(© 2000, by Harmony Major)

These are all things we need to think about and take VERY seriously as online entrepreneurs. Not only will offering excellent customer care set us apart from the majority, but it will also increase sales and profits when our clientele realizes that we actually DO care about their buying experience, and we actually DO care whether they leave with a quality product or service and with all of their questions answered.

So how do we ensure that our customers genuinely feel cared for, and their business valued? Take the following 3 common sense steps to stop customer complaints BEFORE they start:

1. Answer all questions thoroughly and enthusiastically.

When someone asks questions about your product or service, they’re expressing a STRONG interest in buying what you have to offer. Don’t force their spending dollars elsewhere by sending incomplete answers or taking days to respond to their e-mail. And when you do write back, don’t make your prospects feel like the response was a chore. After all, if they knew everything you know, they wouldn’t need to buy what you’re offering!

Feel honored to explain the answers to their questions, and make sure they understand. 68% of customers don’t follow through on the sale because of a perceived ATTITUDE *or* INDIFFERENCE toward them by the owner, manager, or an employee. [Source Customer Service Institute, Silver Spring, MD] So remember, they CHOSE to do business with you! Realize that decision, and honor them for it.

2. Take measures to guard against preventable disasters.

This one speaks for itself. Things like sticking to established policies comes to mind. An online contract is mutually agreed upon by both the provider and the consumer. Don’t jeopardize client relationships by going against contract terms, and don’t try to invent conditions later on down the line. If there isn’t a written or verbal agreement on something, it’s not enforceable.

Not only can this type of practice lead to a fat lawsuit, it’s just plain unethical! Fewer surprises equals happier customers.

3. In the event of some inevitable disaster, keep your customers informed!

If you run a web hosting service that’s experiencing downtime, don’t wait until your client *finds out* that their site has been down for a week. Let them know what’s been happening, and please, don’t make THEM contact YOU.

Keep your clients aware of everything your company experiences that may have an affect on them. Not only will they appreciate your taking the time to keep them informed, but your technical support department won’t be bogged down with heated calls and e-mails from disgruntled clients that don’t have a clue of what’s going on!

But, although you can take precautions to try to prevent customer complaints, please also remember that some complaints will be unavoidable. Even so, just because they’re unavoidable doesn’t make them incurable. Take the following 3 steps to turn more of your disgruntled customers into happy, referral-giving clientele:

1. Find a way to resolve the complaint fairly … then stick to your word.

In most cases of dissatisfaction, your customer will ask for a refund. However, don’t make the common mistake of thinking that refunding their money is the end of the problem. If you do, the customer won’t be leaving with any more than they started, except for a disappointing experience with your company … and that’s NOT what you want. So, you might correct the situation AND offer them something of value for their time and trouble.

For example, I run a website design service in which I design a client’s website how they specify, and also set them up with a product to sell, and the ability to accept online payment. The estimated completion time (without the advantage of express service) is 2-4 weeks.

The only refund request I’ve ever gotten on that service came from a client that was upset that the two week date was fast approaching, and I hadn’t begun to start on her site. The client that I was working with prior to her kept introducing new changes and requirements, which meant more work for me AND a longer waiting period for my newest client. When it didn’t look like I’d be able to start and finish her website before the two week time estimate, understandably, she requested a refund.

It wasn’t this new client’s fault that her site wouldn’t be completed as estimated, so here’s what I did. I honored her refund request immediately, AND offered to set up her five page website for free, as originally planned. Was she satisfied with that? You bet! And, did I prevent a dissatisfied customer? Definitely! These are things the kinds of things you have to do to keep your business on its toes.

But, when doing something as generous as offering free services to your customer, remember that they’ll likely not value the service as much as if they had to pay for it. You could create a website for a client, have them use it a week, and discard it for another site. They may not even use it at all. So, take this into account when coming up with ways to satisfy your disgruntled customer. You’ll avoid disappointment in the long run.

2. Follow up on your customer’s complaints to be sure that their needs were properly met.

After you take that special action to win your dissatisfied customer over, check back with them after a few weeks. This doesn’t have to be anything more than a quick e-mail to see if they need anything else, and to see if the arrangement you made for them has been working out.

