Your most unhappy customers are your greatest source of learning.

That’s a quote by Bill Gates. Learning how to deal with unhappy customers is a critical component of running a successful business.

Today Liz Krause is going to show you various ways to deal with unhappy customers and situations that you will most likely face when running your own business.

Unhappy customers are still customers

Unhappy customers express their feelings because they still want to be a customer. They just want you to fix their problem. Here are some ideas on how to resolve issues with your customers.

Talk to them directly on the phone

Resolving an issue can be as simple as sorting out any misunderstandings with a customer directly over the phone. This approach is more personal than communicating via email and the customer appreciates it.

Offer a refund

If keeping a customer means offering a refund or exchange, it’s worth it. Providing additional customer services such as paying for shipping can go a long way towards building a better customer relationship.

Know when to let them go

Sometimes the only way to make a customer happy is to lose them as a customer. This is particularly true with services when your client wants out of a contract.  Getting out of a contract typically requires a termination fee, however in sticky situations it can be better for both parties to negotiate a reduced price or agree on no penalty at all.

No matter what outcome you choose, always be patient and treat them with respect.

Respond Logically, Not Emotionally

Customers don’t appreciate how much time you put into your business. So when they complain about one of your products, it’s easy to become defensive and overreact. Here are a few tips to overcome the temptation to react emotionally.

Be logical and practical

Your goal is to solve whatever problem your customer has. If they don’t like the way you designed something – fix it. If they think you’re painting job is slopping – fix it. If something you shipped to them is damaged or doesn’t work, offer a refund or ship them a new one.

Focus on the solution, not the emotions and your customer will be happy to work with you again.

It’s business, not personal

One of the biggest downfalls I have seen in the business world (and in my own business) is when people in a company take things personally. Usually when a customer has a complaint it is not about you – it’s about the product.

Look at the problem logically and ask yourself what is the real issue at hand? What is the root of the problem and how do I fix it so it doesn’t happen again? Find a solution that is a win-win for both parties.

Address issues in a timely manner

Unhappy customers usually just want to vent to anyone and everyone they can – on and offline.   That means you need to fix this problem before it spreads.

A good example is the Netflix debacle that when they raised their prices without any explanation or effort to soften the blow.  Customers were enraged, not about the price increase, but by the way they were treated.  Instead of trying to smooth things over, Netflix defiantly charged ahead which caused many of their customers to cancel their subscriptions.

Had Netflix seriously considered the posts, comments, tweets, and other online feedback by customers, maybe they could have avoided the financial mess they are now in.

What to do when it is too late?

I can’t speak for Netflix, but in my previous business we had a customer who made some bad assumptions about our service and posted his frustration on a forum.  When we saw the post, instead of firing back a public retort, we talked to the customer privately. In the end the customer apologized and felt bad he used the forum to vent instead of coming to us directly.

Then we asked if he’d mind deleting the post, which he did and within 24 hours it was removed.

Working in business means dealing with customers – happy and not so happy.  In the end, finding a win-win solution will benefit both your customers.

What if Your Customer is Angry?

See how I dealt with a hilarious email from a very angry customer:
How to Deal with Angry Customers >>

Photo by: J.G. Park

Pre-WordPress, JuniorBiz was hacked three times. After it was hacked, the number one keyword associated with my site was ‘Viagra’.

Since I transitioned to WordPress and started using some of these other tools, my site hasn’t been hacked once.

Today, Matthew Denos from Weight Loss Triumph is going to share the tools that he uses as a budding blogger. They will make your blogging life easier, more effective and reduce those painful “why won’t this work right” headaches.

1. WordPress

Of all the blogging platforms out there, many of which are really nice, I adore WordPress. You have to spend a few dollars a month to host it. But if you want a monetized blog, the options available are staggering. Nothing compares to the flexibility of the WordPress blog, and the platform itself is FREE. How can you beat that?

Next: How to Properly Publish a WordPress Blog Post

2. HTML Code Editor

Unless you are a geek in every sense of the word, and can write strings of code in your sleep, get yourself an HTML code editor. It will save you hours of hair pulling frustration as you try to find that one little missing < or /. HTML is the invention of the 20th century. It revolutionized how we communicate, and as "old school" as it is, it remains the key to the kingdom…but it also severs a lot of heads along the way.

