Can you guess the 6 steps to "The Perfect Niche Process"?
When you complete these 6 steps (it takes on average 2 to 4 hours), here's
what happens for you.
"You found a niche you are passionate and excited about, that is proven to be successful and can make you money, that you can compete in (even if you are brand new), and you know exactly how to get fast results and start making money quickly as an affiliate."
This video walks you through all 6 steps. Watch it now today and enjoy.
These days our customers are demanding more and more in the way of Internet privacy and with todays statistics who can blame them?
Here are just a few scary figures for you:
Approximately 15 million Americans were victimized by some sort of identity-theft related fraud in the 12 months ending in mid-2006, according to a survey by Gartner, Inc. These statistics represent more than a 50 percent increase since 2003 when the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) reported 9.9 million American adult identity theft victims.
Consumers reported fraud losses totaling more than $1.1 billion.
According to the Gartner survey of 5,000 online U.S. adults in August 2006, the average loss was $3,257 in 2006, up from $1,408 in 2005. At the same time, the percentage of funds consumers managed to recover dropped from 87 percent in 2005 to 61 percent in 2006.
Credit card fraud was the most common form of reported identity theft constituting 25% of all reported frauds.
Have you ever filled out a form on the net and then for the next 6 months you are getting 100’s of SPAM e-mails a day?
I was looking for health insurance a few months ago. I went to one of those “compare prices here” sites. And I kid you not, before I had finished reading the confirmation e-mail, my phone was ringing…and it still has not stopped.
I am glad that I opened a separate e-mail account for just that purpose because I still get about 200 per day…this is months later. I know I was looking for health insurance but I am pretty sure they don’t sell you Viagra and Cialis or replica watches.
As I said, I set up an e-mail account that day with the express purpose of using it for that insurance site, so I know that it was them. Their site had a privacy policy too but it was just for show. Clearly they are not worried about repeat customers.
When a client purchases something from you, they are basically saying they trust you and your systems enough to keep their information safe. It is imperative that we, as merchants, take that trust seriously.
Here are a few ways in which to do so.
Privacy Policy: Develop a privacy policy and use it
Secure orders: This is a no brainer but always, always use a secure order form
Limit access: Limit the access to a few employees as possible
Permissions: Never, never, never share a client’s information with a 3rd party without permission
Double Opt in: Use a double opt-in process for all mailings, that way you are as sure as you can be that you are in contact with the correct person
Data Security: Protect data by firewalls, virus protection and any other means available to you to ensure that the data is secured
Verify: If an order comes in that looks fishy, IE billing address is in AK and the shipping address is in Nigeria, take a moment out to call that person and do a little verification
Trends/volume: If you have a company that sells eproducts and a new client comes through and purchases 10 products on the same day, this should throw up a flag for further investigation
Secure updates: Allow your client a way to update the information in a secure fashion. Example: Have a secure credit card update form rather than requesting they e-mail it or use an unsure ticketing system
Explain up front: If you use a local means of storing data (ie. on the customers PC, like cookies), explain why and how you use this information
Enforce: Make sure you enforce this privacy policy
Again, this is information that most of you know, and probably already use, but all it takes is one bad experience to turn someone off of purchasing from Internet Marketers. You have enough challenges without adding sloppy security to the mix.
If you already do all of the items above, that is great. If not, take stock and see where you can improve your system.
Well, to some that is the $10,000,000.00 question.
In your business are you the cook, copy writer, salesman, support, and head bottle washer? Now add to that family, friends and maybe another job on the side. Sound familiar?
Ok, now have you heard this one? "Most entrepreneurs fail because you are working IN your business rather than ON your business." That is a quote from Michael Gerber’s book, the E-Myth. Not only is the book a good read, but it touches on many key points.
How can you expect to grow your customer base, when you are so busy trying to maintain the clients that you already have, that you are running in circles?
One of the major time consumers that you will find chips away at your day is your customer service. You want to keep those clients happy and coming back for more but shesh! You need to get some work done too. How much is your time worth?
I know what you are thinking…at least some of you…Have you seen the cost of customer service help? Actually yes and it is totally worth it. :o)
Think about it, you hire them for 10 to 20 hours of service per week and that is now 10 to 20 hours you do not have to spend working in your business. Now if you take that time and work on your business how many new clients can you bring in?
How many programs can you develop? How many JV partners can you set up? Heck, even take a couple of hours and go out to dinner.
