Creating a world class concierge department is expensive, logistically challenging, and requires strong owner-led management. By creating this department as its own company and extending its directive to film, PR, and social media; we can build a first-rate and very productive service.
Because the S-Web CDS™ can create in-depth visually rich articles in minutes, mangers & staff can frequently and automatically deliver this content to social networks, and make newsletters for clients scoring points for each syndication.
From bookings to the mandate recruitment process, the CRM-CC™ applies ‘The Hawthorne Effect’
(people work harder when they are being observed), organises, and motivates the whole team; exponentially increasing efficiency as a few do the job of many (due in March 2018).
1. Organizing a villa rentals division has proved difficult for many real estate companies.
• Whilst there are hundreds of software products for property management companies, there is no dedicated software for villa rental agencies.
• Even when one has organised a rentals division to coordinate and get the best out of the team, one needs solid and usually expensive management.
• This system is designed to navigate the procurement of the mandates process.
• Allows for staff to work from home and yet still be coordinated.
• S-World CMS-Nudge CC™ is specifically designed to run and manage all the staff within a vacation rentals business.
• Makes the running of a villa rentals division simple
• Keeps costs down
• Increases productivity
• Allows for greater collaboration
In Chapter 6, we saw how the S-World CRM-Nudge Ai™ allows a good sales person (without experience in the industry or niche) to take control of the booking process in all waking hours; effectively doing the job of a small sales team on their own with great efficiency. This not only saves the company money on the sales team, it also saves money on your ‘star rep’; as if they are doing the job of three with greater efficiency, their net income will be more than double. And as such, one can present a lower commission rate in the first place, and this single point can be considered a 10% saving to the bottom line, 10% that may be used to incentivise mandate recruiters.
In this chapter, we look at the CRM user options and the S-World CRM-CC™, the ‘Company Controller’; which, at this point in time, is set for creation straight after the completion of the CRM-Ai™ and before we create the S-World TFS™ (Total Financial Systems). Our reasoning for this is that we are currently approaching big companies who have adequate financial knowledge to manage the bookings and salaries. Whereas when it comes to the same company guiding/managing their new mandate recruiting rentals company, one either needs an expensive MD or C Level manager. Instead, we extend the S-World CRM to manage the entire department, in the same super simple and effective way it is set to manage the booking process.
This solution I have named the S-World CRM-CC™ and this is again part ‘Nick-Ray-bot,’ as it automates the tasks that we need to accomplish, per my desire. This system also incorporates the M-System 11. QuESC, which will improve the systems after judging the actions performed in different ways, processing the data, and changing the advice presented to the company’s personnel based on prior experience, continually improving.
This has been a desired feature of this system since 2011, and was a key factor in 2012 in the book Spiritually Inspired Software and now Angel Theory – Paradigm Shift.
1. In 2011, after 8 years running www.CapeVillas.com (2002 to 2010); and in 2010, creating a copy of our website for Sotheby’s Realty Cape Town on a profit share basis, it did not take a genius to figure that creating many such websites for different companies across the world was a good prospect. However, it was pointless trying to grow the business in this direction without a solid software platform that was a cross between a financial system, a CRM, and a hospitality department. So, in March 2011, I designed the first basic system design.
2. About 18 months later, after much work on how to grow the network, I took influence from the butterfly effect, string and quantum theory; the results of which were presented within two books: Spiritually Inspired Software. & The Network of a String. This was the beginning of the Ai, and the idea that we would learn from the humans who used the system, analyse their data, and create improved advice and options for future actions in a continuous cycle of improvement, as is illustrated by the butterfly on the graphic above.
3. In 2015, after developing the Villa Secrets web framework, the CMS, various systems and a JQueryMobile website; I started to plan the CRM, seen here in over 4 hours of video, in a product called ‘The Divergent CRM.’
4. In 2016, this design was updated to the TFBMS and the Sienna- Bot, including the S-World TMS™ (Total Marketing System) which added 21 systems that either saved money, made money or mitigated risk, and the TFBS™ (Total Financial & Business Systems) which added a further 20 systems which either saved money, made money or mitigated risk. These systems are now found within ‘The Villa Secrets’ Secret,’ Chapter 14. The S-World TBS™ and Book 4 of Angel Theory – Paradigm Shift (2018)
5. In early 2017, the S-World CRM™ Ai and TBS™ functions were presented with the Technology Summary.
6. Soon after we completed the S-Web CDS™ (Content Delivery System) which became the foundation of the CRM-Ai™, now the CRM-Nudge Ai™.
Like the CRM-AI™, we are developing this system ‘Mobile First.’ And by designing in this way, we create the functionality in a way that is perfect for mobile.
Below, on the left, we see the design for the CRM-CC™ (Company Controller). The second icon you see, ‘Rentals,’ would lead you to the CRM-Ai™. The rest of the icons lead to different user types or functions including; Training, Villa Rentals, Portfolio Management, Mandate and Best STO acquisition, Concierge, Hospitality, Media Production, Marketing Objectives, Property Managers, Magazine Creation, Partner Deals, Admin, Financial*, Stats and Sales funnels, Managers, & the Board of Directors.
In the initial product, we are only including functions we can create quickly; whilst one may think that creating 15 additional user types would take 15 times as long as it does to create the CRM-Ai™, that may be the case in the long run. But all we require right now is a calendar & planner with deal steps and targets.
In a way, this is another version of the ‘Nick-Ray-bot’ (Nick Ray Ball is a box), a tool designed for me to assign tasks and monitor progress. I have been working like this (albeit is a less sophisticated manner) with my copywriter in the Philippines and my programmers and designers in India for years.
One of the big tricks is to create the calendaring in a way that has ‘important tasks’ and ‘tasks that are useful, but not essential.’ So, if a task takes longer or is delayed, the entire timeline can be shifted back, keeping the important date sensitive tasks, and tasks that require collaboration in their original dates. To accomplish this, we start by spreading out the essential tasks with plenty of time in-between each, which is filled with useful tasks such as prospecting for new villas and mandates. And if there is a delay, all the non-essential tasks get moved back, whilst the essential and time sensitive tasks stay in place.
Above left, we see the day planner in task mode, which assigns different colours to different task based on importance. Green is for an important regular task that should not be missed. In blue, we see tasks assigned that can be put back if a more pressing task arises, or if a previous important task has overrun. Then in red, we have tasks that are very important, usually involving a meeting, collaboration, or a deadline.
In this scenario, the staff member with the dual role of copywriter and portfolio manager has a meeting with a property manager at a villa at 11 a.m. to 12.30 a.m.
Above right, we see the alert that beeps and pops up at the end of the task time, from which the user can click ‘Task Complete’ (which will update the corresponding deal), or ‘Go To Deal,’ ‘Extend Time,’ or ‘Reschedule.’
STO stands for ‘Standard Tour Operator Discount’ and is the difference between the ‘public rate’ charged by the property and the discounted rate offered to the agency.
In the graphic below, we see the ‘deals’ page which will have automatically updated as soon as the copywriter / portfolio manager has clicked ‘Task Complete’ on the previous page; moving deal stage 8 from Red ‘not complete’ to ‘green complete.’ As the deal stage is currently in progress, it is in blue.
There are 11 different stages to this process that happen before we pitch for a mandate: 1. New property identified, 2. Basic details received, 3. Got images, 4. Qualifying assessment 1 to 10, where we prioritise higher numbered properties; 5. Sunset photo shoot, 6. Daytime Photoshoot, 7. Add photos to webpage, 8. On site article, 9. Publish web page, 10. Owner edits/ approval, and 11. Magazine article & Homepage.
This last deal stage is where magic can happen. Not only will the villa webpage look this awesome; but in just a few minutes, we can create an online magazine article, presenting it as the featured villa in an illustrious company within a pan African mega article, which (sometimes temporarily) adds the property to the homage. When the web page, mega article, and homepage are presented; this is the point where the owners see Villa Secrets as the company that goes the extra mile. And that’s the time to start the pitch for a mandate, as an experienced and seasoned sales mandate specialist joins the portfolio manager to help bring home the opportunity, following a different deal path specific to the task.
Even if a mandate is not secured, one will have made better friends with the owner and may get a better STO or better bespoke discounts for quality bookings, and we have more great content.
However, we conclude with some graphics from the overall S-World CRM™. However, it needs to be pointed out that icons not previously presented are a job for ‘down the road.’
Below, we see 2 pages of user options for Villa Secrets Rental Agents. On the left phone, we see the following: Search, My Lists, Messages, Enquiries, Telephone, Clients, Tasks, Modes, Magazine, Contacts, Bookings, New Bookings, Portfolio, Concierge, Deals, and Settings.
On the right phone (accessed by swiping to the right), we continue with the following: Sales Tools, Training, S-Web CMS, S-Web CDS™, Partners, Finance, Travel Options, Stats including sales funnel, Property Managers, Jet Set Options, Safari options, Admin, Marketing, Media, Managers, and Mandates.
To conclude this presentation, we will take a look at two more pages due ‘down the road.’ On our left, we see ‘All Travel Options,’ this page is designed to offer the same experience as seen in the S-World CRM-Ai™ but substituting the journey from ‘Villas’ (vacation rentals) to the following options: Concierge, Villas, Jets, Safaris, Hotels, Private Islands, Resorts, Flights, Car Hire, Yachts, Trains, Cruises, Skiing, Romantic and Honeymoon experiences, Family options, and Weddings and Events.
No doubt this will take a lot of time to complete, not in terms of creating the App, but in creating all the APIs (connections) to travel databases (as is the job of the Villas Cloud team in chapter 5), then collating all the data, and presenting it within the websites. Plus, in many cases, we also need a firm grip on the logistics, particularly in areas such as safaris, jets, yachts, honeymoons and weddings; in which case, many services will not be on any form of database and we would encourage the services to use ours.
However, in the end, we will have a product from which anyone in any discipline can simply and with confidence book travel arrangements in any other discipline.
Above right, we see a very cool function indeed, albeit this may turn out to be the most complex of all functions to program. This is the ‘all messages page’ which collates messages from all possible sources; email of course but also live chat, SMS, Facebook, Messenger, Skype, What’s App, etc.; with all the messages presented together a master messages page.
For industry leading villas, safaris, and private islands where a mandate is not an option; we create S-Web solutions enabling them to make multi-leg bookings or bookings in other properties when they are full, and generating significant residual income for managers and owners alike.
1. Particularly for top of the range villas, exclusive use safaris, and private islands, bookings lost to tour operators who can offer an all in one service.
2. Despite receiving as many as 25 solid enquiries for peak times of the year, a property owner can only rent out their property once.
3. Some great booking opportunities are lost due to property managers or owners’ villas being deemed unsuitable; for example, it’s not children friendly.
• We create the websites and systems that enable property managers and villa owners to make bookings for other properties.
1. Can double the net income for exceptional villas, exclusive use safaris, and private islands.
2. Can make property managers amongst the top 1% of US earners (or the top 0.1% of African Earners).
3. Makes the process of booking other properties simple and profitable.
4. Can increase occupation of the existing in low season.
5. Lessens dependency of big tour operators.
As without the villa companies and their concierge and hospitality departments, there would be no difference to Airbnb, HomeAway and every other VRBO (Vacation Rental by Owner) website out there.
Instead, the Villa Secrets property managers and owner’s system is for:
1. Owners and managers who wish to complement their property with others to create a tailored holiday option for their clients.
2. Owners and managers who wish to make money from their overflow, by booking other villas when their property is either booked or otherwise unsuitable.
3. Active villa owners may know other villa owners who would likely give them the sole rental mandates if they had the website, systems, marketing, networking, concierge, and infrastructure that Villa Secrets can provide.
In each case, the initial step is to create the property manager or owner their own S-Web websites with their own domain. The website created will be similar to www.VillaSecres.com, from which they can pick and choose which properties and services they would wish to display.
Where after, when a booking request comes in that they cannot book, as their villa is full or otherwise unsuitable, the manager or owner simply uses the ‘super simple’ S-World CRM-Nudge Ai™ to present their clients with the options they wish. And as we saw in the S-World CRM-Nudge Ai™ chapter, this process is dead simple, takes only a minute or two, and creates both an online magazine-styled webpage for the client, such as www.YourWebiste.com/CleintsName; and a beautiful email to match, presenting villa/safari/private island suggestions, and some useful and enticing articles from the online magazine.
In some cases, if the managers and owners wished to get a head start and get going straight away, we would give them access to Villa Secrets itself; from which they make all the same bookings under the same terms, until their website is ready.
We bring up the question of ‘How Much does this cost?’ early in the conversation as this is a big plus point, as there is no cost. We consider deals with qualifying property managers and owners in the category of ‘Mergers’ as the manager/owner already receives enquiries that can be used to generate bookings, and we see value in this. And so, we are more than happy to bear the initial cost of creating the website and pay for all hosting and technical support on an ongoing basis, as we are sure to make the money back from the bookings that are created.
Again, we bring this up early, as our solution offers at least twice the value offered by most villa or safari agencies, who typically offer a 50/50 commission split for a serviced property rental.
The first point we should make is that, unlike most agency agreements, we are not the middle man. Yes, Villa Secrets will have different companies representing it across Africa, but owners and agents do not deal directly with those companies. Instead, managers and owners pay only a technology and networking contribution to Villa Secrets Ltd UK (The Holding Company) of 12.5% of the commission.
Plus 12.5% of the commission goes to the dedicated concierge and hospitality, 24/7 live chat, and logistics call centre; which is an essential expense that any platinum or diamond villa would not only be happy to pay. Indeed, they would not wish to do business in the first place if this department was not a key feature within the Villa Secrets ranks.
Both of these charges are in the family of ‘Nash Equilibriums’ specifically, they are charges that one would wish to pay without regret. In the case of the technology and network contribution, one only has to see what we already have developed and our development plans to see that our technology is well worth the 12.5%; as it simplifies the process and greatly increases the chances of making bookings in the first place…
And as for the 12.5% to hospitality and concierge, we will get to this essential component shortly.
The total cost is 25% of the total commission made from the deal.
Now, we don’t have a crystal ball and there are several variables in play. But we can show you the math and strategy for a typical booking scenario; and after, show that if 2 good bookings were made each month, then it’s almost possible for the villa owner to double their net profit before tax and the manager to generate a bonus that would put them in the top 1 % of Africa’s earners.
For this example, we consider a client, representing a group of 7, is interested in a two-week African vacation; where budget is not as important as the experience, i.e. they have lots of money and want the best. And they have come to the manager and owner’s website, and the venue is available. But experience tells us that the clients may well end up booking through a tour operator, as they want a professional itinerary and a one stop shop for booking the land arrangements. And further to that, they know that if the client goes to a travel agent or tour operator who has a better relationship (or better STO) with an equal competitor, the booking may be lost all together.
And so, after talking to the client about their property, in part to make sure they don’t lose the booking, and in part as there is ‘gold in them there hills’ (money to be made by booking the other land arrangements); the manager or owner politely asks if the client would like to see their recommended partners in Africa, and the client agrees. A few questions are asked about the client’s ideal experience and which locations they are particularly keen on.
The manager adds the info into the S-World CRM-Nudge Ai ™ and sends the client a link to their unique website (which from now on we shall call AfricanSophistication.com), so the link would be www.AfricanSophistication.com/Mr-Forrest; from which the client can create subpages such as www.AfricanSophistication.com/Mr-Forrest/MyPartner or My Boss and seek a group consensus. This whole process also mirrored in email format.
As this is a superior way to book, in comparison to any other, the client books all the land arrangements through the manager and owner’s ‘unique website.’
A two-week holiday in 4 legs: Safari / A Safari Villa / Private Island / Cape Town Villa, in which the client stayed in the manager and owner’s venue for 4 nights, and the clients stay 10 nights in venues provided by the manager. If the average price per night was $10,000, then $100,000 is the holiday cost for the 10 nights. If the commission was 25%, the manager or owner would receive $25,000; from which Villa Secrets receives 25% – $6,250, and the manager & owner net $18,750 in residual income and $40,000 directly, or $30,000 if booked by an agent at 25%; in which case, for every two-residual bookings they make similar to the example above, they make more than a single direct booking.
Next, we consider the exact same scenario, but this time we consider a repeat client of the manager and owner’s wants to return. But there is no availability for their dates and they can’t move their dates. But as the guest obviously trusts the venue as they have returned, they would be more than happy if the venue they trust can give them some recommendations on alternate properties. This time the commission is higher as its 14 nights not 10, and the manager and owner make $26,250.
Whilst it is up to the owner and manager how they remunerate this money, we have found 20% to be fair in the past. Albeit as there is almost no expenses for this income, a 50/50 would also be fair if split between the management and reservations team and the owner.
Looking specifically at the 20% model, I have created the scenario in Game Theory, the tool of choice for business strategists and economists.
The above game works on the previous figures, and that 2 such bookings are made each month. And the result for the owner is an additional $504,000 and the manager makes an additional $126,000 which is just shy of two thirds of the salary that gets paid the British Prime Minster, so not bad as an extra income.
And in the scenario below, we see that of the $504,000, if the venue was making $1,500,000 a year and of that turnover 35% was left as net profit before tax, the owner will be just shy of doubling their profit. So, that’s pretty good too.
A cautionary note, while we really can’t say how much an owner and manager would make without knowing how many enquires they had, we would suggest that these are figures to build to in 2020; when the network is fully international and diverse, in that it offers properties for sale and all forms of luxury travel, and the manager and owner’s website has started generating bookings directly from some content and video marketing.
This section is about the commission we generally receive from luxury African properties. This can range from 15% to more than 40%. In most cases, we are seeking for a 25% commission from the most luxurious venues.
However, we wish to go further and create a very exclusive club, made up exclusively between companies who are using this system and have a $10,000,000 plus property.
Before getting to the specifics of what Villa Secrets does for its income, we know that 25% is better than the standard ‘split in commission,’ or less than 50% that one would receive in a partnership with say Rhino Africa.
Typically, 12.5% is spent on web and software development; making sure our superior systems stay superior. And 12.5% is spent on the ‘Famous Concierge,’ helping to make sure clients have the experience they wanted, with a suitable safety net in place to handle almost every emergency, from missed flights to legal assistance.
In addition, this technology is being developed for our ‘safari system’ for safari venues, but with the exception that the S-World safari company ‘Experience Africa’ gives back.
Experience Africa is a non-profit that has plans to make tens, then hundreds, then thousands of websites and companies. Of which, 50% of all turnover is bound for the protection of elephants, rhinos, & cheetahs which we deeply hope will, in time, be assisted by elephant and ripple effects fan Paul G Allen, the co-founder of Microsoft.
See: Ripple Effects and Elephants for Paul G. Allen
So, not only is one creating significant residual income; at the exact same time, one is helping to fund the project that seeks to become the most ambitious African consideration initiative of all time. The potential is ridiculously high, consider 2000 safaris (about 40% of them) all contributing 12.5% of turnover, and add our plans to create a next generation booking and software for the actual safaris themselves; on a plan that only takes a commission when turnover is more than was expected. And this initiative can make more money for the fight against the ivory poachers than is contributed from all other sources.
We need to complete the Villa Secrets system and make a few modifications for it to work with safaris and off we go. Of course, it will be great to get Microsoft on bard from a technical perspective. With technology partners like Microsoft and Facebook, this project has a better than average chance of fulling its mighty ambition.
Mixed into the 12.5% contribution is the growth of the network internationally, which has many benefits. For instance, if a client wished a Private Island holiday or wedding, they would not necessarily be looking for an Island in Africa. And as such, private islands can book other private islands across the globe.
One can now see the ‘ Famous Concierge’ in the Angel Theory – Paradigm Shift presentation. The second 12.5% is for hospitality, concierge, logistics, and 24/7 live chat and call centre services.
Our founding company, Cape Villas.com, has been in partnership with arguably the world’s leading concierge company ‘Quintessentially’ for over 10 years; albeit our partnership has been quiet of late as we have focused on development. But you can be sure we will be reigniting that relationship when the time is right.
Later, we present an entire chapter on the concierge and media department. But to sum up, we are creating the ‘Famous Concierge’ by twinning the concierge and hospitality with the media and video departments; who, in season, mostly work with clients; and through the lower season work mostly on media and video.
And because of this and that we can offer time off for auditions and shoots, we can recruit and motivate a proper concierge team; who really do know where it’s at, who surf, enjoy Cape Town, and climb mountains regularly and are more than happy to have guests join them on the journey.
I was very impressed with www.luxuryrentalgroup.com/concierge, a company who we are looking to work with in LA. In particular, their comment:
Whilst there are fewer restaurants booked up months in advance in Cape Town, the effort required to get such a restaurant to make plans take a very charismatic and very locally famous person. And so, we recruit accordingly, with attractive looks, charisma, and confidence as a prerequisite.
Such people don’t only know how to get the reservation, but also the best tables. They know where the private villa events are, and they are invited to yacht expeditions and all sorts of events; which special clients will be invited to, should they wish.
Of course, it’s not just one big party, we need stability and strong logistical support. But the commander’s intent is to make Villa Secrets synonyms with beauty and glamour; and, at the same time, create a huge amount of broadcast quality films and video.
Of course, if one is booking a safari or private island, there is no need for concierge. We shall only set up office in popular locations such as Cape Town, Seychelles, Mauritius, and locations that we have a lot of partners.
