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Don’t Make This Rookie Mistake - It Will Kill Your Business

By: Daniel Rosen Last updated: April 28, 2020

When you’re just getting started, it’s easy to get caught up obsessing over money. Especially if you’re overwhelmed, struggling to get by and counting on every dollar to keep the lights on. But no matter how difficult it gets, it’s crucial you stay focused on the most important things and never let yourself fall over to the dark side.

Recently, I came across a post in a business group that I follow, which urged people to send customers who don’t pay you or who owed them money to collections. And I was completely horrified! That is awful advice and not the way you should run a service-based business.

It’s true, usually when you’re getting started the money is can get very tight. But you must never allow yourself to get sucked into thinking it’s more important than the way you run your company. It will kill your business, make no mistake about it.

So for this week’s episode, I’ll be sharing my story of how I’ve learned this lesson the hard way and why over-delivering played a crucial role in my success.

 

Struggling to Sell My Very First Piece of Credit Repair Software

 

Sacrificing your reputation and relationships with your customers so that you can squeeze out a couple of pennies is not a good strategy. I’m going to tell you a story from the early days of my entrepreneurial career. I have to admit, it’s a little embarrassing, but I hope it will help illustrate the point.

In the first iteration of my business, I was trying to sell my tiny, $20 piece of credit repair software. It wasn’t much, but I knew it could help people. I poured my heart and soul into it, along with all of my savings.

As it turned out, it was incredibly difficult to sell. And the fact that I couldn’t afford to automate the process of selling wasn’t helping either. So whenever a person would buy my product, which wouldn’t happen very often, I had to create a registration code as quickly as possible and email it to the customer. I couldn’t afford to miss out on a single sale, which meant that I was bound to my computer 24/7, hopelessly waiting on my cue. 

But there were times I simply had to go out and leave my station. For example, to get groceries or whatever. And without a doubt, those were the times I’d make a sale. Since I wasn’t there to respond to the order, people would get very upset, send me an angry email, and immediately ask for a refund. These moments really got to me.

 

Keep Your Integrity at All Costs

 

What really got me going were situations where people would download my software, install it, use it, and then ask for their money back. At the time, I was devastated and felt extremely hard done by. Not only was the software reasonably cheap, but I was also desperate and needed every penny. 

So there I was, barely holding on and seriously counting on every single sale. I was facing an increasingly difficult situation, all the while feeling like a failure. But that’s not the embarrassing part of the story.

What I regret now, more than anything else, is how I treated my customers. I was so hung up on keeping that money any way I could that I would often argue with them. If something went wrong or they weren’t able to install the software - I’d blame them. It was ugly, but in my head, I was able to rationalize it. I thought I was doing what I had to do. But there’s no way around it - I acted poorly, and there is no excusing it.

“You must win people over with integrity. It’s the only way to succeed in business.” - Daniel Rosen

To make matters worse, none of it did me any good. The customer would only need to file a chargeback with their bank, and they’d be the end of it. But I was deluded into spending so much time and energy trying to figure out how to keep that money, it nearly ruined me. If I had just used it to work on my business instead, I’m sure I would’ve gotten over my slump a lot quicker.

 

Put Yourself In Your Customer’s Shoes

 

After I finally got around to screwing my head on straight, I managed to learn a valuable lesson from the entire ordeal. My customers were actually telling me something incredibly valuable. But I was so rattled and defensive I wasn’t able to see it at the time.

When a customer asks for a refund, it’s not the end of the world. Every business encounters these kinds of requests. And it’s not a big deal, especially not worth arguing with your customers about it. The standard number of refunds is usually around 1% across various industries.

However, if you’re dealing with a larger percentage of refund requests, most often it’s a sign that something’s not right. If your customers don’t want to pay you, or if they’re asking for their money back, it’s because they feel like you didn’t provide them with enough value. And in the service-based industry, such as credit repair, you have to overdeliver constantly.

“In a service-based business, like credit repair, you need to always over-deliver value and over-communicate.” - Daniel Rosen

Fantastic customer service is crucial, and one of the most important things you’ll need to grow your credit repair business. And you’ll never get very far without it.

If you’re looking for more advice on how to get your credit repair business off the ground, then go check out our Credit Hero Challenge. It’s a 14-day program during which we guide you step-by-step to getting your first clients, as well as results, without any experience whatsoever!

Learn more about the Credit Hero Challenge!