3. Google Analytics

The big “G” can be a big pain sometimes, but when it comes right down to it, they offer so much to the blogging entrepreneur. Analytics lets you accurately track your blog’s performance—or even several blogs at a time, and gives you access to track everything from hits to clickthroughs. Analytics will tell you how long a visitor stayed on your page, where they came from, and what sales techniques are working for you.

4. Google

Yeah, okay, the main “G” in the big “G” network, but try as others may, they can’t compete with the incredible research function that the Google search engine provides.

5. YouTube

If ever an invention spoke to the minds of the “X” generation, it is YouTube. One of the most important elements in creating blog diversity and interest is pictures, and “moving pictures” are even better. Not only can you incorporate other peoples concepts into your blog topics, but you can create videos for your subject matter.

A great additional perk to the embedding YouTube videos on your blog, is that those videos can also gain traffic through the YouTube site itself. You can link back to yourself, or add your affiliate link to your video description right on the YouTube page for even more hits.

6. Discussion Forums

Not a blog, but a great way to promote your blog. When I sign up for a forum that is related to my topic (weight loss), I almost always feature links to my blog, and to my pages on Medifast coupons and Diet To Go discounts. It’s a great way to kill two birds with one stone.

7. PaintNET

It’s not Photoshop, but it’s a really good picture editor and paint program that is FREE. There are a few things that Photoshop does better, and a few others that Photoshop does that PaintNet doesn’t do at all, but considering that Photoshop costs about $700.00, PaintNET is a great deal.

By the way, for anyone using either Window’s OS Vista or 7, for minor picture adjustments such as cropping, resizing color adjustment and such, the Microsoft Picture Manager is fast, easy and comes with the program.

8. Downloads.cnet.com

I don’t think I could live without this delightful platform. When I need a program for ANYTHING, that’s where I go. Some are free, some are cheap, and some are the most expensive out there. You’ll find reviews from the Downloads site itself, as well as others who have downloaded and used the software.

9. Twitter and Facebook

Two birds of the same feather that are great ways to get the word out about your blog. Not only can you share recent posts by linking to them in your status’ on both platforms, but you can encourage readers of your posts to click on a Twitter or Facebook icon and share your links with their friends as well!

And finally the big number 10 is… WordPress’s (did I mention I love WordPress?)

10. AllinoneSEOpack

The plug in that lets you control every option for how your site is indexed in search engines. It’s an Internet marketer’s must have.

Editor’s note: If you use Thesis, the ability to control SEO details is built-in.

Those are my top ten must have blogging tools. What business tools do you find useful, and what tools can you not live without?

Need more convincing that blogging is a good way to get traffic? Every Blog Post Earns an Extra 1,320 Visits Per Year

My dad and I always used to build stuff when I was growing up. We built derby cars, closet shelves, and wooden fences. We even finished our basement.

One of the first things he ever taught me was that there’s a right tool for every job. The same is true for building your online business.

Fortunately, entrepreneurs have built tons of tools to help entrepreneurs like you and me. Here are ten entrepreneurial tools I use on a daily basis in the order I use them.

1. Chrome

The first thing I do in the morning is wake up, stumble downstairs, get on my computer, and open up Google Chrome. Based on my scientific experiment, Chrome (1.205s) loads almost twice as fast as Firefox (2.214s) and Internet Explorer (2.542s). Plus, it’s sleek and professional. I’m using Chris Delbuck’s theme.

Go get Chrome for FREE >>

2. Gmail

When I open Chrome, it automatically opens my Gmail. Not using Gmail from the outset was one of my bigger mistakes as an entrepreneur. One of Gmail’s coolest features is that they let you send emails through the email address associated with your website. Now, all of my emails appear to be coming from wntart@juniorbiz.com when I never actually use that crummy, bulky, email dashboard.

Start using Gmail for FREE >>

3. Aweber

Aweber is what I use for the Start a Business and Make a Website courses. When someone signs up, they automatically get the emails for those courses on the days I specify. This way, I can offer these courses to anyone no matter when they sign-up. It also lets me manage and analyze all of our subscribers and email campaigns.

