5 Customer Service Tips

Small home based companies are worrying about their businesses during this recession and are looking for ways to ensure their company remains successful.

Providing Excellent Customer Service – even when the customer is unhappy with your service or product – can be the easiest, least expensive way of ensuring customers positive experience.

Here are 5 Tips for turning unsatisfied customers into free advertisement for your excellent customer service.

• Set a Positive Tone. Make it clear to your buyer that you value their business and will work with them to resolve any issues. They’ll usually appreciate your attention to their matter, and be more willing to work out the issue with you.
• Start a Dialogue. Don’t assume your buyer is behaving unreasonably. Problems are often a simple miscommunication. A customer may not have read your website note that “all orders are sent on Mondays” and could be expecting it sooner.

• Focus on the solution. Talk about the solutions you can offer to resolve any issues – not the tone of the customer’s initial contact. It may be satisfying to “give a piece of your mind” to the buyer if you think they’ve acted unfairly – but it almost always makes the situation worse and the customer may refuse to work with you to resolve it. Instead, offer different solutions so the customer feels in control. I usually offer at least 3 solutions
  
  
• offer to refund the item
  
  
• offer a similar item as a replacement
  
  
• offer a special price to upgrade.

• Don’t forget the big picture. Even when a customer is unsatisfied with your product they will appreciate the service and let others know that your company stands behind its product and values its customers.
• Remember customer service. Keeping all your customers (the good and the bad) satisfied is good business. Word of mouth is your best advertisement!

Getting ready for one of our peak times in sales

Spring is here! Yay! Living in Canada, I wait and wait for the first sign of spring. Not that I mind the snow – it has its place – but I have to admit it’s really nice that the snow has melted. I can’t believe the image you see was just a few weeks ago (my dogs are VERY happy Spring is here)!

Spring means Summer is around the corner and summer is a busy time of year. It’s time to make sure I have enough inventory!

Why is summer such a busy time for ring size adjusters?

• People begin thinking about how they look in a bathing suit – this means weight loss – which usually means rings start to get loose!
• People are more active in the spring and summer – swimming, biking, hiking and so on…no one wants to lose their rings when out doing activities (especially when sweat makes our ring fingers slick)
• Spring love brings engagements! A lot of men are unsure of their mates ring size (and asking can ruin the surprise) I find many male customers wanting a ring guard just in case they got the wrong size. They know their mates will not want to wait to wear their new ring and show it off!

Not to mention all the summer holidays, I find a lot of summer travelers want to ensure they do not lose their rings when away. Especially when going to enjoy beaches and oceans (slippery suntan lotion has filled the beaches with those metal detectors searching for lost jewelry). Make sure you take care when enjoying the summer – a lost ring can ruin someones vacation.

And…HAPPY SPRING!

Saturday the NEW Sunday…huh?

If you sell a tangible item online that needs to be shipped then you most likely will join me in changing “The day of Rest” to Saturday.

YES it is true - no more is Sunday considered the day to rest and the day to enjoy your family (or worship your God).

Not if your life revolves around days the post runs. Why? you ask, the post does not run on Sunday? No – but our little shops are running full force prepping orders to go out in Mondays mail. Monday through Friday orders are processed. Saturdays are for rest but on Sunday you play catch up. Such is the life of selling Online. Are you sure you want to do it?

You bring your work every where you go. I recall sitting on a beach in Florida, a big book on my lap, actually MANUALLY hand writing a newsletter I had due for a client the next day. Papers flapping in the ocean breeze, sand stuck to the nib of my pen and a nice square of pale flesh on my lap an hour later (of course the rest of me burnt to a crisp).

Anyways I declare Saturday the day of rest! Take it a lesson from my dogs and just laze about in the sun.

If your selling downloads or memberships then you’ll want to visit this site!

When I started selling eGuides on the internet I wondered how I could automate the process without having to learn PHP scripting or understand paypal IPN. I wanted an easy solution to my problem of immediate fulfilment.

