I’ve had the ideas for this post running around in my head for a couple of weeks now, but just haven’t really been compelled to write them until now. Every time I think about writing this post, it grows to gargantuan lengths before I even get it out of my head. I’ve thought about dividing this post into smaller chunks, but I’m not sure that works either.

But then my friend Lynette Chandler posted a commentary on customer service that really illustrates one of the points that I want to make. So I’m going to jump in and we’ll just see where this goes.

Over the past few years, I’ve searched the internet for commentary on customer service. I’ve found forum posts in which customers and even business owners have stated that it’s better to work at a loss than to have a dissatisfied client. “The customer is always right” is the mantra and it’s called good business.

Alternately, I’ve read blog posts in which business owners have stated that the customer is always right — except when they are wrong. The business owner should then try to educate the customer, and attempt to bring her over to the side of right. Of course, this assumes that the customer is honestly uninformed and that communication efforts will lead to an agreement that is equitable to both parties. Once the customer is brought up to speed, she is right and all is well.

Unfortunately, I think both of those attitudes fail to encompass all customer service situations encountered in the real world — and most certainly not the case that prompted Lynette to write her diatribe.

Here is my theory, in a nutshell: Customer service is a partnership. You could even call it a relationship.

As in any relationship, you must have mutual trust, respect and honesty. The business owner has a product or service she is especially equipped and willing to provide. The customer has a need for said product or service and the money to exchange for it.

Additionally, the business owner sets the tone and boundaries for the relationship, for online businesses, through the content on the website — the policies and procedures in particular.

The partnership begins when the customer selects the business owner, preferably after doing some research on said business and determining based on word of mouth referrals and a perusal of goods or services. At this point, the customer extends respect and trust to the business owner by purchasing the product, and asking any questions or making in requests in a respectful manner.

The business owner extends trust and respect by accepting payment, providing the product and answering any questions or responding to any requests in a respectful manner.

Unfortunately, this partnership is not always this idyllic. Problems occur when business owners fail to provide what they have advertised — or when customers expect the owner to set aside boundaries they have established. Or when a customer is dishonest and is attempting to get something they haven’t paid for.

Additionally, either side can blow a partnership through abusive language, overstepping boundaries and generally untrustworthy and disrespectful behavior.

For example, a business owner who takes the money and never does anything is violating the agreement between herself and the customer, which destroys the partnership through dishonesty. Likewise, a customer who pays for a specific service, and then expects the business owner to provide additional services at no extra charge is overstepping the boundaries of the agreement.

Customers who fail to provide necessary information to troubleshoot issues with products or services, or who immediately assume that the business owner is untrustworthy the moment trouble arises and responses in a verbally abusive manner are violating this partnership.

Business owners and customers alike will benefit from being 100 percent honest about expectations, from being perfectly clear in what is to be delivered and what is not. Written agreements are always better than verbal ones.

So what does this mean? It means that while the business owner is responsible for setting the tone and boundaries for their business relations, the customer has an integral part in building and maintaining the partnership. Problems on either side can cause a “bad” customer service experience. Often, only the parties themselves know who is really at fault. In some cases, both parties may be at fault, and in others, neither.

Of one thing I am certain: You cannot judge a business or a customer by one bad experience, nor can you make an accurate judgment after hearing only one side of the story.

What can you do to improve your customer service — regardless of what side of the fence you are on?

1. If you’re a business owner, make sure your policies and procedures are clear. Make sure you describe exactly what the customer is getting.
2. Maintain professionalism in your communications. Get your agreements in writing.
3. Customers, make sure you know exactly what you want, that the business is providing what you want, and that you maintain professionalism in your communications.

As I’m sure you know, even the best of intentions lead to … you know where. If you’re a business owner dealing with a dishonest customer, I recommend you get out ASAP. If laws have been broken, contact authorities. If you simply suspect the customer is out to get as much out of you as possible, do the best you can to professionally and courteously extract yourself from the relationship. You deserve to be paid for any time or products that you have put into the partnership — but you should not continue. If you’re uncertain of what you can do, call your attorney to make sure you’re taking appropriate steps and are doing what is legally right. I’d also recommend talking to a business advisor to make sure that what is legally right is also ethically right.

If you are a customer dealing with a dishonest business, I recommend contacting authorities such as the Attorney General’s office in the company’s state, or at least an attorney who can advise you as to your rights under the law in the situation. Naturally, this should be done after you have made every effort possible to mend the partnership with the company. I would also do this before posting negative reviews on public sites, as you may be hurting yourself legally otherwise. If you truly have a legal leg to stand on, it’s better to handle it through the proper channels than through attempts to harm a businesses reputation. This can backfire on you if you’re interpretation of events is inaccurate and leads you to make libelous statements that could be viewed as malicious attempts to harm a business.