Start using Aweber for $1 (first month), $19/month thereafter >>

4. Pandora

Ooh, how I strongly like Pandora. They let me play all of my favorite music for free up to 40 hours/month. I usually hit the 40-hour mark about ten days in. After that, it’s only 99¢ for unlimited playing for the rest of the month. I’ve been paying the 99¢ until Nick recently directed me to the next tool.

Start using Pandora for FREE >>

5. Grooveshark

Grooveshark is like Pandora except they let you play any song you want and it’s ad-free. Best of both worlds, right? You’d think. I still prefer Pandora because it’s easier to create a mix of music from all of my favorite artists and genres. But Grooveshark is a great alternative once you hit the 40-hour mark.

Start using Grooveshark for FREE >>

6. ClickBank

Once my email is checked and my music is Taylor Swift-ing, I check my ClickBank account to see how many books we’ve sold. We use ClickBank to handle our book orders because it allows us to easily pay our affiliates who are promoting the book on their sites.

Join ClickBank to Sell Your Stuff or Others’ Stuff >>

7. Stamps.com

Before Stamps.com, I was spending a few hours per week running to the understaffed post office and standing in line. Since I found Stamps.com, I can print postage and ship the books from home. If you’re shipping physical products, you need to be using their service. They send you a free scale and free postage when you sign up. But it’s $15.99 per month to keep using their service after the first month.

Start using Stamps.com for FREE >>

8. PayPal

PayPal is what I use to do all of our invoicing. If someone has a special order or bulk discount, I can email them an itemized invoice that they can pay online. If it gets lost in their inbox, I can send a one-click reminder. When we get their payment, we deposit it directly into our business bank account.

Start using PayPal for FREE >>

9. Mint.com

I started using Mint.com last week to track of all of my financial accounts. It’s awesome and it’s free. You create an account, add your bank accounts/credit cards, and set your budgets. Then they email/text you detailed reports with account balances and spending habits. Not to mention, a young entrepreneur started and sold it to Intuit for $170 million.

Start using Mint.com for FREE >>

10. RescueTime

I get distracted while I’m working, A LOT. Last week I spent 50 hours and 6 minutes on my computer. But, I wasted 4h 53m on Facebook, 1h 20m on Twitter and 5h 1m on email. That’s over ten hours of unproductive time (although one of those emails was from Forbes!). The reason I know these stats is because I started using RescueTime. It’s helpful and free!

Start using RescueTime for FREE >>

Closing Remarks

If you’re overwhelmed and want to start with one, use Chrome. It makes the internet a better place.

Click here to start using Chrome now!

If you’re already using Chrome and you want to boost your productivity, click here to start using RescueTime!

If you’re using all of them, leave a comment below to tell me how awesome you are!

When you think of an entrepreneurial success story, you think of one person.

In reality, almost every successful entrepreneur has a team behind them. The entrepreneur gets all the credit because they pulled the team together – similar to how coaches get credit for championships.

If you want to build a business, it’ll be impossible to do by yourself. Today, Alex Papa from BusinessOpportunitiesExpo.com is going to give you four tips for building your first team.

Get to Know Yourself

In order to create a winning team you must have a clear understanding of your skills. You must have a good knowledge of what you lack and therefore need. Your team of business advisors should be there to provide the expertise you don’t have.

They should not be made of people who think exactly the same way as you do. You reap the rewards of differing opinions when you draw together a strong and effective team.

Build a Core Team

“You also have to understand that you can’t do it all by yourself. Business is a team project. It may seem like eMillions was just me, but I actually had a transcriptionist, a mentor, a graphic designer, and a copywriter.”
Stanley Tang

A team provides a pool of diverse talents that’s essential to the development of your business. Ideally, your first team should include experts in business management, finance, marketing and law.

For example, a small catering business will need to solidify business relations with an attorney who specializes in the food business, an accountant who knows all about your tax obligations, and an advertising expert who will know how to promote your business in the best possible light.

Establish Your Team Early

No matter what type of business you have, you’ll want to establish your team well in advance of your first deal, sale or agreement with a client. Trying to gather a team in the midst of a deal will lead to choosing poor team members. You may choose an expert who is too expensive, or choose an individual whose personality does not “mesh” with the spirit of your company.

