Yesterday I purchased a program for converting some video files I had to flash video so I could embed them on my QuickIMVideos blog. The program works great, not the reason for this post.

The problem was the ordering process for the program itself. On the first page there was a checkbox for a add on of the program on CD, shipped to my house. It was pre-checked. I get to the next step and sure enough there was $8 tacked on to my bill. Okay, not cool, but I go back and uncheck the box. Hit the next page and no extra charges, looking good…

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I happened across one of the Big Guru’s Blogs today, found my way from Facebook (maybe there’s something to that Facebook thing after all?). I made a comment on one of the posts, nothing out of the ordinary, nothing real exciting here yet.

I hit the main page, scanning the post titles as I scrolled down, nothing really catching my eye yet. I reach the bottom of the main page and click the “Previous Entries” link and reached the end of the line… All I received for my click was that nasty “Not Found” message in big bold type (almost as if they want you to look like an idiot with that kind of message).

Hey, things happen, our websites do not always work without a hitch, I can vouch for that.

Here’s the interesting part of the story…

I was going to be a nice guy and let him know, there was a slight hiccup with his blog, I’d love if some one let me know, thing is, I couldn’t tell him!

After searching the whole main page, there was NO way to contact the owner. I know what it’s like to get spammed, but there are plenty of secure contact options for blogs, even a link to a support desk would have worked just dandy.

The contact thing aside, If I didn’t know this guy from Adam, would I came back to his blog? There’s a chance I wouldn’t because it doesn’t even work right.

Course, he won’t hear it from me, because he’s not listening. Are you listening?

I can’t say every visitors to the his blog is a potential customer, but I’m sure there are some in mix.

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Maybe I am jaded or completely off base, but I was raised to keep my promises.

So why do so many marketers drop the ball? If you say your going to do something, do it! It’s not a hard concept to understand.

I know of at least two products I’ve purchased in the past where the marketer said they were going to update the members area. It’s been over six months and nothing updated.

Now hang on, I realize we all get busy, too busy at times. All I am saying is stick to your promises or don’t make them in the first place.

I am not writing this as a complaining customer, but to impress apon you the importance.

To the customer it looks as though.. “You got my Money, guess thats all that Counts”. We know a great passive income can be created from backend and repeat sales, a very nice place to be.

Question is, if you don’t live up to your promises, how many of those golden sales are you going to see? As they say, finish what you started.

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I got to thinking today that it might seem to you that I only rant about poor support. I only talk about the folks who didn’t do me right. So I thought it was time for an over due great support rant. (I still get to rant, it’s my blog).

I am actually going to go one step further and talk about the best support I’ve ever received from an Internet Marketing company. At least to date.

The company that seems to pull out all the stops when it comes to customer service is a Auto Responder service called AWeber. I remember when I signed up, it was kind of surprising. First was a welcome phone call from the company which I missed because I wasn’t home. Next was a letter in the mailing welcoming me to the service. These really are not “big” things, but it’s amazing the impact they can create.

You might be thinking that a support system such as above would be too much work. In reality, once set up as a system, how much work would it really be? Better yet, what would it do for your business or your reputation? Maybe even another way to reassure the customer they made a great choice?

In case your wondering, the second runner up would be a Marketer by the name of David Bullock.

To my defense, I would like to say, i am not that hard to please, just in case your wondering. Just like any one else, treat others as you’d want to be treated, thats all I ask for.

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It really amazes me how many marketers don’t care to follow through.

I’ve sent two support requests to two different marketers this past week. Wanna guess what happened?

Nothing. Nada, zip, zilch.

The one product was a free product that I couldn’t get working, so I can not really expect much support. Though this marketer does say to contact him if I had any problems. I guess that was just a nice gesture.

I guess the second one couldn’t be bother with me asking about becoming an affiliate for his e-book. Maybe he has enough to make him Midas already. I might have told you about his newer product that has to do with feedback, but now it seems it would be counter-productive.

Sadly, taking 5 minutes or less to draft and send a simple e-mail, probably would have brought more future sales. Isn’t that the point in the first place?

Along the same lines, I just received an e-mail from a marketer telling me how I could get a very nice discount for an update for a e-book I purchased from him before. Am I the only one that finds it odd to pay for an update to an e-book that I already purchased? Maybe it was a huge update. I don’t know, he didn’t say.

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If there is one thing I could stress to any one selling products or services is that they make customer service a priority, if not the top priority.

I recently tried to purchase a report from a Internet marketer, don.’t even remember what it was and would’nt say anyways. For some reason I could not purchase the item with my paypal account, I can’t remember the reason. I have used that account many times to buy products from others with no problem. I even recognized the scripts he was using to sell the product, again, I’ve bought through the same script on other sites without a hitch.

I could have done what most any other person would have, just moved on and that would be the end of it. Being a nice guy I submitted a support ticket on support desk to alert him of the problem.

Do you want to guess how long it too him to get back to me?

Try 13 days. Yep, almost two weeks to answer my ticket.

Now it did appreciate the fact that I let him know of the problem, but that was pretty much it. He had no idea why it did not work, which can be understandable. Course he also did not make an effort to find out why or even talk about looking in to it. It did’nt work, sorry, and that was that. Not even a thought to how I could give him my money. Guess he’s got enough money, he does’nt need mine. Guess he does’nt my lifetime value either.

Will I even be one of his customers? Nope.

Not because he’s a bad guy or hurt my feelings. It is the fact that it took 13 days to respond. What if I had purchased a product and had a problem? Guess I would have had to wait 13 days to get help. My first thought, if I did buy something, what if I did need support? Think I know the answer.

I understand people get busy, I lost count how many hours I have spent on this computer, but customer support should the last thing to let slide.

Many people wonder how they can compete on the Internet with so many others trying to sell their wares. Does’nt seem like there is enough room. From the example above, just one of many, if you run your business right, you’ll be 90% ahead of the competition.

Want to be rich? Do a better job than the rest. Thats it. It really can be that simple.

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