Hey Frank! Customers Don’t Want To Hear Excuses!
If you run an Internet Business, you depend on your customers. If you treat them right, they will stay with you for a long time. But if you treat them wrong, they will leave. This is something that appears to be lost on Frank haywood and others people who run Internet Businesses.
You see, Frank haywood, and his company We’re Bazaar, seem to be masters of the excuse. They are either the most unlucky business of the most creative! I am not sure which! Frank Haywood always has a reason for not delivering something or delivering it late. You have seen posts on him before and you will likely see them again because there is so much to write about with Frank haywood and We’re Bazaar.
Frank haywood’s latest project, a Membership site called PLR Code Mine, is a perfect example of how NOT to treat a customer. It is also a perfect example on how customers do not care about excuses. customers like me and you pay our money to get products and services that we either want or need. We pay our money to people like Frank Haywood and expect to get what we were promised when we were promised it. Those are not unreasonable expectations.
But Frank haywood does not care about delivering what he promised or when he promises it. As our readers have read before, 2 years ago Frank haywood marketed an affiliate product with the promise of getting another product free if you purchased it from his link. We purchased and we are still waiting for our second product. Frank Haywood does not even respond anymore. He calims developers are still working on it. For 2 years???????
Now Frank haywood, the “master of excuses” is delivering almost all of his products on his membership site late. The last three have been late and we have been told that developers left without notice, developers are fixing bugs, Frank Haywood has the flu, software problems, etc. Kind of like elementary school kids telling theit teacher that “my dog ate my homework!”
Customers don’t care about excuses. They will accept an occasional delay or problem but when it is one thing after another or a pattern develops, then customer anger takes over and customers are lost. Frank haywood and We’re Bazaar are the perfect example of non customer focused businesses. Their motto seems to be “take their money and move on”. As a customer how would you feel?
The latest bit of nonsense from Frank haywood and We’re Bazaar is the promise to give a free product to members of their membership site. This is the same product they have been selling for the last few weeks but now members are being told that we have to wait until the developers test it? Now, does that mean that those who purchased the same exact product got defective products? Or is Frank Haywood just stringing along his members to suck another month worth of fees out of them?
I have been told that the delay is because Frank Haywood has the flu. Does he or is this just another in a long list of excuses? Here is the problem that Frank haywood, and his business We’re Bazaar now faces. With all the excuses and delays, and broken promises, even if something legitimate happens who will believe him? He might actually be sick or this might just be another excuse. No one really knows. It’s just the perception and that is the problem.
Businesses like We’re Bazaar and people like Frank Haywood need to guard themselves against these types of perceptions. Perceptions are just as strong as reality and Frank haywood needs to understand that in order for his business to survive let alone grow.
How does someone like Frank Haywood recover their reputation? It is not easy. It takes several positive experiences to overcome a negative one. That is basic customer service and business principle. Here’s what Frank haywood has to do:
First of all, he has to revamp his business and start delivering quality prouducts when promised. To date he has failed miserably at that. Second, he must support his products. We have had support tickets open with Frank Haywood and We’re bazaar for months that go unanswered and eventually just disappear. We have products that are unuseable because he will not provide support. That has to stop. He need to support the products he sells or they are worthless. Frank haywood cannot simply keep on with his current business model of “support something while you are promoting it and then stop after most people stop purchasing it”. That is not a good customer service model.
In summary, Frank Haywood and We’re Bazaar need to decide if they are in this type of business for the long haul. If they are, they need to start treating their customers with respect and provide support and products in a first class manner. In past blog posts, Frank haywood has stated that you should not wait until a product is perfected, just relase it and fix problems later so you can make money today. That’s a scary business model.
Especially when you stop supporting these same products after sales slow down.
The Monthly Business Builder
http://www.monthlybusinessbuilder.com
Getting Good Out of Bad!
There are a lot of people who look for the good in everything. Even when bad things happen they claim to find some good. Don’t really know if I buy into that all the time but when it comes to running your own business, or even starting one, it is absolutely true that some good comes from almost everything. That is, if you want it to!
