Welcome to the third edition of the GuardHQ newsletter!

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We’ve been discussing customer support, and I just had an interesting experience just today which I’d like to share.

Also, at the end of this email is a discount for my latest product, Corporate Site Pack for you, simply for being part of this newsletter!

 

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 When customers break their silence
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I have two stories for you today, luckily (for me) they both have happy endings.
The first story happened today. I’m running a special offer in the Warrior forum for my latest product, Corporate Site Pack.

People were asking questions, as they do, and I was answering them, as I do. Then a post was made by a DLGuard customer of mine where about four or five months ago I gave him a good deal on upgrading his software since he bought it and hadn’t touched it for months. He wasn’t in the “free upgrade” window, but I gave him the upgrade anyway.

It was a $27 upgrade. And was the best $27 I ever let go.

The customer just posted in the forum telling everyone about what happened and highly recommending me, and this all stemmed from something I had completely forgotten
about months before.

Next story (I’ll tie these together shortly!):

A prospect emailed me in regard to DLGuard probably about a year or so ago. You’ve probably seen these kinds of emails before: a huge list of questions that go on for
pages and pages, most of them already answered on the website.

I put the email aside and answered everyone else’s emails first, and then took some time to answer all his questions. It took awhile, but I finally send it off.

I then received an email with a bunch more questions, which again was put aside for a few hours until I had some times free to work through them.

I believe he ended up buying DLGuard. But the real surprise?

I was happily searching through Google, doing a bit of keyword research, when I stumbled onto a site where a guy had reviewed DLGuard. *Que dramatic music here* It was the same guy. He’d talked about the customer service experience he had gotten, and published it publicly on his website.

What could have easily been a PR disaster had become an excellent promotion of my business.

Imagine if I had gotten angry with him?

 

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 When customers attack
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So you’ve just read two stories where I went above and beyond the call of duty, and it worked out well.

I’ve also got a bunch of other stories that didn’t end so well.

Just quickly: I was packing to go on holidays with my wife for a week or so, and I had two hours before we had to leave. I got an email from a customer who had just bought DLGuard, and had proceeded to abuse the stuffing out of me for putting DLGuard into a ZIP file.

I explained to him that using a ZIP file was better than sending all few hundred DLGuard files to him separately. He begrudgingly agreed.

Next he abused me because the software required you to unzip the file and then upload them to your website, and that I had said on the DLGuard site that it was an
easy install.

He was shocked and appalled that he’d have to actually upload the web script onto his website.

I had about 1.5 hours left before it was time to leave.

I told him that it was okay, I’d be happy to install DLGuard for him.

He abused me for asking for temporary FTP details (for a blank site, I should add - there was nothing on it).

So I directed him to detailed instructions.

He abused me because they were too hard to read.

I emailed him Step 1 copied directly from the instructions, which he then completed.

I then emailed him Step 2, and so the cycle went on.

With the vocabulary of Eddie Murphy, he continued to abuse me for making his life so difficult.

I ended up having to leave for holidays, but as soon as I arrived there I went to the local library and checked my emails to help him out further.

More abuse waiting, including an email that said he was going to report me and Clickbank to the FCC for falsely advertising “easy installation” on my website.

So I sent him a refund, and told him to say Hi to the FCC for me.

Obviously I never heard from him again.

 

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 Striking the balance
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Three stories: two about how well things worked out when offering high levels of customer support, and a nightmarish one.

So how do you know which will be which? And is it even possible to decide whether or not you’re wasting your time?

Yes it is, though it isn’t terribly accurate, and therefore it’s best to err on the side of caution anyway. You can usually tell from the tone of people’s emails whether or not they’re using you, or whether they genuinely need help.

If you are abused (and it WILL happen), then your best bet is to right a polite email back. If you are abused again then you have every right to ask them to please show some respect. You’re a human being, and you have ever right to be treated with respect. You’re not your customers punching bag.

Having said that, sometimes your customers just need to let fly with a little frustration. If you can handle them with respect and understanding then these customers can turn into your biggest advocates.

I believe you should always offer better customer service than is reasonably expected. It’s a larger business expense to do so, but it will help build a strong relationship with your customers that will continue long into the future.

Remember, $27 for me was nothing compared to the lifetime of high recommendations one of my customers has given me.

Frustrated customers should also be handled with respect and understanding. This is the internet, these are computers, and this combination can be a terribly frustrating experience, even if the problem has nothing to do with you.

Lastly - if you’re fighting a losing battle, know when to cut your losses. Some people simply can’t be pleased, or sometimes your product just won’t fit in with exactly what they want. Offer them a refund and a smile, and move on.

Thank you all for your ongoing support, and have an excellent and profitable week!

Best wishes,

Sam Stephens
www.DLGuard.com
www.GuardHQ.com

PS. For ANZAC Day, 25th April, I’d like to send out a big thank you to all our troops that have kept Australia safe, brave soldiers that have given their lives for our freedom.
Lest We Forget.

 

You can discuss this newsletter in the GuardHQ forum:
http://www.guardhq.com/forum/

This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 5th, 2007 at 6:19 pm and is filed under GHQ Newsletter. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.