However, the logistics, 24/7 Live Chat, and call centre in different languages is a huge support; in case the guest needs assistance at any time, and in particular for the ‘missed flight’ emergency. This assistance helped mightily by the systems we are creating for this service.
A primary objective of S-World Villa Secrets is to create a simple financial system as a part of the web framework, that provides managers with weekly management accounts, and avoids human error. Stage 1 due for release four months after the sale of the first primary network.
A Software, Systems, and Behavioral Science Critique of the UK Corporate Tax & VAT Systems.
Originally written in the summer of 2017
With additions from May 2018 found it the latter sections
In 2011, the first version of this business plan (found here) combined a CRM (Customer Relationship Software) alongside a financial system, and a GDS (Global Distribution System) which provided access to online availability, as is now presented in the Chapter 5. The Villas Cloud™.
Before we delve in, a quick summary of the development timetable; which would be about 6 months to an alpha version, which will be all that is needed to give management the correct overview, showing monthly income vs expenses and profit and loss.
First, a brief description of the 5 points that were identified in the TFBS design from 2016, found here: Network.villasecrets.com/total-financial-business-marketing-system/tfbms-part2-total-financial-business-system.
To avoid human error &/or fraud since the original ‘SIENNA Software’ plan in 2011, the software has been specified to capture financial data from the bank; this is in place of an admin or the financial staff members copying data from the bank’s website to a financial system or spreadsheet.
Banking APIs (connections from a bank’s system to yours) are becoming more readily available and cheaper in the UK. However, we are not starting in the UK, and we need to make our system connectable to any bank in the world, so we are creating a simple bank CVS spreadsheet download and upload system.
In short, any staff member with access to the bank’s website can download a CVS spreadsheet. And we also ask that they take a screenshot of the bank’s online page that includes the running balance (for added security). Then, the spreadsheet and screenshot are uploaded into the TFS™, the running balance is entered, and the data is in the system.
The one problem we have is when two payments for exactly the same amount with the same reference are made on the same day. In which case, the running balance will be incorrect, and one must look for the duplicate payments or debits and add them manually. However, this event would not occur often, especially not in high-end real estate and travel.
Also note that the initial data from all agent and online bookings is already a part of the system, the data is already in the CRM. So, for almost all expenses, except one off purchases, there is no data for financial admin to add.
There is a significant time saving cost to this method, so one staff member can do the job that used to take a whole team. And of course, a system that is free from data capture errors is priceless, as it makes the system very hard to trick or defraud.
After a number of breakthrough chapters, I am now confident that (one way or another) I will get the development team I wish for and that I can create the TFS (Total Financial System) directly with a bank or banks. It may not immediately cover every country, but as long as it can cover every currency and receiving money in that currency does not invoke an exchange rate cost when the payment is also in Rand, it should be fine.
So, the plan is to create a system that draws its data straight from the bank; which creates an added advantage of making it possible to make auto payments, significantly reducing admin hours, making a better service as suppliers are paid as soon as the money hits the bank, and further reduces the risk of fraud.
Once the data has been fed into the TFS™ and the running balance is seen to be correct, that data is sorted into sections and sub sections, just like one would usually see from an accountant or accounting software, separated into different columns for different types of expenses and inputs which can be customized anyway we wish. This system is not just for recording accommodation payments in and out, it is for every expense from personnel to light bulbs.
For all transactions that have a specific recipient code or name (such as ‘John Smith Salary’ or if a villa payment with a reference number such as ‘#2613’), the receipts and payments will automatically be assigned to the correct section. And in the case of income from clients, the system will create a message about the payment to send to the owner.
There will always be a degree of human sorting, credit card payments for instance. However, with most data being auto sorted, the list of available matching payments to choose from will be small and easily managed. The system will try to exact match the amount. And if it can’t, it will provide a list of potential matches, most likely at the top, really making the banking child’s play.
This system is designed to work for every single transaction, making the entire business banking process simple and extremely efficient. Of course, it would be better off if all payments were made automatically; but this is only possible with banking APIs, which are a later version of TFS™. Stage one is purely about making an accurate system that is almost impossible to fraud or create errors in, that can be presented simply to the C-Level managers. And so, S-World Villa Secrets can see the almost real time financials of all the business, presented simply and more complex, depending on who is monitoring.
With all the banking data now placed into the correct categories and sub categories along with required fees presented for payment, updated 3 times or more each week, the system comes into its own when it comes to reporting.
An accurate report of debits and credits presented as management accounts is essential in business when it comes to making, spending, and hiring decisions.
This is so the CEO and the management can clearly see the profitability (or not) of the company in almost real time.
In addition, in business transactions where payments are not uniform; for instance, payment may be in full or a deposited amount. And in the case of some booking channels like Airbnb, bookings are paid in arrears. The TFS™ will provide the all-important ‘stand still’ figure. (If all credits are received, and all payments made, what is the balance?)
To further assist, using past data, the TFS™ will also provide reports that compensate for seasonal trends.
In addition is the ability to provide up to date financial reports to clients as soon as their payment hits the system or is paid to the villa owner; or if a concierge payment is made, it will update the Client Suite.
The CEO and management will be able to see a very real picture of how one is doing in a month. Judged not only on income received but by how each sales agent is doing. One also has a very good indication of the value of enquires and each sales person’s enquiry VS closer ratio. Drilling down deeper, one can assess which agents perform best with which enquiries, and better order the allocation of enquiries based on such data.
Once one has the organised data, we desire the final part of the system to correctly present and pay taxes and be ready for an Audit if necessary. Each country has different tax and filing guidelines as well as rules which everyone should abide by. However, this is simply another set of rules to add to the system. It’s simply reporting in a specific format.
Below, we see the original TFS™ design from 2012, from the first S-World Book ‘American Butterfly – The Theory of Every Business’ http://americanbutterfly.org/pt1/the-theory-of-every-business/ch7-s-world. One needs to replace the word ‘S-World UCS’ with The TFS ‘Total Financial System.’
To conclude this section of this chapter, we present the usual ‘problems, opportunities, unique systems and solutions.’ But this time with a little more passion, as we describe the mountainous problems I had with accountants and accounting software between 2004 and 2010 that almost crippled the company.
If one is reading this from the perspective of ‘The Challenger Sale,’ this section provides data that one can use to create an ‘Emotional Impact’; albeit, this will only really hit home with smaller companies, as most big companies (and in particular established real estate companies) will most likely have fixed the following problem long ago.
However, I have extended this section to include the problem of key staff and agents leaving to join competitor’s companies or creating their own; which is a significant problem in the travel and real estate industries, particularly at the top end.
In the early days, all was fine with the accounts; which I did myself after some initial guidance. Until the end of 2004, when we were robbed, including my laptop that I had not backed up for a few months; where after, I was so behind we hired a bookkeeper who worked at our accountant’s office. Unfortunately, the company boss, who was my contact, was going through a very messy divorce and was completely distracted. So, instead of working from the spreadsheets we had created, they used the accounting software Pastel, and did not account for final balances. So, a few months into 2005, we realised that guests had not been invoiced for final payments, and this was an expensive lesson.
But nothing in comparison to the following 5 years…
I shall tell this story framed within Problem vs. Unique Solution Points.
Leaving one’s accounting and admin to professional accountants, or an in-house bookkeeping team is a risky business. In my experience, in both the UK and South Africa, from bookkeepers to experienced financial officers at BDO, to the 5th biggest firm in South Africa, they all get it wrong.
And in some cases, they get it badly wrong, then rub salt into the wound by becoming the single largest expense in my company (at 25% of Gross Profit in 2010,) that their actions threaten the very business they are paid to assist.
Like lawyers, accountants are not paid to help or fix your business in any way, accountants’ priorities are to create reasons for billable hours.
A real example of this was for BDO for Cape Villas in 2010, who started with a $150,000 VAT error; as either they did not check or know that there is no VAT for foreign holidaymakers, or they did know but decided not to share this information as calculating the VAT was worth $25,000 for them. And at the same time, the CEO said he loved the business and would offer business advice not specific to accounting; but neglected to suggest that as our property management division was causing 95% of admin and admin and property management was costing 20% of gross profit, if we outsourced the property management (which would have been relatively simple), we would save 20% a year from the department, and another 25% from the financial department. A 45% saving that really would have made a massive difference.
But of course, when the CEO said he loved the business and would offer business advice not specific to accounting, what he forgot to say was, ‘so long as any advice I give does not decrease the amount of accounting you need.’ As a result, 45% of all 2010 gross profit being about $250,000 was, in one way or another, wasted as a result of BDO accountants.
This came just 18 months after the previous financial manager resigned after making a plus minus $150,000 reporting error; which lead to $150,000 of spending on offices and launching a new brand that we would not have done had we been given the correct financial stand still.
The above very true scenario is probably the biggest landmine any company could face.
Even after spending hundreds of thousands of dollars setting up the Pastel accounting system (preferred by accountants in South Africa), the accounting software did not account for moving clients from one villa to another, if for some reason the first villa is not suitable. I personally tested this in 2010 by asking the financial team if they had reconciled such an event and was amazed to find that the system could not detect such actions. And if not for my personal intervention, we would have lost $4,000 which, on its own, was not a make or break problem. But, as we would regularly change villas, this problem adds up to a significant problem.
And yet the woes continue. As before the big accounting firm and the financial manager; in 2007, we had our best year to date, but had lost money. When we called in the financial manager, he reconciled the books and found about $80,000 missing, and fraud charges were placed against the previous financial manager. But this could not be investigated, as the fraud squad wished us to pay $250,000 to Price Waterhouse Cooper to investigate, and we could not afford it.
To the credit of BDO in 2010, they provided month end reports. In over 7 years, I was never given a month end repot. Only when BDO came did I receive this. Month end reporting is a completely essential tool that should be the first thing anyone with any experience in accounting or bookkeeping should know that they need to produce.
However, like many business owners, I simply did not know to ask for this, having paid money to others to take care of this department. I buried my head in the sand under the expectation that the people, who did this for a living and where trained for this at the university, knew what they were doing.
Big mistake, as by the time BDO did present monthly financials, there were some very big unnecessary costs that needed to be trimmed. And due to the other losses, or in the case of 2009 and the misreporting which lead to $150,000 of spending on offices and staff that was not necessary, we had to create such a massive contraction that it sucked most of the talent out of the company.
All told, it’s a wonder that Cape Villas did not go bust. It surely would have done if not for my ability to find new ways to improve, to the point that when the recession of 2008 and 2009 and 2010 were affecting the rest of the world, Cape Villas had its three highest grossing years.
But as night followed day, for every new way to increase income, came an accounting blunder or accounting cost that lost as much or more.
Of all the systems presented, it can be reasonably argued that a simple financial system that offered month end reporting to the CEO is the system needed the most and is certainly a system that can travel into every industry.
Even if one has the most up to date software, one is vulnerable to the liabilities of whoever is using the system, whereas the TFS™ (Total Financial System) is designed to elevate this worry.
And it’s not just in South Africa, and whilst I’ll not get into great detail about the need to depart from my UK accountants other than to say in 2016, they made a £4000 error, and then tried to charge me for fixing their mistake; and in 2017, they were about to make the same error and were likely to charged me once more, so I quit.
However, there was another reason, and that was my wish to see how easy or hard it was to create and pay corporate tax and VAT.
However, what I did not know is that the HMRC government systems used to pay tax are not fit for purpose.
We shall return to this point after the following solutions to the points just raised.
1. The TFS™ (Total Financial System) is designed to be unique; as it, like every other S-World software system, is a part of one system, it is not various systems added to each other. I know we have head to this point before, related to other systems. But the importance of creating one system and not try to attach many different components together really is infinitely superior, and more so when made for a specific industry niche.
When one goes down, the many software systems linked together route. One can either go ‘CRM’ first like Salesforce, and then add to it financial systems that are not as good as dedicated financial software, and certainly do not provide a simple end user experience. Or one can go ‘Financial’ first and choose a package like Sage, which granted has its own CRM, but such CRMs are light years away from Salesforce.
And of course, as in both the case of Salesforce and Sage, both are created for every industry, so there is a tonne of functions that are of no use and just get in the way.
Further, neither are connected (out the box) to the website of the business, and so the enquiry data has to be copied from the enquiry forms onto the financial record, and every time someone data captures is an opportunity for making a mistake.
It’s taken a long time to create the framework that can avoid all these uses; and once we create the TFS™ as a part of that framework, it will be unique and better than all competitors’ systems.
2. The TFS™ (Total Financial System) is also unique, as within its design is a rather unorthodox and ‘old school’ manner of collating the data from the bank and putting it into the system without fear of data capture error. And whilst this is now designed as a backup for whatever countries can’t access a banking API, it’s a useful backup to have.
3. The TFS™ prevents agent fraud, which is so common it has a name… ‘outside deals,’ which is much harder to do because the enquiry is tracked through the CRM-Nudge Ai from the word go, and a disproportional amount of near end of deal fails will immediate raise red flags, either the agent needs final deal stage specific training and a number of books to read, or there stealing, either way, its useful data.
The landmine of ‘Accounting so negligent it may as well be criminal’ is solved by the TFS™, which is a system that has been a pivotal part of the Villa Secrets design since the get go in Feb 2011.
It would be very true to trace back the ‘Accounting so negligent it may as well be criminal’ in 2009 and 2010; as the nudge to my choice in 2011, to step back from the frontline of Cape Villas to create a system that eliminated the need for accountants. This point is highlighted in the first business plan created, as seen within an early version on the CRM connected to a financial system.
And from this point on, for over 7 years, we have been developing the systems. And now, with the framework of the CRM- Nudge Ai coming together and when the enquiry data being added directly, it will take but six months to create the financial systems as presented in http://network.villasecrets.com/total-financial-business-marketing-system/tfbms-part1-total-marketing-system; and in so doing, avoid the landmine of reckless accounting in all the ways previously presented.
And like the CRM-Nudge Ai™ and CRM-Nudge CC™, the TFS™ (Total Financial Systems) will be created mobile first and the entire accounting process will be performed on mobile, which has the knock-on effect of making it super simple by design.
When it comes to the software that we struggled with Pastel for 8 years and spent hundreds of thousands of dollars trying to set up; few would argue that it has been created in a way that is deliberately complex, so that the accounting industry knows their clients can’t use the software without the accountant’s assistance.
We did consider QuickBooks, but as (in South Africa) most accountants did not use it, it made little sense for us to use it.
There are now a good number of accounting software products that I’m sure are pretty good, but none of which are integrated.
The best solution is to create one’s own software, maybe at first connected to a system such as Sage via API, but in time built out as a standalone system. At this point, one may feel that an accounting software is typically hard to create. This maybe so for a system that can work for every business type, and so needs tax info from every company type and every country kept up to date, and to comply with each country’s regulations. Then sure, that’s a lot to do.
But when it comes to collecting data from the bank, reconciling the booking made, and making staff and other cost centres; there really is not that much to do, one has already created all the database fields, most of which are created as part of other systems.
Accounting software in terms of the math is very simple indeed. Take the spreadsheet that has been created to present the Scenario 7 forecast, this is infinitely more complex than what we are talking about.
There is a basic rule to programming, if one can do it on a spreadsheet, it’s simple to do in a database. In fact, it’s easier in a database. All one needs are the skills and design to create the CMS pages to display the data in different ways, and no one is denying our CMS creating capabilities. Creating the system, as specified, is simply a case of basic math and CMS skills.
By creating the system ourselves, we can add special alerts and conditions for items like the guest moving scenario described earlier. And of course, as all the data is already in the system from the enquiry process, including the prices and all data that one would need to add to an accounting system, the accounting person has no such data inputs to make; saving time, increasing efficiency, and making the system very hard to manipulate.
The only missing element that one would wish to include is connectivity between the bank and the system. But as we have heard in the 2018 updates, such connections are now being researched.
Having already eliminated the accounting staff ability to manipulate the data relating to the client and each deal, as such data is all collected before it gets to admin; the other area where unmonitored admin cheats and could manipulate the data is in the banking. I’m sure there are a number of ways to cheat in this regard; but if one eliminated the data capturing from the bank to the system, then it really cuts down options. And in most cases, as it’s not easy to start to steal, most simply one won’t steal in the first place.
When it comes to connecting one’s bank to one’s system without data capturing in a way that works for every bank, there is only one solution.
Our solution, in this regard, may not be sexy; and to many it will sound outdated. Many will say, there is a better way; but that would be correct in Western countries. But in the rest of the world, in 2017, it’s really the only possible way. And unlike other methods and products that create banking APIs like https://kontomatik.com that charge one Euro per transaction, our method is without cost.
Our initial solution to this, the ‘data capture error’ problem, is that we simply download the latest banking data as a CVC spreadsheet and upload it into our system. As I said, it’s not sexy but it’s simple to do, it’s free; and importantly, in fact, critically for the Villa Secrets network, it works for every bank on the planet. We have already tested viability and there is a small bug, that if two payments are made for the same vendor at the same price on the same day, then a manual correction is required. But this happens very rarely if at all.
This solution not only stops data capture errors, it all but eliminates ways that accounting staff can defraud a company. So, really, it’s 2 solutions for the price of one. Then there is the time saving as well, so three solutions in one.
As there is little data capturing except on one-off purchases, and as all individual costs will be neatly presented in specific categories; where any new unexpected payment out is flagged for attention, combined with the bank double checking in the form of the screenshot which must tally with the system, it makes fraud very hard indeed.
More can be done and will be done if we uncover any ways to trick the system. But in general, the TFS™ is a system that is designed to make it almost impossible for the financial controller or anyone else to commit fraud.
Personally, I do not believe a tenth of the stuff the Russians seem to have recently been blamed for. But if I were Russia and I wanted a way to decrease the UK’s wealth and so destabilise it, one sure way would have been to spy my way into making the systems that collects tax so bad that the losses to HRMC are in the many billions, and the cost to business is as much again.
We are now jumping from The Villa Secrets’ Secret 2017 to Paradigm Shift June 2018 and the document I have made for the attention of Nick Down’s, whose job it was in 2008 to find ways to improve tax income, and David Halpern, head of the Behavioural Insights Team affiliated to the cabinet office.
www.angeltheory.org/book4-1/total-business-systems-v1
www.angeltheory.org/paradigm-shift-quick-summary-v1
An S-World TBS™ (Total Business Systems) subset TFS™ (Total Financial Systems) research paper for Angel Theory – Paradigm Shift.
To HMRC, Companies House, David Alpine, Richard Thaler, and Nick Down,
I have found 4 significant barriers to entry that would negate most of the hard work yourselves and BIT have done for the problem, ‘How can we increase tax receipts?’ as described in the penultimate chapter of Richard Thaler’s book, ‘Misbehaving: The Making of Behavioral Economics.’
I shall present the critique and then offer solutions. But first, a summary of the 4 problems; from which if one prefers, one may skip straight to the solutions section.
There is a fatal error on the corporation tax form’s auto fill. It only works with Microsoft IE, and it appears that an entire department has been set up just to help people log in, when all that is needed to fix the error is a few days of programming.
The same problem is found on the VAT form. But this time, in testing, we found 2 completely contradictory responses coming from the same support team. Responder 1 suggested that one needs to clear their password’s cache (which is incredibly inconvenient as one would need to add every single password for every single site that requires a login); or alternatively, ‘use a different browser.’
After trying 3 different browsers and none working, another call was made. This time the respondent said they have a problem and he would need a new ID, that would be sent in the mail.
That 2 completely different responses were given, it shows a complete breakdown in training and the information given to support staff.
From a Mrs Richards whose email exchange which include the following …
One does not need to be a behavioral economist to see the above is the opposite of what one should say if one wished to maximise government revenue.
In ’Barrier to Entry 4,’ we see the actual tax form is so complex that the support staff can’t help with it, and that there is no online support, help pages, or tutorial videos.
The full account from ‘Barriers to Entry’ 1 to 4 follow.
I will start with the system that, in my opinion, is the biggest barrier to entry; and it certainly is the easiest to fix.
However, please note that as this critique developed, it became evident that the entire system needs to be re-created putting logic, simplicity, and www.behaviouralinsights.co.uk at the core of the system design; from software to support staff systems. We shall find my comments on this at the end of the article.
Before we dive in to the critique, a quick quote from 2017 Nobel prize winner Richard Thaler author of ‘Nudge’ and ‘Misbehaving: The Making of Behavioral Economics.’
From ‘Misbehaving’:
Ok, thanks prof, congratulations on the Nobel.
Let’s go. But before we do, note that for speed, I am working from memory. However, I do have hours of video, audio, and emails that will back up everything I say except in barrier 2.
1. I have found a critical error in the online forms for the UK corporate tax collection.
This problem is when using Google Chrome as a browser, using Windows 7 (and as I later found out it also fails on Firefox and Safari when working on an older Mac). So far, it’s fine on IE (Microsoft Internet Explorer), however, I expect the system was programmed using IE and the programmers/engineers did not test other browsers (an amateur mistake if ever there was one).
a. On the sign in page, https://www.tax.service.gov.uk/cato/start-filing/eligibility/select-organisation-type
On this page, if you add the correct User ID, for example, ‘592753295037’ and the correct password; the auto form’s function on HMRC’s servers changes the User ID ‘592753295037’ to your email address. And even if you then add the correct ID back ‘592753295037,’ the auto forms will replace it with your email address every time you click the ‘Sign In’ button.