I first used a paypal approved firm called payloadz to automate the fulfilment of the file download. FEEs FEEs on top of FEEs! Not only was I paying paypal’s typical merchant fees I was also now paying payloadz per download I sold. UGH! Being a small business based from my home meant I had to look at more cost effective ways to achieve my goal.

After much searching and comparing I finally found the perfect solution! A company called Vibralogix. I emailed them to find out more and immediately was answered by Adrian who was able not only to answer all my questions but offered to help if I had any problems with the setup (which they provide an excellent guide that shows you step by step) or hosting issues.

For a ONE TIME cost of $29.95 I was able to set up the php script on my host and fulfill all my orders immediately without paying anything extra (other then paypal’s fees of course). for $29.95 you are licensed on one web URL and one paypal account. Additional URLS can be added for a very small fee.

Even when 3 years later I had an issue with the script, all I had to do is email Adrian and he immediately provided me with the help to fix it. Even offering to view the host settings to be sure it was working properly. (THANKS ADRIAN).

They have many scripts that are available for many small online business applications including locking directories for memberships as well as for online business using clickbank or other merchants. Check them out! You won’t be sorry!

The Importance of a good Website Host.

I was reminded today of the importance of a good host. For the small online business nothing is more important then the relationship you have with your host. Ask yourself these questions:

1. Do I know the person to email/call for hosting help by name?
2. Do they respond by email/phone quickly when there is an issue?
3. Will they offer to help set you up or show you how to utilize some resources?
4. Did they send you a Christmas card/email/gift to show their appreciation of your business?
5. Do they call you with any payment issues BEFORE taking you offline?
6. Do they treat you more as a friend then an account number?
7. Can you trust them to provide excellent service to referrals?

I can answer YES to all these questions and more with becotech.com (Thank you Ilya for your continued help and expertize). No I was not paid to post this. I just wanted to spread the news about a great hosting company with the personal touch. They have a lot of accounts that are worth more than mine yet they take the time to help with any issue and always treat you like their #1 client.

Blogging for Profits! Who said talk was cheap?

In this day of Social Networking I have to wonder how advertisers would jump on the band wagon. The face of online advertising is changing, pay-per-click search engines (such as google and yahoo) will no longer be as important. Why? I’ll tell you.

The Power of Social Networking!

I recently found myself doing a search on a specific company on google. When the results pages came back I found myself skipping “sponsored ads” and company website links all together.

What was I looking for?

I wanted to find sites of regular folk who had a “run-in” or “personal experience” with the company I was searching. I wanted to read about their experience, see how they rated the company. I found discussion boards, blogs, facebook notes, myspace stories, even twitter tweets. All providing information on the company, products and customer service – from the honest average Joe with NO connection to the company. Or so I thought!

But, those online advertisers are on the ball! They recognized the power of social networking and developed a way to benefit from them. How? Pay-Per-Posts! That’s right! Paying bloggers to “review” sites and products on their blogs, in their facebook profiles and even in their tweets!

Blogging for profit – what a nice idea for the future of online advertisers and social networkers.

Bloggers interested can sign up here – Who ever said talk was cheap?

<br>Your Browser does not support IFrames: This form can not be rendered. Please visit <a href=”http://payperpost.com/signup” target=”_parent”>PayPerPost</a> to sign up.<br>

I always wanted to try “Mystery Shopping”…

Ever since the 80′s when I had a job at Shell (a gas station for those of you who are not familiar) and I “won” a check for $25 for good service I was intrigued – Thanks mystery shopper!

I remembered thinking “somewhere, out there…there is a job where you shop…I want one“

Some 20-odd years later, I thought I’d give it a try. There are many Mystery Shopping firms out there. Some are total scams BEWARE but others are totally legit. I’ll update you of course on the choice I made and if it went well later but first here’s some info:

• If you’re asked to pay for mystery shopping info – BEWARE
• If your offered high pay to do a shop – BEWARE
• If you are made to purchase the forms or the items you’re shopping beforehand – BEWARE
• If your asked to “shop” for large money orders – BE EXTRA AWARE!

