Working for Yourself...Did You Forget Something?
This happened to me recently and I don't doubt that it's
happened to you. You tell me if this sounds familiar . . .
I send an email to customer service of XYZ Company. I need an
answer to my question and I think it's rather urgent. I get an
automated response in return, telling me basically to wait until
they get to me.
So I go back to the website and after twenty-five minutes of
searching, I FINALLY find a contact phone number. I call the
number.
After punching numbers into the phone and going through quite a
lengthy menu, I'm told to follow another menu where I have to
punch in my first name, last name, account number and phone
number. This sends me strait to a voice mail where I have to
leave my message and WAIT for someone to contact me concerning
my problem.
Those of you who know me, have an idea of just how far off my
head my hair was standing. After purchasing something, receiving
something else and trying to get it rectified I went from
slightly irritated, to impatient, to ANGRY, to livid. Oh yes!
The color of my skin changed all kinds of color that day. My
time is money and between the email, reply, the search for the
contact number and phone labyrinth I went through, I wasted 38
minutes. It was RUDE! I was irate and what came to mind were all
the "automated" internet web sites and businesses online. (Yes,
this was a purchase made online.)
Whatever happened to customer service??? Did doing business on
the internet suddenly negate the necessity of customer
satisfaction, common courtesy, people skills? Can I reason with
an answering machine? No!
Can I explain the urgency of my situation to an auto responder?
I can try, but I doubt I'll get a response, other than the one
that was written into it three months ago.
I am in business, but I don't work for myself and I never
catered to the illusion that I worked for myself, because I
don't.
I work for my customers! I have three ways for them to contact
me on my web site. I give them a phone number, a contact form
that sends DIRECTLY to my email (no support tickets), and I have
a forum I can monitor while I'm working online. I also have a
cell phone if it's urgent.
Automation, believe it or not, was a concept originally
conceived for the convenience of the CUSTOMER, not the business.
At least that has always been my understanding.
Just as I was calming down, the Rolling Stones song,
"Satisfaction" comes on the radio. I go back to work at my
computer as the experience put things into perspective for me. I
consult and train affiliate marketers on web site promotion. If
there is one thing I see a lot of, it's the web sites promoting
things like "...Let me teach you how to get paid for doing
nothing", or "Rake in Cash Working only 15 Minutes a Day" . . .
or "Build an Internet Business . . . No taking Orders, No Phone
Calls, No Emails . . . Everything Automated".
People, I see the trend squelching human contact getting worse
before it gets better. Don't be a "Grab Your Profit and Run"
site. Be automated on the front end only. By this, I mean
attract your customers with the convenience of online ordering,
receipt delivery and instant access (if you are a membership
site) or download. However, when it comes to customer support
and service . . . keep it personal. This is how your business is
going to stand out. This is why your customers will send more
people to you and this how you will retain those customers.
I cannot express with the right words, how important your
relationship to your customer is. Don't treat them like they
were yesterday's purchase and they are no longer important. Yes,
they are STILL a customer even after they made the purchase.
I have an auto responder . . . I use it for my newsletter only.
Not to send automated "We'll get to you when we get to you"
responses to questions.
I have voice mail. It answers calls when I'm on the other line.
That person gets called back immediately after I am done with
the previous call.
When someone posts a question or a request to review their site
on the forum, I'm responding whether I'm in the middle of
editing an article or not. Those people are important to me!
And they should be important to you to. You are not going to
impress them by being too busy for them. My training for
affiliates does not end at accomplishing the sale. That would be
incomplete business development and it would be irresponsible.
You would not think in today's instant gratification society,
that individual attention would even be noticed let alone
appreciated. But the letters I get back from the affiliates I've
trained tell me otherwise. Here are some tips to keeping your
customers and keeping them happy:
1. Place some text in a relevant place on your sales pages,
letting them know that your company responds to each question
and request for assistance individually and that there may be a
wait, but it's because they are getting individual attention.
2. Let people see your physical business address on all the
pages of your web site. I usually have mine on the bottom. I
have our phone number and the hours of business on our contact
page.
3. Don't just invite people to sign up for your newsletter. Let
them know how often it's published, which day the issues are
delivered (and how: email, web published or both) and what your
newsletter covers. You might even include a table of contents on
the sign up page.
4. Affiliates, if you are selling products or services for
another company, be an advocate for your customer. If they come
to you with problems, send it along to the merchant and send the
customer a personal note letting them know that you are working
with the company. You won't believe how many charge-backs this
avoids.
5. Do something special for your regular customers, like running
a contest in your newsletter or ezine. The prize doesn't have to
be big and it doesn't have to be cash. Add a sense of community.
6. Develop a way to follow up with your customer immediately
after the purchase. Ask them if they received their product
without any problems (if it's a download or through a membership
site) and invite feedback with a form on the sale confirmation
page.
You can probably think of some other ideas to support your
customers, depending on what it is you sell. But keep in mind
that even though you are in business, you are "self-employed" .
. . you are not "working for yourself" but working for your
customers and clients. Your business depends on them. Let them
know you appreciate them.
About the author:
Bonnie is an Internet Marketing Consultant, ebook author and
publisher of her newsletter "The Trinity Affiliate Marketing
Review" She is offering her new e-book free, "$20,000 With 2
Hours Work" to all new subscribers to her newsletter.
http://www.trinityonlinemarketingschool.com