This is particularly troublesome because to the eye, one does not notice the problem at first. For me, personally, as soon as the system told me ‘Invalid user ID or password. Try again,’ I looked at the username and password and presumed they were correct and tried again, but this time continuing to use the email address that was displayed. And when I could not make it work, I requested a change of password, and started again. Only to be baffled again. This happened three times. And each time I requested a new password, it also gave me a new ID. And each time I added the correct ID and password, the auto forms’ erroneous code would change it to the incorrect user email address. Eventually, I gave up and moved onto another task.
A couple of weeks later, I came back to it. And when I read my notes, I noticed that I had 3 different User IDs. So, I was immediately aware that there was a problem with the User ID part of the website, not a password. But now, I had another problem, as I had requested 3 password changes which created 3 different IDs, it would not give me another. Instead, I needed to contact HMRC and the new ID would be sent by post within 7 days.
A week later, the new ID was delivered. But this time I knew to be very careful on the login page. And this time, I noticed that where my email was in the user ID, it was in fact supposed to be the ID number. So, I added the correct number and clicked ‘log in,’ but again was faced with ‘Invalid user ID or password. Try again. ‘
But this time, I noticed that it had replaced the 12-digit code with my email, and that it did this again and again, a typical auto forms coding error.
So I phoned HMRC and pointed out the problem, and the lady told me I had an auto forms error. I did not point out to her that actually the error was that the HMRC system was incorrectly populating my auto form, but it was obvious to me that this was the case.
Also, the language was a tell, that she knew to tell me it was my auto forms that were at fault. She obviously knew this problem well, then she suggested scrubbing my password’s cache, which was crazy; as if I did, all of the 100 or so passwords that Google has stored for me would all need to be re-entered. When I protested, she suggested I use another browser (which should have been her first suggestion), and I said I can use IE, and she said that would work well.
Again, the language here (which I have on video) suggests that this is a common problem that they have to deal with all the time. And of course, it does not help that she and other call centre staff have seemingly been told that the auto fill’s problem is a client problem. Obviously, somewhere, someone made a solution and told the staff what to say, and that someone had no idea that the problem was theirs to own and would not take long to fix, if only they presented their developers with the error.
Prevention
a.i. Let me and my team fix it for you for free.
a.ii. Send your development team this critique and let them deal with it.
Cure
a.iii. Inform all staff of the problem and have them be a little nicer about it, admitting that they are currently having development issues. Like Barclaycard did a few years back, when they launched their new online banking website only to find login problems. I did not mind so much because they owned the problem and were apologetic.
I shall not labour this point, as the problems are much the same as above. My source for this insight is my father who often struggles with his VAT online filing.
I did not record the incident from yesterday, but I did make notes.
Firstly, my father added the correct ID and Password into the HMRC login https://online.hmrc.gov.uk/vat-file/trader/217390568/return/period/478.
What followed was a 30-minute exchange between him and a customer assistance officer discussing the same problem per point 1; but in this case, it was Firefox on a Mac.
Again, the HMRC assistant suggested that it was an auto forms error on his computer, not understanding that the error was the way the HMRC system populates forms.
HMRC asked my father to clear his password cache; and luckily, I was there to tell him not to. Then, HMRC asked him to swop browsers, so he used Safari and got the same problem.
The representative gave no hint of an apology. HMRC likely does not even realise they are doing anything wrong. They may as well have been ‘Currys PC World,’ trying to get out of giving a refund after selling dodgy high-end laptops that don’t work with Microsoft Office.
This said, it’s not the fault of the HMRC staff, it’s a catastrophic breakdown of reporting within the department.
In the end, I suggested that my father use my PC and IE, and he got in. But then, it got itself stuck by asking for a second phone number to send the 6-digit verification code to. At this point, we went around in circles for a while and gave up.
Conclusion…
When I first started CapeVillas.com in 2002, I was advised not to register for VAT unless I absolutely had to, as it was a cost and a lot of admin. I’d expect a lot of start-ups get the same advice. Given that there are likely a lot of people who should pay VAT that don’t, the barrier to entry (as presented) will be enough in a lot of cases to nudge many to continue the status quo of not paying VAT.
Especially as from a behavioural sciences perspective, the status quo is hard to shake in the first place.
Indeed, there may have been many great initiatives thought up by Richard Thaler, Nick Down, David Alpine, and the www.behaviouralinsights.co.uk team that did not work out as well as expected due to the barriers to entry. You may have nudged some or even a great many to compliance, only to see them fail to pay due to the barriers to entry and lack of support, which returned them back to the status quo bias of not declaring VAT and other taxes.
As an update to the above, my father tried again after a few days, but this time received a totally different response from the support team. This time, when Dad told the support guy his problem, the guy instantly said that he would need to issue Dad a new 12-digit ID number.
Dad informed him of what the previous fellow said just 3 days earlier about clearing his password’s cache. And when Dad refused the suggestion to change to a new browser, and the new guy clearly stated that as Dad’s company was not a corporation, sometimes they just deactivate your login. And that he was 100% sure that no matter what Dad did, he could never get access without a new ID.
He gave Dad the new ID, and he gained access???
This point, that one has two different support officers accessed via the same phoneline and quite possibly in the same office, who have completely different answers is a complete breakdown in logical systems.
And that the IDs sometimes just expire out of the blue is not much of an answer and not necessarily true. It’s more likely that by trying to access the same account on a number of occasions, a system not dissimilar to Hulk Force protection has terminated the ID as it was used so many times without gaining access. Albeit I can’t be sure.
Either way, having two staff give completely opposite advice on something that should be simple is, in my opinion, the nail in the coffin for the current software and support staff.
And further, that it really does seem that there is an entire department of staff dedicated to solving the login problem is absurd. Just fix the problem, it’s easy.
Ok, so after two mostly technical points, we will do a pure behavioral science point that I have on email.
The general problem was the timescale that was suggested was not enough to cover the time it would take to receive the various mandatory snail mails, plus the ongoing login problem was still unsolved at that time.
Companies House,
Ref: NUM639173X
Date: 24/03/18 10:03
From: nick@villasecrets.com
Dear Mrs Dawn Richards
Correspondence included:
To which she replied
If however, you wish to keep the limited company you will be required to file the accounts to Companies House were a financial late filing penalty will be issued to you.”
Yours sincerely
Mrs Dawn Richards
Compliance Case Officer
This is, of course, hilarious to any behavioural scientist and could end up being the Behavioral Insights Team’s ‘best example’ of how not to behave. Mrs Richards is making it easy for me to avoid paying tax to the UK, by moving my business abroad, and actually threatening to fine me for staying put???
And from the language,
Mrs Richards is presenting what could be used in a legal argument for one to think she is actually saying ‘I do not have to pay any outstanding tax owed as long as I fill in a DS01.’
Which is completely incorrect, and should never nearly be alluded to.
Then hits me with…
However, as I was reporting a loss due to borrowing for the development of Villa Secrets, Angel Theory, American Butterfly and other projects; there was no motivation for me to avoid tax, I just needed to register the loss.
And in case someone is wondering why I don’t just get an accountant to fill in the form, I needed to know how to pay the tax as a part of the design for our financial systems, the S-World TFS™ ‘Total Financial Systems’ (this chapter). And in addition, my 17 years of experience with accountants has taught me to avoid them.
It’s very difficult to motivate staff to change in a culture where good service does not see any reward.
Further, it’s hard to motivate staff to make more money for the government departments if no one in the entire organization is financially incentivised, from call centre agents to the CEO (or whatever equivalent position that is).
If this were my job to fix, I would use past data and whatever else we can find to plot total receipts each year and see the curve. Maybe it’s up 2% this year, but in good years can be more. There will be an average and this can be used as a benchmark.
Then, in an arrangement not completely different to the Behavioural Insights Team and number 10, one creates a well financially motivated unit that can pay super manager salaries and incentivise this new unit with as much as 9% of additional income gained (above the curve) to bolster the team; including teams that are dedicated to getting companies all over the world to re-register in the UK.
Then assign one or more percent of the additional revenue made above the curve as profit share per the S-World CRM-CC (Company Controller) between all personnel. So, everyone is motivated to see the UK tax office is making as much money as it always could.
To end, I will quote Richard Thaler again:
Having mastered the art of navigating the browsers and other barriers to entry for the Corporation Tax online form up to the page ‘Balance Sheet’ (AC42 to AC 81), the form was easy enough.
But to me, the Balance Sheet’ (AC42 to AC 81) does not make logical sense, and the standard staff at HMRC do not understand it either. To get assistance, you need to give the specific points such as AC68 and AC80, and they will call back a few days later.
The page starts of by asking the value of AC42:
This was a bit of a curve ball, as the accountants that did the previous year’s return did not ask me about this. So, either they did not have the same form, they skipped it because they knew no one worried about this, or they were negligent. I have the form they created called CT600 (2008) Version 2 which does not seem to have an option for ‘Intangible Assets,’ and is on reflection, it’s a different form all together. A form that would have taken me about 5 minutes to complete following their example from the year before.
Pressing on with the online form for now, it asks the value of for trademarks and intellectual property, this is very difficult to assess. What was the value of American Butterfly in 2015 as a new economic system? Potentially trillions, but it was not complete in 2015 so I just added £1,000,000 for AC42.
So, taking this to include the websites www.capevillas.com, www.villasecrets.com, and www.cape-town-luxury-villas.com; where the last was valued at £180,000, I guessed at another £500,000 for the websites and $4000 for my laptops and cell phones for tangible assets. But again, this was not a factor in my previous years’ return and has nothing to do with tax payments. It actually seems like some bright spark had the idea to add a load of survey questions to the form. This is not making anything easy.
The next step is to allocate the assets into: Land and buildings, Plant and machinery, Fixtures and fittings, Office equipment, Motor vehicles; of which none apply to websites? So, I just added office equipment for the laptop, which was a big error, but there were no ‘other’ option.
Next, AC50 to AC61 Current Assets are all zero.
Next, in AC64 Creditors: amounts falling due after more than one year. Debts you expect to settle after more than one year, for example, bank loans with instalments due after more than a year. I added the £23,468.39 loan I took out that year.
Next, in AC68 Total net assets or (liabilities), £1,979,531.61, it deducts the money owed to the bank from the valuation of intellectual property AC42 and AC44, the ‘for sale’ value of the websites plus the laptops and cell phones.
Next, in ‘AC 79 Called up share capital – The total value of all company shares issued at this date. For example, if you issued 100 shares at £1 each at incorporation, and a further 50 shares at £1 each in this period, your called up share capital for the period would be £150.’ This information I do not have, and again it is not apparent on the previous tax return, I will have to guess at £100.
Next, in AC47 Profit and loss account – Running total of profits, retained by the company and not paid out with dividends. Here, I added the losses made in 2015 which are equal to the bank borrowing -£23,468.39.
I click save and continue, and of course I am timed out….
I re entre the info and after another glitch, I came to the barrier to entry from last time.
So, I have ‘Total net assets or (liabilities)’ (box AC68) = £1,980,532 and ‘Total shareholders’ funds’ (box AC80) = -23368.
Which are obviously miles apart. I have come to this same problem 3 times now, and even with writing everything as I have, it does not help.
To compound the problem, there is no tutorial information anywhere that I can find, and the system is well beyond the scope of any one at the Help Desk for filling in form at 0300 200 3410.
They have a ‘Get help using this service’ form that I filled in and I got a short reply a week later. And they have ‘Get phone support,’ but that is the 0300 200 3410 which does not offer help; and instead, you may make an arrangement for someone to call you 3 to 5 days later.
Let me look at the advice given in the email I received from the form.
Note that the email did not display at all, this is another error. It’s not hard at all to create e-mails that are seen on Microsoft Outlook, every single email newsletter one has ever received is proof of this.
Indeed, someone has already identified this problem, as in the header is a note saying of you can’t see the email, click here to see it online.
This again is quite ridiculous, if millions of small companies across the planet can send out content management generated emails, it’s obviously a simple operation.
Note further relating to ‘Barrier to Entry 1,’ that when clicking the prompt, the email opens in Microsoft IE, overriding my preference setting for Google. This tells us that someone within the development company knows there is a problem with other browsers.
Hello Nick
Your enquiry has now been passed to my team to deal with. please also accept my apologies for the delay in replying
If you are completing micro-entity accounts, then Cap[ital and Reserves are entered in Box AC490. This box does need to march AC68.
AC490 will be the total of the Called up share capital (total value of the company shares, which should be a minimum of £1) and the profit and loss account for the period. These figures are basically the company assets which is why they need to be the same as AC68 which also display the company assets
I hope this helps
Kind regards
Jackie
HMRC User Support Team
Unfortunately, this email is not helpful. It mentions Box AC490 which is not on the page. I consider maybe Jackie meant Box AC49, but this box is for 2016 and I am doing 2015.
Maybe Jackie is trying to say that the value of the shares in AC70 (Called up share capital) or AC76 (Revaluation reserve) should be equal to the AC68 Total net assets or (liabilities). But if this was the case, surely Jackie would have mentioned these options more specifically?
As well requesting the help by email, I also requested a call back (which was said to be 3 to 5 days, sometimes more). And I know that the call back came, and its message is on the answerphone. And of course… He did not leave his name, and the phone number he gave was general enquires who cannot help with this page.
Ok, so I will instead reply to Jackie by email, and include this entire critique of the system.
This chapter is not over.
It’s not that I can’t do this, that’s not really the point. The point is the full-time staff who are paid to help (the first line of defence) do not understand it either. If simple tutorials were made, all staff will be able to help all client’s needs.
Due to the incredibly bad systems, staff are overrun, it takes 3 days for an assistant to contact you. If you remove all the barriers and simplify, then the same staff would likely be 90% less busy.
There are other problems, like fix the browser and email problems. But really one should not only make the tutorials, one needs to remake the entire form, making it super simple that one can do it via their cell phone.
Let’s go back to Richard Thaler’s point that we heard at the beginning.
If the idea of the www.behaviouralinsights.co.uk is to find ways to nudge the UK citizens to do things like pay their tax, the 4 barriers to entry above should be addressed before applying the behavioral economics. I can receive the best worded generic letter that nudges me to pay tax on time, but if it’s not possible to pay tax, the carefully worded nudged letter will have no effect.
In this concluding section, I seek to demonstrate to 2017 Nobel prize winner Richard Thaler and colleagues some of the advantages of our system, and how it can be used in tandem with behavioural science.
I suggest an adaptation of the S-World and S-Web systems be created for the UK tax office (HMRC). This would will be ‘Sienna.Gov’ software, last discussed in 2013 as part of ‘The PQS.’
Which for all intents and purposes was the original version of Paradigm Shift Book 1. M-Systems.
Before we see some ideas and solutions, a quick overview of why we need to do this in the first place, via an edit of the full article seen above.
I have found 4 significant barriers to entry that would negate most of the hard work yourselves and BIT have done for the problem, ‘How can we increase tax receipts?’ as described in the penultimate chapter of Richard Thaler’s book, ‘Misbehaving: The Making of Behavioral Economics.’
Richard Thaler is seen below in the movie ‘The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine’ by Michael Lewis.
I shall present the critique and then offer solutions. But first, a summary of the 4 problems.
There is a fatal error on the corporation tax form’s auto fill. It only works with Microsoft IE, and it appears that an entire department has been set up just to help people log in, when all that is needed to fix the error is a few days of programming.
The same problem is found of the VAT form. But this time, in testing, we found 2 completely contradictory responses coming from the same support team. Responder 1 suggested that one need to clear their password’s cache which is incredibly inconvenient; or alternatively, ‘use a different browser.’
After trying 3 different browsers and none working, another call was made. This time the respondent said they have a problem and he would ned a new ID, that would be sent in the mail.
That 2 completely different responses are given, it shows a complete breakdown in training and the information given to support staff. And again, it seems that there is an entire department dedicated to logging in, simply due to errors that would literally take a few days to fix.
From a Mrs Richards whose email exchange which include the following …
“The registrar will not seek delivery of the overdue accounts and no further action will be taken.”
But if I do pay my tax, “a penalty will be issued.’
One does not need to be a behavioral economist to see the above is the opposite of what one should say if one wished to maximise government revenue.
And in ’Barrier to Entry 4,’ we see the actual tax form is so complex that the support staff can’t help with it, and that there is no online support, help pages, or tutorial videos.
Whilst I will fly through the solution, please don’t confuse guarded exuberance for flippancy; there would be a lot more to a complete spec, I have only created an outline, which will be further developed as a full chapter in ‘Paradigm Shift’ Book 4. The TBS™ Total Business Systems, somewhere down the road.
The hardest part is making the new website and software work with the old website and legacy systems; a lot of developers have trouble with this, but once you know what you’re doing, it’s just more of the same. I expect there will be many accounting companies that are used to the old system and would not wish to change. As mentioned, fortunately, this is not rocket science and we have been working on similar functionality to this; making data from thousands of odd properties from this 2002 website www.capevillas.com synchronize with this website www.villasecrets.com. Once the synchronisation is done, it matters little if you have 1000 different units or 50 million, you will need bigger servers to handle the data. But that’s about all, from a programming perspective, it makes no difference; 1000 or 50 million, it’s still the same code, just used more times.
Once the connection is created and the old legacy system entries are synchronised with the new web and software framework (which we call ‘S-Web’), we can get to the task of creating a super simple and uniquely logical set of tax collection options for the new online tax experience.
Much of the web framework can come from systems already developed for S-World and S-Web, but the equally important ‘uniquely logical content’ would come from www.behaviouralinsights.co.uk/our-people/staff who would assist in careful planning, careful testing, careful analyzation of test data to create a near perfect or perfect solution.
The planning is from the default menu options, to the user flow, to the quick tap options, to the tutorials, to the monitoring, and improved productivity and utility of all personnel.
Of course, nowadays, everyone is mobile and app mad. So, the solution must work on mobile, and the only way to do that efficiently is to work Mobile First, with the objective of making the completion of VAT or Corporation Tax (or any other tax) so simple that a 7-year-old child could do it
I’m not saying, at this stage, that we will literally be able to make it so a 7-year-old child could complete the Tax form. However, if we aim for years 7 and above and we end up making it for 10- year-olds, then it’s a win for most adults and certainly an improvement on the status quo.
So, we need to work Mobile First. Why? Because it’s easy to create a desktop version of a mobile app, but very hard to create a good mobile version of a desktop system.
We will start with the S-Web mobile navigation with the basic ‘ default options’ of the app/website.
Let’s here again from 2017 Nobel winner Professor Richard Thaler. But this time, from his New Your Times Best Seller, ‘Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness,’ co-authored by Cass Sunstein.
When you get a new cell phone for example, you have a series of choices to make. The fancier the phone, the more of these choices you face; from the background to the ring sound, to the number of times the phone rings before the caller is sent a voicemail. The manufacturer has picked one option as the default for each of these choices. Research shows that whatever the default options are, most people stick with them, even when the stakes are much higher than just choosing the noise your phone makes when it rings.
Two important lessons can be drawn from this research:
1. Never underestimate the power of inertia.
2. That power can be harnessed.
If private companies or public officials think that one policy produces better outcomes, they can greatly influence the outcome by choosing it as the default. As we will show, setting default options and other similar seemingly trivial menu changing strategies can have huge effect on outcomes; from increasing savings to improving healthcare, to providing organs for lifesaving transplant operations. The effects of well-chosen default options provide just one illustration of ‘nudges.’
So, after creating the framework, we start a new application. And from the very beginning, we should work hand in hand with behavioural scientists to choose the default menu options.
In the prototype design, I have accounted for 48 different mobile usage ‘quick tap options,’ but we should not need nearly as many. The S-Web mock up we see further down the page is designed to make many different systems work as one, mostly guided by the Ai. And it would not be incorrect to say that every function the Ai does should be done so only after the behavioural sciences unit have approved the action/flow.
Note that only recently has the word ‘Nudge’ been inserted into this system’s name, and it will only remain if Thaler and Cass have approved its usage.
For the full article, go to, Network.villasecrets.com/the-secret/ch6/crm-nudge-ai.
What follows is the section on the mobile navigation options.
However, the objective is to make the system without need for the main menu or search, the functionality of a desk top application with the sort of ease of use you would find in a mobile game.
To create this functionality and avoid the need for having to scroll the main menu, we create a (on page) navigation system. Starting with the ‘3 main options,’ these options will be specific to the user type; and for vacation rentals, it is ‘Home | Search | List.’
In this example, the user has clicked ‘Enquiry’ and this creates 4 new icons: ‘a general summary,’ ‘the email,’ ‘new comments,’ and ‘client’s client’ options. If one now clicks the clients option, three sub options would be displayed in place of the other 3 icons. All told, creating 48 different ‘quick tap’ options available for each individual page.
The cleverness is not in the amount of quick tap options. The cleverness is how the Behavioural Insights Team will allocate the options, in essence, creating a ‘default’ system that can be navigated with ease.
However, before we get to the menu options, first prize is making a simple system that works almost exclusively on screen; one should not need to use any navigation other than on screen prompts, and the quick tap options are there mostly for tutorials and options that only the support ream would use, which would not be seen by the public.
A proper spec would require meetings and weeks of prep. For now, these are just starter ideas, many or even most of which would not make the final version.
Page 1, on screen should simply ask which type of tax one wishes to pay; Corporate Tax, VAT, Income Tax, and others.
Next the login page, which is currently the biggest cause of problems, is actually very simple to get right; cross browser access is a very basic part of web and app design, especially if you have your own web framework.
