When
I started my first business I was pretty naive. I thought
I could just let people know about me and honest, sincere,
intelligent people would use my services. Okay, you can stop
laughing now. There are a million little things that you will
learn as you progress with your business, but let me bring
you up to speed on a few important ones.
It's hard enough dealing with all the problems
that will crop up, but you also need to be careful of scams.
Many scam artists prey on business's, both large and small.
If you receive a bill in the mail, check to be sure you ordered,
and received, the product before sending out a check. If you
didn't order the product, don't pay for it. Also, if someone
calls about renewing something, like a yellow page ad, be
sure this is the company you think it is, and that it's really
time to renew. The scam artists may threaten you by saying
that they have a recording of Mr. X (one of your employees)
ordering the product and if you don't pay they will take you
to court. If this happens, keep a record of all the contacts
they make with you, and file a complaint with the Better Business
Bureau and contact your local police department. This happened to my girlfriend, Linda-Ann.
A company called and told her secretary that they were associated
with AT&T, which they weren't, and wanted to know if she
wanted to renew her Yellow Pages ad. The secretary knew that
Linda-Ann had an ad in the Yellow Pages, so she said yes.
However, when the bill arrived it was from a totally unknown
phone book. Linda-Ann called and told them to cancel it, and
the battle began. They said she had given them permission
and they even had a tape recording of her secretary agreeing
to it. Linda-Ann contacted the police and AT&T and found
out that this company had been doing the same thing to many
local companies, including the Chamber Of Commerce. She lodged
a complaint with the police, the Better Business Bureau and
even contacted the local newspaper, which did a story about
her experiences. She then wrote this company and told them
all that she had done. They eventually sent Linda-Ann an invoice
canceling what they said she owed. She never heard from the
company again. Scam artists may also offer you a discount
if you balk at paying for the product. They will also try
to get you to pay for return shipping and a restocking fee.
Just remember, if you're the victim of a scam, pay them nothing.
Also, be very careful about anything that
requires you to buy a starter kit. This is often the mark
of a scam.
Now
that you're running your own business, take full advantage
of the freedom this gives you. Create, or have created for
you, stationary, envelopes and business cards that reflect
your personality. Choose a paper that you like for these and
design products that have a "look" so that clients
will recognize your stationary at a glance. I use the same
font and gray paper for my letterhead, envelopes and business
cards (on cover stock). This shows my clients that I care
enough about my business to create a professional image, and
it helps me to stand out from the crowd. Invariably you well get some complaints,
but remember complaints are good. Yes, we try to make all
of our clients happy from the start, but if someone has a
complaint, listen. Don't become defensive. A complaint can
often point out a problem with your product or service that
you were unaware of. While I don't look forward to receiving
complaints, I scrutinize them carefully, learning what I can
and doing whatever's necessary to correct the problem. I also
do what I can to make the client happy. When I was a freelance
photographer there were a couple of times when I reshot an
assignment for free to satisfy a client. Another time, when
I was doing some computer work, I redesigned some graphs for
a client. The graphs were exactly what they asked for, but
when they saw them it wasn't what they had "envisioned."
Even if they will never use me again, I don't want a client
to be upset enough to tell everyone they know not to use me.
Give them a refund, let them keep the product at no charge,
send them a replacement, give them a free upgrade, whatever
it takes. Then even if they do complain about you to others,
they will often tell them what you did to correct the problem.
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Copyright 2003 Jeff Colburn
Jeff Colburn is a freelance writer who specializes
in business writing, articles and genre fiction and he can
be reached at JeffColburn@CreativeCauldron.com.
His books, "The Writer's Dictionary Of Science Fiction,
Fantasy, Horror and Mythology" and "The Youngest
Ninja," can be purchased from his site, The Creative
Cauldron at www.CreativeCauldron.com.
The Creative Cauldron is a site filled with information for
writers, photographers, artists and other creative people.
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