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iMakeMore.com can help you make more of anything you want with the help of monthly spot authors. This month's focus is how to make long-term satisfied customers. Customer Service; The Missing Magic - by Scott Jason I was in my late 20's when the "dot-com boom" happened. And barely 30 when it went bust. Even at 28 years old I knew what was going to happen. It was inevitable, after all. All the hype and fluff without substance. Not many people realize it but for every dot-com millionaire there were at least fifteen people that lost their shirts. And here's why... The Internet gave anyone and everyone with $8.- and an idea, a place to open up shop. Anyone could do anything and the sky was the limit. This is because there was no face-to-face interaction. No niceties or legitimate personal interaction. You might get medical advice from a 14year-old kid who found a "cool domain name" and a copy of FrontPage. But I digress. The real missing ingredient to online business in the early days was customer service. There were millions of shoppers and everyone minding the store was focused on the cash register. Nobody wanted to be the complaint department, especially when it was so easy to simply never get the complaints in the first place. Without available links to customer support channels, patrons with something to say started using one of two generic "guaranteed" email addresses; "webmaster@" and "sales@." Then about a year later "support@" became popular, but by then it was too late for all those who neglected their clients and "support" email was just not enough support to satisfy customers. I tell you this for a reason. An unhappy customer is likely to tell 8 to 10 people about their lousy experience with you while only 1 in every 5 satisfied customers bothers to sing your praises. Oddly enough, over 60% of the (now) satisfied customers generally became satisfied because they had a problem that was promptly and courteously addressed. In short, my best advice is to introduce a support center that makes your customers feel good about doing business with you. This is the REAL secret of success used by Internet business gurus. And it does not have to cost a lot or take up more than a few minutes of your time. In fact you can implement a full help desk solution in a matter of hours for under one-hundred dollars using a product like Help Desk Creator Software. Regardless of how you decide to offer enhanced support (not just a support email address), do it quickly and put your business head and shoulders above your competition. Thanks and good luck, Scott
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