It does hurt a little to make that commitment at first, cut that first check. Ouch! But then take a look at your bottom line once your business begins increasing. Take a look at your stress level as it begins decreasing. The money goes up and the stress comes down…talk about finding balance.
Remember, your company cannot grow beyond your ability to serve your customers. By bringing in that additional help you can change not only the number of customers you can service but also the manner in which your customers are served.
What if you have had a totally awful day? Your servers crashed not once but twice, your e-mail campaign is backed up, you received a charge back and the CRM you used just made an “upgrade” that wiped out 2 weeks of work.
Now Jane Doe has a support request wanting to know why she is being billed for something. And John Smith wants all of his billing records from your company for the entire previous year because he is doing taxes and did not save any receipts.
Do you really think they are going to get the same response and quality of service on that day as every other?
Helpful and consistent support is what you need to keep your customers happy and coming back for more.
If you are finding yourself overwhelmed and all of this makes sense to you; maybe it is time to invest in yourself, your family and your business and make that next big step up from a one man show.
As an online merchant, your customers cannot see your face; they can not see the expression on your face as you are animated by the product you are selling.
They cannot hear the excitement in your voice when you are recommending your products. This is of course unless you are using video.
The Internet is an even playing field for every Internet marketer out there. The sheer connectivity means that you have the potential to reach every individual with Internet in the world, even many who do not, through word of mouth from those that do.
You are not restricted by geographic constraints as with a brick and mortar business….virtually anyone can be your customer.
This is precisely why you should over deliver. When every one of your competitors has access to the same pool of clients, your only way of obtaining more market share and setting yourself apart is to over deliver and do it consistently. When you over deliver, you present yourself as a person looking out for your customer's best interest.
You become a friend, a partner in success and not just another what’s in it for me, greed-driven marketer out looking for their own pocket. Over delivering is one of the best and only ways to set yourself apart from your competition.
You can start over delivering by providing excellent support for your customers.
How many times have you been spoken rudely to? Spoken down to or just plain irritated by the blasé fare attitude to your problem?
Now take that number and compare that with the number of times you have been provided excellent, knowledgeable and efficient service.
For most of us the scale is tipped decidedly in one direction….and not the good way.
This just proves how scarce really good customer support is. By providing excellent support to your customers and answering to their questions patiently and knowledgably, you will gain customers that are not only satisfied by loyal to you because they know you are looking out for them.
So if you are not already, start over delivering today.
While it can be argued that in the digital world, e-mail is more personable than a support ticket, you may want to consider these tidbits.
SPAM filters - Now don’t get me wrong SPAM filters are GREAT for your personal e-mail accounts; however, if your settings are too high, you may be missing out on legitimate e-mails. Too low and you will get wanna be Rolex offers and…well… you know the others. I had just three accounts being forwarded to one e-mail address and after a few years we were receiving on average of 20,000 e-mails per day with maybe 5 to 10 being legitimate customer contacts.
Now that is a lot of e-mail to sort though. Just imagine your customer e-mailing you time after time, getting more and frustrated that you are not responding. You are going about your day oblivious to the fact you are about to get blasted on a forum, receive a chargeback, and loose a customer. Not because you did anything but because you did nothing. Or vise versa you receive the e-mail and are just plugging away at their issue, but every one of your responses is gobbled up by their SPAM filter, and they think they are being ignored. With a support ticketing system their ticket is right there and houses all their replies as well as yours.
The e-mail dog pile - You check your e-mail in the morning and are all ready to sit down and reply to all of your quires. Then something major goes down, the e-mails start flying and that morning e-mails get buried further and further down the line. You mean to go back, but you are so buried keeping up with what is coming in. By the time you get back to those e-mails a couple days later, people are e-mailing and calling about the lack of service. The beauty of a support ticketing system is until those tickets are answered they are like little reds flags with a countdown timer on them. When you login, you will not be in danger of not knowing which ones you have already replied to and who is still waiting.
Computer or e-mail crash - If you and a client develop a rapport over an issue in January, your computer crashes in March, then in June they are back asking for that information again, you are in trouble. Many times when the computer crashes the e-mail is gone and you have to start back up from scratch. With a ticketing system, you can just pull that ticket right up and viola there is all of the information.
