[Harp-L] Customer Service

[Robert Ross <robertaross@xxxxxxxxx>]

Well, after reading all the responses I decided to throw in on this
subject, since I manage the customer service for a couple of websites
myself. First, let me say give a maxim for online businesses - we do
not sell products. 

The biggest mistake that small business owners make is to believe
they are in business to sell something. Nothing could be further from
the truth. You may have a lifelong interest in a product or service
so decided to start selling it - but once you enter the business
world your love of the product is secondary to the real truth - you
sell customer service. not products.

Customer service is just a title for the relationships you have with
your customers. Customers buy from you because they trust that
relationship. Initially, your website should have numerous
"credibility indicators" on it to help establish that trust. These
are visible reflections of trust from organizations, like the BBB, to
other customers, like testimonials. But as customers make purchases
that trust becomes personal. And like all trust, it can be damaged
very easily. So when it comes to service, I bend over backwards to
give the best to all customers. Period. 

For example, last week I had a customer who didn't understand why she
hadn't recieved an autoship order. My call center had been dealing
with it for a number of weeks, but she was still confused and
concerned. As soon as I found out about it, I told them to send her a
free product (worth $79.95) immediately. Now, the problems was the
customer's own fault. I clearly would have been in the "right" if I
just proved that to her. I didn't have to spend $79.95...

Here's the thing - I discovered she had been a regular customer for
several years, and basically she just got confused and made a mistake
but the call center was unable to clarify that for her - hence, free
product, no question. A customer is worth more than whatever profit
you think you are going to make, whatever cost savings youthink you
are going to get, whatever satisfactyion you may get from beig right
- the customer is worth more...not just philosophically, but in terms
of real money.

A regular customer, a repeat customer, is more valuable in any
business, especially online, than gold. Every regular customer is not
only worth the value of their purchases, but the value of the initial
customer acquisition cost, which may be several hundred dollars for a
small business. If a customer buys a harmonica from Harp House, or
anywhere, that customer is worth more than the cost of the harp. It
cost Harp Depot hundreds of dollars, theoretically (I don't know
their marketing budget) to acquire that customer - to get them aware
of Harp Depot, to inspire them to actually visit the site, and keep
on visiting, until they actually made a purchase. The value of that
is incalculable, but if you try to replicate it using Google ads or
search engine optimization, it would cost a lot of real, hard-earned
money. So it is not just "good business" or a nice idea to give good
customer service, it IS your business.  Harp Depot may (if all this
is true) have deposited a couple of hundred dollars in the bank they
they get to keep by ignoring this customer...but what they are really
ignoring is that they lost a lot more than that by losing this
customer - just this ONE customer, let alone any of us on Harp-L.

This may be a bit too heavy on the business jargon for Harp-L, but 
should Harp Depot ever become aware of Harp-L maybe this will help -
and there are many small business people in the Harp-L community that
might appreciate it. In the meanwhile, as long as there is any doubt
about Harp Depot, I will not be ordering from them. I suspect I won't
be alone.

- Robert


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