Today we finished our week of fun work.
Wednesday and Thursday were spent with the Big Game Plan Players www.thebiggameplan.com .
There are few things that get me more pumped than to see people set a target, plan it, do it and make it.
This is a group action takers. I could not be more proud of them and the awesome work they are doing!
Special thanks to J, who flew in from Bucharest. We’re having a meeting in Ireland in April and she could have waited, but did not want to miss the focus sessions and meeting personally with other players.
Side note: You have GOT to get in or form a group of 15+ like minded people. You cannot believe how this will make your business accelerate.
Our Mastermind ReDefined group has been meeting since Thursday afternoon. We’re having an AWESOME time of brainstorming among peers.
Last night we went to a Dallas Stars hockey game. Big time thanks to the www.twitter.com/barefoot_exec and Carrie’s team for hosting a great event. Fun!
Alrighty then…
You know, refunds and returns are part of business. Here’s a philosophy you might want to adopt.
This is what some might call common sense. Others might just call weird.
Here it is…
If I buy something and it flat out does not work, I might as for a refund.
However, if I learn or discover anything. I NEVER ask for a refund. Because that stuff’s in my brain. It’s not right for the product creator for me to take their information and use it and not pay them for it.
And “using it” means…
Regardless of the intention of the product if an idea hits on page 54, or video 3 or four minutes into the MP3. That’s an idea that would not have existed or triggered without that purchase.
So is it fair to ask for a refund when it spurs thought or direction? When new knowledge is gained or old knowledge is resuscitated?
No.
With product consumption, you and I are changed forever. It may be two years from now that you think, “Oh…I remember reading that in ‘Name of Book’ I need to put that in action.”
That would be wrong to move forward with if you had gotten a refund, right?
OK, let’s get more personal for example…
You’re selling an MP3 program.
Bill buys.
Downloads.
Consumes.
Decides it’s “Not for him.”
Gets a refund.
A year later.
He’s still wading around in the same market.
He remembers something you said.
It sets him on fire.
He finally moves forward because of YOU!
But he got a refund?
That’s just silly.
Practice intellectual integrity and you will attract people like you to your online business.
Success is NOT an Accident,
Paul
I completely agree with you. I think far too many people just ask for a refund at the drop of a hat because they are looking for something for nothing. Those kind of people will never move ahead anyway.
I buy all kinds of products online. I have only sent something back once. That was because when I received the program it was not anything like I thought it was going to be and I was not going to use it. It involved a planner and other physical things that I would not use.
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Paul – you are so right! I am reminded of the saying “how you do anything is how you do everything” and this would apply.
Thanks for all the great things you do!
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I agree somewhat, however I have purchases a couple of products that promised the world and full support then fell short on both counts. Sometimes hype takes over our minds and we purchase a product that can’t possibly deliver, in these cases I believe a refund is in order. “Too GOOD to Be True” sales pages and shallow promises should be unlawful!
I am thankful for Paul, his honesty in marketing, and Nicheology!
Michael
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I certainly do agree with most of your points. I find that I have bought many products and have only asked for a refund in very rarely. I try to be careful who I deal with, and although their “iron clad warranty” does help me to feel comfortable in buying, I am very aware of getting back what you put out. I recently invested in a program that has so far not performed as I expected, I considered asking for a refund, but I’m really glad that I didn’t because by staying with the program, the creator has sweetened the deal for the loyal buyers. I am so grateful that I allowed my investment to grow, rather than just going for the “quick fix” of I need a refund. I take responsibility for my part in the success formula!
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Paul,
I don’t think your analogy is quite right. The product can’t just teach you something, it has to teach you what it claims it will teach you. Just learning something, in and of itself, is not grounds for refusing a refund. The product has to deliver what it claims it will.
If I buy an ebook that says it will teach me step by step how to market as an affiliate, and all it does is throw out some vague affiliate marketing theories, and doesn’t teach me how to do anything, then that is more than enough of a valid to ask for a refund. It doesn’t matter that I might have learned something. The point is that I wasn’t taught what I was promised I would be taught.
I used to work in the advertising industry, I currently have my own onine business, and on top of all of that, I am also a consumer, so I try to look at these things from both sides.
What I have noticed about the internet marketing (particularly the make money at home) niche is that a lot of interent marketing gurus keep complaining about making refunds, and viewing their customer as advisaries, when what they should be doing is trying their best to please the very people who put food on their table.
They seem to have slept through business 101, and don’t realize that they need their customers a lot more than their customers need them. When a person patronizes your business, they are contributing to the very existance of your business.
Not only that, anyone with at least a double digit I.Q. knows that it is just plain dumb to bite the hand that feeds you, and this is something else that anyone who took business 101 should know.
In short, if you are someone who just can’t stand issuing refunds with a smile, then you are most likely going to be better off just working for someone else, and should not even consider having a business of your own.
Something a very shrewed business owner who ran a glass repair business once told me, said that if you dictate how your business is going to be run more than your customers dictate how it is going to be run, then odds are you won’t be running it for very long.
That proobably doesn’t make much sense on the surface. I’ll admit it kind threw me when I first heard it, but after it was explained to me, it made a lot of sense.
One of the big reasons why a lot of people try to establish their own business is because they have been led to believe that they will be able to run their business any way they see fit, if the business is theirs. They will be the boss.
Well, that’s a common belief anyway, but even if you do have your own business, you still won’t be the boss. Your customers will be your boss. Well, they will be if you want your business to stay afloat anyways.
Nuff said.
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I too have ordered more than my share of products – some of which have no real value and some which do set me off in a different direction. Most of the time I have not requested a refund. Sometimes it is because I have not taken the time to really examine or read or watch or listen to the product to determine its value, even when I know that I will probably learn something. I feel as if I am suffereng from information overload most of the time. Today I actually delted over 8000 emails that I have been hanging on to since 2006 “in case” I had the time to read them to glean the information contained therein. I want to help people, I want to find good information that people will be able to make use of and I keep searching, but I have not focused enough to create the necessary product. Sorry for blabbing on. Thanks for your blog!
Fran Watson
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