You know where we stand on this….the customer is not always right but there are always two sides to every story of course. It’s easy to write something down and rant about it but what was the real story? Was it a glitch in the system, did the customer really think they selected that plan, was it the phone service’s fault?

One thing we know too is that most customer service reps deal with whining people day in and out and he could have had enough of it and just flat out said what he did out of frustration (even though the statement is completely true).

Anyways just always remember in any situation there are always two sides to the story and that the slogan “the customer is always right” is not in fact true anymore.

I love what Buddy says “I deal with a lot of wedding cakes and brides and there’s always going to be a few asses…” It’s so true and this is exactly why our site exists. No matter how many good customers you deal with (which is most of them) you are going to run into a CustoMonster sometimes…

For more TLC and Cake Boss videos visit their Youtube page here.

“I have been aware of Business Beware for quite a while.  I watch Ashley’s Tweets and visit the site for updates.  Why? Being a former Better Business Bureau board member, I felt we didn’t give the businesses enough of an opportunity to prove themselves innocent before being accused of being guilty.  I find this even with Pay Pal.  Someone can accuse you first. You pay the price.  And “then you have to prove yourself innocent.”

Business Beware allows businesses an opportunity to demonstrate that the customer is not always right. And that sometimes the customer complains knowing they can be rewarded for doing so, even if the reward is not justified.

Business Beware does not play “heavy hand” with customers or clients of their member. And they due their due diligence before deciding any coarse of action.

What a gift to finally have someone who is on the side of the business.  Ashley and her father know and understand firsthand what it is like to have non-paying customers and clients.

Business Beware is YOUR site and advocate.  Business Beware ROCKS!”

Cd Vann
Founder, UnGeeked e’lite

We love Cd, she makes our hearts sing. Make sure and check out her awesome UnGeeked e’lite retreats she has going on because they are awesome. You might even see us at one, like maybe in Orlando around March 2011…just a possibility…

And to address the cheese grits well, we just love them. Actually we love our members and those like Cd who write us awesome notes about what they think about our site. We love that more than cheese grits and that’s saying a lot friends. So send in your testimonials so we can share them with others too.

Okay and for the dancing security guard thing…We were all at a Tampa Rays game a few weeks ago and during a tv break the security guard decided to challenge the mascot to a little dance off that was downright hilarious. The crowd’s cheers say it all. We were able to catch it on the big screen and it’s too great not to share so enjoy and share it with others!

As soon as the work is done send out that invoice. It’s fresh on the customers mind and usually the quicker you send it out the quicker they drop the check in the mail. Make sure and answer any questions they have with the work that was done or the product you send them etc. They may be holding up payment on you because they are waiting to hear from you so don’t let that be the case that you’re not getting paid.

If you have to do additional work for them make sure to follow up with the customer to make sure they are on the same page and want the work to be done as well. Depending on how your business is run and you do a follow up, go ahead and get them to pay for the work done (to make sure you get covered for that) and then schedule the follow up. Too many people become trusting that a customer will pay them with no problems. It’s sad but you really can’t trust anyone when you do business with them or at least go into each one thinking like that. You always, always have to cover yourself even if you’re doing work for a friend (which sometimes can be the worst situations actually).

The longer you wait to collect payment from a customer the longer it will take them to pay you. They may even say “well it took you so long that I am not paying for that now.” Crazy for them to say that and not pay but it happens all the time. If a few weeks go by and you don’t hear from them make sure and touch base with them or send out another late payment notice in case maybe they didn’t get the first one. Oh and always make sure you have the right address when you work out the final details. Yeah, this is a simple step but it’s unreal how many people truly forget this and end up with a bogus address or one they “use” to live at. That is one sneaky customer so remember to cover that in the beginning.

These are simple tips but we all forget them from time to time and when we go about our daily routines. Just always be on top of your game and communicate with the customer to make sure you cover yourself for the work you do and that everyone is on the same page. No communication can cost you big time in the long run.

And as always if you need help collecting from a customer and you did all the steps above that we mentioned well then try our “beware letter” and when you collect the money, you keep it all – no percentage is charged…learn more.