If you run a small car dealership and fail to establish accords with a bank manager, you will be unable to provide fair and honest loan agreements to your customers. You’ll lose customers and those customers will tell their friends not to do business with you.

Attend Local Networking Events

Choosing team members takes time but it doesn’t always take money.

An excellent, free resource is other business people who’ve traveled the same path. Every city has a club, a business association or similar group of community business-people. This is a goldmine for young entrepreneurs who are willing to take advice.

The best part, mentors in your community understand the local issues. They are already connected to the “big” players in your area and many of them love giving free advice and talking over a cup of coffee.

Your business team is there to help you grow and succeed in business. Trying to go it alone is prideful and that leads to failure. Your team is your business, build it wisely.

Photo by: UGArdener

At age ten, I was completely broke.

Two girls came to live in our home that year. They came with a mom and two brothers, but I thought about them less. My parents welcomed their family into ours.

Springtime broke into the Estes Valley, creating unlimited opportunities for pinecone and spear grass wars. I tried to express my affection for the new ladies by throwing a handful of needles into their backs. They were far from twitter pated.

Running away from my advances, they turned my brother’s and my eyes towards something far greater than sharp thistles and sap between our fingers. I agreed, anything to spend more time with them. They called it, “Entrepreneurship”. I called it, “Lemonade”.

This is a guest post by Jonathan Romig. Jonathan graduated from Colorado State University in May 2009 with a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration. He worked for a year in Washington DC where he examined banks and traveled the country. This fall he will begin seminary at Gordon Conwell Theological Seminary and is hoping to become a pastor to young adults after graduation. He is currently working on his book project and website: Awkward Christianity.

I Heart Lemonade

A bypass runs alongside our home where cars speed by 10 miles over the limit. Our street cuts through, stretching up a much quieter section of roadway. Taking the time to select the best location, we pleaded with our parents to let us open shop on the fast road, all to no avail. So we opened shop on the quiet street.

The girls took a ride with their mom to the grocery store and brought back cups, tiny cups. I thought it was silly; tiny cups wouldn’t make anybody rich. You couldn’t drink anything from them. We could only sell them for 50-cents, and nobody would stop for tiny 50-cent lemonade.

I was wrong. The girls danced ballet in the middle of the street. The passing drivers had to slow. I understood. I would have stopped.

The first customer told us our product and location were good, but our cups were tiny. The next told us the same. We made $12.25 that afternoon, enough to reimburse the girls’ mom and go back and buy bigger cups.

Our everlasting summer was slain by money. The time had come to earn as many greenbacks as the passing tourists would give us. Our parents realized the more successful our business was, the more preoccupied and entertained we were. Moving us down to the highway they told us to not run in front of any cars.

“Stay off the asphalt,” my mom said before leaving to return to the house.

“Try the ballet thing again,” I whispered to the girls, wondering if I should push them out into the road.

We peddled for hours, selling our pink and yellow lemonade with bagels and stale cookies to any tourist that would stop. We were soon each making $65 a day. We were rich and the tourists, truckers, and neighbors knew us.

Three months later the family left, breaking our partnership, and my heart. The girls moved on, leaving Nathanael and me shaken, but confident our superior salesmanship could sell anything—girls or no girls.

We soon found out nobody stopped for two boys on the side of the street no matter how savvy their business skills. Thinking outside of the box, I got Nathanael to build a wooden box for me. I looked professional with “Lemonade Stand” painted across the front. No response.

We tried a different approach, dressing up in red-white-and-blue for the Fourth of July. Mom and some passing cowgirls thought we were cute. We were ashamed.

What I learned…

I left my illustrious career as a lemonade stand entrepreneur to work in the corporate world at a tourist shop downtown. The pay and hours were steady, but the sun was gone and my money was only my money after taxes and more taxes.

Three lessons to learn:

1. Starting a business takes teamwork and enthusiasm.
2. Location, location, location.
3. Creation, success, and failure are all an option, but regret is not.

Remember, starting a business may take our time, energy, and money, but we’ll take its memories. That’s what I learned from lemonade stand entrepreneurship.

Photo by: Rocket Ship