Next, we should add different options based on the following…
2. One needs to make different versions of the website and software for different user types. Consider for example, ‘Salesforce’s’ software, a CRM program. This software has been created to work with every business type there is, and because there is a lot of clutter, and there is no specialist product made for any specific industry.
The S-World solution to this is to make hundreds of different types of the same CRM, Software & Websites for different industries and then different niches within each industry.
By working in this way, we can throw away most of the clutter and make a clear and instinctive path to guide the user through the paying tax experience.
And of course, it’s really up to the Behavioural Insights Team to choose both the different sub groups and creating the ‘clear and instinctive path.’
It may sound like a lot of work, but really, it’s not. One starts out with a version with every possible option (all the options of the current system). And then one creates different versions of the same system but does not include any options that are not relevant. And of course, one can make different versions for the same users and see which is most effective after analysing the results.
In ‘Barriers to Entry Point 4,’ we saw how the options are so complex that the support staff don’t even understand what to do. And they have to get someone to call you back in about 5 days; who does not even leave a name or any way for them to be contacted, then save the basic login support phone number, who are only trained to help with logging in. An entire division of staff employed to solve the problem of the login complaints, all because of the login problems as presented in Barriers to Entry 1 and 2. Which, if we remember, are not more than a few days’ work to fix, if it even takes a day.
Making the systems simple and providing high-end tutorials, written and on video, added to the fixing of the login problems, would reduce the need for the ‘login support team’ by as much as 90%.
All of whom can by using the S-World UCS™ tutorials to advance their position to form completion support, reducing that five-day wait to immediate assistance.
Not to get to focused on S-World UCS™, as when you go down that rabbit hole, one could end up writing 100 pages just in its basics. There is a short summary available here: www.angeltheory.org/book7/s-world-ucs-simulator-v1. However, for this exercise, we only need to focus on the S-World Company Controller and S-World UCS™ Hawthorne Effect System.
I will just touch on the basics. Firstly, the S-World Company Controller or ‘S-World CRM CC.’
The system can be adapted to give tutorial or exam tasks to personnel when they are not dealing with clients. And if they are completely busy all of the time, then time should be set aside for them to learn; plus of course those who wish to move forward in their careers, they can always look at the tutorials at home, on the tube or other…
When they are dealing with clients, a deal stage can be brought up with a step by step walk through all the parts of the process, keeping an exact record of how far the users have got. The below example is for recruiting mandates, but the same step by step logic can apply to each and every tax client, and the different steps… 1. Login > 2. Form > 3. Other > 4. Etc.
Next, we move into S-World UCS™ Hawthorne Effect System, which is based on an idea gained from behavioural scientist David Hoffeld’s book ‘The Science of Selling: Proven Strategies to Make Your Pitch, Influence Decisions, and Close the Deal.’
In which Hoffeld presents the ‘Hawthorne Effect,’ which in a nutshell shows that personnel work harder when they are being monitored.
As the task planner assigns pages of tutorials when the call centre is not busy and created exams based on system knowledge; at the same time, each deal made (each tax client seen through the journey to pay their tax) can be easily assessed, one can easily assign a point score to each task which can be seen on a scoreboard that starts from zero each day, which creates a winner and a loser each and every day.
In S-World and in particular for S-World Grand Networks, at least half of all the personnel’s remuneration is assigned as profit share that will be paid out to winners. So, each day is a new day to win the day (by being on top of the scoreboard). And profit share is paid to those who win, and those that lose would make less than half of another staff member in the same pay grade.
I have fleetingly mentioned profit share before. But I can see that this, being a big decision, is not likely to be made any time soon. However, we can incentivise in other ways. The most obvious being promotion from junior login support to senior form support and other positions.
Another idea is simply to get a 50-inch TV in the office that only shows ‘the scoreboard.’
Are you seeing it yet? Of course, by applying the above, we create a Hawthorne Effect as everyone will (in fact) be monitored by the Ai and all their peers every second of every day.
As mentioned, persistent winners can be promoted, and persistent failures can practice in their own time to get up to speed or can be retired.
Getting back to the different systems for different industries, in addition to this, I would suggest having different systems for different sizes of business.
As far as I can see, someone thought it would be a clever idea to use the tax form filing process to add a bunch of survey questions that are not necessary and are not covered in the tax forms that accountants use.
This extra data should be collected at different times, as we saw in ‘Barrier To Entry 4.’ The form now asks people to estimate the value of one’s trademarks and intellectual property, which is useful data. But these questions were not on the form my previous accountants submitted in 2015, and are not relevant to how much tax one pays. Further, it’s very hard to estimate the value of trademarks, patents, and intellectual property. Route one is get the client to the end of the form and receive the tax as quickly and as simply as possible, all data asked for that is not needed should to be stripped away. There are other ways to incentivise tax payers to assess the value of their businesses.
For more details on the core systems, which as shown can be used as the framework for many industries and studies, see the following Network.villasecrets.com chapters:
1. Network.villasecrets.com/the-secret/ch1/s-web-cms-framework-step-6-our-solution
6. Network.villasecrets.com/the-secret/ch6/crm-nudge-ai
7. Network.villasecrets.com/the-secret/ch7/tfs-total-financial-system
9. Network.villasecrets.com/the-secret/ch9/crm-cc-the-company-controller
10. Network.villasecrets.com/the-secret/ch10/s-world-ucs-tutorial-and-incentivization-game
And as a farewell note, a quick graphic from last year which shows my ambition to make the S-World UCS simulation software played as a game to better make the systems for the NHS.
For more information on S-World UCS, arguably the most significant S-World system, see the following:
www.AngelTheory.org/book7/s-world-ucs-simulator-v1 (2018)
www.AngelTheory.org/book/1-3/the-s-world-ucs-m-systems (2017) (requires login)
Network.villasecrets.com/the-secret/ch10/s-world-ucs-tutorial-and-incentivization-game (2017)
Americanbutterfly.org/pt1/the-theory-of-every-business/ch8-s-world-universal-colonization-simulator (2012)
A far more in depth view will be presented in Angel Theory Book 7. And note that Books 2. Part 2 ‘A More Creative Capitalism’ and Book 3. The GDP Game are in themselves S-World UCS Simulations.
Automates the booking process, created to make one person perform the job of two in half the time with twice the efficiency, removes the need for agents to have experience & and allows agents to easily answer enquiries on the road or outside of work hours.
1. Agents typically work 9 to 5, whilst many customers from Europe and the USA enquire or would like to speak in the evenings or during weekends.
2. A star agent will often view the properties they see, attend viewing events, and network with the industry, so they are out of the office often even in the 9 to 5.
3. Due to the above, new agents, even if they are superb at sales, find it hard to get availability; as their knowledge of what stock is out there is limited to the company’s database of villas and website.
4. Whilst nowadays many villas are on one booking system or another, there are still a lot of great options that are bespoke and require a phone call or an email to ascertain availability. This is a task often performed poorly, as agents may choose to contact a handful of such villas, but far from all options; and as the bespoke villas are not on the systems, they are more likely to be available and the owners are more likely to be flexible on price.
5. A good reply to a client can take an agent 15 to 30 minutes or an hour to prepare; and by that time, the client will (in all likelihood) have enquired with a number of competitors.
6. Given that, at any one point, an agent may have 20 different ongoing enquiries on the go at any one time; half of which should be addressed each day, there are simply not enough hours in the day; and every correspondence is written and researched in less time that is needed to really get it right.
7. Staff leaving for new jobs or to start their own business.
8. Staff doing ‘outside deals’ (making a deal for a villa they know and receiving the commission directly from the owner, and not declaring it to the company); whilst not quite qualifying as a landmine, as in my experience this happened rarely, this trait could cripple a small or new business. And this practice is so common that it even has its own name… ‘Outside Deals.’
1. S-World CRM-Ai ™ is created specifically for rental agents; it has removed all the unnecessary features that multi industry CRMs, such as Salesforce, offers and so is much simpler. The S-World CRM-Ai ™ is created to be suitable for children over 7!!!
2. S-World CRM-Ai™ is the way an agent receives their enquiries, there is not a separate enquiry system, the CRM is the enquiry system.
3. S-World CRM-Nudge Ai™ automates the entire booking process and often will work without the agent’s input; in particular, it will send a very attractive and well composed email to a recipient 5 minutes after their enquiry, so keeping the agent focused on your company, not looking for others.
4. As the S-World CRM-Nudge Ai™ does most of the heavy lifting, agents can work on the move from their cellphones, and as it reduces the time it takes to prepare a quality email reply to a few minutes, agents do not mind keeping the app on in the evenings and weekends.
5. S-World CRM-Nudge Ai™ is so useful that sales staff and networkers, become dependent on it, and so the idea of jumping ship to another firm, or starting their own firm is less likely.
6. S-World CRM-Nudge Ai™ can and will be converted to property sales and other travel items such as safaris, private islands, and resorts; allowing agents to become specially competent providers of such options, increasing the likelihood of becoming the provider for the entire trip not just the local villa hire.
7. Real Estate agents can use the system to send international enquirers both options on renting villas, booking hotels going on safari to their international clients; who in 99% of cases, will need to visit the locations before operating with money to buy a home.
By providing travel options and including articles from the magazines, agents can sell the client on coming to their location which (I would say) must increase the chance of making a sale from international enquiries exponentially.
8. The original component to the S-World CRM-Nudge Ai™, which added the ‘Ai’ to the system, was that the Ai can create automated responses from bespoke villa owners and safaris, where bespoke villa owner’s availability is not on a system; and where safaris are spread across so many systems, it will take years to make all the connections.
1. Rental agent’s inexperience.
2. Rental agents receiving enquiries while away from their desks or out of work hours.
3. Immediate and consistent replies to clients.
4. Rental agents not following up on all ongoing enquiries.
5. Rental agents not replying to ‘big enquiries’ at the weekend or in the evening, and so decreasing the chance of a booking dramatically.
6. Having agents at all.
7. Training agents.
8. Monitoring agents.
In fact, half the time is a gross underestimate; as if one pretty much leaves the enquiry process to the AI and only has a hand in villa selection, it takes less than a minute to create a very detailed highly professional reply. However, like our other systems, this simplicity of use is only created by incredibly complex back end functionality.
To create this CRM-Nudge Ai ™ App design, we are working ‘Mobile First’, as it is simple to convert a mobile design to desktop but hard to convert a desktop design to an app, not in a way that makes a difference.
The S-World CRM Nudge Ai is built on top of our completely unique S-Web CDS ™ (Content Delivery System). If you have not yet seen this system, see Chapter 4. S-Web CDS™ Content Delivery System – Chapter 4e. My List / My Magazine / My Webpage and follow the demo to see how, in just one minute, one can create their own webpage (a webpage that would take days to create in a CMS such as WordPress) or create a magazine article in less time still.
S-World™ and S-Web™ focus on simplicity and lightning speed. We see a process that takes hours or days and we find ways to spectacularly speed up the process. In this demonstration, we are looking at the enquiry process of renting a villa, but the system could as easily be for selling a home or booking a safari, private island or luxury resort; or for that matter, yachts, jets, or other such luxury items.
One big fat reason the S-World CRM is superior is the Nudge Ai. Basically, we are creating a system that does not need human interaction and so core reps in Live Chat or in call centres (who have no knowledge of any of the products) can do a great job on their own. And seasoned star reps can do the job of three staff members in half the time. And further, as reps get used to or even dependent on these systems, it makes for less staff turnover keeping your star reps in place.
Unlike macroeconomics, which principle deals with governments and GDP Accounting; behavioural economics, when practiced in sales, can also be described as the science and psychology of selling.
This book, ‘The Villa Secrets’ Secret,’ marked my journey into behavioural economics; as it was written whilst researching David Hoffeld’s ‘The Science of Selling: Proven Strategies to Make Your Pitch, Influence Decisions, and Close the Deal.’
Hoffeld is a behavioural economist and quotes Thaler in his work and vice versa, Thaler mentions Hoffield in his work.
There were a few places where I was a little stuck with the plan for the ‘now named’ CRM-Nudge Ai. For instance, how long should an email be? Some say very short, but some say detail is everything. This problem has now been considered; and with the aid of Hoffield and Thaler, it would seem prudent to do both. The system (or an agent using the system) can, within 10 seconds of the enquiry, send a super short reply that would work great on mobile like this.
We will later see my 2017 preferred S-Web email from template and it’s long; and in part, it’s long because we had a lot of great stuff to show and questions to ask, but I knew it was probably too long. However, via experiments continually from behavioural economics, we will turn the CRM-Nudge Ai into such a sales tool that it dramatically increases performance and revenue.
Even down to the order of button options that we see next, and how best to make the system for agents and users alike.
End of insert.
At the top left, we have a main menu (the 3 stripes) which will link to many page options. On the right, a second menu (3 dots) for mandatory tasks such as logging in and links to other systems or website pages. In addition is a key word search.
However, the objective is to make the system without need for the main menu or search, the functionality of a desk top application with the sort of ease of use you would find in a mobile game.
To create this functionality and avoid the need for having to scroll the main menu, we create a (on page) navigation system. Starting with the ‘3 main options,’ these options will be specific to the user type; and for vacation rentals, it is ‘Home | Search | List.’
To complement the 3 main (top navigation) options, comes the bottom navigation stripe, which changes for different pages. In this example, the user has the option to check the ‘enquiry details,’ ‘the source of property’ (system/bespoke), ‘to display/adjust commission,’ and the user’s ‘My Magazine’ options.
In this example, the user has clicked ‘Enquiry’ and this creates 4 new icons: ‘a general summary,’ ‘the email,’ ‘new comments,’ and ‘client’s client’ options. If one now clicks the clients option, three sub options would be displayed in place of the other 3 icons. All told, creating 48 different ‘quick tap’ options available for each individual page.
Ok, now we start the enquiry journey; and for this example, we are working on the principle that the sales person is not in the office (maybe viewing a villa, it’s in the evening, or the weekend).
On the left, we see the ‘screen saver’ and this is how the phone will look when inactive. The idea for this and for all pages is that we create not just a great tool but a great experience. We want users to not only use the CRM for their work but for it to become an operating system of sorts, from which all other apps and functions the phone has can be accessed and integrated.
As soon as the phone screen is touched, the dark mask appears, and we see that the phone is split into the most important communications at the top, and user icons at the bottom. One navigates this page by the up and down options to the left of the time. Up will show all icons, as seen on the first phone in the previous graphic; and down makes the page show only messages and tasks, as seen on the right-hand phone.
At the top of this right-hand phone, we see a new ‘priority 8’ enquiry has just come in, and the App has made a ringing noise, until it was answered. We see the timer in red shows 3.25 minutes, this is the time until the Ai automatically send the enquiry, or until is assigned to Live Chat operators. Note also the text in blue, in this case, the user is using the CRM to keep track of their appointments as well as work data. As is desired, the more the agents use the app, the better they will perform and the less likely they are to ever jump ship.
(Note that the blue and red line is an indication of workload, if an agent has too high a workload, enquires may be sent to other agents.)
Having received the new important enquiry, the sales agent clicks the ‘search 7/55’ option and sees the very basic information from the Ai, being that the search is 77% complete, that there are 7 villas available to ‘book now’ and 55 bespoke options that may or may not be available.
And just a note that the ability to make one’s enquiries part of the CRM is very important and is not a standard feature of any mainstream CRM. This task is important as it gets agents stuck in old habits to use the CRM in the first place, as this is how they receive the enquires.
The Search at 77% indicates that there is enough data provided by the client, and villas are available to book online. Although there are a few items that need further clarification.
Before we look at the My List 4 (2-2-4), a note on villa lists; each location requires a portfolio manager, whose job is to create and continue to improve a master list of villas. So that when one filters, one is left with villas in the order that the portfolio manager thinks are best. Or an alternate version of this list is made by each booking agent, putting their favourites at the top.
The My List (2-2-4) is the function that experienced and new agents will really love. This is the format of the email that will be sent; and in many cases, all the agent has to do is go to ‘List’ option check the order of the villas and press send, everything else can be handled by the Ai.
Lastly, on the second picture, the agent has clicked the Enquiry tab (at the bottom) to have a look at the specifics of the enquiry, should they wish.
This set of pages is for the average agent and this is the first place where they will start. In the first picture, we see the villas presented in almost the exact same way we do on Villa Secrets mobile, with the exception of the ‘add to list’ button (the tick) being a bit more pronounced.
Searching first through the 7 villas that are available to book online, sourced from various property management systems, the system has set itself to pick two. But it may not pick the top two, depending on the price entered by the client. If there is a big difference between low and high, or if there is no price set, it will seek to offer a higher priced villa, a mid-range, and a lower priced villa. In this example, in the middle, we see that the system has not chosen the second villa.
Here is where the agent has the choice to now include that second villa by clicking the ‘x’ option.
On the right-hand picture, the agent has chosen to display the commission by tapping the ‘Com.’ Option, and we can see it displayed as commission percentage (20%) = $700 x 7 nights = $4,900; which is higher than the top option even though the villa price is less, due to the top option only being 15%.
For any agent or any company seeking to create the maximum yield, this is very useful data. However, currently, the system itself is set to offer the best options, not just the ones with the highest commission. The CRM-Nudge Ai shall factor for commission, but it would not be the only factor, rather it will be one of a few variables.
To edit the order of the villas made from the search in the graphic below picture one, we use the top menu ‘List’ option. Then by clicking ‘Order’ from the bottom navigation, we see numbers 1 to 7 appear; and by clicking a number, the villa will move to that position in the list.
Clicking the ‘Order’ option again (or double tapping) changes the view to the one seen in the middle picture. In this case, showing all 7 system villas. But equally, by clicking ‘Display,’ one can change from 7 system villas to the 55 bespoke villas. From this view, one can drag and drop the villas into a new order simply by touching a villa with a finger and moving it around, or up and down the screen.
Note that also on screen 2, we can see that in position 3 and 6, are villas that cost less but make more commission; or in the case of 6, much more commission; either as they are on sale, in low season, or the owner has chosen a high STO discount strategy. In the cases of villas 3 and 6, a 50% STO (discount) is offered. Usually we would expect the agent to pass some or most of the discount to the customer but not always, depends on the option the owner/manager chose when making the mandate.
On the right-hand phone, we can see the user has clicked the bottom navigation ‘More’ option, which gives the option to browse through and select relevant magazine articles to appear at the bottom of their communication. We have already demonstrated in the S-Web CDS ™ that agents can create their own magazine articles in minutes and adding one or two articles about the location written by the agent can only increase the confidence of the client that the agent knows their stuff and helps inform and educate the client about the location, activities, and excursions.
Now, we come back to the compose feature, the ‘The My List (2-2-4)’ we saw presented at the beginning of ‘Search Results Page – Part 1.’
The exact options will be the result of exhaustive behavioural economic study. It seems to make sense if the enquiry has come from a mobile, to first send the quick one liner saying something like.
‘Dear Client,
Please follow this link to your client suite.’
Regards,
Krissy
There will be a be a number of options for the client to see and sort, and questions to answer. And if they engage, we know that they are active and there is no need for a longer email, and one communicates via the client suite. But if that email did not prompt a reply, a much more thorough and detailed email can be sent in the following way; starting with the email template, which is chosen via the options below, the dots in place of how many photos are in a row.
Choosing one of the above option decides the email template conditions, the default setting, the setting that will be sent by the Ai, or presented by call centre agents; will change according to the enquiry and the villas available.
What happens next depends on what properties are available and is definitely not a feature one would be able to get on any other CRM as we start to follow ‘The Science of Selling’ by David Hoffeld. Starting with ‘how many properties should one send?’
Ideally, one should not just send one property, as neuroscience tells us that the brain does not like to have only one option, and two is better, or even better still is three; but with the third not as good as the first two, so focusing the brain to be surer about one of the first two options.
However, we will not blindly follow the science rather use it is a guide that we will experiment with and refine per analytics of results, over time, and more research. And it should always depend on the initial enquiry data and what villas are available. And note that in case the client is interested in quantity as well as quality, we add a link at the end of the villa presentation (before the magazine articles) that presents many more villas like this:
‘For 26 more villa choices, follow this link.’
If the client requested one villa and it was available, and there are no other villas that are clearly superior (per attribute point scoring), the first reply would be just to present the villa in rich format, with a few photos, the main article text and relevant articles from the magazine. This seems to contradict the logic Hoffeld made, saying one is better than sending 2 options. But from my own experience, I’ve found that if a client has requested a specific villa and it’s a good one, then it’s best not to confuse the client by offering more options.
Note, however, it is rare for a client to choose and want to book a villa without a conversation.
And even if they do and there is a villa or villas that are in the same location that are superior at about the same price, then it is in the customer interest that we inform them of the better options.
But what if the client asks for one villa, and there are others that are equal to it, some having better scores for one attribute and worse for another? What helps in this scenario is a summary of how the client browsed the website and their favourites list. As if one can see that the client has spent some time assessing many options and only picked one, then one can be sure the client has already chosen well, and one should guide the client into the buying process. But if the client has spent little time looking at other options, then it would not hurt to present one or two alternatives and seek to home in on what the client’s primary buying motives are by asking the right questions.
However, here comes a curve ball; as we have two types of availability: We have ‘system villas’ that we know the availability for and we have ‘bespoke villas’ that require an email or a phone call to the manager or owner.
At popular times of the year, especially for bookings within a few months, there will be a lot more ‘bespoke villas’ than ‘system villas’ (as all the system villas are booked and so will not display.)
