Purpose of a website...
The purpose of the web site needs to be clearly identified.
Define the purpose, the mission, and the goals of the site, then the site can be designed and developed with the intended function(s).
A site can have one or several purposes:
to showcase an organization,
provide product/service information,
offer consumer support information,
give detailed information of organization,
provide a good presentation of the organization,
provide quick and efficient access to the organization,
provide office location maps and details,
public relations,
give event schedules,
receive consumer/user input,
take and process orders, requests and other user information,
provide public interest information,
conduct user polls and surveys,
offer an on-line catalog,
and any number of other functions.
In fact, a web site will serve any purpose that is served by the media of print, radio and television. Furthermore, an interactive site can serve as an automated sales and support office. Any purpose that involves consumers and the general public can be served by a web site. The real limit to the uses of a web site are not the technical design and development issues, but the imagination.
Whether the purpose is to reach local consumers or the entire world, a properly designed web site will serve any organization well. By determining the purpose, the content and layout of the site can be properly developed. If needed, additions and changes to the site can be done to incorporated additional purposes. However, the initial content and layout needs an initial purpose(s), with intended missions and goals, to be properly developed.
Define the purpose, the mission, and the goals of the site, then the site can be designed and developed with the intended function(s).
A site can have one or several purposes:
to showcase an organization,
provide product/service information,
offer consumer support information,
give detailed information of organization,
provide a good presentation of the organization,
provide quick and efficient access to the organization,
provide office location maps and details,
public relations,
give event schedules,
receive consumer/user input,
take and process orders, requests and other user information,
provide public interest information,
conduct user polls and surveys,
offer an on-line catalog,
and any number of other functions.
In fact, a web site will serve any purpose that is served by the media of print, radio and television. Furthermore, an interactive site can serve as an automated sales and support office. Any purpose that involves consumers and the general public can be served by a web site. The real limit to the uses of a web site are not the technical design and development issues, but the imagination.
Whether the purpose is to reach local consumers or the entire world, a properly designed web site will serve any organization well. By determining the purpose, the content and layout of the site can be properly developed. If needed, additions and changes to the site can be done to incorporated additional purposes. However, the initial content and layout needs an initial purpose(s), with intended missions and goals, to be properly developed.
Understanding the Internet
Ever been lost in the woods?
I know that most people who’ve never been to New York think that it’s one big city. Trust me…there’s a lot more woods than there is city. There are millions of acres of wilderness in New York State.
We used to spend 10 days every summer camping off a series of old logging trails in the Adirondack Mountains. If you wander off the beaten path, you had better have a compass, a canteen and some food. Every couple of years, someone wanders into those deep woods and never comes back.
Sounds kind of like the Internet, doesn’t it? It’s a thing so vast and complicated that it’s hard to wrap your mind around it. The easiest thing to do is just give it a cool-sounding name, and hope you never have to try to explain it to anyone!
Well, I’m one of those systems-engineer guys who actually understands much of what goes on there. I wouldn’t recommend systems engineering to the squeamish. The courses you have to take can give you the strangest nightmares! It’s a lonely profession, too. I can’t talk to my friends about what I do…it just makes their eyes glaze over.
Anyway, I’m going to talk about some of the basics of how the Internet works. I’m not going to prattle to you about Class-C IP Addressing, Virtual Webs, or redirecting an MX record on a DNS Server. That's one of those things that us systems guys do to impress other people at staff meetings. I’d just be listening to myself talk, and you wouldn’t gain anything useful.
The best way I can think of to visualize the Internet in basic terms, is to think about it as a worldwide telephone network.
There’s a huge network of wiring that connects all the telephones in the world, in one way or another. That network is broken up into many parts, and owned by many different companies. If you live in Orlando, you make your phone calls through the telephone wires installed and maintained by Sprint, for example. If you live somewhere else, AT&T might maintain your phone line. If you live on the Island of Wheredaheckawee, your island might have many phone lines, but they are all connected to the outside world through a single underwater phone cable from the Mainland. However it interconnects, it’s all part of the same giant network.
