| The size and anonymity of the Internet has given some companies the idea that they can neglect one of the basic rules of good business, says Bob Bly. And in today's essay, he shows why this will doom them to failure. -----------------------------------------------------Highly Recommended----------------------------------------------------- Bob Bly Is Lazy When It Comes to His Internet Business When Bob Bly was considering starting an online business several years ago, he was working full-time as a copywriter. (He still does.) So he didn't want to spend a lot of time learning the technical side of Internet marketing or creating new products. He didn't want to be an Internet "guru." He just wanted a nice little side business for extra income. He wasn't sure if it was possible. So he tried out a part-time approach. And he discovered a system that allows him to work only a couple of hours a day... and make $16,000 to $20,000 a month. This system is not dependent on experience, industry contacts, or technical or marketing knowledge. In fact, anyone can make it work -- especially if you're "lazy."
"People don't want to communicate with an organization or a computer. They want to talk to a real, live, responsive, responsible person who will listen and help them get satisfaction." Theo Michelson What the Ethical Culture Society Can Teach You About Internet Marketing
By Bob Bly There are two kinds of customers you must pay special attention to: (1) the excellent customer, and (2) the extremely unhappy customer. The excellent customer is someone who can't stop buying your products, has been easy to service, and raves about you to everyone he knows. Only now he's asking for something a bit out of the ordinary -- and has created a special situation that must be handled. Since satisfied customers are your most important asset, you want to go to extremes to keep them happy. One of my excellent customers, for instance, wanted a substitute for the free report I was offering with one of my e-books -- something we don't give away. But he had bought tons from us, so I happily gave it to him. He was so happy, he immediately bought yet another product. The other type of customer you want to handle personally and with great care is the extremely unhappy customer. Reason: Unhappy customers tell other people that they're unhappy with you. The more unhappy they become, the more people they complain to -- and the louder they say it. In the good old days, an unhappy customer complained to maybe 5 or 10 other people. But with social networking, they can tell thousands about you with a few keystrokes and mouse clicks. I had a problem with a product I bought online, but could get no satisfaction from the seller. He refused to even take my call. So I wrote about it on my blog. Within 24 hours, the seller called, apologized profusely, immediately fixed the problem, and begged me to remove the post from. Despite this newfound power that consumers enjoy online, many Internet businesses treat their customers poorly. I hear complaints about it all the time. People tell me they bought a product online, but when they called about returning it, the seller became downright opprobrious. Or they tell me about Internet marketers who flat out refuse, on the flimsiest of excuses, to honor their money-back guarantees. And Internet marketers can be so darn inaccessible! I mean, if you have a problem with your phone, you can call the phone company and eventually get to a real person, right? But when you want to complain to an Internet marketer, more often than not there is no mailing address or phone number. And when you send them an e-mail, you get a response from a robot -- an auto-responder -- not a live human being. The e-mail tells you how busy the marketer is. Sometimes it promises a return call from a person... which usually never comes. I have heard of Internet marketers who blow their stacks at customers who aren't very computer literate and have trouble opening and reading an e-book or downloading and listening to a podcast. Those customers may frustrate you and try your patience, but think about how frustrated they must feel. They just bought great information from you, and now they can't access it. Is this how you're treating some or all of YOUR customers? If so, something I heard at a recent meeting of the Ethical Culture Society of Bergen County can serve as your new customer service policy. One of the speakers pointed out that a precept of the organization is: "Every person deserves to be treated fairly and kindly." This is great advice, especially if you are an Internet marketer. "But," you may argue, "I can't personally respond to every complaint. That's why I have an auto-responder or an assistant." First of all, assuming your products are a good value, you're not getting all that many complaints. Second of all, you probably could respond to all of them, if you wanted to. SL, a major catalog marketer, writes a personal note of apology -- and sends it along with a small gift -- whenever his company has an unhappy customer. If SL can do it, you and I can do it too. But let's say you can personally respond to only a fraction of the complaints you get. What should you do? I hired a part-time assistant to handle all complaints and special requests. She does her