We all have ideas that we are certain will result in the next goldrush of sales and orders. A product that will sell millions, ad copy that will bring in thousands, you name it, we all have thought about it. Though the result of these ideas and action is important, it is not the only thing that matters.
In my case, I have had a lot of plans, ideas, and ad copy that I thought was absolutely perfect and was sure it would bring in sale after sale. The reality was that most of these failed miserably. Some without even a single sale being generated!
The important thing is that I learned from all these attempts. I learned what worked and what didn;t work. I learned how to “tweak” what kind of worked to make it better. My page designs became better and my copywriting skills more powerful. In other words, my skills improved through my mistakes.
The only people who fail to take advantage of this are the fools who think that they know it all and that the problem lies elsewhere. These are the people who continue to use what does not work and expect different results from the same product or ads. that just doesnt work.
I also bought a lot of product to help me with my business and some of them helped while others did not. But even the ones that didnt work brought me experience in programming or experience on how to integrate different things into my business. All of these things helped me bring my business from it’s infancy to where it is today.
Sometimes I look back at the first web page I placed online. Then I look at one of my newer ones and I see the good that came out of my failures. My business and I have come a long way because I was open to the idea that I had a lot to learn.
And you know what? I still do. And so do you………
The Monthly Business Builder
http://www.monthlybusinessbuilder.com
An Unusual But Very Cool Resource!
If you are an Internet Marketer or business owner, you know there is a lot of “crap” being marketed out there. If you are like me, then your hard drive is like mine, full of stuff that promised one thing and either didnt deliver or was not what it was marketed to be. Such is life.
But we all know that there are some great resources and products to be had if you know where to look. We have used one particular resource for years and figured it was time to share that information with you. It is a place that has a wide array of products available for businesses and people with all sorts of needs.
We have found information, some really cool graphics and templates, traffic generation resources, you name it, it’s there.
The products are high quality, maketed honestly, and priced extremely competitively. In fact, we often found ourselves buying things we really didnt need at that time because they were such a bargain and figured someday they would come in handy. Funny thing is, they usually did!
In any case, you can find this great resource here. Go ahead and check it out and bookmark it in case you want to go back to it. It really is a great place to find some very useful and hard to find products.
As I have said, we have been using this resource for years and have never had a problem or received something that was anything else than 100% what it was claimed to be. In fact, most of the time the items we received were much better than promised and we were very happy with our purchases!
In a world full of false advertising and misleading adcopy, this place is a true gem. Add it to your resource list today. It’s chock full of cool stuff! Building a business and getting top quality products and resources is not easy. In this case, however, you have a one stop resource for just about everything you might need to promote and market your business.
Again, you can find it here.
Monthly Business Builder
http://www.monthlybusinessbuilder.com
Are You Organized?
Business owners usually wear many hats. We have product design or selection, marketing, ad copy writing, fulfillment, and other tasks. Not to mention the financial side of the business as well.
Sometimes this is a lot to juggle and many people feel overwhelmed at times. This is understandable considering what needs to be done to create a successful business. But other things happen that may not be as obvious to the average business owner.
Since we do wear many hats, it is sometimes easy to forget to do something or forget we actuallt did it and do the same task multiple times. Maybe it is researching a product, placing some advertising, or making a phone call or two or three.
Whatever it is, if we miss doing something or do something multiple times, that is not good for our business. That is why it is critical to have a plan in place so you know what you need to do, and what has already been done. having an organized plan makes it far easier to manage the day to day tasks associated with owning your own business.
Another benefit of developing a plan is that it forces you to examine everything you do on a daily basis. It is possible that during this examination you will discover shortcuts or tasks that can be combined or eliminated making your workload easier. Or, you might find that doing things in a certain order makes each task easier.
For example, let’s say you run an online business and you manually ship and track inventory of orders. Instead of tracking inventory separately at the end of the week, as you are now doing, you might find it easier to do it at the time of shipping when you have the data already right in front of you. That eliminates the time required to gather information twice. Having two windows open on your computer at the same time could save you a lot of time at the end of the month or week.