If the client has chosen a ‘bespoke villa,’ the system will automatically email this villa. However, the chances of that email being instantly read and replied to are low. And as a reply of any kind is necessary within 5 minutes of the enquiry originating, often the first reply will need to start by telling the client that we are contacting the owner and to present options that are available in the meantime.
So for this example, we are assuming the villa that was requested is bespoke and had been auto emailed but had not yet received a response. In this example, for this enquiry, there are 7 villas available from the system and 55 bespoke villas.
And in this case, we may choose to send in 1-2-3 format, the requested bespoke villa first with a big photo with explanation that we are waiting on availability, followed by 2 big photos of the best 2 system villas; followed by 3 magazine articles in portrait format, side by side so as not to take up to much room and to differentiate them from villa options; in an email template that is 600px wide, left aligned to make it look like an email, not a newsletter.
However, the agent can choose to customize this in many ways, you can see the shortcuts below, and how the template are completely customizable from the 1-2-3 format to 1-1-1-1, to variations of 1-2-3 using smaller pictures for the middle section. Or by clicking the ‘next’ option, one changes from a 600px wide email template to an 800px wide format.
Once the formation is chosen, one can customise the number of rows of each set and easily change between system, bespoke or magazine articles.
Once one has chosen the style (format of the template), one continues by pressing the ‘reply’ option from the bottom menu.
And of course, in many cases, one will just have a few different styles set up for different clients; based on device used and villas available and can cut out this step altogether. But it is very useful to the behavioural economics (the science and phycology of sales) to be able to try many different formats and analyse the responses.
In this book, so far, alongside, I have used a bespoke version of the presentation methodology of The Challenger Sale, the bestselling book on B2B complex and bundled solution selling by Matthew Dixon & Brent Adamson; in which it is advised that questions should be replaced with well researched insight and teaching. And whilst this may well be correct in B2B complex and bundled solution selling, it’s far from correct in B2C (business to customer). And particularly, in the niche luxury villa rentals, as the client is not looking for a solution to a problem, but rather is acting on a want or desire. Imagine going to a doctor and without asking any question, he/she just hands a prescription to you. You would not feel very good about things, and its equally true for travel and real estate.
In ‘The Science of Selling‘ by David Hoffeld (which most of this section of the CRM-Nudge Ai chapter quotes and paraphrases), Hoffeld reveals that questions have such potency that behavioural scientists have found that by just asking people about their future decisions significantly influences those decisions, a phenomenon known as the Mere Measurement Effect. And that by asking questions, this helps to focus a customer or recipient on the point the question was about.
For instance, ‘What colour is your house?’
Did you just think about the colour of your house? I sure did when Hoffeld asked this question whilst I listened to his audio book.
Because questions focus and guide the mind, you can use them to direct the sale as well. However, all questions are not created equal. Just asking a lot of questions will not make you more successful at selling, what matters is the quality of questions you ask.
The most effective way to construct high value questions is to mirror how the brain reveals information and ask questions in levels or layers that you need to peel off one layer at a time. There are 3 layers or levels of questions one can ask. Each level is based on the previous one; be it in 3 successive emails, or on the phone, or via other such instant messaging formats.
First level questions are preliminary questions that open up a topic by revealing thoughts, facts, behaviours & situations. They are used to gain a basic undertaking of a subject and are the best questions to use when beginning conversations. However, whilst they are necessary, they are not enough, they must be used in combination with other levels of questions. Most sales people predominantly ask first level questions, and most CRMs if they offer a questions section at all, will mostly or only prompt 1st level questions.
These are questions that can be generated automatically by the CRM-Nudge Ai, in answer to enquiry data.
Here are some examples of preliminary questions: some in relationship to enquiry data, and some for the call centres to use to answer 1st contact telephone enquiries.
• Which of the villas presented do you prefer?
• Is this your first time visiting Cape Town?
• What is your budget for your accommodation?
• Is it important for you to be able to walk to the beach?
• When do you wish to arrive in Cape Town?
• Are you flexible on your dates?
• Are there any other services you require?
• Do you already have any villas in mind?
• What are the requirements you have established for your holiday?
• What is your process for deciding which property you will choose?
• How many other agencies are you considering?
• What is your timeframe for completing the booking process?
• When it comes to choosing a villa, who else is involved in the decision process?
• Are you aware that Camps Bay is often windy?
Second level questions guide buyers in assessing and explaining 1st level responses. These questions are vital because they prompt prospective customers to think through a though fact, behaviour, or situation. These powerful questions have been analysed in numerous recent scientific studies. For instance, a study at Harvard University revealed that answering second level questions, which prompted participants to state their opinions, increased neural activity in the areas of the brain associated with reward and pleasure! These good feelings caused a change in the brain that naturally enhanced the participants emotional state. In other words, potential customers enjoy answering second level questions.
This tier of questions is linked to high levels of sales performance, because they guide you in obtaining an awareness of the beliefs that are shaping buyer’s behaviours. Since these questions are based on how the brain naturally discloses information, formulating them will seem intuitive. For example, just ask customers to either assess or explain a first level response.
Here are some examples of 2nd level elaboration questions:
• Which of the villas presented did you prefer?
• Why did your group decide to go in that direction?
• Would you consider booking a villa that was not in Camps Bay?
• May I ask why did you chose that villa?
• Are the attributes ‘Exclusive Location,’ Children Friendly’ & ‘Private’ your main criteria?
• It sounds like this is very important to you, may I ask why?
• If you could change one thing about this property, what would it be?
• Based on what we have discussed, does it make sense why so many clients are choosing to book within our network?
• Why is it important to solve this concern right away?
• Based on what we have discussed, does it make sense why property prices are higher in Clifton, compared to Camps Bay
• It sounds like Dreamtime is your favourite villa, may I ask why?
Of the above, different questions will be relevant to different situations, and the choice will be thinned out, showing the agent only the relevant questions relative to enquiry data. In addition, note that as customers have already answered several 1st level questions via the enquiry process itself. If one has enough enquiry data, one may go straight to 2nd layer questions, or combine the two. And the Nudge-Ai will help with this by prompting various questions, giving the choice of both 1st level and second level questions.
As mentioned before, if no agent or call centre agent has taken charge of the enquiry within 5 minutes, the Nudge-Ai will answer automatically. However, when it comes to replying to the reply from the Ai, it needs human action to process the client’s responses into the system before more 2nd and 3rd level questions can be prompted.
Well….. er….. not if we get a supercomputer like IBM’s Watson; as with the correct programming, it could answer and hold conversations with clients without them knowing they are talking to a computer. See here for a short video on how Watson won Jeopardy.
But for now… back to version 1.
These questions and the automated systems can greatly improve the usefulness of a call centre, as by following this process, they are increasing the clients disposition towards our company; leading either to direct booking from the call centre, or at the least by the time a local agent who knows the villas first hand becomes available; then a lightning fast response by the Ai and call centres, followed by questions that both teach the client something new, plus add to the wealth of insight gained via the questions entered into the CRM-Nudge Ai, which gives them a huge head start, in comparison to no action commencing since the enquiry.
At this point, is it more effective to work from desktop, as one can see more question prompts without scrolling, but it can be done by agents on their cellphones.
But before we look at some more screenshots, let’s start to put together a set of 1st and 2nd tier questions.
Which of the villas I presented do you prefer?
You now I like both of the first option you sent me, but the Dreamtime villa is my current favourite.
I appreciate that this is a very important decision, which feature or features about Dreamtime villa are most significant to you?
Well, it really helps that it’s a walk to the beach, but at the same time has a really great view. And in general, I just like the feel of it, it seems very spacious with a generous swimming pool.
The psychology here is that in thinking about and disclosing exactly what it is that they like about the villa, they are reinforcing their like of that villa. One needs to remember, one is not just competing against the other villa presented, but all other villas presented by all other companies. The more one can get a client to think about what they like about the villa presented by Villa Secrets, the more chances there are to win the day.
However, as insightful as second level questions are, there is still another level that penetrates even deeper. It is the most consequential of all the levels of questions because it addresses buyers on an emotional level. And when it is leveraged, it will often reveal information that will transform the entire sale.
Note by Nick Ray Ball (2017)
Third level questions excavate the final layer of information by guiding potential customers in thinking trough, and verbally disclosing their dominant buying motives. As explained in Chapter 24, dominant buying motives are the emotional reasons why potential customers would purchase your product or service. They are comprised of 2 potent behavioural stimulators: the desire for gain or the fear of loss.
However, that’s not all 3rd level questions do; as buyers answer them, their feelings of trust towards you will increase. The very process of disclosing their emotional responses will enhance their trust, as they will feel you understand them. And this bond will separate you from your competitors.
Creating 3rd level questions involves asking potential clients to reveal something they fear losing or desire to gain. Here are some examples:
Note that these are the original questions from ‘The Science of Selling’ slightly adapted for Villa Secrets
• If we could reduce your cost as we have discussed, how would that positively affect your company’s profitability?
Villa Secrets Version
If we could reduce your cost as we have discussed, how would that positively affect your groups decision?
• If the problem you have described is not resolved, how would it impact your organization’s sales?
• This seems like a very important issue to you personally, may I ask what it would mean for you and those on your team if this issue is not resolved?
• If your end users were thoroughly trained and were using this platform effectively, how could that increase company productivity?
The following is the complete Level 1 to 3 questions in series, converted to Villa Secrets
Which of the villas I presented do you prefer?
You now I like both of the first options you sent me, but the Dreamtime villa is my current favourite.
I appreciate that this is a very important decision, which feature or features about Dreamtime villa are most significant to you?
Well, it really helps that it’s a walk to the beach, and at the same time has a really great view. And in general, I just like the feel of it, it seems very spacious with a generous swimming pool.
I hear that a lot from our clients who booked this property. And you’re right, it does tick all the boxes, unobstructed ocean views, in a walk to beach position with a giant swimming pool. May I ask how would it affect your plans if we were to lose this villa to a booking from another agency?
Well I’m not as pleased with any other options I have so far, this villa ticks all the boxes where others do not, so I would not be happy about it.
And that’s where you ask the closing question.
Would you like to secure this villa? Shall I send you the paper work to look over?
Sure, send it over.
Or alternatively, if one can make a 2 or 3-day option for a client, that’s another way to go. That said, if the sale can be concluded there and then, then its best to do so. Over 99% of people who receive the paperwork, book the villa; whereas only about 50% of clients who are given options, end up booking.
Above, we see the questions presented on mobile so an agent can create a sophisticated email in seconds, and / or the questions can be presented to the client when they entre the client suite.
There are 2 distinct advantages to the above that go beyond the advantages to the sales process and buyer’s mindset presented by Hoffeld; one is that by using this system, the agents will themselves get better at asking questions and can add their own to the system, and will become adept at asking them and so will be able to deliver this kind of pitch on the phone without the need for prompting.
The second advantage is that during the enquiry process, after the enquiry form is complete, we can direct the client to the ‘more info – client suite’ page and ask them to fill out such questions, which can lead the client to level 2 questions automatically. And thereafter, lead to a small selection of villas that are most appropriate for them.
Lastly, from David Hoffeld and ‘The Science of Selling’:
Next, we will see how this email looks. On the left, we see the icons that would show after clicking the ‘Reply’ text option at the bottom of the phone. The icons for this link are ‘Ask,’ which adds questions to the email. The next icon ‘comments’ is more for replies and ongoing conversations.
The ‘Text’ icon creates the introduction and the conclusion which can write oneself, or one can click the ‘Auto Fill’ icon to choose a prewritten script. The first script you see will be the Ai choice that would be sent by auto pilot. Clicking the Auto Fill button will scroll through different text options.
Lastly, on the right, we get to view the email, but only how it will look via the weblink that is created by the S-Web CDS, which will feature the client’s name; so, for instance, www.VillaSecrets.com/Mr-Forrest.
Once one is happy with their email, one clicks send and then is advised to call the client. Or with the exception of the telephone call, one can just leave it to the Ai and a perfectly acceptable reply will be sent automatically.
Dear Mr Forrest,
Thank you for your enquiry. I am looking into the availability of the Bond House Villa (ID:517) you requested and will revert ASAP.
Please find below two villas that are available to book, alongside two more from our bespoke collection (which require us to email or call the owner for availability) and some of my magazine articles on Cape Town, which I suggest you have a look at to see just how wonderful it is in Cape Town and Africa.
I have created a client suite webpage for you at www.VillaSecrets.com/Mr-Forrest.
Working within our client suite is a safe and sophisticated way to really tick all the boxes when it comes to the perfect customer journey.
Open my Client Suite
Crystal Ocean is a Cape Town luxury villa designed by highly respected architect Stefan Antoni. The private Clifton residence is situated along Nettleton Road, a most affluent suburb in the coastal area of South Africa. Its remarkable contemporary architecture as well as its amazing scenery is what makes this sea facing luxury villa an extraordinary place for rest and relaxation.
The Aqualina is a luxury villa set in the beautiful Constantia Valley in Cape Town. It is an exclusive and secluded estate with private gateways to the Tokai forest. The exquisite residence features colonial-style architecture with open living areas and classic furnishings. It is an escape in the Cape Winelands near the Constantia Wine Route with stunning mountain views.
See all the options above and more in beautiful detail from your Client Suite: www.VillaSecrets.com/Mr-Forrest
Be assured, ‘Villa Secrets’ is a member of ASTA the American Society of Travel Agents and we are specialist at providing accommodation, service and concierge for discerning property buyer/investors. Our systems are light years ahead of the pack and our customer service is second to none.
Please can you assist me by answering the following…
1. Is this your first time visiting Cape Town?
2. Can you give me a little more guidance as to your budget?
3. Are you dates fixed or an approximation?
Best Regards
Nick Ray Ball
Nick@VillaSecrets.com
+ 44 1372 724 844
Open my Client Suite
The Villas Cloud currently gives online availability to clients & agents via the PMS (property management system) MyBookingPal. The Villas Cloud will grow to include tens, then hundreds of PMSs creating a magnificent collection of the world’s leading luxury villas and private islands.
1. Opportunity to make bookings for villas, private islands, resorts, and safaris without the need for an agent.
2. Solve the problem of agents, spending time looking through multiple online databases and/or personally contacting a variety of property managers or owners to present best options to clients.
3. Solves the problem of clients coming to our websites and not finding available options that can be booked there and then, like they would find on sites such as Booking.com.
4. Creates opportunity for agents of one niche, say ‘villa rentals,’ to be able to present options from another niche, say ‘safaris’ that are available for their stay.
5. Creates the opportunity for real estate agents to also present villas to stay in for African Experiences to their international clients.
6. Solves the problem of the need to hire experienced agents.
7. Creates the opportunity for an international call centre and live chat station to make bookings directly.
8. Solves the problem of booking channels not wishing to work with companies that also are a property management system.
1. The Villas Cloud will be unique as it will become a handful of different S-World companies separately owned, thus avoiding existing big players insisting that one cannot be both a distribution channel and a property management system at the same time.
2. The Villas Cloud is unique as it has a one price suits all function, where a client has only to entre one price, which is seasonally adjusted to the different seasons.
3. The Villas Cloud is unique due to the scale of the commander’s intent, to connect to all, or at least 100 Property Management Systems about the same amount of booking channels, and as many channels again for safari & hotel channel management systems.
4. Create APIs for at least 1,000 real estate companies’ databases and more than 1,000 villa rental agencies.
5. The Villas Cloud is unique as it is part of the S-World VBN™ Virtual Business Network that in time will seek to connect every inventory database on the planet.
1. Some existing big players in the market, will not connect to systems that are both distribution channels and property management systems.
2. Being able to hire staff with good sales skills, but no experience in the real estate and luxury travel industries.
Thus far on Network.VillaSecrets, the business development presentation for Villa Secrets, the Villas Cloud, has had only the slightest of mentions with under 250 words presented.
However, if we were to go back in time to mid July 2015 and the beginning of this Villa Secrets presentation, we find that after a broad introduction, the first system specified was the ‘ Villas Cloud’ in a 44-page document called ‘Villas Cloud – PMS 003.’
The primary reason for barely including the ‘ Villas Cloud’ on Network.VillaSecrets has been primarily, as we found from MyBookingPal, that some large players in the industry would not give them access to their systems if they were actively marketing a competing PMS (property management system) product.
However, in answer to this potential landmine, the Villas Cloud is to be a separate company to Villas Secrets and will most likely be a broad description of a number of different companies, each independently owned focusing on different parts to the equation.
Since July 2015, the Villas Cloud has set its sights on accomplishing the following:
1. Villas Tech: Connecting Villa Secrets Network companies to existing property management systems & booking channels.
2. Villas Cloud: A Property Management System (not unlike Kigo) for owners, managers, and agencies to add their inventory to.
a. Villas Cloud for Property Sales
3. Villas Specialist: Is the Agency system that inspired what is now the CRM-Ai App.
4. Luxury Villas Pro: Giving individual villas and property managers systems to book alternate villas when their villa is booked or is otherwise unsuitable.
Since creating the 2015 spec, we have so far connected one system, ‘MyBookingPal,’ to Villas Secrets; and in so doing, created our system in such a way that we can connect to most any system given enough programmers.
We have made little development headway on the Villas Cloud, aside from a clever pricing system. However, we are experienced in this field, having developed the Cape Villas property management system in 2005. We have more than proven our metal in CMS creation, and we can expect the Villas Cloud to be as equally simple, functional, and beautiful as our other systems.
Villa Specialist is well under way, as is Luxury Villas Pro.
In addition, we require Villas Tech to also connect to real estate agencies and vacation rental agencies’ databases, often on an individual basis. Eventually leading to thousands of individual connections.
In further addition, under the broader scope of M-Systems, we need to connect to databases in other industries. One ace up our sleeve for this seemingly impossible of tasks is My S-Web described later.
For all Villas Cloud systems, we are using commander’s internet; in that for this system, instead of creating detailed specifications (except for the Villas Cloud PMS), we present the broad objectives and seek to find partners who can accomplish the task.
An entirely unique system. Watch this two-minute video https://youtu.be/JS8vJQ1KxbM to see how agents and clients can turn their ‘favourites list’ into a unique webpages, and watch https://youtu.be/X9-o3E4n2Dk to see us create an magazine article in less than a minute.
1. The cost of a dedicated content team to create and continue creating online magazines, blogs, and newsletters.
2. Rental agents don’t teach clients about the location they are visiting or offer other travel options.
3. International sales are less likely to happen, as the client needs to visit the country.
4. Sales agents have few or no options to provide international sales clients travel options, and so the client is less likely to visit in the first place, and a significant amount of residual income is lost as well in the sales commission.
1. S-Web CDS™ creates a system that allows agents to create customised web pages for clients, which can be sent using the clients name; for instance, www.VillaSerets.com/Mr-Forrest.
2. S-Web CDS™ also created the same system but for clients to make their own pages and client suites.
3. S-Web CDS™ allows the team to create online magazines pages usually only seen on a big company’s website in minutes, not hours (or days if you include photography and copywriting).
4. S-Web CDS™ is a system that allows agents to create their own attractive and informative magazine/blog pages in minutes; and, as such, can impress clients and owners by sending them some links to their own pages and continue to send the new pages they make after the client has completed their holiday.
5. What makes S-Web CDS™ completely unique is the system it has created for pulling in information created by copywriters and photographers into their own articles in discrete picture, header, and 60 words of text chunks; and so, creating a new page is as simple as writing a header and adding in the ID numbers one wishes to display.
1. Keeping up with big companies with websites that have budgets for dedicated magazine/blog writers.
2. Improving the respect a client has for the agent via the agent creating their own magazine articles that are clearly considered as authored by the agent.
3. Allows agents to teach the clients about the location, attractions within, and excursions available.
4. Allows sales agents, who receive requests for properties, to not only sell the properties they present but also the location they are in.
5. Allows sales agents to present options for them to handle travel arrangements, so increasing the likelihood of the client coming in the first place, and greatly increasing the chances of the client being loyal to the agency they choose to buy from.
Please watch this 2-minute video: https://youtu.be/JS8vJQ1KxbM
And please try it out yourself by making your own Villa Secrets webpage.
1. Visit www.VillaSecrets.com.
2. Go to ‘Destinations’ > ‘Best of Africa.’
3. Add a handful of villas to ‘your favourites list’ by clicking the plus symbols.
4. Go to ‘Magazine’ and add some articles.
5. Click ‘MY LIST’ at the top right of the page.
6. From the blue navigation menu under the logo, click ‘Make my Webpage.’
7. Add your client, boss, or partner’s name; email them and click ‘Publish my Webpage.’
8. Click ‘Add Comment’ to start a very organised conversation.
Consider the following percentage breakdown: It’s copywritten and visually superior 5%, its much better than email or mobile 20%, the client’s name in the URL creates a sense of ownership 5%, and clients are much more likely to share with others 10%.
As all the info is neatly recorded, there’s less room for error or confusion 5%; as the agent took only a few minutes, they have more time to deal with other clients 20%; future correspondence is quicker and more accurate 10%; and as agents can see the client’s list adjustments in real time (including alerts on same), he/she is better able to close the sale 10%.