job with sensitivity and common sense. However, I see all the complaints first, and I pick certain ones to handle personally. These are from the two types of customers I mentioned at the beginning of this essay -- the extremely unhappy ones and the valuable repeat customers. Every person deserves to be treated fairly and kindly. Are you treating every customer and prospect fairly? Do you do it angrily or kindly? One more thing: Add an unadvertised grace period to your money-back guarantee. If, for example, you have a 90-day money-back guarantee and a customer returns your product on day 92, you give him his money back anyway. Why? Because you want to treat him fairly and kindly... just like you'd want to be treated. And if you treat your customers fairly and kindly, they will deal with you in the same way. [Ed. Note: Providing great customer service should be a priority in your Internet business. But there is plenty of other stuff to learn and take care of... search engine optimization, copywriting, landing pages, e-mail list building, social media... you'll learn it all in Bob's Internet Cash Generator program. Find out more about it here. Bob Bly is a freelance copywriter and the author of more than 70 books. To subscribe to his free e-zine, The Direct Response Letter, and claim your free gift worth $116, click here now: www.bly.com/reports.] -----------------------------------------------------Highly Recommended----------------------------------------------------- Recover $4,302 With Shocking Gas "Rebate" Plan The average U.S. household threw away $4,302 on gasoline in 2008 alone. But a handful of people have discovered a way to make back every penny they spent. They are collecting checks from a little-known government authorized "gas rebate" program. And they'll continue receiving payments until 2011. These checks are deposited directly into their accounts… every month. 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Business in Booms and Busts A Question for Michael Masterson: "Are you approaching business any differently in today's economic climate? Baby boomers never experienced a severe depression or hyperinflation --therefore, I think their worldview of business is skewed." D.M.
Plano, TX Michael's Answer: Yes, D.M., I am approaching business differently these days.
I am working harder than I've worked in several years. And I'm expecting everyone who works with me to do the same.
I've been through downturns before. And I've survived by putting my head down and moving forward. That's what I'm recommending to my employees and my clients. Stop your unprofitable activities. Get rid of marginal products and people. Get mean and lean -- and keep doing what you do best.
For me, that means focusing on small businesses in certain information-publishing industries. I like natural health and anything related to baby boomers. That has worked well for me for the past 30 years, and I expect it will work well for another 20. I believe The Great Recession is still going strong. Lots of businesses will go bankrupt in the next several years. Millions of workers will lose their jobs. The U.S. will struggle and fall. It will no longer be the world's best economy. But we will survive. And those who make the right moves now will become very rich.
I am investing carefully in real estate. I intend to buy one or two dozen rental houses in the next year or two. When the prices of these properties get back to where they should be, I'll have made millions. In the meantime, they will generate tens of thousands of dollars of income for me -- above and beyond my expenses.
I am buying precious metals, too. But I'm spreading my bets around, because I expect that gold might correct itself a few times before it returns to new highs in a year or so. I'm also investing in a select group of high-quality, dividend-paying stocks. But there again, I'm expecting a significant market correction. And I continue to invest in bonds. They are riskier than they were before, so I'm being cautious.
Generally, I see the next few years as a buying opportunity for all sorts of investments. I'm bullish on smart investing, even though I think the economy is in serious trouble.
"Excellent content." "I think you should raise the price of the Michael Masterson Journal to better reflect the value of its content and to allow for the purchase of an easier-to-read font!
"Excellent content, though. No doubt trust keeps a lot of people, rich and poor, from doing better."
Robert Schwarztrauber -----------------------------------------------------Advertisement----------------------------------------------------- How'd You Like to Trade Your Old Beat-Up Car for a New Ferrari? Retired dentist Rusty McDougal turned $6,300 into $167,460. With returns like that, had he invested a little more... He could have claimed enough cash to buy a gorgeous vacation home... Or easily put FOUR kids through college. How did he do it?
Today's Words That Work: Opprobrious Opprobrious (uh-PROH-bree-us) -- from the Latin for "to reproach" -- means scornful or abusive; expressing contempt. Example (as used by Bob Bly today): "People tell me they bought a product online, but when they called about returning it, the seller became downright opprobrious."
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