All that wiring throughout the world has one simple purpose. It connects to your phone, so you can make phone calls. At your home, you probably have a single phone line. Without getting into the pricey add-ons like call waiting, etc., the purpose of your phone line is simple. You can make or take one phone call at a time. You can call one person, or one person can call you.
A big company headquarters, like Kodak, for example, might have thousands of phone lines connected to a big switchboard, so that their company can make or take thousands of calls at the same time. Kodak also has those fancy phones that can connect to several lines at once, or call many people on different phone lines, and connect to them all at the same time. A conference call, for example.
Pretty simple, right?
Now, let’s relate that to the Internet. The Internet is just another big “phone network”, only instead of being connected to phones, the lines are connected to computers.
Those computers fall into two basic categories: Workstations, and Servers.
The computer in your home is a Workstation. When you’re connected to the Internet, you use your Workstation to make “phone calls” to other computers. Instead of paying telephone service charges to the phone company for a phone call, you pay “Internet Access fees” to your Internet provider (such as AOL, Earthlink, etc.), to connect your Workstation to other computers.
There are places out there with computers that are like the big fancy switchboard that Kodak uses. They reside in buildings with thousands of “phone lines” connected to them. These computers can connect with many other computers at the same time, and handle the computer equivalent of “conference calls.” They are called Servers.
Servers can connect to many Workstations at once. Thousands of people who connect to AOL, for example, can be connected to the same Server at the same time. When that Server reaches it’s “maximum load” (like a switchboard that can only connect a certain number of calls at once), another Server will take the overflow, and so on.
Every Server on the Internet is connected to all the other Servers as well.
Basically, the Internet is one big gigantic computer conference call, with people joining in and dropping out all the time. The Workstations (your computer) are the participants, and the Servers are the Company management team, moderating the discussion.
Ok, so what about all that information that you can look up on the Internet all the time? You can go to a Search Engine and find the current price of wheat in Russia, or get a list of suggested names for your new puppy. Where does it all come from?
Web Sites: Everything you ever wanted to know, and many things you never wanted to know can be found on the millions of Web Sites around the world. Where do the Web Sites actually reside? Where do those actual bits of information live?
On Servers: When you create a Web Site, you are actually renting a small amount of hard drive space on a Server somewhere. Whether you use that hard drive space for a Web Site that lists all of your Aunt Matilda’s favorite recipes, or you use it to set up an Internet Store, it’s all the same thing. Just a sliver of rented space on some Server computer’s hard drives. The money you pay for that space is paid to whatever company owns that particular Server, and has connected it to the giant conference call that is the Internet.
Now, how do the Search Engines find your Web Site, which could be sitting on a flashing and beeping Server rack the size of a phone booth, anywhere in the world?
Let’s go back to the conference call. Remember when I said that all the Servers on the Internet are connected to all the other Servers? Remember that each Web Site sits on the hard drive of some Server, somewhere? Well, the Search Engines are the same way. A Search Engine is just a computer program sitting on some Server, somewhere.
A Search Engine program is constantly talking with all the Servers on the Internet, asking those other Servers what kinds of goodies they have stashed in the Web Sites that have been created on their hard drives. The Search Engine gathers all that information and keeps a record of it.
When you go to the Yahoo Search Engine, for example, and type in a search for “Ankle Bracelets”, the Yahoo Search Engine program looks in its records. It finds all the references it discovered concerning Ankle Bracelets on all the Servers around the world, and returns a list of those records to you. These are called "Links". When you click on one of them, your Workstation connects to the Server that contains that information. The information opens on your computer screen in the form of a Web Page.
Please remember that this is a simplified version of what goes on out there; I'm not soliciting picky corrections from my fellow computer geeks. :o)
Hopefully, though, this will provide a basic understanding of what the Internet really is: one giant never-ending computer conference call!
I know that most people who’ve never been to New York think that it’s one big city. Trust me…there’s a lot more woods than there is city. There are millions of acres of wilderness in New York State.
We used to spend 10 days every summer camping off a series of old logging trails in the Adirondack Mountains. If you wander off the beaten path, you had better have a compass, a canteen and some food. Every couple of years, someone wanders into those deep woods and never comes back.
Sounds kind of like the Internet, doesn’t it? It’s a thing so vast and complicated that it’s hard to wrap your mind around it. The easiest thing to do is just give it a cool-sounding name, and hope you never have to try to explain it to anyone!
