-•- HomeOfficeDigest.com Newsletter - Issue 143 -•-
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THE HOME OFFICE DIGEST NEWSLETTER
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BE YOUR OWN BOSS
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If you're going to take the leap and become your own boss, don't
EXPECT free help from others. It would be nice to think that all
your friends would be willing to take time out of their busy days to
help you learn html, and marketing, and copy writing, and spend
time answering calls, but all of the time they spend on you is
keeping money out of their own pockets. If you don't think you
can handle all of the responsibilities of a business on your
own then you should seriously consider hiring an employee to
keep you going! I personally spend upwards of 40 hours a week
online, and my wife spends upwards of 40 as well ... if you
don't think you can put 40+ hours in then don't expect to be
earning a full time income!


FEATURED ARTICLE
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Who Says the Customer is Always Right?
by Diane Hughes © 2002

We all know the old adage, "The Customer is Always Right." If you
are an online business owner or offline for that matter, you are
on both sides of the subject almost everyday.

Before I started my online business, I was just on one side ...
the customer. I whole-heartedly believed in the above adage and
never questioned it at all. In fact, I would get rather perturbed
at ANY business owner, manager, or supervisor that would disagree
with any complaint I had.

When I started my own online business back in 1997, I slowly
began to learn the "other side."

My business products are all downloadable. If your business
includes downloaded material, you know where I'm going with this
one. I get NUMEROUS complaints EVERYDAY about usernames and
passwords not working, corrupt downloads, and the big one ... "I
can't open the download." Now I always reply in a very helpful
gesture, but my first question is always, "Are you entering the
username and password exactly as shown?" This seems to be one of
the "biggies" with newbies. They do not understand
"case-sensitive" -- heck -- they don't even know what that means!

But it doesn't matter HOW simple I make the instructions and
overall download process, I STILL get these everyday. I am
accused of being a "scammer" at least 4 - 5 times a week ... and
that's on a GOOD week! :o)

The whole point of the above example is NOT that customers are
wrong -- that's not the problem at all. Many of them are very new
to the internet and sadly, they do not read through the
directions most of the time. I have found that I basically have
to put myself back into the "newbie" frame of mind -- as hard as
that is to do! I don't remember NOT knowing how to download,
enter case-sensitive passwords, etc.

You MUST try to understand that customer ... at the point of
contact, whether by email or phone, they have probably sat there
for HOURS trying to figure it out. They are irritated, angry, and
they've pretty much decided at that point that you scammed them.

Yes, it's irritating getting these "dumb" questions and emails
even when you have them broken down so simply in the
instructions. But face it, you're going to get them and you will
get them often as more and more climb on the "web wagon."

When I get a very insulting email (yes, I HAVE been called the
"B-word," the "MF-word," and recently a new one that I have never
heard before ... it was quite disgusting), I do not answer it
immediately. I let my initial anger subside. When I can read
through it and giggle ... it's time to answer. I find that 80 -
90% of the time, the customer is VERY embarrassed of their
initial email by the time I have helped them courteously through
their problems.

I had to learn this process through time. Believe me ... I am a
VERY sensitive person and I used to take these to heart. It HURT!
I had to revert back to my "customer side" as well as the
"newbie" frame of mind and do my best to understand the person's
anger.

One angry customer can lead to thousands if not millions in lost
business revenue! Especially on the internet. That one customer
tells one friend who in turn tells another and so on a so forth.
You COULD get a real "psycho" customer that decides to start a
website all about YOUR company and YOUR poor service or product.

Watch that one spread like a virus! :o)

On the other hand, exercise great customer service (get those
emails answered within 24 hours, folks) and watch the *praise* of
your company spread! I guarantee that you just GAINED thousands
in sales!


MOST importantly remember these three things:

** LOVE YOUR CUSTOMER

** UNDERSTAND YOUR CUSTOMER

** VALUE YOUR CUSTOMER


You are NOTHING without them. Treat them like gold and you will
RECEIVE gold in return!

------------------------------------------------------------------
Diane Hughes is an accomplished internet entrepreneur and editor
of the popular ProBizTips Newsletter. You can learn more about
Diane and her success in helping many start a home business and
make money from home by clicking below:
http://www.viralmarketzone.com/diane


DOWNLOAD OF INTEREST
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If you're even considering doing any type of business online you
have to have a file decompression program. By now I'm sure you've
gotten a file that was "zipped", without the right software to
unzip that file it's useless! If you want the fastest, easiest,
and most popular, zip compression software on the market today
then you have to get WinZip. WinZip has a graphical interface,
automatically associates itself with the right files, and has
a free 30 day trial download available. Try WinZip today by
visiting http://www.winzip.com


WHAT ARE THEY THINKING
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When did tech support staff become a whipping post for anyone who
is experiencing technical issues? It amazes me that there are so
many people out there who will write a long, nasty, horrible letters
to someone who they want help from, and then expect that person to
jump to their service. Tech support personnel are people too, and
if you don't treat them with respect, and as people who you need a
favor from, then don't expect prompt, friendly service! What in
the world are some people thinking when they include swearing and
threats in an email to someone they can't afford to upset! I know
this doesn't apply to all of you, but for those of you who it does
apply to .... use your head before you send an email like this or
you'll end up hurting yourself more than you're helping.


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