How To Lose Repeat Business
I had lunch today with a friend of mine that uses a dropship company to sell fashion handbags. Over lunch she was complaining about an irate woman who had called because it had been nearly 2 weeks since the day she placed her order and still no hand bag. I asked her if the client had paid with a check, or was her dropshipping company running behind or had the bag been lost??? Even I was taken aback at the thought of waiting 2 weeks for a bag.
My friend answered no, ” I just wait until I have 10 orders before I place my order with my dropshipping company”
What??? Why would you do that when one of the big perks of dropshipping is that you can place an order 1 item at a time??
I told her I usually wait until the end of the day to send in my orders, but I NEVER EVER leave my desk with an unfulfilled order.
I don’t know if I got thru to her, but I know one thing for sure, she lost what could have been a good customer.
When should you hold on to an order before placing it with your dropshipper? The only acceptable time I think is if the client purchases your merchandise with a check. If I get an order and they are sending in a check, I will call them and see if I can get them to switch to credit card. 9 times out of 10 they do once I explain to them I can’t fulfill their order until I receive their check and then it can be another 5 – 10 business days before I know that the check has cleared. Most people don’t want to wait that long.
Tip: If your clients send a check NEVER fulfill the order until that check has cleared the bank. Make sure you understand the banks policy for NSF checks. if you fulfill the day after you receive a check and then find out 3 days later the check was NSF. Its highly doubtful that your client will make good the check since you have already mailed out the merchandise.
The reason I call is that its more personal. When I used to send them an email, many people would say that’s ok, they still preferred to send a check.
Even though most of us run our businesses online, don’t forget about the power of a personal touch and good customer service!