Well, I’m one of those systems-engineer guys who actually understands much of what goes on there. I wouldn’t recommend systems engineering to the squeamish. The courses you have to take can give you the strangest nightmares! It’s a lonely profession, too. I can’t talk to my friends about what I do…it just makes their eyes glaze over.
Anyway, I’m going to talk about some of the basics of how the Internet works. I’m not going to prattle to you about Class-C IP Addressing, Virtual Webs, or redirecting an MX record on a DNS Server. That's one of those things that us systems guys do to impress other people at staff meetings. I’d just be listening to myself talk, and you wouldn’t gain anything useful.
The best way I can think of to visualize the Internet in basic terms, is to think about it as a worldwide telephone network.
There’s a huge network of wiring that connects all the telephones in the world, in one way or another. That network is broken up into many parts, and owned by many different companies. If you live in Orlando, you make your phone calls through the telephone wires installed and maintained by Sprint, for example. If you live somewhere else, AT&T might maintain your phone line. If you live on the Island of Wheredaheckawee, your island might have many phone lines, but they are all connected to the outside world through a single underwater phone cable from the Mainland. However it interconnects, it’s all part of the same giant network.
All that wiring throughout the world has one simple purpose. It connects to your phone, so you can make phone calls. At your home, you probably have a single phone line. Without getting into the pricey add-ons like call waiting, etc., the purpose of your phone line is simple. You can make or take one phone call at a time. You can call one person, or one person can call you.
A big company headquarters, like Kodak, for example, might have thousands of phone lines connected to a big switchboard, so that their company can make or take thousands of calls at the same time. Kodak also has those fancy phones that can connect to several lines at once, or call many people on different phone lines, and connect to them all at the same time. A conference call, for example.
Pretty simple, right?
Now, let’s relate that to the Internet. The Internet is just another big “phone network”, only instead of being connected to phones, the lines are connected to computers.
Those computers fall into two basic categories: Workstations, and Servers.
The computer in your home is a Workstation. When you’re connected to the Internet, you use your Workstation to make “phone calls” to other computers. Instead of paying telephone service charges to the phone company for a phone call, you pay “Internet Access fees” to your Internet provider (such as AOL, Earthlink, etc.), to connect your Workstation to other computers.
There are places out there with computers that are like the big fancy switchboard that Kodak uses. They reside in buildings with thousands of “phone lines” connected to them. These computers can connect with many other computers at the same time, and handle the computer equivalent of “conference calls.” They are called Servers.
Servers can connect to many Workstations at once. Thousands of people who connect to AOL, for example, can be connected to the same Server at the same time. When that Server reaches it’s “maximum load” (like a switchboard that can only connect a certain number of calls at once), another Server will take the overflow, and so on.
Every Server on the Internet is connected to all the other Servers as well.
Basically, the Internet is one big gigantic computer conference call, with people joining in and dropping out all the time. The Workstations (your computer) are the participants, and the Servers are the Company management team, moderating the discussion.
Ok, so what about all that information that you can look up on the Internet all the time? You can go to a Search Engine and find the current price of wheat in Russia, or get a list of suggested names for your new puppy. Where does it all come from?
Web Sites: Everything you ever wanted to know, and many things you never wanted to know can be found on the millions of Web Sites around the world. Where do the Web Sites actually reside? Where do those actual bits of information live?
On Servers: When you create a Web Site, you are actually renting a small amount of hard drive space on a Server somewhere. Whether you use that hard drive space for a Web Site that lists all of your Aunt Matilda’s favorite recipes, or you use it to set up an Internet Store, it’s all the same thing. Just a sliver of rented space on some Server computer’s hard drives. The money you pay for that space is paid to whatever company owns that particular Server, and has connected it to the giant conference call that is the Internet.
Now, how do the Search Engines find your Web Site, which could be sitting on a flashing and beeping Server rack the size of a phone booth, anywhere in the world?
Let’s go back to the conference call. Remember when I said that all the Servers on the Internet are connected to all the other Servers? Remember that each Web Site sits on the hard drive of some Server, somewhere? Well, the Search Engines are the same way. A Search Engine is just a computer program sitting on some Server, somewhere.
