Why Isn't Back-to-School a Subscription?

Copyright 2010 Dennis S. Vogel All rights reserved.
This blog post was transferred from another service.

The Advertising Age article cited below prompted me to expand on what I published before.

Why Isn't Back-to-School a Subscription? - CMO Strategy - The Season's Missed Loyalty Opportunity by Jonathan Salem Baskin
http://adage.com/cmostrategy/article?article_id=145537
As of today 09/20/2010, this article was still available to registered visitors.

Except for the Henry Ford quote, the content in quotation marks below is from Jonathan Salem Baskin's article.

Writing about retailers, Baskin wrote, "Their marketing presumes that they've never before met their customers, and as if this year is the first time their target audiences have gone shopping for school stuff. The ad creative is frighteningly similar across brands, evoking variations on the theme of 'we have low prices on whatever you're looking for.'"

Too many retailers think too little about what consumers want/need. Yet, those retailers are surprised how seldom consumers think about what they can buy to gain more benefits. If retailers don't know why certain people (market niches) would prefer some offers more than others, why would they expect consumers to learn & remember what a store stocks?

Low Price, But What About Value & Benefits
It's too easy to rely on price cuts. Cutting prices doesn't explain why an offer is superior for people in specific situations.

Jay Abraham (http://www.abraham.com/) advises explaining benefits & giving reasons for prices, whether prices are higher or lower than competitors' prices.

Jeff & Marc Slutsky (Street Fighter Marketing www.streetfightermarketing.com/) advocate preserving price credibility. Price credibility means a business owner is serious & is perceived as serious about charging fair profitable prices.

$XYZ Or Best Offer
As people haggle more for lower prices, imagine retailers saying, I can't afford to lower prices. Prices are justified by product quality. Prices are firm, unless of course, you want to pay less.

It's just like continually using discounts to spur sales, except the haggled prices aren't advertised.

Baskin wrote, "Customers could enter the items they're interested in replacing far earlier in the year, and perhaps there's a group-buying function, too?"

When people ask for discounts, a retailer can say, some employers & nonprofit groups arranged for pricing programs. If your group makes mutually beneficial arrangements with my store, you can participate in a program too.

Nonprofit groups, employers & unions can qualify their workers/volunteers/members for programs like that. Discount programs can be used as rewards for working productively & employment longevity. The groups, employers & unions are responsible for distributing the offers - printing/copying the flyers or ads in their newsletters. Otherwise, retailers end up paying for - expensive - mass media advertising.

Don't give away discounts - have individuals & groups earn discounts. Part of earning those discounts is letting them pay for the ads/flyers.

When people complain they don't get a discount after somebody else got a discount, retailers can tell complainers what that somebody did to get the discount. Complainers can talk to employers or group leaders about getting that preferred treatment. It's a form of referral marketing.

Note- I tend to avoid the term word-of-mouth advertising or marketing. It's not advertising or marketing unless it's organized/managed as referral marketing.

Form templates can be created for people to use. Those forms will help consumers organize their purchasing & retailers can use those forms when they order merchandise.

Each participating family can use a form to decide what they'll buy. Completed forms can be received via email or web pages. Shareware/freeware survey programs & web based services could be used to make forms & process answers. Have paper copies available for technology challenged consumers. Let people print copies so they can do inventory at home.

It could be done via the Internet/email. Retailers may be able to copy & paste what people submit.

People will be grateful for the easier buying system. Since forms would be optimized for a particular retailer, people who use them are apt to patronize that retailer's store.

After customers use the system, retailers can get suggestions for improving it. Unfortunately as Henry Ford said, "If I'd asked my customers what they wanted, they'd have said a faster horse."

People don't always know what they want or need, until they get it. Even after they get it, it may not work optimally for a while.

Where To Start
Is it better to plan from the end result, then work back (The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen R. Covey - Habit 2: Begin with the End in Mind)? Or is it best to plan from the beginning & work to the end result?
The answer is the same for both - Yes.

Start determining what's available from vendors plus what customers want & can afford at about the same time.

Retailers can work both ends toward the middle. Ask consumers for a no-obligation realistic assessment of what they'll need & their budgets. It's important to emphasize being realistic. If the program turns out to be too much trouble, it'll end.