Being successful is all about maximizing your profits and being organized is a great way to accomplish that and much more.
Monthly Business Builder
http://www.monthlybusinessbuilder.com
Frank Haywood: Give Me Your Money Then Go Away!!
In the world of Internet Business, customers are at a distinct disadvantage in that we cannot actually go into a store to pick up our merchandise, examine merchandise or address a complaint. Even with mail order we have phone numbers to call or a support desk to call. At least we can talk to someone.
With Internet Business, you pay through a credit card or PayPal and you rareky know even the address let alone the phone number of who you are buying from. If you get a defective product, or dont get your product at all, you have to rely on e-mail or an anonymous so-called “support desk” to make your complaint.
But what happens when your complaints or questions go unanswered???
There is an Internet Marketer, Frank Haywood, who embodies just about everything that is wrong about the way he, and his company We’re Bazaar, treat their customers. And their customers have little or no recourse because you cannot go see Frank Haywood or call his company We’re Bazaar to speak to someone.
You can use Frank Haywood’s support desk but I have had questions and issues open for months without a response. You can post a comments on one of Frank Haywood’s blogs but if it is at all negative, he just deletes it so the rest of his customers don’t see what he really is doing behind the scenes.
This is really scary for Internet customers and it spoils it for everyone else. Let me give you the perfect example of why Frank Haywood and his type can create nightmares fo unsuspecting customers:
Approx 2 years ago I get a message from Frank Haywood stating if I buy this product for $69 I will get a second product, worth $125 free. Now, I did not want the $69 product but I really wanted the free product so I bought it from Frank Haywood’s company, We’re Bazaar. I received the original product which I promptly archived and have not used to this day. As I said, I did not want that product at all. I just wanted the second product.
Months came and went and no product. Support questions were raised and the first one said it would be coming shortly after the developers finished it. Months later another support question. No answer. Then another support request, no answer. E-mails sent, no answer.
Now it is 2 years later and I still have not received my free product which was what I wanted all along. I have no recourse. You see, people like Frank Haywood and We’re Bazaar are clever. They rpomise something a month or so down the road so by the time you realize you have been ripped off, you are past the complaint deadline with PayPal. So you cannot place a hold or open a dispute.
Now look, the vast majority of Internet Marketers are legitimate businesses and people and they support their products and their services. Heck, even Frank haywood used to when he first started! But then Frank started what appears to be his “new policy”. That policy is, release a new product and support it while you are promoting it. When that product has run it’s course and you move on to something else, ignore the previous product and those qwho bought it.
Here is another problem for those who purchase over the Internet:
Since we cannot touch or see the product and have to rely on ad copy and pictures, it is easy to control just what it is we see on web pages. A web page is just an ad for the product or service. It’s sole design is to convince people to buy and to buy now. Not tomorrow or the next day but NOW! You will even see testamonials and comments about the product.
But are those testamonials accurate or even real???? We do not know. Frank haywood and his company We’re Bazaar take this to a new and lower level. They present their products on blog type sites and solicit comments. Great way to learn, right?
Well it would be except Frank Haywood has to approve all comments (which is a good thing because it eliminates blog spammers) and what he does is publish the positive comments and deltes the negative ones! If you post a negative comment or ask about a negative situation, those posts never see the light of day on his blog! So if you are a potential customer, all you see are rave reviews and not the people who feel cheated or state what they received did not work, they didnt receive it at all, or it was a piece of crap. Those comments you will never see.
But what frustrates customers most of all is being neglected and that is what Frank Haywood seems to do best. If you have a problem, good luck waiting for support. You will get help if you are among the first to purchase a new product but after that, you will sit and wait, and wait, and wait. As I said, I have requests for tech support and product questions still open months later.
Lately he has a membership site and products are full of bugs, are always delivered late, and he constantly promises bonus products if you “just remain a member a little longer”. It is all part of the pattern. Oh,yes, one more thing, delays are usually caused by someone else. Developers are always getting sick or leaving without notice and that is why you wait and wait for your product.