A Search Engine program is constantly talking with all the Servers on the Internet, asking those other Servers what kinds of goodies they have stashed in the Web Sites that have been created on their hard drives. The Search Engine gathers all that information and keeps a record of it.
When you go to the Yahoo Search Engine, for example, and type in a search for “Ankle Bracelets”, the Yahoo Search Engine program looks in its records. It finds all the references it discovered concerning Ankle Bracelets on all the Servers around the world, and returns a list of those records to you. These are called "Links". When you click on one of them, your Workstation connects to the Server that contains that information. The information opens on your computer screen in the form of a Web Page.
Please remember that this is a simplified version of what goes on out there; I'm not soliciting picky corrections from my fellow computer geeks. :o)
Hopefully, though, this will provide a basic understanding of what the Internet really is: one giant never-ending computer conference call!
Selling on the Internet
More and more people are catching the fever. Dreams of a mansion in the hills, early retirement, or just being able to supplement the regular income…everyone wants to sell on the Internet. There are pundits out there who claim that the ECommerce wave is over. That "dot-coms" are crashing.
What they don't mention is that it's the over-capitalized, top-heavy dot-coms that are dropping out. The ones that raised millions of dollars, rented fancy office suites and paid WAY too much money for overdone web sites, trainloads of products, and national TV advertising.
This is a good thing for you and me. It paves the way for small, home-based Internet businesses to carve out our own chunk of the multi-billion dollar ECommerce pie. Ecommerce is riding a wave that won’t break, no matter what the talking heads say. If anything, it's going to get bigger. There IS money to be made, and plenty to go around.
How, though, can you even start your own internet business when you may not even know how to get past the “Start” button on your computer? Even if you are an experienced computer user, most people don’t know what a Merchant Account is, or how to write HTML to build a storefront. Where’s the starting point? Where can you go and stand on a big black “X” on the ground and say, “This is the FIRST thing I need to do in order to start my online business”?
Be careful! There are a lot of companies out there who tell you they will help you set up your new online business. While some of them are legitimate, there are LOTS of scam artists as well, who are HOPING that you don’t know where to start. They will prey on you. They’ll tell you that you don’t have to know ANYTHING. They’ll say that all you have to do is send them a few hundred dollars (or even as little as thirty or forty dollars) and all will be magically revealed. Your new store will appear like a rabbit out of a hat, and they will handle everything, from the storefront to the bank accounts to the products you will sell.
THIS IS IMPORTANT: Any "Complete Internet Store Solution" offers you both a web site AND products to sell, should be AVOIDED AT ALL COSTS!
Nearly all of the "Internet Store Solutions" that offer you a web site and products to sell are trying to sell you a "rubber-stamp" Internet Site.
It's like getting a thank-you letter from the President for supporting his political party during his election. We both know that the Big Guy isn't going to sit down and type individual letters to hundreds of thousands of people. Some functionary throws a big list of names into a computer, and the computer prints out the same letter over and over again, each with a different name:
"Dear Mr. Joe Smith, I would like to personally thank you for your support during my recent Election campaign..."
"Dear Mrs. Alice Jones, I would like to personally thank you for your support during my recent Election campaign..."
"Dear Occupant, I would like to personally thank you for your support during my recent Election campaign..."
You get the idea, right?
THAT's what a "rubber-stamp" Internet Store Solution gives you. You'll end up with an Internet Store that looks EXACTLY the same as everyone else's who bought one. Same exact pages, looks, graphics, and all the same products. Only the NAMES on the stores are different.
Your so-called "Internet Store" will sit there and twiddle it's thumbs, alongside thousands of other IDENTICAL internet sites, also busily twiddling THEIR thumbs. No one will ever even find them on the Internet, much less BUY anything from them. You'll end up a permanent resident of an Internet Ghost Town, and you'll pay for the "privilege".
