Me: 

If the weather holds up this weekend would you like to go to the little beach?

Him:

Sure. I’ll go ahead and charge up my laptop, the netbook, the camcorder, the digital camera, my iPhone, my iPod, your BlackBerry and your MacBook. We’ll be good to go once those are fully charged.

What is a Nerd Anyway?

A nerd is someone with a high aptitude for intellectual endeavors, usually in areas that are useful and challenging, but has little to no social skills. (I might have to challenge the last part of that description). They are often good at math, sciences or programming.  (I am a web developer and virtual assistant, he is a software engineer and database administrator).

They often go on to high status jobs and become successful because their skill sets are so unique. They can work for NASA as rocket scientists, do groundbreaking work in academia developing astounding original mathematical proofs or have a career in finance creating really complicated and innovative financial instruments or become high-level engineers. Bill Gates is a nerd. Not only are they scary smart, they’re often always trying to push the envelope conceptually. They’re also capable of producing astoundingly original and technically astounding works of art and music.

But if he starts labeling me a geek, we will have war.

Geeks can range in intelligence to average to very bright, but they rarely hit the genius levels of nerds. On the bright side, they are usually nowhere near as socially inept as a nerd either. They are usually good at one or two things, but it’s rarely something useful. Their expertise is more likely to be along the lines of an encyclopedic knowledge of something like film, music, television, comic books, sports or history, but from the consumer’s side. A geek is more like a high level hobbyist than an expert genius. Since his area of expertise can often be of little real world use, it’s not uncommon to find geeks toiling away in obscurity or sometimes even mediocrity.

Are you a nerd?

BTW, he forgot to add my iPod to that list!

If,  as a consumer you consistently receive poor service there is just no reason at all not to find a business that will treat you better. There is no dearth of other stores, restaurants, (insert name here) who will be delighted to do business with you. And this goes for online retailers as well.

As a very busy small business owner, I almost never shop unless it is online. In fact, I bought my last two vehicles online and my motto for many years has been, “If UPS can’t bring it to my door in a box, then I don’t need it.” Works for me.  Beyond that, I actually do hate to shop. This is unnatural according to my female friends but there it is. I would rather be hit by a beer truck and smashed flat then step foot into a mall. 

Why am I telling you all this?

Because while consumer satisfaction with your product is of course very important, it is actually the treatment that they receive at your hands that will determine whether or not they return and just as importantly, whether or not they are willing to refer your business to other people. I think some online retail stores haven’t quite grasped this concept. 

I recently ordered three summer dresses online from a store that I had not previously done business with.  They are a nationally recognized brand and things should have gone well. They didn’t.  What arrived in the nice tidy box on my doorstep bore little resemblance to my order.  So…. and this is where it got fairly irritating.

When I explained to the “Customer Service” person that the order had only one item correct and that I needed to return the incorrect items for exchange but didn’t feel that I should pay for the privilege, there ensued what can only be termed as a mini tussle.  This girl was not about to allow that to happen no matter what my email order confirmation said.  I had to speak with her supervisor to get the issue resolved to my satisfaction. And that is the key word. Satisfaction. What I was requesting was in no way unreasonable.  I just wanted the products that I had ordered without having to pay additional shipping for a mistake that was not mine.

The shame is that I had to spend much more time on the phone than this warranted and get a supervisor to handle it.  Will I do business with them again? Highly unlikely. There are just too many other choices available.

What is the lesson? 

If your competitors are taking quality care of their customers/consumers/clients and you are not, you will lose every time. It may be a slow steady leak of customers, but eventually you do have to look up and wonder what in the heck happened to your customers. 

What do you think?

Client Spot Control project access to your employees or subcontractors as well as to your clients’ employees. Clients only see information about their own projects. Subcontractors can be restricted to certain projects and account actions. All information is secured with 128-bit SSL encryption.

I recently had the opportunity to interview Rebecca Quinn on my BlogTalkRadio show, “Your Partner in Success“. We had a great time and shared a lot of information and tips about getting your business and your life organized and she gave specific tips about systems and processes to help the home-based entrepreneur set up these systems.

Imagine my delight when this lovely note from Rebecca came in the mail!

Thank you Rebecca! I very much appreciate you taking the time out of your hectic schedule to share your passion and expertise about our industry with myself and our audience and it was lovely “meeting” you. We will definitely stay in touch.