What can customers do to avoid this type of treatment?
Well, the first thing anyone should do when purchasing something from someone the first time is do a search engine search under the business name or the person’s name and read the comments. If you see a bunch of complaints about a person, at least you can make an informed decision and look for other places to purchase the same products.
I always try and make a small purchase first to check out how they do business and support their customers. If I buy something for 10 bucks and get cheated in the process, I have learned a lesson and only lost 10 bucks. That is lot better than losing $50 bucks or more.
Always check so you will not be subjected to the treatment you get from Frank Haywood and We’re Bazaar.
As for us, we are still waiting for our product that was promised two years ago. I guess the developer either left without notice or has the 730 day stomach virus. As for Frank haywood and his company We’re Bazaar, I have one more comment. The name We’re Bazaar is the perfect name for this comapny. Because they definately are Bazaar in the way they treat thier customers!
Monthly Business Builder
http://www.monthlybusinessbuilder.com
Hey, That’s Out of My Control!!!
I cannot count how many times I have been told by someone that something “was out of their control”. As that should be reason enough to satisfy me for the problem that I am experiencing. As far as customers are concerned, however, your problems are your problems and they are of no concern to them!
It is true that your own internal problems are of no concern to your customers. Your rules, procedure, and issues are of little concern if they stand between a customer and what they want. The bottom line is, if you fail to give the customer what they need or want, your customers will likely leave and do business elsewhere.
But what about times when something REALLY IS out of your control? Maybe your town had a massive power failure and that caused delays in delivering or producing product. maybe a supplier failed to deliver a shipment as promised, or maybe weather played a major role in disrupting deliveries. Whatever the reason, certain things will always happen that were out of your control.
Yet you must react and take care of the customer! How do you do that?
The first thing to do is apologize to the customer and explain what went wrong. The apology is important because it shows you care about your customer and the inconvenience they are experiencing. An apology costs you nothing but can go a long way in soothing hard feelings and making the customer feel positive again towards you and your business.
The most important thing you should do, however, is when something does happen that is out of your control, look at what happened and try to figure out what you could do to minimize the problem should it happen again.
For example, if your supplier fails to deliver a product as promised, perhaps you should look into a another source and split orders so that if one supplier fails to deliver you could call the other and get a prioirty delivery. If weather causes you a problem, maybe you could come up with a customer notification process where you would call the customer ahead of time and offer an alternative delivery date should they not be able to deliver. Whatever the situation, by making yourself protrected against future reoccurances, you create a more stable environment for your customer.
Business success is all about providing the very best value and experience for your customers. If you can do a little pro-active planning and analysis, you might just be able to head off those “out of your control” situations in the future.
And that makes everyone happier!
Monthly Business Builder
http://www.monthlybusinessbuilder.com
Reaction To Frank Haywood Posting!
I was quite curious as to what type of reaction would come from my posting regarding Frank haywood and his company We’re Bazaar a few days ago. So, I would like to address some of the comments and set the record straight.
First of all, the purpose of this blog, and our website, is to provide information on how any person can successfully build a business on the Internet. We accomplish this by discussing what you should do and sometimes most appropriately what you should NOT do.
It is also our experience that when you can show actual examples and case histories, more people understand and take the advice more seriously. Therefore, the articles and the content get taken more seriously.
So, I used Frank haywood and We’re Bazaar as examples and these are PERSONAL EXPERIENCES not something we found on another site, heresay, or made up info. Everything in the post happened to us first hand.
So, when we say Frank Haywood has stopped responding to support requests, it was because we placed some requests and they were never answered.
When we said we joined his membership site and every month the product was delivered late, it was because we had to wait way past the deadline to get what we purchased!
When we stated that Frank Haywood promised a free product when we purchased another product from him and then refused to deliver the product, it was because we are still waiting, 2 years and counting, for the product we were promised! He still has not delivered the product and he no longer responds to requests about it!