(Philosophical question...if thousands of Internet Sites twiddle their thumbs, and no customers are there to see it, do they actually twiddle at all?) :o)
Why do they do it? Why do these scam artists go to all the trouble of setting this whole thing up? Because:
They make it look as easy as possible to you, hoping you’ll send them your money. Then all they have to do is click a few buttons and hook you up with a useless Internet Store that SEEMS to work. While you’re trying to figure out (a) why your "store" doesn’t make any money, and (b) why you suddenly can’t get ahold of the magician who sold you your “store” and disappeared, said magician will be whistling a happy tune all the way to the bank. With YOUR money.
Don’t let it happen! Here’s my number one rule concerning the Internet: If it seems to good to be true, it IS too good to be true!
Actually, that’s not even my rule. You know you’ve heard it before. It’s simple common sense. It’s probably been around since the first caveman stumbled over a sleeping bear, and thought he had dinner all locked up!
If it seems too good to be true, it IS too good to be true. How quickly that simple common sense statement flies out the window when someone promises you money!
Be smart. You may only have one chance to take your future in your own hands. Don’t hand that one chance over to one of the thousands of scam artists who will lie to your face and leave you with nothing without the slightest twinge of conscience. Their sites look professional, they sound like they know what they're talking about, and they can't wait to get their hands on your money and run.
I’ve literally seen hundreds of people taken by these scams. I’ve only seen and talked to these people because after they get scammed, they keep at it and try again. They eventually end up at our web site, looking over this free information. I hate to think about the tens of thousands of people who have been scammed once, and have given up for good.
As I said, there are good Internet Store solutions out there, but there are not many of them. You need to be sure you work with a reputable company when setting up your Internet Store.
So, with that said, where do you start this whole process of selling on the Internet, and doing it the RIGHT way?
Probably the best place is a quick review of how retail sales works.
1.) A factory produces a product. Factories don't want to get involved in SELLING products to individual Retail Stores. They're too busy MAKING the products. So, they sell huge amounts of the product to a wholesale distributor, all at once.
2.) The wholesale distributor adds a bit to the price of each product, and generally sells them in bulk to a retail store.
3.) The retail store breaks open the cartons, adds to the price of each individual product (their “markup”) and sells the products to its customers.
Sounds pretty simple, doesn’t it? Well, it IS simple, when you’re the customer. All you have to do is walk into your local Dogs A’ Scratchin store, pick up a can of flea powder for your dog Baldy, pay at the register, and you’re on your way.
However, when YOU become the retailer, there are other things to think about. When you OWN the Dogs A’ Scratchin store, you have to pay rent for the building. You have to decide which products you’re going to fill your valuable shelf space with. You have to decide which newspapers, TV and radio stations you’re going to advertise with this month, to bring in new customers. You’ve got to order your products. Pay your distributors. You’ve got to replace damaged inventory, because Mrs. Nelson’s wiener-dog went charging down aisle four wearing that lampshade-thingy around his neck, and crashed into your brand new display of Kitty Perfume.
Selling on the Internet is no different. An Internet Store is a living, breathing business, and there are things to learn and things to consider when you build and run it. You need to create and run your business yourself. If you let some chucklehead tell you that all you have to do is mail in three cereal box tops and fifty dollars, and they’ll do it all for you, you might as well save the cereal. You’ll need to eat SOMETHING when you lose your money.
What they don't mention is that it's the over-capitalized, top-heavy dot-coms that are dropping out. The ones that raised millions of dollars, rented fancy office suites and paid WAY too much money for overdone web sites, trainloads of products, and national TV advertising.
This is a good thing for you and me. It paves the way for small, home-based Internet businesses to carve out our own chunk of the multi-billion dollar ECommerce pie. Ecommerce is riding a wave that won’t break, no matter what the talking heads say. If anything, it's going to get bigger. There IS money to be made, and plenty to go around.
How, though, can you even start your own internet business when you may not even know how to get past the “Start” button on your computer? Even if you are an experienced computer user, most people don’t know what a Merchant Account is, or how to write HTML to build a storefront. Where’s the starting point? Where can you go and stand on a big black “X” on the ground and say, “This is the FIRST thing I need to do in order to start my online business”?