S-Web CDN™ (Content Delivery System) is completely unique, as it pulls content from articles and product pages within the database. Soon, we shall see how S-Web is a fully integrated system,
The percentages presented represent the following: increase in enquires from website, opportunity to make bookings, increase in salesperson closing; for a total improvement of over 101%.
| 1. Villa Secrets S-Web CDS™ & TBS™ Integrated Website | 15% to 100% |
| 2. Villa Owner S-Web CDS™ & TBS™ Integrated Website | 15% to 100% |
| 3. Property Management S-Web CDS™ & TBS™ Integrated Website | 15% to 100% |
| 4. S-Web CDS™ Publishing | 10% to 100% |
| 5. Newsletters Created Automatically | 05% to 20% |
| 6. Social Network Auto Posting | 05% to 15% |
| 7. My List / My Web Page | 05% to 10% |
| 8. My Website / My Client Suite | 05% to 20% |
| 9. My Holiday Planner / My Itinerary | 05% to 100% |
| 10. S-Web CDS™ Sales Tools | 20% to 65% |
| 11. The Disruptive CRM ™(Customer Relationship Management) | 10% to 50% |
| 12. The TBS-AI ™ makes and assists bookings automatically | 10% to 100% |
| 13. CDS, PMS, and Other Inventory Databases | 05% to 50% |
| 14. Bespoke Auto Contact and Deal | 05% to 25% |
| 15. S-Web CDS™ & TBS™ Public Systems | 01% to 100% |
Please watch this three-minute video presentation: https://youtu.be/X9-o3E4n2Dk.
Whilst this idea can be traced back to 2009, S-Web’s CDS™ Publishing was forged as a response to web developers across the world raising their game and creating increasing more attractive websites in 2015 and 2016. The only way to combat this was to raise our game substantially. One idea was to create individual villa pages that looked like homepages; and, working in WordPress, we created pages like this: Serenity Villa, Ulusaba Game Reserve, and Cousine Private Island.
Whilst these pages were a great improvement on any other travel website and proved very popular with guests and villa owners, each page took about three to four days to create; and, as such, were expensive. So, I had the idea to create a super-fast CMS ‘Content Management System’ for our copywriter to use; and in so doing, after she had written the copy and chosen the images, adding the content and creating the slider was down to a dozen minutes.
Another advancement in other companies’ websites since 2014 was the creation of blogs and magazines. This was as, if not, more time considering than creating a product page, as one needed to get content from a variety of sources. So, we created the CDS (Content Delivery System); and now, an article that took 3 days to make, takes less than a minute, see https://youtu.be/X9-o3E4n2Dk.
To see the article I made in the video, follow this link: www.villasecrets.com/Magazine/6-Exclusive-use-Safari-Lodges-to-fly-for-By-Nick-Ray-Ball/6811.
Lastly, we can see all the pages on www.villasecrets.com/Magazine. The trick to it is in how I call in the content for an article segment by adding the property’s ID Number or take it from ‘My List’.
Now, each Villa Secrets company can go blog and magazine mad, with each sales staff member having their own magazine, featuring their own articles, made in no time at all. This improves the website and is the key foundation of a good content marketing strategy. And of course, the sales staff’s magazines make them seem more knowledgeable to clients. Just one of a great many ways S-Web and the TBS can improve sales staff’s performance, increase the chances of an owner granting a mandate and the company’s bottom line.
By Nick Ray Ball 30th April 2017
Please watch this three-minute video presentation: https://youtu.be/2h0NL0oXFfo and please follow the video or this email, and make your own Villa Secrets web page featuring your favourites.
This journey is as unique as the last, and built upon the same principle, but this time we create a tool for guests to use.
S-Web CDS™ ‘My Webpage’ begins with the standard ‘My Favourites‘ function and presents a good looking page with properties that can be dragged and dropped into order.
We build upon this by giving clients the option to then see their list displayed in magazine mode, which is a superior presentation. And then the clever bit… We offer a super simple way for the client to create a unique web page, such as www.VillaSecrets.com/NickRayBall or www.VillaSecrets.com/NickRaysVillas/forCaitlin or any name one wishes which he/she can then send to their wife, husband, partner, boss or any others in the group. We are currently creating the functionality to create group functions and create a web site / client suite.
This accomplishes several objectives: It captures the clients email address and lets us know which villas he/she likes. So, increasing the ratio of visitor’s vs enquiries. And it increases the likelihood of a client booking, as the more time they spend amending, showing the web page to others; the less time they will spend looking for alternatives. And in addition, as the list is addictive, when sent to others who can create their own lists (even if others in the group are talking to other agencies), the lists tools can help win the day.
And in further addition, if the person looking is the PA or other employee looking for the client, it’s a great way for them to present it to their boss.
Further to this is a great increase in efficiency, as the Client Suite pages become the main communications method, and within all details are recorded.
By Nick Ray Ball 1st May 2017
Let us pretend that a deal has been done and we have synchronised databases. So, real estate companies’ properties (over $2 million) appear on Villa Secrets and whatever website we make for the company. Added to which come all the mandates acquired by all other Villa Secrets companies and all ‘open mandate’ villas, which collectively creates a significant portfolio.
Then we add a customer, which could have come from the internet, a walk in, or any other method. In all cases, it is likely that the agent will at some point send the client an email. If the agent uses S-Web, this email will take only a few minutes to make and is vastly superior to whatever email would have been written; and at the top, it contains the personalised client link: www.mywebsite.com/mycleint/their-list. As before, the client will receive a beautifully presented webpage in magazine format that looks a million dollars via mobile.
On receiving their email, the client can reorder the villas, make different lists, and create the option for their partner, boss, sub agent or anyone involved in the buying process to create their own lists. And a master page is created which presents various ways to look at the collective data.
This is already a useful bit of kit. However, this is only the beginning of what we shall create. In addition, we shall provide the client with a great deal of data and statistics from a construction watch that pinpoints ongoing construction and locations that could be adversely affected in the future, to lists of schools and universities and various raking data. Plus, hundreds of other factors that are important to home buyers; creating a platform so useful and so easy to use that it becomes the new standard in real estate in Cape Town, then California, then the world.
Lastly, if in the future I suitably impress Paul G Allen, Mark Zuckerberg, Will Wright, Larry Page & Sergey Brin; we will build ‘S-World Virtual Business Network‘ which will create the technology to create, pinpoint accurate and visually superb 3-D virtual renderings of the property; which present the same data but within a virtual Cape Town.
That is even more addictive, as clients can completely remodel any house they wish, using tools so simple they were designed for 7-year olds. This technology has the potential to completely disrupt the current market, and future-proof business; from a company like Airbnb adding a for sale option to its platform and creating a price war that forces Realtors in the USA and Cape Town (usually about 5%) to lower their commissions to UK standards, which are sometimes less than 1%.
Over 50% of rental commission from mandates is spent on increasing the desirability of each property. And because of this prestige marketing, rental mandates turn to sales. There’s a lot at stake for Real Estate agencies, as they make all the sales for all the companies in the network.
By Nick Ray Ball 20th July 2017
Welcome to ‘Mandate Symmetry’ which provides an update to the original April 2017 ‘Mandate Marketing’ chapter: http://network.villasecrets.com/mandate-marketing.
An object is said to have symmetry if it has interchangeable qualities. For instance, the magic of a snowflake with its hexagonal shape, which looks the same when rotated in 60-degree increments.
Just like real estate sales, the single biggest income generator for a vacation rentals company is the acquisition of mandates, now more than ever, as there are a host of commission-based advertising platforms. However, when it comes to securing mandates, real estate agents are far more experienced and focused; which is one reason Villa Secrets is first approaching real estate agents to run its primary networks.
A primary network is a collection of over 8 agency websites focusing on a specific location. For instance, in Cape Town, the following websites are considered:
VillaSecrets.com (Cape Town), Villa Secrets.co.za, CapeLuxuryVillas.com, CapeVillas.com (Phase 1 only, conditions apply), Cape-Town-Luxury-Villas.com, VillasInCampsBay.com, CliftonLuxuryVillas.com, BantryBayVillas.com, LuxuryApartments.CapeTown, KapstadtVillas.com. Plus, access to all S-Web and S-World systems.
Villa Secrets desires to create a network of many businesses in each location, most of whom will recruit rental mandates. Indeed, we have identified over 25 different business niches that can benefit from joining Villa Secrets and recruiting rental mandates; from top architects to property developers, luxury villa rental companies, safari specialists, tour operators, property management companies, location companies, wedding planners, events companies, business travel specialists, concierge companies, to individuals who just happen to know people who own villas; the list goes on and on (see Chapter 2. The Network).
But because all such companies are, to a degree, competing with each other, they would not be impartial and so are not ideal candidates to head up the primary network, run VillaSecrets.com, and its 8 companion agency websites. However, a leading real estate agency can because of ‘mandate symmetry.’
And because of this, leading real estate agencies are the perfect shepherds of the network. As instead of seeing other Villa Secrets network companies that recruit rental mandates as competitors, they see them as contributors; as they recruit rental mandates that turn into sales mandates that only the real estate company can sell. And because of this, the interests of the holding company, ‘Villa Secrets Ltd UK,’ and its real estate agency partner are aligned. Both will desire the local network to recruit as many rental mandates as possible and will share the philosophy: the bigger the network, the better.
Above, we see some advanced forecasting created using game theory that provides us with the previously mentioned 70% increase in mandates figure. This is explained in detail in Chapter 22. ‘Real Estate Systems & Wins.’ We need verification on the exact numbers of properties sold for over $2 million. For now, we are working on figures from Remax that suggest about 100 per year in Cape Town Atlantic Seaboard, City, Waterfront, and Constantia areas. We have estimated that the top 3 real estate agencies probably sold about half of them, and so each top agency on average sold 16.6 properties.
In this forecast, we move a few years forwards, and estimate that all companies in the Cape Town network amassed 15 sole mandates for sale that were sold by the real estate agency that acquired primary network opportunity. Which makes a net gain for the real estate agency on 12.5 sales. Which if the company is currently making 16.6 sales is a 70% increase. However, as previously mentioned, this is just an example, and we need access to more data to be precise; especially as 100 properties sold for over $2million sounds rather low.
Because the above is only considering mandates gained that were sold, in Chapter 22, we also present a more powerful and lucrative game theory scenario based on what we call ‘Jet Set Marketing’; which are initiatives to bring more jet set clients to Cape Town in the first place. And once they have arrived, without applying any pressure at all, our concierge and hospitality reps will present options for sale and will then work with the estate agency to make a sale if the clients are interested. We will also have sent a few well-presented communications before arrival, presenting properties for sale, and we desire to have properties for sale sections on many of the websites.
See or request Chapters 21. ‘Prestige & Jet Set Marketing’ and 22. ‘Real Estate Systems and Wins’ for more details of the above point. But for now, in this chapter, we are focusing only on mandates and ripple effects created from the acquisition of mandates, beginning with ‘Mandate Marketing.’
The first step towards Mandate Symmetry (turning a rental mandate to a sales mandate) is ‘Mandate Marketing.’ But before going into detail, we need to explain ‘The Overflow.’ This is where we make each mandated villa its own S-Web CMS Framework website (see Chapter 1) and aggressively market it via many sources. The first advantage of this is the many enquiries for the villa that make lots of bookings, so making the property owner happy.
But here’s the trick, because a top villa can receive 20 or more enquires for peak times but can only be booked once, we use the additional enquires (the overflow) to book other villas. And the income from booking other villas is more than can be made from the mandated villa. And so, we can effectively write off most the income made from the mandate income and profit instead from the overflow, giving the deal of the century to villa owners and mandate recruiters but still making a lot of profit.
Airbnb has disrupted the global vacation rentals market, in part due to their commission structure which to most seems to charge 3%. However, they add a 6% to 12% commission on top and call it a service fee. Albeit, as they do not offer any services, so they really should call it a booking fee.
However, love them or hate them, Airbnb is here to stay. And on the plus side, Airbnb has introduced a lot more property owners to short-term letting, and so have increased the number of villas available in the marketplace. Which is a distinct advantage to all because in high season, the biggest problem Cape Town agencies and agencies across the globe have is lack of stock. And it’s simple enough to contact the property owners of Airbnb and others like HomeAway directly, so both become a good source for recruiting new properties, first on a bespoke basis and later as mandate opportunities.
To go one step better than Airbnb, the Villa Secrets commission model undercuts Airbnb, charging only a 2.5% commission. To go better again, instead of a 6% to 12% booking fee, Villa Secrets levies a 6% to 12% concierge and hospitality contribution which provides for the quintessentially matching concierge services described in Chapter 12, plus villa competitive grading, personality match, construction watch, and many more essential services.
So, in comparison to Airbnb, guests receive a tonne of services. And because of these services, it’s perfectly reasonable to charge more than Airbnb. And as such, the concierge and hospitality fee is more like a marketing expense, either allowing us to increase the price of the villa in the first place, or to charge the same and expect more low-season occupancy, increasing the villa owner’s net gain; and because we work on commission relative to the owners gain, Villa Secrets increases its gain at the same time.
The next commission step is ‘mandate marketing,’ which sees 10% of each booking spent directly marketing the villa. This, like the concierge and hospitality fee, is a give not a get for the villa owner as we make this 10% work triple. And this provides truly awesome marketing as is presented in 5 different chapters (15, 16, 17, 18 & 21), which increases rental rates, bookings, and in particular low-season bookings.
And in addition, it also increases the prestige and value of the villa, makes it stand out, and increases its for sale value. Or if a villa is priced for sale highly in the first instance (which many are), it helps to achieve this high price.
The 10% marketing income is split into 4 categories.
An S-Web CMS Framework Website, SEO (search engine optimization), photography, photoshop, article writing, content marketing, and syndication of same, plus use of all S-World and S-Web systems.
Advertising on Google and other Online Advertising.
Condé Nast Traveler, Vogue and other advertorial, the Villa Secrets Coffee Table Book, and luxury brand association.
Film, Video, PR, Photoshoots, luxury brand test shoots, and Ads.
Because we own the S-Web CMS Framework and as a consequence of the call centre (see Chapter 13), we effectively get our content writers for free. We can create websites for villas that, including rich content, would cost $50,000 (note that Contently would charge $25,000 for the written content alone) for just $5,000. And because we have the S-Web CDS™ Content Delivery System (see Chapter 4), it takes our content team just 15 minutes to create a new Dream African villa vacation article. So, we can add new articles each week to the mandated villas own online magazine, then syndicate the content across social networks, luxury blogs and create newsletters, generating a buzz and encouraging bookings.
No company in the world can do this, as no company in the world has either an S-Web CMS Framework, or an S-Web CDS™. And this is one reason why ‘Mandate Marketing’ is a system that cannot be easily copied, as it would take other companies much of the 10% just to create the platform described above, especially if they used an external web development and content marketing company who would add on their own profit and most would also need to charge VAT.
Whereas within the Villa Secrets network, there is no profit made from development or marketing; and as it’s an internal service/department, there is no VAT implication.
Another advantage of having both an S-Web CDS™ plus a dedicated content writing and media production department, is that each individual villa’s website will have good SEO enhanced by each website’s own online magazine/blog pages; as the online magazines show global villa holiday options which can be added to blog directories and can be used as a basis for guest blogging, where we write an article for a high profile luxury travel blog and link it back to the website.
One consequence of having a top draw website is that if one chooses to use booking channels (like HomeAway and Airbnb), because many clients will Google the name of a villa seen on such channels to see if they can book the villa direct and not pay the channels commission; the mandated villa website gains clients from these sources for free. And if a client was interested in the villa on HomeAway, Airbnb, or other such websites in the first place; when they see it in its full glory on its own S-Web website, the probability of the client enquiring increases, as do the chances of making a booking.
Lastly, the use of the S-World CRM-Ai™ (Chapter 6) and other systems increase the number of enquiries received and then the amount of bookings made from enquiries, increasing ROI (return on investment) from all advertising.
Advertising on Google and other Online Advertising
Because of the great online presence, the S-World CRM-Ai™ and other systems’ online advertising is doubly effective. There are a lot of advertising opportunities on Google and other websites, but as they can be copied by others, all SEM advertising strategies are confidential.
What we can say is that from this advertising, we increase the demand for the mandated villa; so, achieving a better price and/or better occupancy and make a bigger ‘overflow,’ as when the villa is booked or otherwise unsuitable (for instance, a family with young children is booking, and the villa is not ‘children friendly’), we can use the enquiries to book other villas. We tested this last year and created an ROI (return on investment) of 500%.
Condé Nast Traveller, Vogue and other advertorial, the Villa Secrets Coffee Table Book, and luxury brand association.
Now, we come into the arena of ‘mandate symmetry’ and how we make the case for owners to give the first opportunity for sale to the Villa Secrets primary network real estate agency.
However, before we even start to present this case, we can consider that, in a number of cases, due to the ‘prestige marketing’ initiatives, a number or even many rental mandates may include the first option for sale as a condition of the rental mandate in the first place. However, as we have not yet tested this theory; for now, we focus on a strategy to encourage villa owners to freely choose the Villa Secrets affiliated real estate agent when they choose to sell.
One of the essential criteria is that the estate agency who represents the Villa Secrets network of companies (the primary network) needs to be amongst the leading contenders. It must be an agency that a villa owner may have chosen by their own volition. Or better still, 2 of the top agencies join Villa Secrets so the villa owner can pick one or the other or request a dual mandate.
Getting back to prestige marketing, as our primary website www.VillaSecrets.com is populated by Africa’s most prestigious villas, safaris, and private islands; we are seen as an authority. And in conversations with several Condé Nast publications including Traveller, Vogue, and House & Garden; we qualify for near front of magazine advertorial. Four-page spreads featuring a mandated villa and then 2 or 3 African super-brand properties; such as North Island where Prince William and Kate Middleton, the Duchess of Cambridge, went for their honeymoon; or Sir Richard Branson’s Ulusaba Lodge, or the exclusive use Cousine Island in the Seychelles.
This will increase bookings for sure. But the point is not only to increase bookings, it is to add a significant piece to what we call ‘the estate agent’s marketing pack,’ which is to be a beautifully bound physical pack of marketing material. Which for villas over $4 million in value will include at least one feature, as described in a leading lifestyle magazine that looks to any client like a genuine article by the magazine.
Ergo, it’s not the estate agent saying, ‘it’s a very prestigious property.’ It’s not Villa Secrets saying, ‘it’s a very prestigious property’, but instead one or more Condé Nast luxury lifestyle magazines will be saying it. In print, near the front of their magazines, in advertorial that looks just like editorial; and so, it appears not to be an advert but a genuine recommendation from a publication with impeccable credentials. As in the case of Condé Nast Traveler, its own awards are considered one of the highest, if not, the highest recommendation in luxury travel, and any association thereof is worth its weight in gold.
Whilst Condé Nast Vogue does not have an awards section, Vogue speaks for itself as the world’s leading fashion and luxury lifestyle magazine. It’s not just any magazine that Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, would associate herself with, as she graced the centenary edition of Vogue in which Villa Secrets first presented itself to the fashion world.
In addition to the costly Condé Nast advertorial, we will repeat the exercise in other less expensive luxury magazines to pad the pack and to include villas under $3 million.
Added to these packs come entrance in either a Villa Secrets Coffee Table Book or magazine, which will impress due to its design, its editorial; in which amongst other sections, we will have 8 different multi leg six-star African villa holidays/experiences, each suggested by a different leading player. For instance, North Island will pick 2 or 3 venues they recommend alongside their own, for a Pan-African luxurious honeymoon. Or Lion Sands would create a Classic African safari, plus beach, plus Cape Town experience.
This creates a lot of ripple effects, not least being good relations with such venues and the possible creation of Villa Secrets websites for them, to benefit from their overflow when they are booked; or if a client wants a multi leg trip, they can present their Jet Set clients to Cape Town and other Pan-African villas options.
In addition to such articles, we would like an article by Stefan Antoni on his favourite villas worldwide. In further addition (which may only materialise in our second publications), we desire to product place a number of luxury brands in some of the properties. All in all creating a very prestigious publication.
In many cases, especially if a villa has been mandated for a while, the ‘estate agent’s marketing pack’ will include a number of magazine features and more than one Villa Secrets publication.
It is these packs that start to create ‘mandate symmetry,’ because we shall send a handful of copies of all publications to the villa managers and owners; and they will know we have about 50 packs of these publications to give to the real estate agency, to assist them in marketing the villa for sale. And because of this, the owner is almost certain to give their first sole mandate to the estate agency who has access to the physical marketing material.
In addition, another ripple effect of creating the prestige marketing material is that the magazines and books will provide the Villa Secrets primary network realtor with direct offers to buy properties. We know for certain that despite not even mentioning property sales, at least one of the properties in our last magazine was sold to an overseas buyer who did not even visit the property. They bought it from the strength of the magazine alone.
Villa Secrets publishing is another area where it will be hard for any competitor to compete. The volume of business and the ‘wow and awe’ associated with Villa Secrets sees deals on advertising half the price others would pay. And for our own publishing, an adaptation of the S-Web CDS™ makes the production process super simple saving 50% of cost; plus, our distribution strategy that comes from 9 years of consideration of how to better our first Condé Nast districted publication is very well considered, maximises value, and minimises costs.
Chapter 18. ‘S-World Publishing’ tells the Villa Secrets Coffee Table and Magazine story in great detail. But a significant factor that is relevant to this chapter is that portfolio managers, mandate specialists, and concierge officers will hand deliver each publication to every villa valued over $2 million (that is to our liking) on three separate occasions.
This very exercise is mandate winning. Indeed, in the past, we gained more contacts from this method of acquiring mandates than any other.
