MAIL ORDER TIPS FOR BEGINNERS

Thanks to our great customers, our business is continuing to grow at a steady, uphill rate. With this increase in business, we seem to notice the beginning of customer complaints about our turnaround time for processing orders.

At first, I became "paranoid" and thought I was doing something wrong. I forced myself to work 20 hour days, eliminated my social and family life completely and ignored anything else that didn't pertain to business. Unfortunately, this approach did not solve the problem. I ended up running my body down and became so ill I was confined to bed for almost 4 days. So, what did I gain?

Then, I received another complaint about our turnaround time a few weeks later. But this time, instead of getting "paranoid," I sat back and analyzed the situation. The 3 complaint letters had one thing in common _ they were all from beginners in mail order. My long-time, repeat customers had not complained in the least _ just 3 beginners in mail order.

So, I telephoned one of the people who complained and learned they had expected their order within 4-5 days after they mailed their original order in. Since it had been 2 weeks since they ordered, they labeled ourturnaround time as "very poor." It suddenly dawned on me that they were expressing the same behavior all beginners experience _ lack of patience! But, they aren't entirely at fault.

Why? Because most beginners in mail order are used to shopping locally. They walk into K-Mart, pick out what they visually want to buy, pay for it and take it home (no waiting.) In addition, when these beginners get involved in mail order, they are excited about their business. They are ready to go! They wait and watch their mailbox everyday for the order they in. Their patience wears thin.

Another reason beginners to mail order are so impatient is because the advertisement they answered to send in their order motivated them. They were excited and wanted to learn more. Since they don't have many customer orders to process and take up their time _ the beginner will rush to their mailbox everyday, hoping to find their order. Time is slow for them and a week seems like 2 years. So naturally they become angry because they are tired of waiting. What happens to a child who is promised a day at the circus if they clean up their room? Don't they hurry and scurry around just to get the reward?