Accountability and Training - A support ticketing system holds you accountable. When you login, you can see exactly who said what and when. If one person on your staff is giving out misinformation, that is an excellent tool for training purposes. You can actually pull up their responses and show them exactly where the mistake was made and what they can do differently.
Time Management and Trending - Many support ticketing systems give you the ability to enter the amount of time worked for each ticket. This way, you can login at any time and see how much time is spent on what. If you see a trend that product XYZ has a ton of support and the others are all about the same, you may want to give XYZ an evaluation. You can even look at the customer tickets to see if there is a theme among them. If you have 45 tickets and of that 45, 37 are asking where a certain bonus it, that may be something that you want to address in their welcome e-mail. By doing this, you will have cut down the support time for that product drastically. You can also develop a FAQ around the common questions.
All on the same page - If you have multiple staff members that work on the accounts, by giving them the access to the support system, they can read the posts of the previous staffers and know exactly what that client is being told. No he said she said.
These are just a few things to consider when handling your support. Ticketing systems may cost more than plain e-mail service, but in my opinion, they are worth every penny.
Have you ever found yourself dealing with an irate client? In a perfect world, this would never happen, but the reality it occasionally everyone slips up. Regardless of whose fault it is, if you make a promise to your client, it is your responsibility to make good on it.
We have all been there; our launch is 100% good to go, you check your list, everything is on track. The orders start coming in, only to find out that your duplication service messed up… accidentally printed 3 of the same discs instead of all 3 parts or the manuals were printed backwards.
Any number of things can happen to cause issues…again in a perfect world this would not happen but who lives there? Let’s stick with the example of a duplication issue for the examples below.
1. Communicate with the client - Send out an e-mail or give them a call as soon as you know there is a problem. Let them know up front that you are truly sorry for the inconvenience, advise them of the situation, and accept responsibility.
2. Do not play the blame game - Regardless of why the product or service is not available; you are the one that made the promise. Your client is a real person, they do realize that bad things happen, but trying to explain how it is not your fault is not going to help the situation. Accept responsibility and move on from there.
3. Let them know what you are doing to fix it - If the problem is a sort term fix, let them know what you are doing to remedy the situation. Give them an ETA on when you plan to have the issue fixed. If the situation is a long term issue, be sure to keep them informed.
4. Make sure you can keep your promise - If the duplication is using to take 3 weeks, make sure you tell them that is how long it will take. If the decide to cancel you are at least being up front and they will more than likely respect that. If you say 1 week and then it takes another 2, you may as well write that client off. Err on the side of caution and under promise and over deliver.
5. Add that value- Offer a little extra incentive - If a client is willing to give you 3 weeks, the least you can do is offer a free e-book or report for their patience. This will show your appreciation and your client will feel valued.
Again, no one ever sets out with the intention to screw up but when it does happen; be sure to take responsibility, keep your client in the loop, and make it up to them. It is not a perfect solution but you will find that most clients will understand and be willing to wait because you were up front with them from the start.
I recently ran across a great article on “4 Ways To Provide Customer Service That Outshines Your Competitors”. In this article Susan Ward outlines the 4 defining ways to put yourself and your company at the head of the game.
1) Determine what makes what you offer special.
2) Study the customer service ideas on your list and examine their feasibility.
3) Choose one or two of your shiny customer service ideas and implement them.
4) Stay proactive and keep gathering customer service ideas.
Susan delves into much deeper detail on each of the 4 areas in the full article. (link listed below)
My favorite line from her article is: “Customers are tired of dealing with retailers that ignore customer service or only pretend to have it, and as always, they’re voting with their dollars. Shiny customer Service will draw customers to your product or service, rather than competitors', and bring them back in droves.”
After reading this article, take a good hard look at your operation and try to be objective. Make sure your customers are voting for you.
Recently my husband began working with a company that required multiple International calls per week. We have service unlimited National calls through Verizon, but had a very limited International plan…which we realized after our first bill….OUCH!
I phoned Verizon, the wait time was minimal. “Brian” was very polite; he verified my information and asked why I was calling. Once I explained the situation, he immediately pulled up all the plans available. After doing an analysis of which counties were called the most and how often, he tailored a plan that would meet all of our needs, without paying for additional services we did not need.
He then asked if I minded if he reviewed my account for any additional savings he could offer. Turns out, we qualified for an even better plan than we were on before as we had been paying for options we never used. He then asked if we had Direct TV, when I said we did, he told me I could save 16.00 a month by using a combined service they offered.
