I really don’t like going on rants but every now and then I have no choice. In spite of the fact that I have adopted a brand new “what me worry” attitude, it still bugs me when people don’t run their business in a professional manner. Without naming names, because that’s just not cool, I’m going to relate a true story and in doing so, show you an example of what NOT to do.
I purchased a product a while ago. It was supposed to be for one price with no recurring charges. Well, it turned out that the old sales page was never changed and in fact, this was a recurring charge. Well, I was pretty upset about this, but because the sales page was in error, the person did eventually agree to give me access for a year. Well, better than nothing anyway.
But it doesn’t end there. See, then, a month goes by and my year long membership lapsed for some reason. So I had to write again and he fixed it. Okay, that’s cool. In the meantime, I had made an affiliate sale for this product (after he fixed the page) so that people would know it was a recurring charge. Well, I made the sale but then, after my account lapsed and was reinstated, my sale disappeared. Guess what? You got it…Another email.
I’m now waiting for response to this one.
Tell me…do you think I’m happy? I can’t remember the last time I had to go through so much with one merchant. Do you think I’ll purchase another product from this person? Do you think I’ll promote another product for this person?
And the sad thing is, the product is kick ass. It’s one of the best products for what it does that I have seen. But the guy just doesn’t run a very tight ship and I have no tolerance for that. I probably lost a commission, unless he can somehow resurrect the records. But even if he can, the experience has been less than pleasant and quite honestly, I have enough headaches without having to deal with somebody who has so many problems.
Point is, if you run a business, like it or not, customers are going to judge you NOT only by the product you sell but by how you run your operation and your customer service. I personally pride myself on my customer service and expect no less from those who I deal with.
You should expect no less and give no less.