These three steps will go a long way in ensuring that an honest business and an honest customer will be able to build a partnership that is beneficial to both, and that can be easily mended if it gets off track.

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My friend Kelly is on the warpath.

I’ve known her for more than a year now, and I don’t think I’ve ever seen her this angry. But in that time I’ve learned that it is her mission to take care of WAHMs, to make sure they have the knowledge and tools they need to succeed.

So, when she sees someone taking advantage of WAHMs, taking their money and giving nothing in return, she gets angry. And then she writes about it.

If you’re considering starting a business, and you want to avoid losing money on schemes that don’t work, read what Kelly has to say.

And when you’re done with that,  work on developing a plan to start your own business. Physical product selling businesses are excellent choices, as they have the most potentional for growth and you can elect to create your own product, or someone else’s. Then you don’t have to worry about being involved in something that nefarious.

Popularity: 11% [?]

Whether you’re just starting out in the physical product selling world or you’ve been around awhile, trademarks and patents are an important topic for you to keep on top of. Even if you’re not interested in filing for either one — you have to make sure you’re not violating someone else’s. Yes, it’s a scary world out there.

I think Vesta of Peppermint baby carrier fame, has gone along way in clearing up some confusion today with her trademark and patent post at TheBabywearer.com Forums.

Vesta talked to an intellectual property attorney recently and shared her opinion of what that attorney recommended (with the caveat that this is HER interpretation of what the attorney said and should only be considered, not acted upon):

OK, there are 5 ways to categorize words as potential trademarks, an example, and your chances of succeeding with the TM:
1. Generic - e.g. “bread”. You will never get this trademark.
2. Descriptive - e.g. a) “soft” bread or b) “wholly goodness” bread. You could not likely get a. But you may be able to get b, if you can prove that you’ve been using it for 5 years consecutively and that it has come to hold a secondary meaning that is associated with your product.
3. Suggestive - e.g. “crusty” bread. He also mentioned “Ivory” soap. Even though other soaps may be ivory, and other breads may be crusty, these are usually TMable.
4. Arbitrary - e.g. “gecko” underwear (or “Peppermint” baby carriers!). These words have real meanings, but do not, under normal circumstances, have anything to do with the product being sold. Highly TMable.
5. Fanciful - e.g. “kodak” cameras (or “EllaRoo” baby carriers!). Made up words. Again, absolutely TMable.

This information is very important in any product selling industry, especially for newbies who haven’t created their business and names. Hint: You’re better off creating an arbitrary or fanciful name for your business and products than using a generic, descriptive or suggestive name. Be creative!

Additionally, you also need to go to the United States Patent and Trademark Office website to research any business or product name ideas you come up with, before you commit to them.

If you’re already selling products with generic or descriptive terms, you may need to consider renaming your product or coming out with a new and improved version — that includes at least a new name. I recommend you talk to your attorney about this.

Now for the patents: This topic has been hashed and rehashed almost daily in the baby wearing world lately. And recently, much discussion occurred in the cloth diapering world.

According to Vesta’s lawyer, the legal aspects of patents come down to this:

To succeed with a patent, you must (besides jumping through all of the administrative hoops and financial hurdles and professional drawings) demonstrate four things:
1. Novelty - that you have actually invented something that has never been seen in another single source. (I think this is the one that kills many patent apps. E.g. if you take a soft baby carrier, like a mei tai, and modify it using the latest backpack technology, you haven’t really invented anything, but you’ve just used known technology in a new context. You could also think of it the opposite way: If you take current backpack technology, and modify it to carry a baby, still nothing new.)
2. That the innovation you made was not obvious. (I can’t remember his example, but something like using buckles to adjust something, rather than rings comes to mind. Or using a new fabric to make something (e.g. solarveil instead of cotton, etc. I think this is another one that would kill a patent app pretty easily. To stay with the mei tai example, if you just add buckles and padding to a mei tai, you’ve done something that’s pretty darn obvious to many of us who’ve tried an unpadded mei tai.)
3. That the innovation was functional, not just aesthetic. (Pretty clear, I think.)
4. You have to be able to teach someone else, in writing and drawings, to do this new thing. (Doesn’t apply to us, but more to chemical processes and such.)

Two products that were the topic of many heated discussions on parenting forums when the company owners decided to seek a patent include the Taggies blanket and the Fuzzi Bunz cloth diaper. If you were around online parenting forum circles in 2002 and 2003, you may have heard the about these.

Anyway, it’s a very good idea to do some patent research before you start developing a product. If a product is already patented, the only way you’re going to be able to sell it is if the patent holder sells you a license to do so.

