our visible street guards posted all around Lonehill.' Again, I say, if one has the slightest semblance of marketing nous one will understand that 'familiarity breeds contempt', and that these guards have been around for so long doing the same old things that they have just faded away into the community backdrop - no one really notices them anymore.
Let me demonstrate how this works: our service providers KNOW that graffiti is an absolute no-no in this community, yet daily they drive by graffiti that has been on their Studio Park electrical box for over 9 months now. Let alone that on the electrical boxes at Lonehill Village Estate. They just don't see it. Familiarity breeds contempt.
Still not being privy to any numbers from the past 18 - 24 months... and still no one from the LRA talking openly with concerned residents in OPEN meetings (a bit disappointing, I must say)... I am guesstimating that we have lost close to 18% of our individual houshold base of contributors due to a combination of the above 'lack of visibility' and poor follow-up support service from our local providers.
I also guesstimate that the LRA actually reaches less than 10% of our total householder base of +- 5000 households (I am told) via the LRA email newsletter. Would love to see physical evidence from simple tests that can be conducted to show the contrary.
I am hoping that the NEW LRA board members are jacking-up where I believe the cause of the poor service lay/lies. I do see encouraging signs of an increase in alertness all around.. ;-)
But here's my advice on the visibility side... make something MASSIVE happen... do something OUTRAGEOUS... capture the hearts and minds of your target market - make your visible points of presence far more PROMINENT... do it REGULARLY... get service providers to show this community how they really CARE for this community's business... outperform the encroaching competition by 1000%..! Until you do this the competition keeps eroding our contributor base away and we all lose.
Unless we all shake and stir, shake and stir, shake and stir (the benefits of which I sense can already be felt stemming from the shaking up of the LRA out of its recent slumber) ...our community initiative goes down the tubes. As it is we've already relinquished our claim to fame as innovators in community security dominating the moral high ground. It's time to make a MASSIVE play to recapture that position... it needs MASSIVE INNOVATION... it needs BIG THINKING... it can be done... by bringing the savvy of quality minds in this community into play.
Regards
Trevor Nel - 705-2790
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