Thank you for tuning into this week’s episode of my podcast.

Until next week - keep changing lives!


 

Be sure to subscribe on your favorite platform below!

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Topics: Podcast

Transcript

0:00  

Today I'm talking about something that faces every single credit repair business owner, no matter who you are. And how you handle it will either make or break your business. 

 

So the big question is this, how can we take our passion for helping people with their credit and turn it into a successful business without taking loans without spending a fortune by bootstrapping it from nothing, so we can help the most people and still become highly profitable? That is the question and this podcast will give you the answer. My name is Daniel Rosen, and welcome to Credit Repair Business secrets.

 

There was a post in a business group that I follow where someone was advising that you should take customers who don't pay you or who owe you money and send them to collections. And I thought that was horrifying. Here's why. If you have customers, okay, especially if you're in a service-based business, it's your job to over-deliver value. Sure, we all need to make a living. But the moment that you put your focus... All of your focus on money in such a negative way, that's when things go downhill real fast. Now, instead, you might want to stop and think about why that customer doesn't want to pay you. Now, early on in my first version of my business, 20 years ago, I was selling this little $20 download. And I'd spent years making it and all my savings. And then when I tried to sell it, I was terrible at that. In a good week. I'd be lucky if I could make $100 and I couldn't live on that money. But I tried my best to learn this new business while I was trying to survive. And in the beginning, I didn't have a way to automate the delivery when someone would buy my little download. I didn't know how to build that part. And I couldn't afford to hire someone to help me to finish it. So I would just sit at home 24-7 and not go anywhere. And then when a sale would come in, I had all these bells and sirens that would go off. And that would happen at all hours of the day or night. And then I would jump up like a fireman to create the registration code for the software. And it quickly send the email with a download link... to the customer. And I would do this as fast as I could to make it look like it was an automated system and I was the robot sending the order. But there wasn't any robot. It was just me. Now because of that. I couldn't leave my house the entire first year of the business because I didn't want customers to be upset over their order taking too long so I literally wouldn't leave the house ever. And this was a terrible way to live. Especially since sales didn't even happen every day. Some whole weeks would go by and I only sell one $20 download. But there were a few times I had to leave the house like to go to the grocery store to run a quick errand. And whenever I did that, that's when I would sell one. And it never failed. I would always come home to emails from an angry customer who was all upset that in order to download 10 minutes earlier, and by the time I got home, he was already wanting a refund. This happened all the time, and people would get so impatient. I mean, I guess they thought I was some big company. They didn't know it was just me sitting there in my underpants trying to get my business started and to make grocery money. And then there would be other people who would actually buy and get at install and use my little download. And then they'd ask for a refund. And it wasn't a huge amount. It was only $20 download, but it will make me crazy, because I knew that they had used it. And at that time and really hurt, and I couldn't refund it, I needed that money to eat. So I would do whatever I could to hang on to that money. So if a customer had a problem, I'd argue with them. If they said they couldn't install it or that it didn't work, I blame it on them. I'm really, really embarrassed about this today. But at that time, I would do whatever I could to avoid giving them a refund. But that only bought me a few extra days with their money, because all they had to do was file a chargeback with their bank, and they get all their money instantly. So I wasn't really saving anything by acting this way. And yet, I would spend days and days so angry and stressed and writing reports to try to outsmart the system and to win the chargebacks and get that money back and I was doing all that instead of working on my business. That became my number one priority. To find ways around chargebacks and refunds, and that's all I thought about. And I just knew there had to be a way around it. I even tried sending a physical product to them, even though they only paid for a download. I would send a CD just to get assigned proof of delivery to be able to say, Look, they accepted the package. Look, they signed for delivery, and they never returned it. But even that didn't work. I'm not proud of this. Like I said, I was just getting my business going. And I was doing what I had to to survive. But looking back, I'm really embarrassed. I mean, at that time, I should have been thinking, is it me? Am I doing something wrong? Is there something wrong with my product? My biggest mistake back then was that I wasn't trying to put myself in the customer’s shoes, or to think about what the experience was like for them. Had I actually stopped to put myself in my customer’s shoes, I know I would have had success much, much faster. Here's why this is important to you. through all of this, I learned an important lesson. If a customer is not wanting to pay you, there might be a good chance that you are not delivering enough value. Or maybe you are, but the customer doesn't know it, because maybe you're not communicating enough to them. In a service-based business, like credit repair, you need to always over-deliver value and over-communicate. If you're just getting a tiny number of