Signing up for a Mystery Shopping program can be scary – especially if they require you to send them picture ID (IE Drivers lic.), people are worried of scams and identity theft.

I signed up for one (after researching many and checking out the company info)- I do my first shops in 2 weeks so I’ll be able to let you know if I found it worthwhile, as well as which firm I joined. No use saying yet, I’d hate for people to run out and sign up only to find out later I found out I was scammed!

Ways I have earned $$ Online…2.Online Store

The number one way I earn a living online is through my online store. I carry my own inventory, have my own manufacturers I use – 100 % Made in America (sold by a mere Canadian)! I ship my products, do my own customer service (it’s the personal touches), and handle my own budgeting.

Yep! The good ol’ Old fashion way but….online!

Truth be told, no matter how many of the online ideas that I try – they NEVER come even close to the sales I make through my own store. Maybe it’s the commitment I have to it that makes it work so well or some good Karma I passed out coming back to me…whatever it is, YOU can do it to.

I found my product really by mistake. I wasn’t looking for something to sell online. At the time I was busy being a webmaster for a few local companies, entering into partnerships around downloadable products (this is before Ebooks was big) , doing database management, Ebay-ing …and so on. ( a real hodge podge of things!)

And then I came across a product I needed (and it wasn’t easy to find at the time) which I thought others would find useful as well. I looked to see if and who was selling it online, and I bought just a few samples from a manufacturer… test items

*note : yes this image is my own copy right! ( And believe me it matters, I do regular crawls for sites using my image work as you read in a previous post )

They sold, slowly…but enough to make me buy more as inventory and see what happened. It took 2 years, but it finally paid off! I learned everything I could, got as creative as I could with Images,Videos, meta tags, headers, keyword use, linking etc. Making my site rank very high in search engines for content.

My Husband quit his job almost 3 years ago ( I quit mine back about 10 yrs now ) and now we both work from home tending to our online orders. It’s just 1 of the ways we make money online, because we are true believers in learning and earning more, but it has turned out to be the best.

Find your own unique item that you believe in. It WILL take time, but if you commit to it and work hard on it, it WILL pay-off. There is nothing special about us. We’re just people who use to work for other people and got tired of it. Aren’t you tired of it yet?

1. Learn HTML
2. Pick a 3rd Person Merchant
3. Find a product
4. Open your store to test the product
5. Promote your site through content or search engine marketing
6. Decide if it sells or try something new
7. If it sells, work HARD HARD HARD! ( at least a 1% roi)
8. If it does not sell DON’T WASTE YOUR TIME – TRY SOMETHING ELSE

Do I need my own Merchant account?

I realized before I get too much in the ways you can make money online, I should probably explain the different ways you can collect the $$!!!

If you just a small fish like me, then you don’t want to have your own merchant account at the banks. A lot of times they require you have a certain amount in your account (last I checked it was 40 grand!) to cover any refunds or issues.

Here is a list of some of the
third person merchants I recommend

• clickbank

I mentioned clickbank as an affiliate program in a previous post but it is worth mentioning twice because if you have your own digital ebook to sell it makes for an easy time. Clickbank allows you to promote digital products (sorry only digital for now) and use their merchant account. They give you a simple html link (remember your html lessons?) to put on your site which leads to their own “check out” page. They fulfill the sale by sending the purchaser directly to the download of your product. They take a % of each sale (and a transaction fee) for themselves and send you a check for your profits. I believe they also link up to a bank account now if you wish. I use clickbank and so far it’s been painless! You don’t have to sign-up for their affiliate account but it does have a built in affiliate program if you choose to give others a % of the sale if they also promote and sell your ebook.