For more information on our “beware letter” click here.

Also don’t forget we love feedback so if you have used the letter don’t be shy send in a testimonial. If you do we might even send you a sweet Business Beware t-shirt so you can be the cool kid on the block

“I found your site through a friend and I had been trying to get this certain customer to pay me for garage doors I installed at their home for over 5 months. I would send out late notice after late notice and never hear a word. I signed up after my friend told me about your service and got a beware letter sent to the customer. After about 6 days, the customer called me and said he was putting the check in the mail that day! I am amazed at this but also for the fact that you offer this to businesses to use. I am a proud supporter and member of Business Beware.”  -Jeffery Johnson in Savannah, GA

“I read about you in an construction magazine and immediately had to go to your site. After reading about the beware letter and how well it worked, I had to give it a try. It had been 3 months I tried collecting from a customer with our web design company. About 3 days after I submitted the letter the customer called our company with her credit card #. This is such an amazing service and anyone that doesn’t give it a try is crazy. Thank you so much!”  Carly Jenne in Dallas, TX

We get pumped when people send us testimonials and we know that our site has helped businesses out there. Every day we wake up and literally leap out of bed to get ready to help business owners everywhere. It’s an amazing feeling. To read more testimonials about our site and beware letter click here.

Have questions and want to give us a shout? Feel free to contact us anytime.

Here is our response: It often makes us wonder why a manager or business owner would take the side of a belligerent customer. One that continuously is confrontational and demeaning to their employees. A customer, someone who you deal with many times or just once that does this is not worth having an employee upset. A happy employee that you work with on a daily and hourly basis is worth much more to your business than that customer. And a happy employee is in the right frame of mind to take care of your good customers better. Your best investment is to fire that bad customer that cannot be pleased and keep your employees happy. The thought of you letting that bad customer go for your employees benefit will do wonders for your business, your employees, yourself and your good customers.”

If you ever have any questions feel free to contact us.

These are a few of our favorite things….We have read so many articles from people that post about the best tools to use online, best tools for your business, best social media tools etc.  So we thought we would compile our own list of tools that we think are pretty awesome and that we are big fans of. Feel free to post others that you like or think need to be added to the list.

1. Notixtech.com – These days everyone is on their mobile texting, checking emails, checking the score of the game etc. but they are also looking up businesses online to get more information about a business.  Is your site mobile friendly?  More than likely it’s not.  With Notixtech they are “taking your business mobile” so others can find you and learn more about your business in the palm of their hand. They made Business Beware mobile, so get your phone out and check it out.

2. idesignyourlogo.com – What’s the one thing that people see and immediately should think of your business/brand? Yes, a logo! Some companies can charge a crazy amount to design a logo but these guys let you sign up for a day (each day increases by $2 that started in March) and for that whole day they promote your new logo and your company to everyone they know and then some.  They really put a lot of thought into what you want, colors, any of your ideas and a little heart and passion in it too.  They designed our logo for Business Beware and it rocks.

3. EmailMeForm.com – Whether you create your website or you have others do it this company makes it so much easier to create forms in html and php.  Let’s face it, most of us don’t know how to write code or even understand it for that matter but why do that if you have these guys?  It’s such a great tool and user-friendly that you can create a form and put it right on your site.  Big thumbs up from us.

4. Moo.com – What is another essential to promote your business even though it’s an old school way to do it?  Yes, business cards but not just any cards...Moo cards.  There is a huge difference believe us.  They have some amazing cards they can hook you up with even little mini cards that make everyone do a double take.  The prices are so awesome that it’s insane not to use them.  We love our mini cards and feel like important people when we use them.

5. FreshBooks.com – Okay another basic essential you need for your business to collect the dough is invoicing.  We don’t use this obviously because we are the ones helping you collect from customers that don’t pay their bills but this company is downright perfect to get the job done for any small business. Their service is painless and anyone can use it from a mom and pop shop to the big dogs.  The team is great and always there to answer any questions you have.