Be careful! There are a lot of companies out there who tell you they will help you set up your new online business. While some of them are legitimate, there are LOTS of scam artists as well, who are HOPING that you don’t know where to start. They will prey on you. They’ll tell you that you don’t have to know ANYTHING. They’ll say that all you have to do is send them a few hundred dollars (or even as little as thirty or forty dollars) and all will be magically revealed. Your new store will appear like a rabbit out of a hat, and they will handle everything, from the storefront to the bank accounts to the products you will sell.
THIS IS IMPORTANT: Any "Complete Internet Store Solution" offers you both a web site AND products to sell, should be AVOIDED AT ALL COSTS!
Nearly all of the "Internet Store Solutions" that offer you a web site and products to sell are trying to sell you a "rubber-stamp" Internet Site.
It's like getting a thank-you letter from the President for supporting his political party during his election. We both know that the Big Guy isn't going to sit down and type individual letters to hundreds of thousands of people. Some functionary throws a big list of names into a computer, and the computer prints out the same letter over and over again, each with a different name:
"Dear Mr. Joe Smith, I would like to personally thank you for your support during my recent Election campaign..."
"Dear Mrs. Alice Jones, I would like to personally thank you for your support during my recent Election campaign..."
"Dear Occupant, I would like to personally thank you for your support during my recent Election campaign..."
You get the idea, right?
THAT's what a "rubber-stamp" Internet Store Solution gives you. You'll end up with an Internet Store that looks EXACTLY the same as everyone else's who bought one. Same exact pages, looks, graphics, and all the same products. Only the NAMES on the stores are different.
Your so-called "Internet Store" will sit there and twiddle it's thumbs, alongside thousands of other IDENTICAL internet sites, also busily twiddling THEIR thumbs. No one will ever even find them on the Internet, much less BUY anything from them. You'll end up a permanent resident of an Internet Ghost Town, and you'll pay for the "privilege".
(Philosophical question...if thousands of Internet Sites twiddle their thumbs, and no customers are there to see it, do they actually twiddle at all?) :o)
Why do they do it? Why do these scam artists go to all the trouble of setting this whole thing up? Because:
- It looks GOOD to you. Everything in one place, for one fee. Internet Store, ready-made Products, Marketing Tips and Information, Promises to bring thousands of customers to your store. All in one place for one "setup fee", and "reasonable" monthly payments. You hardly have to do ANYTHING!
- It's EASY for them. All they have to do is create ONE web site, and duplicate it thousands of times, one per customer. Then they simply take your money, plug in your name, and they're done!
They make it look as easy as possible to you, hoping you’ll send them your money. Then all they have to do is click a few buttons and hook you up with a useless Internet Store that SEEMS to work. While you’re trying to figure out (a) why your "store" doesn’t make any money, and (b) why you suddenly can’t get ahold of the magician who sold you your “store” and disappeared, said magician will be whistling a happy tune all the way to the bank. With YOUR money.
Don’t let it happen! Here’s my number one rule concerning the Internet: If it seems to good to be true, it IS too good to be true!
Actually, that’s not even my rule. You know you’ve heard it before. It’s simple common sense. It’s probably been around since the first caveman stumbled over a sleeping bear, and thought he had dinner all locked up!
If it seems too good to be true, it IS too good to be true. How quickly that simple common sense statement flies out the window when someone promises you money!
Be smart. You may only have one chance to take your future in your own hands. Don’t hand that one chance over to one of the thousands of scam artists who will lie to your face and leave you with nothing without the slightest twinge of conscience. Their sites look professional, they sound like they know what they're talking about, and they can't wait to get their hands on your money and run.
I’ve literally seen hundreds of people taken by these scams. I’ve only seen and talked to these people because after they get scammed, they keep at it and try again. They eventually end up at our web site, looking over this free information. I hate to think about the tens of thousands of people who have been scammed once, and have given up for good.
As I said, there are good Internet Store solutions out there, but there are not many of them. You need to be sure you work with a reputable company when setting up your Internet Store.
So, with that said, where do you start this whole process of selling on the Internet, and doing it the RIGHT way?
Probably the best place is a quick review of how retail sales works.
1.) A factory produces a product. Factories don't want to get involved in SELLING products to individual Retail Stores. They're too busy MAKING the products. So, they sell huge amounts of the product to a wholesale distributor, all at once.
