Plenty of marketers like to blow off steam after a particularly long day or long week.  Talking to your spouse or friends is one thing – going on a public forum and “venting” is another. 

You see, anything you write on forums pretty much lasts “forever” online.  Your customers may search for your name in Google one day, and they’ll run across the posts you’ve made in forums.

Look around at the popular marketing forums and you’ll see plenty of marketers ridiculing their customers, calling them “idiots,” etc.   Now imagine you were a potential customer, and the person you wanted to buy from was calling his customers “idiots.”  That would likely leave a bad impression and bad taste in your mouth, wouldn’t it?

And the same goes for your customers.  If you’ve vented about the “stupid” customers you have and the “hilarious” emails they send you, chances are a potential customer is going to find that post some day …and she’s not going to find it that funny. 

She might even have a question for you, but after seeing you ridicule other customers publicly, she decides not to contact you at all for fear of being called “stupid.”  She’s going to seek out your competitor instead – the one who keeps mum about his interactions with his customers.

Outsourcing is a beautiful and wonderful thing.  You come up with a great idea, send money to a freelancer, and like magic they send you a completed project.  If you do enough outsourcing, you can get projects from the idea stage to completion in lightning-quick time.

So you find your dream freelancers, go over the details, they give you estimated delivery dates, and you start planning out your marketing.  As the delivery dates near, you check with your freelancers to ensure they are still on track (they are).  Then you start sending out emails to build anticipation for the upcoming launch.

Can you see the problem boiling just under the surface?

The success of the product launch is completely out of your hands.  The freelancers may suddenly disappear, they could become ill, for example, and you won’t know what happened until it’s crunch time. 

It doesn’t matter if you’ve set your launch several days or even a week or more ahead of the date your freelancers told you they’d deliver.  What happens if they can’t deliver?  Now you need to scramble around and find another freelancer (and the good ones aren’t available at the drop of a hat like that), or you need to put in long hours to get it done yourself.

It’s exhausting to say the least.  And that means you might not get everything done before the launch, or you might drop the ball in a few places.  That could easily lower your credibility in the marketplace.

The same goes for your business partners.  Don’t let your success depend on another person, because it’s the customers who suffer if someone doesn’t keep their promises to you (and in turn you can’t keep your promises to your customer).

Your best bet?  Never make promises until you’re actually ready to deliver.  If it’s not already in your hand, don’t promise your customers that you can get it into their hands on a specific date.

Customer service (both presale and post sale) begins with following through on your promises.  Is this just blatantly obvious common sense?  You bet it is.  And yet many marketers fail miserably on this one.

And here’s one of the biggest reasons why: they over extend themselves and/or jump the gun on an upcoming project.

How many times have you had a great idea for a product or service, got all fired up about it (maybe even had a sleepless night while you researched your idea), and then eventually the idea fizzled out and you dropped the project?

It happens to all of us.  But the problem is if we go and tell our customers about it.  We think we’re “building anticipation,” but if we’re not even close to completing the project when we start talking about it, then what we’re actually doing is losing credibility.

So here’s the golden rule on this topic: don’t start talking about a product or service unless you’re SURE you can deliver how and when you say you can deliver.  This is not only important for marketers launching products, but also for freelancers setting deadlines for clients.

If you’re still riding on the “idea high” and haven’t even really started on the project yet, keep mum about it.  If it’s truly a great idea, waiting a few days, weeks or even months to tell your customers won’t hurt.

Your best bet? Wait until the project is complete and THEN build anticipation for a few days or weeks before your official launch.  This ensures you can deliver for your customers …and it also ensures a competitor won’t go out and complete a project before you (as might happen if you tell your customers months ahead of time and then fail to follow through).

                Tip: getting ready for a product launch or perhaps setting a deadline for a client?  Set your deadline well ahead of your actual deadline.

                        For example, if you’re creating a graphic and expect to get it done on Tuesday for a client, tell them it will be done on Thursday or Friday.  That way if Murphy’s Law
                        kicks in (like a computer crash), you still have time to make good on your promise.  And if you get it done early, your customer will be delighted with your customer
                        service!

Tomorrow, more about promises…

The reason I told you the story yesterday, is not because I’m grumpy and wanted to whine, and certainly not because I wanted to make the company look bad (note that I didn’t even name the company).  The reason I shared this story is because it could happen to you …not as the consumer, but as the seller who’s losing business.

In fact, I can say without doubt that if you’ve been in business for any amount of time, there’s a good number of people who didn’t do business with you because something about your customer service turned them off.

Consider this: according to Dan Kennedy, 68% of customers leave a business because of customer service issues.  Sixty eight percent!

And yet most businesses focus on the smaller numbers, like the 9% that leave because a competitor is making a better offer.  They put on their boxing gloves and start duking it out with competitors, getting into all sorts of ridiculous price and bonus wars …

And for what?  To try to cling desperately to 9% of their customers who are contemplating leaving because they saw a better offer?

Sure, your marketing plan should take into consideration your competitors.  But you also need to turn an eye to your customers – maybe up to 68% of those considering leaving – who may be considering jumping ship simply because you’re neglecting or ignoring them.

It really is that simple: treat your customers like gold consistently, and you’ll have a better shot at keeping them as a lifelong loyal customer.  That means customer service should be your number one priority – because without those customers, you’re just a seller who has a product without a business or an income.

Tomorrow. we’ll look at some ways to put a little spit and polish on your customer service system…