Film, Video, PR, Photoshoots and luxury brand test shoots and Ads
The last part of prestige marketing is like many actions a result of a ripple effect and can be considered cost free to the network; as the concierge and hospitality department is set to be created and staffed as a combined concierge, PR, and film production department (as is the subject of Chapter 12). And that department is tasked with making videos and films of the villas whenever there are no guests to tend to, which is about 50% of the time.
This concierge vs film department symmetry was based on the age-old question in the industry of ‘what to do with hospitality staff in winter?’ And our answer is to recruit mostly from the film industry and let them make their own productions when not serving guests. This not only makes the department seem more prestigious and fun, it also helps to recruit a better calibre of charismatic concierge and hospitality agent in the first place; and recruits the kind of people who have genuine influence and know where it’s at.
The objective of the department, when not on concierge duties, is to create broadcast quality TV shows. One show will just be about the team and what they are doing, a reality show of sorts with weekly episodes shown for the many websites.
In the UK, there is a TV series on a semi-major channel about villas in New Zealand. But to be honest, most of the properties are not to the same standard as the best villas, exclusive use safari lodges, and private islands that Africa has to offer. Which is in part down to the magic of Stefan Antoni who, in my opinion, is the world’s most creative and visually spectacular architect, and the benchmark that he set to others.
The property seen above was designed by Stefan Antoni in about 2008 and is located in Camps Bay, Cape Town; which became the source of our most lucrative booking to date, just under a quarter million of US dollars.
On a personal note, one of the biggest mistakes of my life was in 2001, after buying a ‘knocker downer’ property in Camps Bay. Then meeting with Stefan about the rebuild but going with a far lesser designer due to a transient friendship with a project manager. Stefan’s work since has been an inspiration to many and is one of the reasons that Cape Town was, for a long time, the most expensive location to advertise the word villa on Google.
Nowadays, Stefan Antoni is truly international, you are more likely so see a Stefan Antoni Villa in California than Cape Town. But Stefan’s work can be found right across the globe from St Tropez to Dubai.
Below, we see a design for a property in Los Angeles. You can see them all at www.saota.com/single-residential.
Getting back to the concierge/film department and the luxury villas TV show, as well as having more exciting properties, I would say that Cape Town and Africa are (in general) more popular than New Zealand (unless you live in New Zealand). So, there is no reason why a production, created of the same quality with more visually appealing properties in a more popular location, would not get aired in the UK and many other locations; and in particular Germany if we create a German language version, and the US where ‘Made in Africa’ is a brand all to itself.
But even if the show is not aired, the material is great for the mandated villas’ own websites, and in particular creating homepage videos like we see at www.sothebysrealty.com. The productions will add to and improve our agency websites and can be marketed on channels like You Tube, which has become quite the place to find luxury villas. Plus, there is greater content for content marketing and it will improve SEO. So, there’s a lot to gain, with a bonus of the TV series being shown internationally.
Alongside making the TV shows, the department will also create test shoots for luxury brands. And from time to time, the luxury brand will bite and shoot at the villa, particularly if we are already working with them on the Coffee Table Book. The brand association of seeing Bulgari, Chanel, Armani, or other such brands shoot at a villa (in terms of prestige and brand association) is another reason for a buyer to buy.
Another job of the Concierge/Film department is PR both locally and internationally, seeking to get the material we shoot into international magazines and on TV. To aid us in this venture, we are creating a number of Awards websites such as: ArchitectAwards.org, WorldVillaAwards.org, and SafariAwards.org; which we will create as legitimate awards linked to our non-profit ventures such as Experience Africa. We don’t need to cheat, we are mostly interested in the villas that would win awards in the first place. And if there is a villa we do not represent that is recommended / nominated, we will start representing them. The awards are as much about recruiting as they are PR; but nevertheless, PR gets easier when one has bona fide award winners to syndicate.
Put it all together on a disk; the TV shows, the luxury brand test and real shoots, and various other shoots and videos, plus all other TV shows that featured the villa, plus the awards, and celebrity endorsements; and that’s a host of great material for the real estate agent’s marketing pack.
Add prestige marketing ‘print media’ to prestige marketing ‘PR and Film’ and we create such a mass of marketing material that the villa’s owner will be sure to give the first mandate opportunity to the estate agent that has access to the estate agents’ marketing packs. And because of the packs, the properties are easier to sell.
And of course, the mandated villa’s own website will impress and feature all the materials found in the packs, plus a clear and simple track record of all the bookings, commissions, and payments which will interest any buyer who was not intending to live in the property full time.
Lastly, as the primary network opportunity has 9 websites, we have a lot of ‘home page’ real estate, and so properties for sale will feature prominently on several websites.
Now that we have demonstrated how the rental mandate turns to sale, we see that every rental mandate has value; and so a good question is, how many rental mandates do we expect the primary network to gain directly? And how many mandates do we expect other Villa Secrets companies to gain?
In our 15 years’ experience, including CapeVillas.com, Experience Africa, Cape-Town-Luxury-Villas and Villa Secrets; we know that adverting in on the top 4 places on Google brings in about 4 good rental mandate opportunities a year, and two of them for platinum or diamond class (six/seven star) properties.
Unlike booking enquiries, there is often no competing agency for mandates and one should expect to close 50% of chances.
Now imagine not one great looking website but 9 or more, all with power domains and not just advertised on Google, rather all the other marketing methods contained within the operations manual. If basic math holds, one should expect at least 9 x 4 opportunities making 36 opportunities.
However, this is only one of many different mandate-recruiting systems. So, the best answer is ‘more than 36 opportunities.’ We shall go through these mandate-recruiting systems shortly.
But before we do, consider what would happen if each of the sites also presented properties for sale? How many sales mandates opportunities do you think they would achieve? Chances are a few, or even a lot… this and other opportunities are considered in Chapter 22. ‘Real Estate Systems & Wins.’
Sometimes mandate opportunities will just fall in our laps. For instance, direct enquiries from the vacations rental websites. However, in the case of prospecting or if a villa owner has come to us alongside other agencies and prefers a joint mandate; by following our mandate prospecting system, we lay the foundation to turn a joint or open rental mandate into an exclusive mandate and create a defined process for prospecting.
Whilst the following graphic showing the CRM-CC™ is showing a system that is only available to us as a web application in March 2018 and as a mobile App in November 2018, this can in part be followed via the HubSpot CRM which is free, and all staff will have access to until we complete the CRM-CC™.
STO stands for ‘Standard Tour Operator Discount’ and is the difference between the ‘public rate’ charged by the property and the ‘discounted rate’ offered to the agency.
In the graphic below, we see the ‘deals’ page, which will automatically update as soon as a task is complete, moving a deal stage from ‘red – not complete’ to ‘green – complete.’ Or if a deal stage is in progress, it will be seen in blue.
There are 11 different stages to this process that happen before we pitch for a mandate:
1. New property identified
2. Basic details received
3. Got images
4. Qualifying assessment 1 to 10 (where we prioritise higher numbered properties)
5. Sunset photo shoot
6. Daytime photo shoot
7. Add photos to web page
8. On site article
9. Publish web page
10. Owner edits/ approval
11. Create magazine article & home page
Once all the stages are complete, magic can happen; because the villa web page looks like this www.villasecrets.com/Villa/North-Island-Villa=6061 and a magazine article is created like this www.villasecrets.com/Magazine/My-10-majestic-African-villas-safaris-and-private-Islands/A0010, which presents the property in an illustrious company within a Pan African mega article.
In addition, the villa’s article will be automatically added to the villa’s home page as part of the magazine articles section. Then due to the S-Web CDS™ (content delivery system), more articles can be made in minutes (to see this in action, please watch this three-minute video presentation: https://youtu.be/X9-o3E4n2Dk ).
And as a result, at the end of the deal preparations process, one has the unique villa page which shows the villa in a better light than any other company can, alongside a handful of different articles on luxury villa vacation experiences across Africa seen on different websites. Plus, the villa’s page itself will appear on the home pages of quality websites. And for villas valued over $4 million, the property will be the first image on the homepage of at least one website.
This is the point where the property managers and owners see Villa Secrets as the company that goes the extra mile. And this is the time to start the pitch for a mandate, as an experienced and seasoned sales mandate specialist joins the portfolio manager to help bring home the opportunity.
Even if a mandate is not secured, one will have made better friends with the owner and may get a better STO or better bespoke discounts for quality bookings, and we have more great content for the websites.
As previously mentioned, in our experience since 2002, adverting a vacation rental agency on the top 4 of Google has the ripple effect of gaining about 4 good rental mandate opportunities a year, and two of them for platinum class (six-star) properties. So, it follows that adverting 9 different websites, all with power domains, can generate 9 x 4 mandate opportunities, making 36 opportunities.
However, some agency websites such as ‘Bantry BayVillas.com’ will not receive the same amount of Google Advertising; and so for caution, we should lower this figure by 25% to 27 opportunities.
A good number of villa owners seeking to rent their property will first look for property managers or management; and whilst we do not directly offer property management (because if we did, other property managers would not wish to work with us), we are creating a detailed CMS (content management suite) for property managers to add their profiles and prices on the Villa Secrets websites; from which a new villa owner can pick their favourite property manager who will do the management while we handle the bookings calendar and provide concierge.
This is a distinct advantage for property owners, as the best property managers are often hard to find; and in addition, a villa owner may be nervous to use a smaller property manager for trust reasons. However, often the smaller the management company, the more individual time the owner of the company has for each property. By choosing a manager from the Villa Secrets selection, the owner knows there is a degree of oversight, and that the managers presented are fully recommended.
An important aspect of the Villa Secrets and property manager relationship is that so long as Villa Secrets handles the bookings, we don’t ask for a share in the property managers fees when we introduce a client; and because of this, all our choices are specifically because they are the best in town, not due to financial incentives.
A ripple effect of this action is that after a while, some of the property managers may wish to become Villa Secrets companies in their own right, bringing their original existing portfolio with them.
One of the first appointments for both Cape Town or international locations should be the Portfolio Manager. The portfolio manager has a multitude of tasks to perform, from organizing the villas that come in from PMSs (where pictures need to be re ordered and attributes added), to prospecting for new villas and organizing the copywriting and photography.
As the portfolio and tasks increase, this becomes a department.
In all of Cape Town, there are about 500 villas that we would like as mandates. Going house to house, the property manager and others from concierge or a dedicated mandate networker, plus a friendly domestic; they team up to present the book to whoever opens the door and ask that it be given to the owner. Or if the owner is away, add it to their coffee table. This exercise can be repeated 3 times every 3 months or so.
In our experience, this is a very good way to recruit new properties.
As mentioned above but for properties already in the Villa Secrets databases.
At the beginning of each day, the portfolio manager will seek new properties added to VRBO (vacation rental by owner) websites.
Using as many sources as possible including the Villa Secrets and Cape Villas databases, the portfolio manager will list all the villas that are on open mandates (where the owner has not seen fit to work with one company or another and is representing the booking process themselves).
From this list, the portfolio manager will start the process of ‘Deal Preparation’ as was seen previously. Creating a top draw online presence on over 12 different webpages including half a dozen leading villas of Africa articles. And once created, the mandate networker will join with the portfolio manager to present the mandate opportunity to the villa owner.
Sales staff from the real estate company that won the primary network opportunity can approach their list of contacts, presenting the mandate opportunity. When they recruit a mandate, they will share 35% of each commission; which would typically be either 25% to 30% for them, and 5% to 10% for the property manager. The distinction being if the property manager finds the villa in the first place, they will get 10%. But if they are only assisting a mandate recruiter, they will receive 5%.
So, for this specific point, it would be 30% to the realtor.
Working on a 5.5 or 6-star Villa that would rent at New Year for about R60,000 / $4,600 a night and cost about R40million / $3million to buy; using both the 2.5% commission and an average of the 6% to 12% concierge and hospitality fee, an income of just over R500,000 / $48,000 in rentals is achieved in the first year, increasing in later years.
If working on 30%, the residual income made by the mandate recruiter is R150,000 / $11,500. So, if the agent could sign 4 mandates, that’s an additional income of R600,000 / 46,000 a year or more. If the four properties stay available for rental for more than 3 years (which is common), the mandate recruiter would make $1.8 million / $138,000, or substantially more if villas recruited were diamond class (7-star) such as newer Stefan Antoni villas.
Overall, a very good incentive for any real estate agent to ask their contacts if they would like to rent their property via Villa Secrets.
The same as above can apply to any real estate agent, although the Villa Secrets primary network agents will have the first opportunity.
At any point in time, there are several properties for sale on an open mandate, for sale at the right price. Each represents a good option for an estate agent to push for a sole rental mandate, as the owner will be impressed by our prestige marketing initiatives to increase the prestige, value, and desirability of their home.
The effort, in this case, paying double as the prestige marketing increases the likelihood of a sales mandate, once the estate agent’s pack is full.
Each time the real estate agency sells a villa, there is the opportunity for a mandate; and a good opportunity particularly for overseas or out of town buyers who wish to visit their property on occasions but wish to rent it out at other times, so making a long-term rental impractical.
With expensive shopfronts and years of branding, established real estate brands will receive direct client enquiries to rent out properties. Each such enquiry is another opportunity.
As the first Coffee Table Book is a Pan African experience featuring many fine villas across the content; and as it will be sent to hundreds of targets for future publications, it is entirely possible that some recipients will wish to see what Villa Secrets and prestige marketing can do for their property. Sometimes this deal may be a straight mandate deal; and other times, a deal with Villa Secrets Ltd UK to create their own Villa Secrets company (per Chapter 8).
Either way, as many of these companies are businesses, the opportunity to sell the property arises. Should the primary network owner be interested in the Pan African options, they will receive many international mandate opportunities for both rentals and sale.
More on this in the coming section Experience Africa.
Alongside the door to door distribution mentioned previously, the Villa Secrets Coffee Table Book will be placed in many restaurants, hotel lounges, and waiting rooms for accountants and lawyers and other such professionals. As the property owners read the books, mandate opportunities can arise.
In both Cape Town and across the world, we will distribute over 1,000 books locally and internationally to the leading real estate and vacations rental companies. We know from our last distribution that this action creates a buzz that can mandate opportunities alongside booking and affiliate requests, plus sales enquiries.
We have, in the past, gained mandate opportunities from small ads in Condé Nast Traveler, one can only assume this number will increase given bigger adds and pages of advertorial.
One thing villa owners like to share are videos of their properties, which are particularly useful if they have friends who also have properties. Plus, a good video can get a lot of shares on social networks and YouTube.
Taking it up a notch and the ambition to create a broadcast TV series on luxury villas in Africa; if this gets aired and in particular in the locations we are in, it will become a monster mandate recruiting platform.
c.i. Sending marketing materials including test shoots to luxury brands, for them to shoot their adverts, or to advertise in our publications.
c.ii. Sending marketing materials to magazines and other media companies in the form of original articles, snippets, and videos for them to display or show.
c.iii. Intimate events at the property with a guest list no more than 50, of whom villa owners who are in our sights but have not yet committed will be invited.
Any of the above can trigger a mandate opportunity and/or help to get property managers and villa owners past the finish line.
Before we begin, a note to say, we did not decide to make awards for personal gain. The idea was created by the poor quality and obvious bias of other awards such as Safari Awards website. Where for the top 20 most popular safaris on the planet, only one was mentioned in their 70 odd different awards.
Villa Secrets sister company, the not for profit ‘Experience Africa,’ is creating its own awards, based on a much fairer system.
Good intentions aside, creating legitimate awards websites/brands will, without doubt, see a lot of quality villa owners and managers approach us for representation, each one a mandate opportunity.
Awards categories/websites to be created including:
ArchitectAwards.org, SafariAwards.org, GlobalVillaAwards.com, WorldVillaAwards.org, AfricanVillaAwards.com, AfricanVillaAwards.org, AfricanSafariAwards.com, Top10Safari.com, AfricanSafari.Reviews, and LuxuryVillas.Review
As is described in Chapter 12, we are seeking charismatic concierge management and staff sourced mostly from the film industry, with the team working on creating film & videos and other media content when not on concierge duties (which is about half the time).
All concierge staff have the opportunity to recruit mandates, and as they will be invited to parties and events that most would not be invited to, they are bound to run into villa owners from time to time. And much like real estate agents, they are incentivised by 25% of the mandate income if they can bring the mandate home. However, 50% of their income is shared between the department. But even so, it’s quite possible for a concierge employee to make much more from recruiting mandates than they do from salary alone.
Equally, if a guest was to buy a property, one of the first places they would look for representation is the company that provided the exemplary concierge service; and as we mentioned earlier, concierge will lightly present the idea of buying a property to each guest.
There are various opportunities created by our property management initiatives…
In Chapter 8, we present a unique and beneficial initiative to create S-Web framework websites alongside S-World software opportunities for Managers and Owners of elite properties. Properties that already have their own well-established reservations and management systems who would not be interested in signing a mandate.
So far, in conversations with 3 such properties: Cousine Island, & Beyond, and North Island; all are interested in seeing the product when its complete.
The basic deal is that, by using our systems, such properties can make bookings for other villas when they are full and can use our systems to provide multi leg options for their clients, turning each company into a small bespoke luxury tour operator.
Whilst this does not bring mandates in directly, it is a critical part of encouraging jet set clients to book. And it has indirect rental mandate opportunities when such companies ask us to add lesser known platinum and diamond class properties to our portfolio, each such property is a rental mandate opportunity.
Plus, in creating such a network for rental properties, we also create a network of properties for sale. The objective here is to join with Experience Africa to create the ultimate portfolio of platinum and diamond class villas, safaris, and private islands for sale. Not specifically on sole mandates, but rather just all the properties for sale in one place, seeking to become the industry standard. And as always, the sales will be done by the Villa Secrets primary network real estate agents; albeit the precise structure across Africa is still under consideration.
The Villa Secrets Cape Town primary network opportunity comes with eight options for merger websites (at an additional cost), in addition to their original 9 plus S-Web websites.
A merger is when a property management company already has a small rental business alongside their property management business, which makes a residual income. The deal with such companies would be to create a merger of sorts where the property management and property management fees stay in the hands of the company owner, but the rentals side of the company is merged into a new Villa Secrets affiliate company which provides a full S-Web website and gives access to all systems.
In such a case, the property manager receives the 25% of mandate commission incentive previously mentioned for real estate agents; plus, they will be seen first in the list of Villa Secrets property managers, so enabling them to acquire more properties to manage. Plus, of course, they will share in the income from the rentals.
And like all such initiatives, prestige marketing will see most owners use the Villa Secrets affiliate real estate company for the sales.
Continuing on from the point above, there are many other merger opportunities. In particular existing villa rental agencies, most of whom have a few mandates.
Across the world, Airbnb has put pressure on every villa rental agency. In 2015, the CEO of a leading Asian vacation rentals company informed us that a great many small vacations rental companies were going in trouble and looking to sell.
Villa Secrets offers an alternative, by adding what would cost them Millions of dollars in websites and systems, such business can turn around. Instead of bringing in an investor and being left with 50% of their business, a deal with Villa Secrets costs just 12.5%. And for that 12.5%, they get a tonne of technology and systems. Such mergers can also be made by the Primary Network. In fact, it is a quality of the Primary Network that only they or Villa Secrets LTD UK can recruit mergers.
Vacation rental companies are just one example. We present over 25 different niches in Chapter 2, any of which could create a merger. Even real estate agents could become merger targets.
The more mergers created, the more mandates will be held by the network, and the more sale mandate opportunities will arise.
Passive income is when someone simply introduces villas to any Villa Secrets company. In short, people who know people; this could be an architect, a property developer or just someone who knows people who own luxury properties.
In this case, they will receive the 25% of mandate commission incentive previously mentioned for real estate agents and property managers. And again, due to prestige marketing and the estate agent’s marketing pack, the primary network wins the sales mandate.
Gaining the contract for rentals from a new block of luxury apartments would be a big deal and could bring 10 or more (and sometimes a lot more) rental mandates.
This is of course a specialist discipline, but within our sister macroeconomic project ‘M-Systems’ (www.AngelTheory.org) is the mother of all property developments plans. And because of this, we shall have the ear of property and resort developers.
The exact mechanism for such a deal may change from deal to deal. Some may wish to create their own Villa Secrets companies for rentals, some will give the opportunity and receive the 25% of mandate commission to an existing Villa Secrets company, and often choose the primary network.
The Villas Cloud is described in limited detail in Chapter 5. The reason for the limited detail is due to politics. Our current objective is to connect to many PMSs (property management systems) such as MyBookingPal, Kigo, and NightsBridge.
In tandem, we also intend to greatly improve upon our original 2005 PMS (which was one of the first such systems in the world.) However, we know from MyBookingPal that some of the larger PMSs (maybe HomeAway or Airbnb) will not give access to their inventory if the company has a rival PMS system.
As a result, we need to create such a system as a different company, with mostly different owners. And we are considering collaborating with existing PMSs like MyBookingPal, Real Page, Vacation Roost, Illusions Online, or even HomeAway or Airbnb.
The politics and company ownership aside, owning a successful PMS and channel distribution system is an outstanding way to gain property mandates. One can literally create hundreds of opportunities each year.
With over 4000 safari lodges in Africa, the safari sales market must be strong. But there is no company that champions this.
More on this in the conclusion to this chapter, ‘Experience Africa.’
Above, we see M-Systems which is the advanced system design.
