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[Debbi Bressler]

You don't have to be the sharpest crayon in the box to build a thriving business.  Sometimes it just takes not being as incompetent as your competitors!

It takes time and money to gain a new customer. In the cell phone industry, that figure is approximately $600 a year. While the cost to retain a customer is next to nothing compared to acquiring them, many companies spend all their psychic energy concentrating on potential customers and ignore current ones.

Just a few examples:

Special pricing available only to new customers. The customer who has been loyal for 10 years is denied, while your "new best friend" gets the deals.

Wait Times for CSR's. Ever notice how the hold time for Sales is 30 seconds, while that for Service is endless? I called a company yesterday whose wait time was between 1 hour and 1 hour and 20 minutes.

Going by the book...even if the book is wrong. A few weeks ago, I started getting call after call on my Grand Central account for someone named Joshua, who apparently signed up for cable service. Unfortunately, somebody transposed the numbers and they were calling ME instead of Joshua.  After 5 calls to set up service going to my office, my cell, my voice mail, and emailed to me, I decided to call Bright House to tell them about it.

The rep's response? "Yes, we see that this account is using your phone number in error. But we cannot take it off the record because you are not the account holder of his account."

Huh?

Ignoring your customers. Last week my daughter wanted to buy some cookware from a direct sales company (she'd been a hostess a few months previously). Although she could have ordered directly from the company's web site, she wanted her consultant to get credit. She left a message, asking for her hostess number, as the company offers a discount for hostesses. Six days passed and the consultant never returned the call.

Don't Lie....Admit Your Mistakes and Move On.  Yesterday, I called the consultant myself, only to have her lie about not calling back.  (Hint: Don't say you called and left a message if you didn't. There's a new invention called CALLER ID that many people have.) By the time we finally got the information, the cookware my daughter wanted was sold out.

This consultant had an $800 show from my daughter, 4 bookings, and a new consultant. (Believe me, that's a big payday in party plan sales!). What does she have now? A dissatisfied customer and no future business from a good customer.

Are there some difficult customers? Absolutely!

But it doesn't take much to keep most people happy. When you collect customers, it doesn't mean you stick them in a corner and allow them to get dusty. Be sure to take them out every once in a while and appreciate them!

Debbi Bressler

[zeitgeist]

I imagine part of the thinking is that if all your competitors are doing it (offering lousy service, for example), it's not a problem for you, since the customer has nowhere to go. 

[AndrewCavanagh]

Fantastic advice Debbi and even though it would appear
obvious most businesses screw up their customer service
and follow up.

Nothing beats that human to human touch.

Since we're on an internet marketing forum I'd also suggest
that most businesses should also have an automated
email follow up system.

You can get very creative with the ways you add value with
your product and service using the internet (online videos,
reports, websites etc) and an email autoresponder.

Contacting clients who've stopped buying from you can also
be a very lucrative enterprise.

Often up to 70% of your clients stop buying not because they're
upset with you...but simply because they're out of the habit.

With a simple phone call, email or letter you can often reactivate
those clients which can be a huge source of revenue.

Kindest regards,
Andrew Cavanagh

[Terry Gibbs]

There is a flip side to this.

Actually I was thinking about this earlier this week. I had two people call me on the phone after visiting my toy train website.

The first caller had looked up his new purchase on my site and then tracked down my phone number by looking it up in a club directory - not online - printed directory. He wanted to know what cars went with his engine. Duh, scroll down the page and it not only tells you, but has a link to a page with pictures.

I found myself just wanting to get off the phone. The guy is not going to buy anything from me - I don't have what he wants. he could buy the cars he wants on ebay anytime.

The second guy who called was looking to buy items available on eBay all the time. He's in Michigan. I think they have stores in Michigan. He left a message I deleted it and moved on.

These people aren't buyers, they are lonely and want to talk to someone.

Contrast this to a call I got a few months back from a guy in N.J. He'd seen a page on my site and wanted more information about the car. We talked until his cell phone went dead. He wasn't a buyer either, but I stayed on the phone.

The difference - The N.J. caller had something to contribute to a discussion. I enjoyed the conversation and will call him again if I get anything of interest to him or anything I have questions about.

I am restoring a 1969 VW convertible. I went to a junk yard today for parts. I spent an hour looking at the cool cars the owner had built while he pulled the parts on my list. Once he had the pile of parts I wanted and made a note to pull some others I paid and left.

I was in a auto parts store Saturday and the buyer in front of me spent 20 minutes bullshitting with the counterman. That means I spent 20 minutes waiting to hand the clerk a dollar and get my 15 cents change.