He also noticed that 2 years previously I had requested to be notified when FIOS was available in our area…well guess what, they have begun installing the wiring in my area and it will be complete by the end of the year. He put me on a list to be notified as soon as it was available and with another bundle I will save an additional $20 to $30 per month verses the cable I currently use.
Wow, so Brian was knowledgeable about his products, helpful and efficient. In the 10 minutes we were on the call, he saved us between $50 to $60 per month once the FIOS kicks in. That is the kind of service that will keep clients coming back for more.
The key is to hire people like Brian, or if you are handling your support yourself, be sure that you are not burnt out and can offer your clients the attention that they want.
I will definitely be keeping Verizon around for a while, make sure your clients want to keep you too. :o)
This just happens to be a personal experience that I wanted to share. This is the epitome of “hearing” your customer talking, but not “listening” to what they are saying.
The story starts out when I ordered a set of work out videos from a very large, well known company. I called in to order the discs. The girl convinced me to order the upgrade package and a bunch of upsells. (Let me just say up front, I am everyone’s dream customer, I am a total easy sell) For purchasing the amount of stuff I did, I ended up getting a free upgrade in my shipping.
Now I am not necessarily interested in loosing pounds, but I want to get in shape and not feel like I need an oxygen tent after taking the laundry up to the third floor. The girl kept pushing diet pills etc, after about the 10th time of me saying no and explaining this, she said ok and processed the order.
I received my confirmation e-mail with tracking number. YAY! I am so excited, I just know I am going to pop the discs in as soon as they get here and get started.
The discs arrived and I took them down to the TV and was ready to go. I opened the box and the directions were just not meshing with the items I had in the box. Hmmm, I called customer service and was immediately placed on hold for about 10 minutes. Now, 10 minutes is not unheard of, but when listening to a looping version of "Hey Jude" on the pan flute, it seemed excruciating long and painful.
I finally got to speak with “Matthew”. Matthew took down my information and read my order back to me. Excellent, he already has all the information he needs and is ready to help. Before he even asks how he can help me with my previous order issue or why I am calling, he starts trying to sell me additional diet products.
I nicely advised Matthew that I am not interested with purchasing any new products, and that I still have issues with my previous purchase. He then asks me to verify my information again, so I did.
I explained that I believe some of the discs were missing from my package as the “Quick Start Guide” keeps referencing discs that I do not have in my pack. I also advise that I see the package marked Deluxe (all my upsells) but I did not see the other discs being referenced.
Matthew reads my order back to me again and says that is what I ordered. I again explain I believe that some discs are missing from the package I ordered.
Oh! he says, like the light bulb has come on. “May I place you on hold while I check on this?” he says. I say sure. Another 15 minutes of "Hey Jude" on the pan flute. He comes back and again asks me to verify my information. Are you serious? Oh yes, he is serious.
Again with the information verification process. He reads the order to me again and says, "Ok here is what is in your package", and reads me a list of items.
He gets to the basics disc set, and I seized upon that like a thirsty man in the desert. That is it, that is the package I do not have, I tell him. Matthew just sounds disbelieving and says but you ordered it, so it should be in the box.
“Yes, I agree, it should be, but it wasn’t. Can you please just send me a new set?”
“I need to speak with my manager. May I place you on hold?”
I want to scream NOOOOOOO, but there is no other way, so I get to listen to the haunting rendition of "Hey Jude" again. Normally I hate those every 30 second “Your call is important to us. Please stay on the line” messages, but at this point I would have given a lot for that interruption…especially in the high register parts.
Matthew comes back and says he will ship out the new set. Hallelujah!
He then begins to try to sell me diet pills that can be sent with free shipping in that package. I explain to him that am not interested in loosing pounds and just want to get in shape. He says ok, then proceeds to ask me if I would like information on how to lose 7 pounds in 7 days. Again I tell him no.
“How about a quick slim program?”
“No, I am only interested in my discs.”
Ok, but how about a diet recipe book?” This guy can’t be for real…
“No please just send me my discs”.
“But you want to lose weight don’t you? You want to be thin don’t you? You…”
At this point I had to cut Matthew off. “Just send me the discs I paid for. Don’t offer me anything else, don’t send me anything else, just send me the items I paid for.”
“Ok, I just need you to verify your address.”
I am thinking well it hasn’t changed since the last time you took me off hold and asked for it, but I did not want to be rude. Again we verify all of my information and just when I think we are done….you guessed it. I am put on hold while he enters it into the system.
