Greetings,

It happens to all of us, doesn't it? There comes a time when a customer or client complains. And it's human nature to immediately bristle and think to yourself, "It's not my fault..."

But your customer doesn't care - all he knows is that he feels he hasn't received value for money and he wants action. This week, Chris Killian offers some advice on the best way to respond to this situation.

The Quick Tip was sent in by Sara - you may have come across this before - but it has something for everyone! 

There are also some newspaper headlines that show you what can go wrong when you're not concentrating on your writing! To avoid making similar mistakes yourself, always proof-read your work.

Regards,

Jennifer 

~ * ~

Embrace Your Mistakes - They Are Lessons in Disguise
by Chris Kilian Copyright 2001

What do you do when you are confronted by disgruntled
buyers of your goods and services?

Ignore it?

Get angry?

Fix it?

You already know what the RIGHT answer is, don't you?
You must take immediate steps to fix it.

What next? Learn from the incident.

I recently had the occasion to be confronted on some
guaranteed traffic I sold to a person.  I had promised a
certain number of hits for a certain price. 

The targeted URL DID get the hits promised, actually a
few more than promised, but some weeks later, I got an
email which was not very complimentary of what had been
delivered.

What to do? What to do?

I could have ignored it.  I could have considered the
reaction I got as simply "sour grapes." But if you leave
enough sour grapes lying around on the net, sooner or
later, your site will have an smell that will hurt your
business.

I could have reacted in anger.  After all, I sold and
delivered EXACTLY what I promised.  What more could I
do? If this person bought expecting a result they did
not get, is that my fault or theirs? Am I to act as
guardian for everyone who buys from me? Do I need to
send out a questionnaire on why someone is buying, or
do I simply deliver what is ordered? My job is provide
what I promise, not rationalize whether the reason for
the purchase makes sense.

What I did was examine the complaint.  Were there places
in my sales copy where I was misleading? Did I leave out
information that might have caused this ill-fated purchase?
I looked at the sale from my customer's viewpoint to find
errors in my presentation, and fixed it.

I also wrote back to this person with my explanation of
what I thought I was communicating in my previous message
and to inform them of a complete refund of their money.

"You mean you sold something.  Someone benefited from
it, and you still sent back their money?"

Yep.

Life is too short as it is.  It doesn't improve if you
hold onto every penny you come across.

Besides, that complaint DID make me change the approach
I had been taking to sell guaranteed traffic, and the
process I went through probably improved my offer and the
satisfaction of future buyers, and that was worth more
than this one sale.

So, the next time you get hammered for something you
have sold, don't ignore it.  Don't get angry.  Fix it,
and learn from it. 

Both you and your customers, the complainer and those
customers to come, will be better off for your efforts.

I hope this helps you in your marketing efforts.

You may use the article in your ezine, on your site,
or in your ebook, so long as you keep the write credit
below.

-----------------------------------------------------------
Chris Kilian offers traffic from two different web sites:
http://www.winitlotto.com and http://www.twodollarads.com
Chris also sends out a weekly ezine, Secrets for Success
which you can get delivered free with your email to:
mailto:secretsforsuccess@postmaster-email.com
-----------------------------------------------------------

Thanks to Heidi for sending these.

BEST HEADLINES OF YEAR (yes, they are real)... 
1. Something Went Wrong In Jet Crash, Expert Says
2. Police Begin Campaign To Run Down Jaywalkers
3. Drunk Gets Nine Months In Violin Case
4. Survivor Of Siamese Twins Joins Parents
5. Prostitutes Appeal To Pope
6. Panda Mating Fails; Veterinarian Takes Over
7. British Left Waffles On Falkland Islands
8. Lung Cancer In Women Mushrooms
9. Miners Refuse To Work After Death
10. Juvenile Court To Try Shooting Defendant
11. Two Sisters Reunited After 18 Years In Checkout Counter
12. If Strike Isn't Settled Quickly, It May Last A While
13. Cold Wave Linked To Temperatures
14. Enfields Couple Slain, Police Suspect Homicide
15. Red Tape Holds Up New Bridge
16. Typhoon Rips Through Cemetery; Hundreds Dead
17. New Study Of Obesity Looks For Larger Test Group
18. Kids Make Nutritious Snacks
19. Chef Throws His Heart In Helping Feed Needy
20. Hospitals Are Sued By 7 Foot Doctors

Don't Make Mistakes Like These with Your Sales Material

One of the most difficult tasks for many business owners, is preparing sales material to send to customers, clients and prospects. it's so easy to make silly mistakes (as in the headlines above). You know exactly what you mean - but others may not interpret your words the same way.

Use these letter templates to achieve a professional result every time. All you have to do is add your business details to the templates and then send them off to your target market. How easy is that?

Learn more here: http://www.write101.com/letters/sales.htm 

~ * ~

Quick Tip

Desiderata For Managers

1. Organisations don't run on information, they run on relationships.
2. Attack the issue not each other.
3. Behind all hostility, there is FEAR. Reduce the fear and the hostility
goes.
4. Catch people doing the right thing.
5. When we are talking, we are not listening.
6. Better to ask a stupid question than to fix a stupid mistake.
7. INSANITY = repeating the same behaviour but expecting different results.
8. Even the most outrageous behaviour makes sense to the person doing it at
the time.
9. Experience is the toughest teacher - we get the test first and the
lesson later.
10. Being busy doesn't make us important, it just keeps us from getting
feedback.
11. Tell me and I forget.  Show me and I remember.  Coach me and I learn.
12. If you always do what you've always done, you always get what you've
always got.
13. Small mistakes can prevent BIG FAILURES.
14. Don't take yourself so seriously, no one else does.
15. People like to be consulted.  Just ask them.
16. Everyone of us has failed at something and survived.  Lighten up.
17. Sometimes we give.  Sometimes we take.  It is the balance that counts.
18. "This too shall pass".  (Remember this during your next "drama".)
19.  Tragedy = Viewing life "up close".  Humour = Viewing life from a
distance. 

20. All of us behave badly sometimes.  There are no exceptions

~ * ~

 
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