6. Flowtown – What if you could find your customers and interact with them online through social media? Hold on, you can so do that with Flowtown! Engaging with your members/customers is an important part of business. This is such a cool service where you can find out who is using your product/service and really reach out to them.  We use this since we have so many business owners from around the US and Canada where we can really engage with them and get their feedback. It’s a beautiful thing and it truly is a great concept.

7. IdeaPaint.com – Ever wanted to draw all over your walls like you did as a kid and not be confined to a certain white board? Well that is where IdeaPaint comes to save the day…they have created office and home kits where you can turn your office into one big whiteboard where you can jot your ideas down, coffee shops can write their coffee of the day and oh so much more. We love this product so much that we are thinking about opening a cafe just so we can write all of our specials on the wall.

8. Websticker.com - What is a fun way to make sure a business card sticks with a customer? Yes, a sticker how did you guess?? This company is just flat out awesome and truly care about making your business stick out from the crowd. They created our stickers for us (get our free stickers here by the way) and we definitely make a scene when someone sees it on our computers…Stickers are fun yes, but they definitely work when placed strategically…

9. Shipwire.com - If you’re like most small businesses we know you don’t have a huge office or space for that matter to store or keep all your products in one place. It’s never been easier to have an e-commerce site where you send them your products to store and once a customer purchases on your website they pack it up and ship it out for you. Take advantage of this site and don’t stretch your budget to get the bigger office.

10. Call Recorder for Skype by Ecamm – If you are podcasting, doing an online web series or just wanting to do interviews on skype and record them then this software is definitely for you. We use this with our radio show to interview guests and call ins. Even if the person doesn’t have skype you can record the conversation, it’s awesome. If you’re looking to get into podcasting or interviewing you should definitely try this out because it makes life so much easier if you do.

There are a lot of tools out there available to use but these are ones we have used or know others that do and can’t live without them. Feel free to add to the list if you think of one but before you do that make sure and check out these because it’s definitely worth your time.

Amber Mac and technology go together like mac and cheese (yes we are from the South).  We are huge fans and have her book on hand that is great by the way so make sure and get it – “Power Friending.”

She has a long running list of things she has accomplished and she is still going, which is awesome.  A few things off the list that she is involved in are: being a podcaster personality and host on Net@Night and CommandN.  Founder of MGIMedia and of course just wrote the book “Power Friending.”

We talked with her about what and how small business owners/entrepreneurs can get involved in the tech/social media world.  How do you start an online web series or podcast show?  A lot of times it’s fear that keeps people from doing it or just thinking it’s too complicated.  How the word “friend” has changed and all kinds of other great stuff.  **And when you listen to the show you will get the “Stomp the competition thing…”

Listen to the show via BlogTalk

Download in iTunes

Listen to interview only

Connect with Amber:  Twitter – Website

**Don’t forget to visit our official radio website for more information on shows, articles and how you can be on the show too.

The McNugget video that was released is just flat out hilarious that a customer would actually react that way over McNuggets…The woman says that she doesn’t remember it at all, well most don’t like to remember things that they did like that…

In the article I just mentioned it stated

 ”But there’s more: For people who work in jobs that involve lots of customer service, a common peeve is that customers too often are demanding, abusive, or even downright violent.” 

Ugh, so true.  And it shows in the video of this woman attacking the lady at the drive thru.  I think people forget the fact that there are some customers that believe they are always going to get their way no matter what.  They can’t stand the fact that some business owners turn them away or say “you’re not welcome here and we don’t need your business.”  A business owner can tell any person they don’t need their business if they don’t feel they are a fit to work with.  Of course there is somewhat of a fine line you walk with working the corporate world, you don’t own that business and so you can’t just say “hey, you’re not welcome.”  Little bit of a different story there but at the same time you don’t deserve to be treated like scum…

Yes, there can always be bad customer service out there whether the kid is too busy texting rather than helping you after you have been waiting for over 30 minutes or someone who completely ignores you and even stares right at you.  But you can’t rule out the bad customers out there because they are EVERYWHERE.  Those that truly believe the customer is always right have another thing coming and it’s just old school of how things were interpreted. 

P.S. We included the video for your enjoyment and we put it on our “CustoMonster” page too.

What do you think about the article?