In any case, I advise you to consult and attorney for patent research. You can do some preliminary research at sites like Patent Storm or go directly to the United States Patent and Trademark Office website. But again, always seek the opinion of an attorney.

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I just remembered a client a few years ago who had to shut down her website. Her biggest client, who was one of only a few clients, had shut down, no longer needing her services.

As a result, she had to close her business and find another way to pay her mortgage and feed her family.

As physical product sellers, we usually have lots of retail clients, instead of just one big client. But for those of you who are in manufacturing as well, you may have one very large wholesale client that you depend on.

If this is the case, the time to diversify is now.

I speak from experience.

Last year, I lost one of my largest clients. Luckly, when that client left, she took some of my biggest expenses as well. I just had to cut back on some extras and stop paying myself for awhile.

I admit: Part of me thought about shuttingmy business down and giving up.

But I prayed about it and realized that God had a bigger plan for me and that he’d given me this business for a reason. So, I took the extra time I suddenly had to build up a new area in my business.

It’s been a year now, and I just realized that I earned more during August than I did during the same month last year — while I still had the big client.

Isn’t that awesome!

You see, just because you feel like you’ve been defeated, just because the unthinkable has happened, doesn’t mean you should just roll over and give up.

Sometimes, the closing of one door is a gift, to turn you in the direction of the open door that you’ve been ignoring.

The morale to this story: The next time a door closes — or even slams in your face — start looking for that open door!

Popularity: 10% [?]

If you’re a new business, you dread the day you receive your first complaint. And if you’ve been around awhile, you know exactly what I’m talking about.

So, I’m going to focus my comments today on the newbies among us.

The first thing you need to keep in mind is this: You can only please some of the people, some of the time.

And do this: Make sure that you are doing the best you can, producing the best product you can, and providing the best service you can. Make sure you set clear boundaries (business hours, shipping and return policies, etc.) and always be professional.

Then get ready.

Some people will purchase your product, then realize it was not what they were wanting. This does not mean there is anything wrong with your product, it just means that the product didn’t fit with the customer.

Some people will expect services that you don’t offer. For example, a customer might purchase a baby sling from you and expect you to answer their customer support questions within two hours, at 3 a.m. on Sunday.

Other people might find an actual design flaw in your product. This is one area in which some WAHMs get discouraged and give up. My advice: Don’t give up — go back to the drawing board and fix the problem. Come out with a new version of your product. It’s best to do this while you’re company is young. Take the criticism of your customers and find the nugget of constructive advice.

And then there are people who defy categorization: The people who purchase your product, then claim that it never arrived. And instead of contacting you, they immediately file a Paypal dispute. (No lie! We’re discussing this issue at Mom Masterminds right now. It seems the more successful you get, the worse it gets.) Or people who wait until after the 45-day Paypal dispute limit to mention anything to you, and then claim that you didn’t contact them for 45 days.

You will also have people who have pushed your boundaries, or who didn’t find your product usable themselves — and who are very vocal about it.

There are some who say that customer service is everything, that if people say bad things about you it will kill your business, that you must make everyone happy or else.

This is not true. As I said before, you can’t make everyone happy. Focus in on a tight target market, and make sure you follow your policies and procedures. Make sure you provide a high quality product that performs as advertised. And then don’t let it get you down.

Just think about Paypal and Wal-Mart: Two very successful companies, that both have websites dedicated to people discussing how much they … stink.

BTW, if you’re an online product seller, chances are you’re a customer as well. Don’t let one bad review turn you away from a company. Chances are, it could be sour grapes or a misunderstanding that is not the fault of the company. Keep reading at other reviews, talk to people on both sides, and then give the company a chance to have their say. Then make your decision

Popularity: 9% [?]

I have.

This topic may not fit exactly into “Selling Physical Products Online,” but I bet most of you can identify with what I’m saying.

Perhaps you’ve been victimized online by people who think it’s OK to demean others. Maybe you were an ugly duckling as a child and the kids at your school never let you forget it.

Or maybe you’ve just bought into the idea that women must have perfect hair, skin and teeth, a 2000 square foot house less than 10 years old, a new sport utility vehicle, 2.5 perfect children and a handsome spouse who lets you spend as much money as you want in order to be liked and successful.

Some communities may tell you that you need to get a job to be valuable. Others tell you that you have to stay at home, nurse your kids for 3 years each and homeschool them until they are 18 to be valuable.

I say, your value is not based on what others think or on what you do.

You are a valuable person. If others have said otherwise, well, their words say more about them than they do about you.

If your actions in the past have not been honorable, it is never too late to to change.

You’re beautiful, you’re valuable, and you can become successful, no matter what you have gone through or what others have said.

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