So all of this information is 100% true and based on our personal experiences. That part of the past posting was factual.
The rest was our opinion such as how he uses his blog to hawk affiliate product after affiliate product under the guise of supposedly providing useful information is our opinion. We just felt that his blog, which used to be useful and informative is now nothing more than a sales page for his current product he is hawking.
Lastly, and again, this is our opinion, we do not feel that Frank haywood, nor his company We’re Bazaar, really care at all about their customers. If they did, they would adhere to deadline, answer support requests, and fulfill the promises made to their customers. This is just basic customer service and we feel he and his company have fallen way, way, way short of that.
We never ask you to take our word for anything or substitute our judgement for you own so take a few moments and do a Google or other search engine search under the name Frank Haywood and you will see that we are not the only ones who feel this way.
So, if you are operating your own business, or are in the process of starting one, take these examples of how NOT to run a business and make sure you are treating your customers right and not the way that Frank haywood and We’re Bazaar treats theirs.
Again, that is only our opinion based on our experiences. Make up your own mind using your own experiences. Or better yet, buy from someone else. That’s what we are doing now!
Monthly Business Builder
http://www.monthlybusinessbuilder.com
Look Like A Professional Operation!
Listen, there is a ton of competition out there no matter which industry of market segment you operate in. Unless you have a product or service so unique there is no other source for people to buy it, you need to create the best possible image for you and your company.
Which brings me to something a lot of people just do not get. E-mail addresses, and e-mail marketing need to appear professional and legitimate. People just dont understand that your e-mail address says everything about you and the quality of your business!
I get a ton of e-mails. Most of them are garbage but some of them are interesting and possibly useful to me. Yet some of those I don’t even open. You know why? The e-mail address the mail was sent from!
A lot of people use free e-mail accounts like GMail beause they dont cost anything. Yet, when I see a yahoo or GMail account I wonder just who the sender is and what is possibly in the e-mail. Especially those with e-mail addresses that appear to be nonsense. An example of this would be GFRTRED@gmail.com (Don’t click on that, it’s just an example!)
Seeing an e-mail address like that makes me think two things. First, that the busness is not a legitimate one, and second, even more important, is that this e-mail, sent by lord knows who, might contain a virus or other malicious code.
The fact is, this is strictly a perception issue. Perfectly legitimate businesses and individuals could use these free services but you never know. Even with the best and most professional e-mail address in the world could be a source of garbage or scams. But the perception is what we need to deal with.
So, if you are operating an Intenret business, or planning to start, get yourself a domain name and create a professional appearing e-mail address. Hostng is available cheap (less than $5 a month) and most hosting will let you have hundreds of e-mail accounts with your domain name attached.
If you can’t afford $5 a month then you really should rethink your ability to create a strong and viable business. With a professional looking e-mail address, your orders should increase bringing back several times your investment in hosting.
Keep that in mind when you do your next evaluation of your business.
The Monthly Business Builder
http://www.monthlybusinessbuilder.com
A Different Kind of SEO!
Most of us recognize the abbreviation SEO as standing for Search Engine Optimization. That means making sure your pages are search engine friendly anesigned to get higher ranking in the search engine listings. Higher rankings mean more traffic and hopefully, more sales.
But here is another kind of SEO that every business needs to understand and embrace: SEO also can mean Satisfaction Equals Opportuntity!
Satisfied customers bring their friends, relative, and co-workers into your business because they feel they are treated right and get a perceived high value from you and your company. maybe they had a problem that you resolved quickly. Perhaps it was the way they were treated during or after the sale. whatever the reason, the end result is a recommendation and a new customer.
Satisifed people wil talk to others and bring you referral leads and customers. But more important, dissatisfied customer are far more likely to tell others why they should NOT patronize your business and that kind of bad publicity can drive a business out of business in record time.
You never know who you are talking to. That last customer you treated poorly could have vast connections in your town or industry and his poor experience could do you untold harm. Or, that customer you went out of the way for to help could be a representative from a manufacturer or someone who holds a key opportunity for you or your company.
customer satisfaction is a key element of all business long term success. So while making your web pages search engine friendly is important, making your customers feel satisfied is even more important.
