Buyer Beware
The old adage that says “if it looks too good to be true, it is,” has never been more true than in the area of Internet Marketing. While the FCC and many other organizations are working to limit the damage that some Internet Marketers are causing with their sales tactics, there will always be some that play with their customers. Whether they get caught at some point or not remains to be seen.
Occasionally I am contacted by some individual who has found out the hard way, through their pocket book, that something they have invested in is not nearly as profitable as it first appeared. I am not going to name any names here because that is not the point of this post. Rather, I would like to make three points.
Point 1: If you can not afford to lose it, don’t invest it. It can take several attempts to find training in the area of Internet Marketing that works for you. And, just like the brick and mortar businesses you see out on the street, no business is guaranteed success. What works for one person will not necessarily work for another as they are individuals with different knowledge, personalities and skills.
I, for example, do really well in the geeky side of marketing. Putting up a website and playing with new ways to do things make my day. On the other hand, when it comes to the feel good side of things, I still have a lot to learn because I think and speak in a technical manner.
This, or something similar may be the issue for many who get into the field of Internet Marketing and this means either you learn the skills you are missing or you need to be prepared to outsource that part of your business to someone who does have those skills.
Point2: Be sure to read the fine print. And, take a copy of those special offers that sound so enticing. There is nothing stopping you from taking a print screen of the web page and saving it to a picture file. That is what your print screen key on your keyboard is for and every Windows computer I have every worked on has the Paint program in accessories where the print screen can be pasted. This gives you something to reference if things don’t seem to be going according to what you thought you agreed to. While you are at it, make sure you read and copy any terms of agreement that pop up along the way.
Point3: Do unto others as you would have done unto you.
A while back I invested in a website installation. I agreed to purchase a domain name and hosting for a year. When the year was up, I decided to move the website to my main hosting provider only to find that the installer of the website had encrypted some of the files in such a way that they would not function on another hosting provider. When I requested that the encryption be removed, my request was denied. So, either I allow myself to be held hostage to their hosting provider, or I walk away and chalk it up to a lesson learned.
Now, had their hosting been WordPress friendly, I might have considered continuing with this hosting, even though it meant additional hosting costs. As it turned out, the hosting was not WordPress friendly, so the choice was made to let the site go. I did, however, manage to move the domain to my own domain registrar, so there is the opportunity to rebuild.
While I can understand the wish for a marketer to hold onto clients, these types of tactics leave a bad taste. How many of you think that I will agree to do business with that marketer again, even if the deal presented is the next best thing to sliced bread?
How you conduct your business relationships with your clients will eventually precede you. And, while it is true that you can not always please everyone, sometimes it is better to lose a little in order to gain or retain a client.
To Your Success,
SherryD
http://www.wbobr.com
I definitely agree with point 3. By losing a little in sales, you gain a whole lot with quality of character and pleasing your visitor/client.
The read aptly puts it: In business, not everything can be a success for everyone. The success/profit of some business depends entirely on many parameters of the individual. It is always better to put our hard earned money into something we have appreciable knowledge about.
Investing in business is akin to investing in stocks, you should never money intended for savings or money kept to deal with daily expenses. Also, I agree with Sherry , especially about reading the fine print and taking screen capture. This will help you to prove your cause, if things don’t go in your favor!There are lot of online leeches trying to suck away your hard earned money.
Behave toward others as you would like to have them behave toward you, as in Of course I’ll help him out; it’s a case of do unto others, and I may be in the same boat one day.
Too bad that it’s not “An eye for an eye” type motto for those who do wrong-doing toward you with such fine print. It’s really a shame that there isn’t such a thing as an honest business or service anymore. What’s even worse, is a lot of times the “fine print” is also hidden, and you get yourself into some trouble, like you did with your hosting provider. Sure, you as a person in business learn a valuable lesson, but when will the others?
We have to be inventive and see everything with one step further.
I agree with you over point #2 which is a very important point to look into from every aspect. I think we should agree to read all the norms before we just accept it blindly so that we don’t get into troubles at the last moment. Good job!!
I definitely agree with you with the key points you have made us aware of!! I would love to focus my aim on point #3 as it is a point of interest in handled well or can even shift you in a situation of loss whereby you would be just mere nothing!! It can either build you, or can destroy you with no clients!!
Definitely it’s an issue to be considered while looking for buying out any product or service over the web or through direct interaction. A common man generally doesn’t go through all the points and the agreements describing the policies of the company.
I am a newbie and found your post very enlightening. I should not rush into things but follow your steps carefully. Nice that you shared this info with us.
Well yes, risk is involved in everything. The most when you are buying shares. We cannot lose it, but have to invest in it. Please suggest on investing in the share market too, because I think it would need a different strategy.
I do my research before buying any product. The biggest brands may sell not-so-good products and I don’t rely merely on the brand name. I rely only on my research and experience and have been successful in finding great products till now.
It is good to beware before buying a product than regretting about it later. Running for warranty and all is a painful task!
One has to beware not just before buying, but after buying too. Check that you have got the product with all the specifications as mentioned in the booklet. If you go to them later they would say why you did not to check at the time of receiving the product! Take these precautions or you would learn it the hard way.
Proof of everything you do is a must. Today when there are soo many scams going on all around the world, internet has become the main source of these scams. Thus it is very important to save every act you perform on the internet. Risk involved can be minimised this way.
LOL, I absolutely love the name of your website.