2.) The wholesale distributor adds a bit to the price of each product, and generally sells them in bulk to a retail store.
3.) The retail store breaks open the cartons, adds to the price of each individual product (their “markup”) and sells the products to its customers.
Sounds pretty simple, doesn’t it? Well, it IS simple, when you’re the customer. All you have to do is walk into your local Dogs A’ Scratchin store, pick up a can of flea powder for your dog Baldy, pay at the register, and you’re on your way.
However, when YOU become the retailer, there are other things to think about. When you OWN the Dogs A’ Scratchin store, you have to pay rent for the building. You have to decide which products you’re going to fill your valuable shelf space with. You have to decide which newspapers, TV and radio stations you’re going to advertise with this month, to bring in new customers. You’ve got to order your products. Pay your distributors. You’ve got to replace damaged inventory, because Mrs. Nelson’s wiener-dog went charging down aisle four wearing that lampshade-thingy around his neck, and crashed into your brand new display of Kitty Perfume.
Selling on the Internet is no different. An Internet Store is a living, breathing business, and there are things to learn and things to consider when you build and run it. You need to create and run your business yourself. If you let some chucklehead tell you that all you have to do is mail in three cereal box tops and fifty dollars, and they’ll do it all for you, you might as well save the cereal. You’ll need to eat SOMETHING when you lose your money.
Dealing with Problem Customers
It's going to happen. If you're in business, selling on the Internet or anywhere else, there are going to be problem customers.
As I write this, I have just finished dealing with a backorder situation, and steam is still rising from my ears. By now, I should be used to it. I shouldn't let the little things get to me. It's not the distributor that I'm upset with. It's the customer. Let's start from the beginning.
Recently, I handled an order for a Conair Digital Blood Pressure Monitor. As usual, I emailed the order off to the Conair distributor with several others.
Later that day, I received a phone call from the Conair distributor. The BP monitor was out of stock, but was expected within 10 days. Did I want to place the product on backorder, or cancel the order altogether? Also as usual, I told the distributor I would get back in touch with them after checking with the customer.
Since the customer was located in Orlando, it was a local call. I called his house. I identified myself, told him that I had received his order, and that I was very sorry, but the product had just run out of stock, and was expected to be available again in 10 days. I told him I had not yet charged his credit card, and would cancel the order if he preferred to go somewhere else.
You would have thought I had just told him that I was planning to strangle his cat. He got upset, and I could just hear his face turning purple. Small wonder the man needed a blood pressure monitor. I'll spare you the details. It came down to this: he thought that I should give him free shipping for his inconvenience. I stuck to my guns, and politely told him that I was not willing to do that. He had placed the order only hours before, and I had not yet charged him. He finally agreed to wait for the product, but said he would be watching the calendar.
I knew I had a "problem customer" on my hands. (Imagine the "Twilight Zone" theme music playing at this point).
A week later, when I got another call from the Conair distributor saying that the factory shipment had been delayed further, I braced for impact, and contacted the customer. I'll spare you the details of that exchange as well. There may be small children present. I managed to keep calm, although I was boiling at this point. Again I offered to cancel the order, and refund his credit card (which I had charged, since he had okayed the delay). He refused, saying that he had waited this long; he might as well wait it out.
The BP Monitor showed up at the distributor after the expected delay. They were considerate enough to ship it to the customer by FedEx 2 Day Air at no extra charge. (My Conair distributor is great!). It would arrive at the customer's house shortly. I was quite happy. Then I checked my email. Another blistering tirade from our over-pressured friend. I wrote back, calmly and politely, and told him he could expect his order very soon, and I was sorry that he was unsatisfied. I haven't heard back from him, and probably won't.
Now, this may sound like I'm making it up for effect, but I swear it's true: I handled another order for the exact same product on the same day, and the woman who placed the order experienced the same delay. A couple of hours after receiving the nasty-gram from my friend above, I got an email from this woman. She thanked me for my persistence in following up her backorder, and told me she would definitely be back to shop with the site again. That's what makes it worth being in business in the first place! One happy email can really make your day. :o)
Here are the things that I've learned about order problems during my time in this business:
I always check my return emails to these people twice. There are times when I've let some temper slip in to my writing, and I'm sure to remove it before clicking the send button. It only ends up helping you in the long run!