• paypal

Paypal is a little more involved then clickbank, but it’s great for people selling tangible items that need to be shipped or subscriptions to web access. You need to know a bit of html (ahhh see I never lie!) but paypal takes you through an easy process of generating the html code for your site. You just have to add it to the page your promoting. Paypal takes the transaction for you, sends you an email of the sale so you can ship it out (or manage the subscription). You can set your shipping or use the postal service calculator. You can transfer payments directly into your bank account. Paypal is owned by Ebay (or vise versa) so if you plan on selling on ebay it’s already built into your account (making it even easier).

• click2pay

I haven’t used this myself but I know people who swear by it. They almost have me convinced to switch from paypal (paypal does have it’s problems – everything does) If I start selling a new product I’ll try it out and let you know what I think.

• Google Checkout

Again, I haven’t used this myself, although I am dying to try it out. But alas…I’m a Canadian (shhh) and it is only available to Americans right now. Maybe one day they’ll think of us Canadians I know Paypal makes good money off of my sales and Google and Paypal are arch rivals.

• Authorize.net

Another one competing with paypal. I have seen many websites use it so I feel safe recommending it as I may use it myself in the future. If or when I do, I’ll let you know what I think.

There actually are numerous internet merchants now-a-days (There wasn’t when I started! Like I said my local bank wanted 40 grand in a merchants account) and some are even recommended by your local banks if you want to ask them. Some are easier to use but all offer you the basic tools you need.

1. Flexibility
2. Real time transactions
3. Fraud Protection
4. Easy Refund Options
5. A way to offer customers a secure order form without having a secure site.

Ways I have earned $$ Online…1. clickbank

So… I was thinking how the heck can I explain how to make money online when there are SO many different ways! Some can do really well for one person and terrible for another. Some are GREAT and others, well….just SUCK!

I thought I’d stick with what I know best. I’ll talk about some of the things I do to earn a living right now. Things that work, and things that don’t. I’ll even mention things I’m just learning and trying out. Please feel free to leave me any new ideas! After all making $ money online isn’t about finding one thing, setting it up, and then suntanning on a beach somewhere (No matter what anyone tells you!). It’s about continuing to trying new things, making mistakes and learning, learning, learning!

In each post I’ll talk about one area to make money online. Of course I can’t cover everything. There are just too many! But I can explain some of the things I have discovered. You may find it helpful , or you may have your own story to share (please leave a comment, I”d love to hear it).

Affiliate programs!

• clickbank.com

With 1000′s of digital products it’s easy to find a unique product you can promote. You will have to create a website to promote the items of course (let’s hope you took my advice about learning html seriously). Later we’ll learn about how to “optimize” your page to try to get on organic search engine listings and the great tools you can use. However the rule I would follow is to look for products you know something about. Something you can write some content about before offering to sell a digital download of the information.

For example, one of my sites sells clock plans which are downloadable. (great for the hobby clock builder) One of the digital partners of clickbank is MurrayClock.com they offer 30% payment for each sale. I created a website that is aimed towards the hobby builder and offered information and tips. I also offered downloads to clocks plans that people can build themselves via clickbank. Clickbank takes the payment, sends them the download and then mails me a check! This is just an example of one of the many ideas that are possible! You can look at googles trends to come up with ideas or check through the different categories in clickbank. What the heck! If you know a bit of html you can create many different sites targeting many different markets (including subscriptions).

There are even free sites you can use to promote the items and just link to the clickbank payment page. Even through a blog such as blogger.com. Want to build your own grandfather clock?

The Apsen Plan

A unique family heirloom for future generations

Add your own touches, create a unique clocks as a family project.
$12.95 – Purchase and download immediately Easy to follow detailed clock plans with full material lists that the hobby clock builder can follow.

There are many different affiliate programs out there, just do a search on google you’ll see what I mean. Click bank just makes it really easy to get started.