refund requests, that's normal, even the biggest and the best companies get some refund requests, and even a few chargebacks it's never zero, it's usually about 1%. But if you're getting a lot of refunds, and a lot of chargebacks more than 1% you need to find out what's going wrong. never argue with customers over money, I learned this the hard way I did this, I'm that idiot. So trust me, this will kill your business. And not only that, but the time it's going to eat up is going to be massive, and the stress over the whole situation is going to kill you. I know you need that money to eat. I know it's painful, but you have to give the money back. Because if you burn people, you're going to get a bad reputation. And anyone can see your reputation and a quick Google search. So in today's day and age, you must protect your reputation at all costs. And you must run your business with integrity. Even if it feels like you're going to make less money. It's actually the opposite. running your business with integrity is how you grow your business because integrity and value are ypp People will say great things about you. And it's why they will refer their friends. So you must win people over with integrity. It's the only way to succeed in business. So here's what you need to know, the customer is going to get all of their money back anyways, period, you have no control over that, and there is no way around it, all they have to do is file a chargeback with their bank, and the money gets pulled from your account. And on top of that, you get a big fine from your merchant account. And if you get too many chargebacks, you can lose your ability to take credit cards ever again. So that's the end of your business forever. So if a customer wants their money back, give it to them, wish them well, and then let it go. Because the energy spent over trying to hang on to that money. It'll never be worth it. No matter how much it is. Remember The goal of your business is to move it forward and to grow. And if you're just starting your credit repair business, or if you're not sure how to handle these things, here's my advice. Your reputation is everything protected, communicate often with your clients, and keep them in the loop on everything that's happening. Otherwise, they won't have a clue what's happening, and they will assume that you are doing nothing. So always over-communicate and over-deliver. And if they have an issue, make it very, very easy for them to communicate it to you don't hide from your clients. Otherwise, they'll file a chargeback and even worse, they'll write terrible things online. And next, have a money-back guarantee and honor it. You know, like a 30-day money-back guarantee, whatever it is, put it on your site and make it part of your pitch. When you have a money-back guarantee that will result in more signups and more money in your pocket because more people will trust you. And finally, always, always, always give refunds when asked, if you're doing a good job, and you're communicating well with your client or refund is going to happen very, very rarely. But when it does happen, give them the money, wish them well, and grow your business on honesty and integrity. This really, really works. This is how I've grown our business into eight figures. And it's exactly why people trust us. And the same will apply to you because it's universal. Like I said, I made a ton of mistakes when I was starting my business, but this one was by far the worst. I would get so angry and I would waste so much time obsessing over this. And then finally one day I realized - what am I doing? This was hurting my business. And it's taken away all this time and energy and creating all these bad feelings. And then all of a sudden, I let it go. And then I started giving refunds. You want your money, take it. And I started advertising a refund policy and honoring it. And guess what happened? My business grew. Because more people were willing to trust me and trust my business. And I know it's going to do the same for you. So don't look at the short term, okay? Look at the long road ahead of you. You only have one reputation, and that reputation is everything. In fact, it's the most valuable thing you have. I hope this information is helping my whole existence. And what I do every day is to help people who are starting this business, it's so hard to find good information. So I want to provide that for you because we are all in this together. So If you're finding value in this podcast, please click below to subscribe, and do me a huge favor and leave a review and rate me and let me know how I'm doing. This is a new podcast, and I can use all the help I can get. And I can't wait to see you on the next episode. And until then, keep changing lives.

 

Hey, everybody, it's Daniel again. And really quick. I'd like to invite you to join what I believe is the best thing we have ever created inside the Credit Repair Cloud Community. And it is a challenge that we call the Credit Hero Challenge. If you're just planning out your business or you're just getting started, and you dream of having a successful business of your own, so you can quit your nine to five and fire your boss and have financial freedom, or so you can add another revenue stream to your existing business, if that's your dream, you need to get into this challenge. We created this challenge to help you to create and launch your very own credit repair business. To build a proper foundation for a really successful business. This challenge is going to help you to understand the strategy, the tactics, and all the things you need to be successful at credit repair. It really is the greatest thing we have ever built, and it will change your life. So I recommend you do it right now. Stop everything, pause this audio, go online and go to creditherochallenge.com. That's creditherochallenge.com and join the next challenge. And there's a challenge that's starting in just a few days. So go get started right now at creditherochallenge.com

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