Table of contents for Your Partner In Success Radio Show 2010

1. Your Partner In Success Welcomes David Lee
2. Your Partner In Success Welcomes Vickie Mullins
3. Your Partner In Success Radio Show Welcomes Michael Bloxton
4. Your Partner In Success Radio Show Welcomes Back Deborah Dubree
5. Your Partner In Success Welcomes Rebecca Quinn
6. Your Partner In Success Welcomes Back Judy Peebles
7. Your Partner In Success Welcomes Kara OH

Your Partner In Success Radio Show

She’s a Dating and Relationship Coach, Seminar Leader, Inspirational Speaker, radio and TV personality, mother of two fantastic grown children, and grandmother of a magical 14 year old grandson.

Kara has been interviewed on hundreds of radio and TV shows across the country in cities like New York, Atlanta, Las Vegas, Chicago, and Philadelphia, and given seminars in bookstores in every major (and a few not so major) city. She has been featured in magazines like Cosmopolitan and Women’s World. She is an enlightening and entertaining public speaker and has traveled to all the major US cities sharing her insights about what makes men tick and how to create amazing relationships.

Kara will share her processes for creating, publishing and selling her books via the internet.

• How Kara came to write her first book.
• What was the writing process?
• Book tours.
• How do you get media attention centered on your book?
• The importance of social media marketing to sell your books(s) on the internet
• Pointers on how to sell a LOT of books via the internet.

Kara is also launching a brand new internet televsion website and she will share the “grand opening” of the site with our audience.

Your Partner In Success Radio Show

When: Friday, March 12, 2010

Time: 9 am PST, 10 am MST, 11 am CST, 12 pm EST

Where: Your home office telephone or computer.

Website: Your Partner In Success Radio Show

Call-in Number: 347-843-4988

Please be sure to login to the chat room to ask questions during the interview.

We look forward to “seeing” you!

Great customer service lets your customers and clients know that you value them and you want them to be happy enough with your company and services to refer you to their circle of friends, family and customers. In short, great customer service is about reaching out and forming a relationship. How do you go about forming such a relationship? By remembering the one true secret of good customer service and acting accordingly; “You will be judged by what you do, not what you say.”

These are examples of some truly great customer service experiences that I had lately and wanted to share with you.

Grasshopper

Hi, this message is for Denise Griffitts,

This is Jonathan Kay, I am the Ambassador of Buzz here at Grasshopper.  I actually just left you a voicemail but wanted to follow up with an email as well.  I wanted to reach out to you as I really enjoyed your article “Does Your Small or Online Business Have a Toll Free Number”.  First off, it was important to me that I connected and thanked you.  Really appreciate you giving us the vote of confidence.  I feel like people really don’t take enough time to just say “thank you”, so that is what I wanted to do.

I was excited when I saw your article as I was not familiar with The Virtual Assistant Industry prior to it!  What else do you guys work on?  Anything at all I could be a resource for, or something I could help with?

Thanks again.

Jonathan

(I did call Jonathan back to thank him and we had a great free-ranging chat on business, customer service, blogging and the Virtual Assistance Industry. Thank you Jonathan!)

Dominoes Pizza

A week or so my husband and I were both down with a miserable (and lingering) case of the flu but knew we were going to survive it when hunger pangs in the form of a rabid desire for pizza hit us both.  Being an enthusiastic and ardent home cook, I don’t normally like to order pizza but our survival that day clearly depended on somebody besides me cooking food for us.

It was a cold and rainy day and we didn’t want to infect the poor delivery person with what ailed us, so left this envelope on the door with a tip. The lady ran back to her car in the rain, grabbed a pen and some masking tape and put this back on our door and then gave a quick ring on the doorbell to let us know that our order had arrived. I was impressed!

Now that is customer service and we definitely let the manager of her store know how much we appreciated that very kind gesture.

Tweet Pages

During my bout with the flu I ordered a custom Twitter background from Tweet Pages as I had seen their work, been impressed and wanted to give them a try. Once the order was complete, I apparently let it slide completely out of my consciousness. After about a week, and around the time of the Dominoes delivery, it occured that I had never received the background. After checking my junk folder I sent a note to Tweet Pages. This is what I got back along with a very nice phone call from Matt Clark. Excellent customer service!

I would really like to hear of superb customer service that you have received. Please share!