Monthly Business Builder
http://www.monthlybusinessbuilder.com
Good Riddance To Frank Haywood!
I finally said “Good Riddance” to Frank Haywood today! It was a long time in coming and also what I thought would be a great way to start off my new blog. You see, I hate it when people do business with little or no regard to their customers. I can tolerate a lot in life but having people take advantage of me is something I feel strongly about.
A little background first.
I’m an Internet Marketer and businessman. I have over 40 years of Customer Service experience and have always run my business with the customer in mind. I do not hype my products, do not use marketing tricks and deception, and always make certain I give my customer the very best value and service that I possibly can. When I dont get treated the same way in return, I become angry. Hence my cutting ties with Frank Haywood.
Frank haywood is an Internet Marketer who lives somewhere in the UK. His company is called We’re Bazaar. He started out with a digital delivery product that was quite good and I still use it. He was very responsive and his blog had a lot of useful information in it. Support requests were answered the same day and everything was great.
Then he changed. Responsiveness fell way down and some requests went totally unanswered. Then I purchased a product he was promoting for someone else and I was supposed to get a product of his worth $125 for free. That was two years ago and I still have not received the product. E-mails or support tickets inquiring about this were totally ignored after the first request! That should have prepared me for what was to come but it did not.
Frank Haywood blog was a source of useful information but he started a trend of making posts that were all tied to the next product he was promoting. Something that one read and thought was informational was in fact, nothing more than a hyped up affiliate sales pitch, or a pitch for his next product. While there is nothing wrong with trying to sell product, you should not disguise information posting with sales pitches.
The quality of his products declined and deadlines for new products were made and then not adhered to. He would promise something for a certain date and then not deliver in order to build a sense of urgency to increase sales. Again, a hit to his credibility.
Lastly, and this was the reason I finally had enough of his nonsense, was his PLR membership program. For a monthly fee, you were to receive one software product along with resale rights and graphics. A good idea and it was released in what Frank haywood called “beta”.
Unfortunately “beta” meant everything was late and the products often did not work as claimed. These software “products” were mostly little wordpress plug-ins designed to get people to buy products with subliminal messages, plant hidden “cookies” for all osrts of products, or other nonsense like that.
The msot recent product for this month is already one week late and we have already paid for it! He also promises additional benfits and resources that just never come. 3 months ago he promised a E-Cover tool and we are still waiting. Everything is focused on getting you to remain a member but nothing ever materializes.
Here is what really makes me angry and is the reason for this post:
Franks Blog and his PLR membership site have many places to make comments. If they are positive, you will see them in print. If they contain anything negative, he deletes them! So you look at his sites and all you see are glowing tributes to him and his products. Not a single negative thing unless he can use it to sell his next product or spin it into something good.
You see, people like Frank haywood use these techniques and practices to provide a distorted view of their business so you buy from them. If you had seen the negative posts, you might not buy. Let me set the record straight here and be 100% clear about the deleted negative posts. These are not vile, obscene language rantings. These are posts like “Frank, everything is late and you have not responded to my last 4 support requests. What’s going on?”
By censoring the posts, you deny full disclosure to the customer. The customer thinks he is getting one thing and pays his money only to find out the product and support are misrepresented.
For those of you who think I have a vendetta or personal grudge against Frank haywood, Google his name and see some of the other posts. Even better, go to his blog and search through the archives. You will see a post where he actually says it is 100% OK to release a product before the bugs are worked out because that’s the only way to make more money! Slap it together, sell it, and move on.
Heck of a business model isn’t it? Today I am cancelling my PLR Membership and it truly saddens me that Frank Haywood has decided to operate his business this way. Perhaps some day he will see the light and change his ways. The problem is if he does, no one will really know because we can’t believe anything he tells us anymore.
That’s the sad part. It really is.
Monthly Business Builder Blog
http://www.monthlybusinessbuilder.com