As I write this, I have just finished dealing with a backorder situation, and steam is still rising from my ears. By now, I should be used to it. I shouldn't let the little things get to me. It's not the distributor that I'm upset with. It's the customer. Let's start from the beginning.
Recently, I handled an order for a Conair Digital Blood Pressure Monitor. As usual, I emailed the order off to the Conair distributor with several others.
Later that day, I received a phone call from the Conair distributor. The BP monitor was out of stock, but was expected within 10 days. Did I want to place the product on backorder, or cancel the order altogether? Also as usual, I told the distributor I would get back in touch with them after checking with the customer.
Since the customer was located in Orlando, it was a local call. I called his house. I identified myself, told him that I had received his order, and that I was very sorry, but the product had just run out of stock, and was expected to be available again in 10 days. I told him I had not yet charged his credit card, and would cancel the order if he preferred to go somewhere else.
You would have thought I had just told him that I was planning to strangle his cat. He got upset, and I could just hear his face turning purple. Small wonder the man needed a blood pressure monitor. I'll spare you the details. It came down to this: he thought that I should give him free shipping for his inconvenience. I stuck to my guns, and politely told him that I was not willing to do that. He had placed the order only hours before, and I had not yet charged him. He finally agreed to wait for the product, but said he would be watching the calendar.
I knew I had a "problem customer" on my hands. (Imagine the "Twilight Zone" theme music playing at this point).
A week later, when I got another call from the Conair distributor saying that the factory shipment had been delayed further, I braced for impact, and contacted the customer. I'll spare you the details of that exchange as well. There may be small children present. I managed to keep calm, although I was boiling at this point. Again I offered to cancel the order, and refund his credit card (which I had charged, since he had okayed the delay). He refused, saying that he had waited this long; he might as well wait it out.
The BP Monitor showed up at the distributor after the expected delay. They were considerate enough to ship it to the customer by FedEx 2 Day Air at no extra charge. (My Conair distributor is great!). It would arrive at the customer's house shortly. I was quite happy. Then I checked my email. Another blistering tirade from our over-pressured friend. I wrote back, calmly and politely, and told him he could expect his order very soon, and I was sorry that he was unsatisfied. I haven't heard back from him, and probably won't.
Now, this may sound like I'm making it up for effect, but I swear it's true: I handled another order for the exact same product on the same day, and the woman who placed the order experienced the same delay. A couple of hours after receiving the nasty-gram from my friend above, I got an email from this woman. She thanked me for my persistence in following up her backorder, and told me she would definitely be back to shop with the site again. That's what makes it worth being in business in the first place! One happy email can really make your day. :o)
Here are the things that I've learned about order problems during my time in this business:
- Internet customers are for the most part "instant gratification" junkies. They want it NOW.
- Because of this, backorder, discontinued item and other product problem situations must be handled immediately. Don't wait even a day. Call the customer, or email them. (A call is usually appreciated more than an email, but you have to watch your phone bill).
- If you think a product might be questionable as far as stock status, check with the distributor before charging the customer's card. You get a feel for which items are stocked less than others after a while. You can always refund the charge, but it's better if you can tell them you have not charged them yet.
- Always offer to cancel. Chances are they won't, because then they have to go search for the product again and hope they don't run into the same problem somewhere else, but the offer to cancel must be there. It tells them that you are not desperate for the sale, and gives you the advantage in the conversation.
- Be nice. Even if you are grinding your teeth. You can't afford to lose your grip. You never know when one episode of lost temper will come back to bite you.
- Follow up during the problem period. Send at least one email saying that you are monitoring the situation, and are sorry for the delay. That is a great tactic for defusing an impatient person; at least they know you are thinking about them.
- If there is an additional delay, offer to cancel again. They may actually take you up on it if it's a long delay, but you don't lose anything if the distributor has not yet shipped.
- When you receive word that the product has shipped, inform the customer. They appreciate that, and again, realize that you are at least thinking about them.
I always check my return emails to these people twice. There are times when I've let some temper slip in to my writing, and I'm sure to remove it before clicking the send button. It only ends up helping you in the long run!