If you, or a client needs to build a quick affiliate program but don’t want to pay 1ShoppingCart $99 each month to have a few products available to affiliates, or don’t have sufficient sales to become part of traditional Affiliate Networks such as Commission Junction (CJ.com) Linkshare, Azoogle, etc., consider PayDot.com.

PayDot.com is free to join.

PayDotCom Vendor/Affiliate Accounts are free. You are allowed one free Vendor account to sell your product. If you, the Vendor, want to offer an unlimited number of products for sale you have the option of paying for a lifetime membership which will cost you the munificent sum of $29.

Sales are paid directly to your merchant account or Paypal account.

You can sell physical and digital products.

You can collect monthly subscriptions.

You get paid instantly. You are not required to way 30 days as with most affiliate networks.

There is no pre-approval, meaning that you don’t have to prove that you have a pre-specificed amount of sales each month to qualify.

You have access to your stats tracking.

You can provide promotional tools to your affiliates.

You will very likely need a Paypal account as most Vendors choose their as their payment method.

Your customers can pay you via your PayPal account. They can use their available PayPal funds or they can use their Checking Account, Visa, Mastercard, American Express, Discover, Eurocard, Bravo, Visa Debit, MasterCard Debit, or Novus that is on file with their PayPal account. So if you don’t already have a PayPal account, be sure to sign up now.

Once you have your affiliate program set up, please revisit this page and let us know where we can find your products!

Table of contents for Your Partner In Success Radio Show 2010

1. Your Partner In Success Welcomes David Lee
2. Your Partner In Success Welcomes Vickie Mullins
3. Your Partner In Success Radio Show Welcomes Michael Bloxton
4. Your Partner In Success Radio Show Welcomes Back Deborah Dubree
5. Your Partner In Success Welcomes Rebecca Quinn
6. Your Partner In Success Welcomes Back Judy Peebles
7. Your Partner In Success Welcomes Kara OH

Judy, The Journaling Jenius™ is a Business Skills Trainer, International Speaker and coach.  She has a passion for journal writing.  Judy says, “Expert journaling tools, when combined with strong business skills, will help you create the business or career you desire. For instance, journaling can be used for creative brainstorming, planning, stress relief, and conflict management.”

She is a dynamic and playful presenter. Her workshops, Journals and Journaling Jems™ cards teach tools & techniques that empower you to find your passion, life direction and personal path to success.

Judy Peebles partners with you, the business owner to:

• Identify strategies for focusing on and growing your business
• Establish branding and product development plans
• Implement processes and procedures
• Remove unconscious blocks that may stand in your way
• Get the results you want in your business and life.

We are going to talk to Judy about one of her favorite subjects – Branding!

What is your Brand?

How do you differentiate yourself?

Judy professes to taking a different approach when she teaches her Branding “U” workshops. 

Where do you start? 

What is a niche?  Why have a niche? 

What having a niche DOESN’T mean?  And what are most business owners afraid of. 

If you’re in network marketing do you still need a brand?  A niche? 

Why do you need to write an infomercial for your business? 

Your Partner In Success Radio Show

When: Friday, March 5, 2010

Time: 9 am PST, 10 am MST, 11 am CST, 12 pm EST

Where: Your home office telephone or computer.

Website: Your Partner In Success Radio Show

Call-in Number: 347-843-4988

Please be sure to login to the chat room to ask questions during the interview. And if we can get a brave caller on the line, Judy can do a live coaching demo to help someone define their brand / niche.

We look forward to “seeing” you!

We all use them either physically or in my case, on my various desktops. Truly, I would be lost without them!

Why you should download this FREE program.

To train with Denise Griffitts to become a highly technically savvy, highly paid, highly sought-after Virtual Assistant please visit Virtual Assistance University.

Table of contents for Weekly Recommended Resource

1. Weekly Recommended Resource

I get so many requests for tips and advice on the resources that my Virtual Assistance and Web Development companies use that it seems a great idea to publish a weekly resource.

These are online resources that will help you develop, gain knowledge, find new information and absorb new ideas.

Enjoy!

This Weeks Recommended Resource

WordPress Tip of the Day is a free video podcast from the “Internet Genius” Ben Cope that delivers high-quality video training for WordPress in 5 minutes or less every day in a format that is easy to follow, easy to understand, and always free!