Not only will this show that you care about your customer’s satisfaction, it also shows that the arrangements you made for them were genuine attempts to make them happy. This can also get you more word-of-mouth referrals!

3. Treat them as your most highly valued customer(s).

Winning a customer over after they’ve decided not to do business with you again is no small feat. So, if you’re able to change their mind about it, they deserve extra special treatment! Offer them VIP discounts on future purchases and continue to value their patronage as if it were their very first time shopping with you. I guarantee you — your courtesy will go a long way!

Knowing how to satisfy customers and KEEP them satisfied are both very important parts of excellent customer care. Whether it be before or after someone has done business with you, make sure that it’s always a pleasant experience, and give them as much personal attention as you possibly can.

If you know how to effectively resolve customer complaints, rebuild credibility with follow up letters and calls, and make the customer feel valued, you’ll never be short of business OR profit!

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Harmony Major is the author of Yahoo! Secrets, where she reveals how YOU can drive HUNDREDS more visitors to your site each day, by getting a #1 listing on Yahoo. Don’t just settle for “getting listed.” Use her instantly-effective tactics to boost your site traffic with a TOP Yahoo listing! Visit: http://YahooSecrets.com

(© 2000, by Harmony Major)

You have to become the type of business owner that would rather kick a few of the “bums” to the curb and give other customers excellent service, than to try to please everybody all of the time … which just isn’t going to happen. By adopting a rule of “the customer is always right,” home business owners are setting themselves up for financial suicide … and here’s why

A home business is usually very small, and is ordinarily run by only ONE very dedicated person. And, no matter how much they’d like to think so, this one person can’t be all things to ALL people. For this simple reason, entrepreneurs run a very high risk of spreading themselves too thin and, when this happens, business is sure to suffer.

“So, how do I avoid this,” you ask? It’s simple, really.

1. Target your advertising to attract the RIGHT kinds of customers. The “good” kind. ;-)

Avoid using hype and never, ever, under ANY circumstances, advertise your business or service to be better than it actually is. If you advertise to people that are looking for hyped-up offers and unrealistic excitement, you’re ASKING for trouble.

2. Work only with customers that are willing to work with YOU.

Sure, the customer is usually right in most cases, but no one is right ALL of the time. And, reasonable people are the ones that realize this. They’re also the ones you want to work with. Have you ever had a customer that, no matter what you said, or what you proposed, they were STILL dissatisfied? Even if you agreed to do EXACTLY what they requested of you, AND MORE?? This is the kind of disgruntled, trouble-maker that’s just looking for trouble, and you happened to be the gullible target.

3. Don’t stand to be treated rudely or disrespectfully.

If you’re a successful and professional business owner, that means that you’re always willing to make amends to please your customer, and to correct any situation in which you were at fault. And, since you’re the type of business owner that respects their customers, you should also receive the very same respect. If you don’t and you’ve tried all you could to make them happy, kick that customer to the curb! They’ll literally be more trouble than they’re worth later on down the line.

4. Focus 99.5% of your energy and attention on your “good” customers, and you’ll always be successful.

Don’t fall for the old “they just want to be heard” garbage. If someone wants attention, they should act like adults and speak up! Being obnoxious to get attention is for three year olds.

If you remember and follow those four simple guidelines in your day-to-day business routine, you’re sure to be one step ahead of the game. A difficult, troublesome customer can take TWENTY TIMES as much work and effort to attend to than a customer that’s willing to be reasonable.

And, if you’re like me, you get a hundred or more emails a day. What’s twenty times one hundred?? Let’s just say a LOT more time than I have to spend babying rude and unprofessional customers. What about you?

For anyone that challenges this way of thinking, remember that you don’t have to answer to them. Let THEM have the headache of dealing with irate customers, and save yourself the trouble.

NOTE: Read ‘What Ever Happened to Customer Service?’ to find out how to convert your worst customers into your best referral sources, at http://ExpertOnEbiz.com/articles/service.html. Knowing when to draw the line is imperative. Good luck!

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Harmony Major is the author of Yahoo! Secrets, where she reveals how YOU can drive HUNDREDS more visitors to your site each day, by getting a #1 listing on Yahoo. Don’t just settle for “getting listed.” Use her instantly-effective tactics to boost your site traffic with a TOP Yahoo listing! Visit: http://YahooSecrets.com