When all was said and done I was on the phone for over an hour. With about 45 minutes of "Hey Jude". This phone call should have taken about 5 minutes.
Why did it take so long? Because “Matthew” heard my voice, he heard the sounds coming out of my mouth, but he did not listen to what I was saying.
Suffice to say I will never do business with this company again due to this experience.
So to recap, what did I learn as a customer service manager?
1. Make sure that your clients are being listened to.
2. Don’t needlessly make your clients verify their accounts. Once should be sufficient and then, if shipping, ask if they would like to use the same address still or provide another.
3. Make sure hold time is minimal and productive.
4. And most important…never never ever use looping "Hey Jude" on pan flute as hold music.
Hopefully if you can see any of this in the service you provide your customers you change it right away. You never have a second chance to make a first impression.
What is the difference between customer loyalty and customer satisfaction?
“Customer Loyalty” can be described as the tendency of a customer to choose one business or product over another for a particular need. What word stands out in that sentence most?
It should be the word “choose”. In any type of industry, loyalty is based on action not just on the opinion or satisfaction level of your consumer.
Customers may express extremely high satisfaction levels with a company in a survey, but satisfaction does not equal loyalty. Loyalty is demonstrated by the actions of the customer; customers can be very satisfied and still not be loyal.
For example Jane Doe just raves about how wonderful your latest widget is; she gives you 5 stars and a testimonial. Great news right?
Well now your competitor has released a new widget and is selling it for $10.00 less.
The loyal Jane Doe loves you so much, and in turn your product, that she simply deletes your competitors advertisement and returns to you again and again.
The satisfied Jane Doe likes your product just fine, but this is cheaper and it says it’s just as good. Hmm, maybe she will try it out and see what she likes best.
Here is how Wikipedia lists the advantages of Long Term/Loyal Customer:
The cost of acquisition occurs only at the beginning of a relationship: the longer the relationship, the lower the amortized cost.
Account maintenance costs decline as a percentage of total costs (or as a percentage of revenue).
Long term customers tend to be less inclined to switch and also tend to be less price sensitive. This can result in stable unit sales volume and increases in dollar-sales volume.
Long term customers may initiate free word of mouth promotions and referrals.
Long term customers are more likely to purchase ancillary products and high-margin supplemental products.
Long term customers tend to be satisfied with their relationship with the company and are less likely to switch to competitors, making market entry or competitors' market share gains difficult.
Regular customers tend to be less expensive to service because they are familiar with the processes involved, require less "education," and are consistent in their order placement.
Increased customer retention and loyalty makes the employees' jobs easier and more satisfying. In turn, happy employees feed back into higher customer satisfaction in a virtuous circle.
Whether you use CRM, Database Marketing, Permission Marketing or any of the other various forms out there, what you eventually are trying to drill down to is: How do I increase my customer loyalty? How do I get customers to choose to buy or visit more?
Customer loyalty is the end result, not the method used. You want increased customer retention and, in turn, an increase in the Life Time Value of that consumer.
In order to build this loyalty in your consumer, you must have extremely well-managed customer retention programs. No matter what your field or niche is, all customer retention programs rely on communicating with customers.
With these communications you are giving them encouragement to remain active and choose to continue to do business with a company; customers who are targeted by retention programs generally demonstrate a greater loyalty to your business or service.
What do you want?
Action! You want them to visit your website, make a purchase and/or sign up for a newsletter. Once they do it for the first time, you want them to keep doing it, especially since you probably paid out big bucks to get them to do business with you in the first place. What you don’t want is to have to payout a second time.You want to create a "loyal" customer who demonstrates profitable behavior.
You need to constantly engage your customers in a mutually beneficial relationship. If you barrage your consumers with “junk”, just to have your name appear in their inbox, you are wasting your time and theirs. You will have alienated your consumer and it will be too late to do anything about it, because they're already gone.
You can waste a vast amount of money trying to get them back or simply let them go and move on to finding the next customer and hope you can create a loyalty with them.
How much money do you spend cultivating your customers? First they are a lead, next “prospects”, and finally, finally a customer. YAY! Mission accomplished right?
Not so fast…now you have to hold onto them. You have to develop a way to identify high loyalty customers who are at risk, and take action before they leave you.
Once you have identified that, you simply repeat the process again and again.