To put a scale to it, all the 25 chapters presented in The Villa Secrets’ Secret are M-System 1, but there are 16 systems. Relevant to mandates is M-System 6. The Theory of Every Business, which is about creating large-scale resort developments. We shall only touch upon this point, as it is a long way from its launch. However, to see the 4 books written on the subject between 2011 and 2013, go to http://americanbutterfly.org.
American Butterfly is about networks, resort developments, and economic ripple effects; how one action could lead to another, and what could be accomplished in macroeconomics by working in this way.
Hence the name, American Butterfly:
Instead of looking at individual companies, American Butterfly and the first book in the series ‘The Theory of Every Business’ look at what can be achieved when the Villa Secrets network is of sufficient mass to promote a large-scale resort development.
After creating American Butterfly, this work split in 2 different directions…
1. It created the Villa Secrets Network and…
2. It created Angel Theory’s M-Systems www.AngelTheory.org, the name for which will be explained in the concluding Experience Africa chapter. The result is that various investment pays for the creation of combined resort developments and S-World operations centres; and due to the mass of ripple effects and in particular good jobs, we desire to create very desirable resort developments which only the Villa Secrets Primary Networks will be able to sell.
And current thinking is to make the commission high, maybe 7.5%.
For instance, there is a nice plot of 214 acres of beachfront land in Santa Barbra on the market which would be perfect for a small and extremely excusive Stefan Antoni designed resort development, marketed by S-World and Villa Secrets, and sold by Villa Secrets primary networks. However, plans also include larger developments.
Long before American Butterfly’s the Theory of Every Business and its resort development plans, and before even CapeVillas.com became the world’s first virtual tour made using Adobe Flash. Unfortunately, the original is no longer online. But in its day, it was a winner. And in 2004, in collaboration with the South African royalty and Galileo GDS, we were close to creating a global virtual network showing both locations and properties.
The Lonely Planet linked to our original design and it was even offered its own digital TV channel. And whilst it eventually came to nothing, the idea of how to market a Virtual World was probably first thought of by us. Nowadays, virtual technology is everywhere but still there is no virtual world product that mirrors the real world. And that’s what S-World Virtual Network is all about. And amongst the first locations we would render would be Cape Town, and with it a whole new way to see, book or buy property. Creating sole mandates as well as booking and sale opportunities, as we create superior renderings of our client’s properties in a product that is designed to be a global phenomenon.
This project desires collaboration between all of Google, Microsoft, Facebook, and Twitter; all of whom will be approached in time via their philanthropic foundations. And whilst the idea of a virtual world is as big concept, the prototype creation may well get underway in 2018.
Before moving to Experience Africa, a word on our financial forecasting ‘Scenario 7’ from chapter 19 ‘Luxury Villa Rental Agencies,’ and our claim to underestimate and over deliver.
In just the first of the 28 different ways that Villa Secrets and the primary network can attract mandates, we gave an extremely well-researched forecast of 27 mandate opportunities.
For the sake of simplicity, when we add all the other 27 different ways to create mandate opportunities, let’s say we will expect at least 70 opportunities. And of these 70 opportunities lets again err on the cautious side and say 24 ends up as sole rental mandates, and many of the rest end up as preferential STO deals with future mandate prospects.
Previous Scenarios
http://network.villasecrets.com/forecasts-and-scenarios/cape-town-3
http://network.villasecrets.com/forecasts-and-scenarios/cape-town-4
http://network.villasecrets.com/forecasts-and-scenarios/cape-town-5
http://network.villasecrets.com/forecasts-and-scenarios/cape-town-6
Villa Secrets Scenario 7 is a spreadsheet system containing over 1000 variables. Of which, if we do not have historical stats, we always underestimate income and overestimate expenses. It is due to become a dedicated forecasting program within the CRM-CC™ and M-Systems™.
This is not the correct place to present Scenario 7, as it has already been explained in the last section within Chapter 1 (or if that chapter is updated, see ‘Challenger Technology Pitch’) or ask for Chapter 19.
To sum up in just two points, in Phase 2 from villa rentals alone, the primary network should expect to make R14 million / $1. 1million in shareholder digressionary cash flow, of which 50% is returned to the real estate agent who seized the primary network opportunity as profit (with the balance distributed between the stakeholders and personnel).
In Scenario 2, which is set for 2019 but could go into 2020, we work on the principle that if running for two years (at the beginning of the second year), the primary network has 7 mandates rising to 12 by the end, which accounts for 60% of all rental income.
If instead of 12 mandates there were 48, the profit would more than triple, returning well over $1 million a year from an initial investment of only $168,000, which to ease risk aversions requires but a $42,000 deposit.
Experience Africa is the conservation sister project to Villa Secrets. It was initially created in 2009 in reaction to Bulgari wishing to be lead sponsor of our Cape Villas magazine distributed by Condé Nast Traveller. For our next publication, we wish to go Pan African and to include safaris and other luxury accommodations. The website, created in 2010, was the one duplicated for Sotheby’s Realty Cape Town which created the idea of Villa Secrets; but not one duplicate… instead thousands.
However, the website was unstable and this story is told in dramatic fashion here:
http://network.villasecrets.com/the-secret/ch1/the-s-web-cms-framework-01#step-4-emotional-impact. So, it was eventually scrapped.
Experience Africa then surfaced again as the conclusion to the 4th American Butterfly book, http://americanbutterfly.org/pt4/the-butterfly/diary-entries-2-experience-africa; albeit not as a booking platform, but instead as an extension to the resort developments. However, whilst the current plan is very different, the main point is the same…it is to be a loss leader. Whatever money it makes after essential expenses must go to protect the Elephants, Rhino, Cheetah, and other endangered animals.
Experience Africa resurfaced as the sister project to Villa Secrets towards the end of 2015, and a lot of research went into various aspects; in particular its Awards and CMS systems, and the duplications of the macro Villa Secrets plan within the safari sector.
At first, we started with this idea www.experienceafrica.com/experience-africa-2015, which was eventually updated in 2016 with http://www.experienceafrica.com/angel-theory-chapters/chapter-1
http://www.experienceafrica.com/angel-theory-chapters/chapter-2/systems
http://www.experienceafrica.com/angel-theory-chapters/chapter-3/pr.
Another view point is http://network.villasecrets.com/villa-secrets-africa-network/experience-africa-v5, which includes various videos made in 2015.
Now, Experience Africa is being created as M-System 2. ‘Ripple Effects & Elephants’
To sum up, Experience Africa works on 2 fronts, both made possible only due to its free usage of all S-Web and S-World systems.
1. Like Villa Secrets, it wishes to create tens, then hundreds, then thousands of tour operator sites; some charities that we hope will be able to take advantage of Google Grants and receive $10,000 in free ads each month and some standard business.
However, the condition of use for the licencing is not 12.5% of gross profit (which we must point out is the equivalent to a low 2.5% franchisee fee), but rather that 50% of all commission or other profit must go directly to conservation via an approved S-World organization. And note that due to such initiatives, we will (in most cases) be able to achieve better commissions in the first place and for a thousand other reasons; even when giving 50% away, the opportunities are still great money makers.
2. The second front is creating systems for the safaris themselves, using all technologies and all staffing systems. In this case, the safaris themselves pay S-World approved conservation companies and initiatives; 75% and 25% is paid towards commissions for sales persons and promotional expenses, such as the making of quality films and videos.
The exact final structure is not 100% complete but it will be something like 2.5% of turnover to
use the systems. Then, for each 10% increase in turnover, gross profit or real profit achieved; the safari pays 2% more to S-World approved conservation companies and initiatives. Seeking to increase the safaris income by 50% and generate 12.5% of their turnover to S-World approved conservation companies and initiatives.
If this can be done, then the following can be achieved if we get half the safaris to use our systems (and note that currently there is no system for safaris).
Average safari price $200 per person, ($400 per room) (R)
Average amount of rooms 7 (#)
Occupancy equivalent to being fully booked for 150 days (O)
R x # x O = $420,000 per Safari
x Number of Safaris = +/- 4,000 (S)
x 50% enrolment = 2,000 (E)
(R x # x O) x (S x E) = $840,000,000
Licence Fee = 12.5% (amount) (L)
(R x # x O) x (S x E) x L = $105,000,000 given to fighting the poachers and breeding programs
Which is why we push so hard, and why we hope Paul G Allen and others will become advocates of this project.
What this means for real estate agents is that we have our eyes on complete systems integration with over 2000 different safaris, which will for sure include a sale option. And as always, ‘only the real estate agents who take the African primary network opportunities can do the sales.’ The one proviso of course being that 50% of the commission needs to be donated to an S-World approved conservation company or initiative.
However, as the cost to buy a safari is expensive and there may be a huge exclusive marketplace, it definitely wants a horse in that race.
Plus, of course, it’s good to give back from both a moral perspective and a branding perspective as we will seek to gain maximum publicity from each initiative, and companies’ websites will be full of thankyou’s from various organization who received the donations.
Unlike most philanthropic organizations, S-World will seek to maximize all PR opportunities arising from its charitable deeds; as such, PR is one of many ripple effects that makes the systems possible in the first place.
For the latest on Experience Africa and other conservation, ecological and philanthropic projects first see the ‘Angel Theory’ ambition at this link. www.AngelTheory.org/book1-4/an-ecological-and-philanthropic-theory-everything-plus-space
Then see how all 16 projects are started and a further 10 added as a consequence (as a ripple effect) of the Lake Malawi Grand Network, as told in Angel Theory – Paradigm Shift, books 2 Part 2. ‘A More Creative Capitalism’ and book 3. The GDP Game – African Butterfly.’
www.AngelTheory.org/book3-14/Ripple-Effects-and-Elephants-for-paul-g-allen
www.AngelTheory.org
Over 50% of rental commission from mandates is spent on increasing the desirability of each property. And because of this prestige marketing, rental mandates turn to sales. There’s a lot at stake for Real Estate agencies, as they make all the sales for all the companies in the network.
1. We change the commission structure to include 10%, dedicated for directly marketing each villa.
2. For each property, we create a website and continually update it with fresh content and new articles and have a hefty budget for directly advertising the website, plus a number of methods for marketing the websites that have no cost other than personnel time.
3. We shall create extremely sexy magazines with villas featured over 2 to 8-page spreads.
4. For top of the line villas, we shall place them in magazines such as Conde Nast Traveller and Vogue, in glorious 4-page spreads, often in conjunction with a luxury safari and private island.
5. For Villas that cost over $3,000,000, over 3 years, we would expect to have generated close to $100,000 in marketing material and adverting.
6. From this marketing, we deploy ‘prestige marketing,’ marketing that is as much about increasing the prestige of the villa as it is about receiving rental enquiries.
7. Due to this advertising, we create a great many more enquiries than the villa can accommodate, and we generate passive income from the overflow (booking alternate villas from the enquiries that cannot be accommodated as the villa was booked or was otherwise unsuitable).
8. All prestige and other marketing is condensed into an ‘estate agent’s pack,’ full of magazines and extracts, to be given to qualified clients who are interested in buying property. We will make as many as 50 such packs.
9. When it’s time for time for the owner to sell, it simply makes perfect sense for the owner to use the Villa Secrets estate agent who has access to the marketing material.
So, let’s start with the solution; for rental mandates or for properties worth over $2 million, charge a 2.5% commission, a 7% Service and Concierge Fee, plus a 10% direct marketing contribution. Where the said contribution pays for direct marketing and ‘the estate agent’s pack.’ Where after a couple of years, this pack and the web presence we create for the villa is so good, it makes perfect sense should the owner wish to sell, for that owner to first appoint the estate agent that has access to the packs.
Now, please consider that within the previous chapter is a list of 25 different types of business that we wish to network with, and for each business type, there may be as many as 50 different business all recruiting mandates.
Almost every company will seek sole or shared rental mandates, but only the real estate company/ companies can sell the properties (have access to the pack). As such, by 2021, I would be very disappointed if there were less than 50 Villa Secrets licensed companies who had all recruited mandates, and given a Silicon Valley equity partner in Villa Secrets holdings by 2020, maybe even 2019
In terms of marketing, we will directly market each villa that signs a mandate with us. Based on a sliding scale, where a suitable villa that costs $4,000,000 would see a $50,000 three-year marketing commitment designed to increase rentals, and the prestige and value of the home.
This commitment is afforded from the villa’s bookings. But here’s the clever bit… profit is then made from the overflow. As at peak season, a villa may have 25 good requests, but can only be booked once. And so, we make money from the overflow, using the other 24 enquiries to make bookings for other villas.
The acquisition of property mandates is the biggest nontechnical profit centre a Villa Secrets company can create. In our 2016 forecasting scenarios, third year income from rental mandates is between 39% and 74% of gross profit. And in addition, due to the ‘estate agent’s marketing pack‘ most villa owners will sell their property via our affiliated real estate company or companies.
In the Mandate Marketing chapter, we present the following: 4 pillars for maximizing rental income, 4 pillars for maximizing a villa’s prestige & value, 18 reasons to sign a sole mandate, and a massive package aimed at maximizing villa owner or property manager income. We follow with a look at the specifics of mandate marketing, including due diligence, the S-Web villa websites, and the Villa Secrets magazine.
Then we look at the estate agent’s marketing pack and prestige marketing, designed to increase the prestige and value of each villa, and encourage all owners to first attempt to sell via a Villa Secrets affiliated realtor, and present the page Sole Mandates (for sale).
Moving into ‘Part 2. Concierge and Commission,’ we look at essential guest services, Villa Secrets concierge, concierge, PR, film and marketing before looking at a review of Airbnb commission vs Villa Secrets commission, off peak discounts, property manager vs concierge, property manager strategy and opportunities; including the initiative for Villa Secrets companies to pay for property managers’ fees from their commission, before concluding with 19 ways to attracts sole mandates which collectively provides Villa Secrets licensors with many mandate winning opportunities.
Maximize Booking Income: If one is relying on owner direct websites, one is only achieving about a quarter of the enquiries that Villa Secrets villas enjoy. Using such channels alone will most likely lead to smaller return and will have done nothing to increase the value and prestige of your home. Indeed, for more expensive villas, advertising using distribution channels will lower the prestige of one’s home.
The 4 Villa Secrets Booking Methods: Trusting your property to a Villa Secrets company for bookings, service, and management makes a lot of sense; as we have not one, but four booking methods:
1. Massive Google Ads Footprint: Odd but true, Cape Town is the world’s most expensive location to advertise a villa on Google. Another fact is that a company may not advertise in more than one position in Google. However, as Villa Secrets is a network, we are allowed and do advertise in three out of the top four Google positions for over 200 keywords.
2. Mandate Marketing and your own Villa Website: At our cost, up to $50,000 will be spent creating and mega-marketing a dedicated S-Web website for each villa we represent. Including content marketing campaigns that spill over to print media, the Villa Secrets magazine and editorial in magazines such as Condé Nast Traveller and VOGUE.
3. Affiliate Marketing: Many bookings for high-end villas are created by international villa agencies and small or large exclusive tour operators. Our affiliate program for such companies is unique and designed to maximize bookings for the most prestigious homes.
4. Distribution Channels: For villas who are agreeable to ourselves promoting their villas via distribution channels such as Airbnb and HomeAway, we shall do so. But our ‘ace’ is that our primary reason for doing so is to push clients from the distribution channels to our clients’ villas website, as they Google the name and find the villas website directly, so avoiding Airbnb’s commission of sometimes more than 15%
A Love Buy is when an individual is on holiday, falls in love with the location, and buys a villa. I am familiar with this concept as I did this myself in Cape Town in 1999 and again in Camps Bay in 2000. And I have also seen it happen many times. And from time to time, it sets a record for the most money spent on a villa in a specified location. For this reason, some villas are ‘for sale at the right price.’ So, let’s see how Villa Secrets increases the prestige and value of a home.
1. The Estate Agent’s Pack: Many top-end villas are featured in magazines and TV shows. And as many again allow photoshoots and TV ads to be filmed within, however, no one keeps a good record, and opportunity is lost. Enter the Villa Secrets ‘estate agent’s pack,’ a physical pack showcasing a villa for estate agents to give or send to clients, and initiates to offer prestige brands big discounts on shoots, if they provide us with the media.
2. A Dedicated Website and Marketing Campaign for Each Villa: Many villas have their own websites, but few match our design, and none match our CMS. To make matters worse, other than a little SEO, 99% of villa websites are not marketed in any way. In stark contrast, Villa Secrets websites are extensively marketed and see all media collated within. Plus, admin systems and booking history, useful tools for any potential buyer.
3. Print Media: As our Villa Secrets website is special, we have been offered greatly reduced rates for producing advertorial in various Condé Nast publications. We shall be producing 2 and 4-page ‘Best of Africa’ editorial spreads, featuring our best villas. And purchasing about 50 magazines for inclusion in ‘the estate agent’s pack.’
4. Prestige Marketing: A villa’s prestige can be boosted in several ways. For instance, a 4 to 8-page spread in a Villa Secrets magazine (and note the last magazine we published was distributed with Condé Nast and saw Bulgari asking to advertise). In addition, awards and placement on top villas website’s homepages is an indication to any buyer that the villa is held in great esteem.
Unlike most magazines, Villa Secrets will show few ads, rather product place companies we feel are likely to excite our clients in the villas we show; from fashion companies to jewellery, watches, Jets, yachts, and prestige cars. Everything about this magazine will convey a sense of exclusivity and style.
Magazine marketing assists Villa Secrets network in 4 different ways:
Due to S-Web systems, the cost of producing the magazines artwork can be very low, saving more than 50% of the cost that media companies quote to create similar publications.
We shall create about 50 such packs per villa; half for use for rentals and half saved for the realtor.
As we have heard, for the right $4 million villa, Villa Secrets will commit to a $50,000 three-year marketing campaign; which will be geared towards both bookings, but also increasing the prestige and value of the home. Given we have three years to produce this pack, each pack will include the villa seen gloriously in the Villa Secrets magazine, advertorial in one or more Condé Nast publications, other magazines the villa was featured in; and on CD, a video that presents big brand photo shoots and videos shot at the villa, videos we create, TV appearances, awards, and other accolades.
As our Villa Secrets websites are impressive and their focus is Africa, we found Condé Nast and other magazines appreciate that our content is qualified for lower rate advertorial in a prime position, where we would typically make a three leg presentation of Africa’s most luxurious experiences… a safari villa, a beach villa, and a Cape Town villa. This single article in a magazine like Traveller, Tattler, or House and Garden adds to the prestige of the villas and will impress any buyer.
This inference will also be passive due to brand association by displaying the villa with venues, such as Sir Ricard Branson’s game reserve Ulusaba and a private Island such as Cousine Island, wrapped up in a three leg holiday of a lifetime experience.
We will of course discuss the exact nature of the villa’s prestige marketing with our partner estate agents. But as a starting position, we suggest the following exercises:
1. Villa Hotels: For outstanding properties, we recommend and will help implement the services required to create a Villa Hotel, which is exclusive-use but provides a higher service level including concierge, valet, chef, and other staff, complimentary drinks, and other enticements.
2. Proactive Luxury Brand Photoshoots and Adverts: Where we lower the daily rental rate for luxury brands that will (by association) raise the prestige of a home, and catalogue the shoot or advert including a video, seen online, and presented on the disk within the marketing pack.
3. Celebrity Stays: Product placement works, be it the late Steve Jobs getting Apple computers appearing in just about every film and TV series to come out of Hollywood, to James Bond driving an Aston Martin. In this presentation, we have discussed the idea to give luxury brands special deals to advertise their products at the villa. But, in addition, it is in the owner’s interest to offer special deals for the types of celebrities and public figures who impress renters & buyers.
Typically, when a celebrity stays at a villa, their stay is (at best) known only via word of mouth, as it is not appropriate to use their stay as a PR exercise. However, if a villa or other accommodation is bartered at half price in exchange for limited publicity, such as a simple photoshoot, one may capitalize from the client’s celebrity status and use such photographs for advertising purposes.
4. Don’t advertise or be seen on lower prestige websites.
And as we have seen in the technology summary via game theory and ‘The Real Estate Agent’s Game,’ Villa Secrets cautiously predicts a 6% market share of villas that sell for over $1,000,000 in Cape Town by 2021; which for one of the top three companies in the market, results in a 27% net gain.
The Villa Secrets commission for non-real estate companies, who recruited the rental mandate, is a 25% referral; which is not paid for an introduction, but rather in light of the marketing commitment as Villa Secrets essentially becomes the marketing companies for the property owner and the estate agent.
Moving back to sales mandates, created as a part of a deal for a rental mandate, Villa Secrets companies will offer a direct marketing budget of say $50,000 for a $4 million villa for the rights to rent and have the first option to sell a property. Which can be presented at $25,000 in marketing for a rental mandate, and another $25,000 if the first option to sell is granted. And from this budget, an estate agent’s marketing pack will be produced, and Villa Secrets companies will engage in prestige marketing, seeking to increase the prestige and value of a property. Even if the original rental mandate does not include the option for the first sales mandate, due to the marketing pack and prestige marketing, it makes complete sense for any owner to work with the real estate company who has access to this material, regardless of enforcement.
Lastly, a significant factor is the quality and strength of the estate agents Villa Secrets is affiliated with. If the realtor or realtors Villa Secrets recommends are the same estate agents that an owner was already thinking of using, then getting the option for the sales mandate in the first instance is more likely.
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