These lonely attention starved people are all over. I go to get out of the parking garage and have to wait five minutes while the guy in the car in front of me talks about the baseball game or the weather. (That's actually the woman in the booth. There is always a long line when she is working.)

I go to coffee shops most days to read. I always tip at two locally owned independents, but never tip at starbucks. Rarely go there - only when I'm out of town or up in Cave Creek where there isn't anything else.

There is a reason for that. At the places where I tip I get service. Do you think I could walk into a crowded starbucks and wave at the guy behind the counter and then sit down? I doubt it. They don't have table service.

Neither do the places where I tip, but I get it.

Shit starbucks can't even make the drink without putting sugar in it. In November I stopped at the starbucks in Banning CA. I ordered the drink I wanted and Specified no sugar. I got a drink with sugur. Took a sip and said I wanted one without sugar. I ordered without sugar.

The idiot made the second drink with sugar in it too! I bitched and got a third one made correctly.

How hard is it to pour some coffee in a cup over ice and NOT PUT SUGAR IN IT?

The problem is these people are wage slaves. They check in and wait until they've been there a few hours and then check out. Physically they are there, but mentally they are thinking about where to get the next piercing or tattoo.

It's the same with support staff.

Here's an exchange with eBay support from Wednesday:

 eBay is running a special through the end of March. Start an item at 99 cents or less and the insertion fee is only a penny.

It doesn't say if you get a discount if you start an item under 99 cents and use a reserve so I asked  eBay support.

Here's my question:

Do the Seller special: 1¢ listing fees apply to items that
start below 99 cents and have a RESERVE ABOVE 99 cents?

I got this email:

Thank you for writing eBay, I would like to assist you in regard to 
Seller special: 1¢ listing fees.

Yes, you can list and item with a reserve above 99 cents, as long as
your meet all of the requirements. Here is an overview:

 http://pages.ebay.com/promo/startlow08/

It was a pleasure assisting you and I wish you the best. If you need
further assistance, please don't hesitate to reply to this email and let
me know.

Sincerely, 
Robin E.

eBay Customer Support

Great I'll use this listing sale to offer some items I need to use reserves on.

Two hours later I got this email from a second eBay support member:

Thank you for writing eBay in regard to the 1 cent listing promotion.

In order to receive the promotional price, you will need to list the
items at .99 or less without a reserve. If the reserve price is higher
than .99 it will be charged the regular insertion fees for the price
that you have the reserve set at.

If you need further assistance, please don't hesitate to reply to this
email and let us know.

Sincerely, 
Aaron La.

eBay Customer Support

I don't know which of these is right, but if you read the first response again Robin isn't answering my question.

I'll just assume Aaron is right and keep sitting on my thinly traded stuff. I asked twice because the Robin  took more than 24 hours.

A perfect example of wage slaves.

Terry

[Terry Crim]

Terry,

I just recently ordered something off of ebay.   I haven't used ebay since 2000 and had my account since 1999.  I am as newbe as you can get about ebay.   

In the ordering process you have 3 or so choices.  Pay with paypal, pay with credit card or money order.

I wanted to pay with credit card and not my paypal account so I chose Credit Card.  Well doing that you can't actually purchase unless you go directly through the seller.  In the listing details the seller specifically states that they accept credit cards over the phone and to call them if you have any questions.  So I callled.

They didn't answer and I got voice mail.    I called back off and on over the next few days and also sent messages through the ebay seller contact option.  Finally I got a response several days later stating that they do not answer their phone and to email them my credit card information.   Bite me, I am not emailing my credit card info.

If it states to call them with questions and they not only provide a phone contact number but also an 800 number you would think they wanted you to call them right?   Not this seller.

It finally got sorted out with several contact going back and forth they resent me a paypal button to pay for the item which I did using my credit card associated to one of my paypal accounts.

This process here made me remember why I have not used ebay in 8 years.

Now I am waiting to see not only if they send me the item but if they send me the correct item.
Though by the time they get around to sending it I wont get it until after I leave for Texas, I will be gone for the majority of April.   

I just don't get it with this seller, Provide phone contact and tell in the listings to call them. Then they admit they do not answer their phone and after the days of waiting just to pay for the item they stated that sometime in the next 3 or 4 days they will mail it out to me.

Maybe being a newbe and not knowing what to do 100% on ebay is something sellers put against you I don't know, but this seller just is not on the ball and has no interest in providing a satisfying experience at least for me.

My rant of the day.

- Terry