At the same time, retailers should start gathering information from vendors about what they plan to offer.

Retailers can match the results of those consumer forms & vendor lists.

In the 1st round assessment, consumers would determine what they'll need/want in general.

Example: Boy- 2 shirts medium size 12-14. Girl- 3 pants size 8/10. Estimated budget- $200.
As consumers do that, vendors would show a retailer what they plan to offer, the prices & a shipping date. Based on the retailer's business model, trade skill & financial needs, s/he can determine what to stock & set retail prices.

These programs can be a form of research. What people order - in advance through those programs - could be indicative of what other customers will want.

Via a web site link &/or a printed sheet or booklet, the retailer can show people in the program what will be available & how much they should plan to pay. With a general idea what they can buy without exceeding their budgets, customers should have fewer surprises & less stress.

Determining whether a prepayment or deposit will be required for the orders shouldn't be a deal breaker. If suppliers demand prepayments, retailers can blame them for the requirement.

If 200 people are expected to buy a product & 50 of those are in a program, the shipping charges will be partially borne by the program.

When the chosen products arrive, people in the program can use members' lists to pull out what members ordered & group those products together for each family.

When they do it, they'll save the retailer expenses for promotion & labor. Since program members do some work, they exchange efforts for lower prices. Their time investment would probably be relatively low. Instead of frustrations of regular shopping, members' time would be spent getting what they already chosen. They don't need to wait in long checkout lines. They won't be frustrated by out-of-stocks.

Return policies could the same or adapted for the program.


Thank you for using my blog. Please let me know if I should clarify anything.

Copyright 2010 Dennis S. Vogel All rights reserved.
When you compete against big businesses with big budgets you need powerful marketing strategies & tactics. You'll find them here-
https://thriving-small-businesses.blogspot.com/
http://www.voy.com/31049/

Subject: Can you stablize your profitability with subscriptions, continuity programs or until further notice offers?

The questions below are what you should consider if you want to start a business & wonder about feasibility. When you need more sales to stay in business, you should consider these issues in your sales efforts.

Should what you offer be sold as a subscription, a continuity program or something similar like until further notice offers?

Examples of continuity programs (also called loyalty promotions): A card is punched or stamped when people make qualifying purchases. Qualifying purchases can be transactions at or over a certain dollar amount or buying specific products/services.

Examples of until further notice offers: Delivering/sending a product or providing a service until a customer cancels or stops paying. This is often how people get internet access. On location oil change services &/or vehicle detailing can be offered like this. At certain times, as long as customers park vehicles in a particular place - - like where they live or work, a mechanic changes oil & possibly other maintenance.

Buying a magazine subscription means a magazine becomes part a recipient's life. In effect, magazine issues are invited in. Something about the magazine seems important enough to invest money to get it. Maybe buying a subscription is a way to help somebody raise money for a project.

Think about what you offer to consumers, why should it be a regular part of their lives? What would inspire people to invite your product/service in on a regular basis?

Why would people NOT want something on a regular basis?

Their lives may seem to be complete or overly complex already. Would people get relief from stress OR more burdens when they buy a product/service?
Would they be required to make loan payments?
Does owning a product/service solve more problems than it causes?
What responsibilities do people accept when they buy from you?

Consider what owning something requires. Do people have payments to make or are payments automatically deducted from their accounts?
How often is maintenance required to keep a product in good condition?
Do they have to learn how to use what they buy?
How soon & often will they get their expected benefits?
How long will the benefits last? Will they be making payments after the benefits are gone?
Have you thought about how subscriptions & buying clubs (like book of the month clubs) help people?

An annual magazine subscription can be better than deciding whether or not to buy a magazine issue each week or month. By committing to buy a book each month, people just make monthly decisions about which books to buy.

That can seem minor, but how often are you so mentally tired you avoid making decisions? How often does paying attention seem impossible because your mental energy account is overdrawn? (If this is never true about you, excuse me, but the rest of us may not be as perfect as you.) ;^) wink - grin

When you offer long-term services you take on a responsibility to follow through. Does it seem like a burden? - - Welcome to the business world!

Can you follow through consistently on schedule?

Businesses exist to relieve people of burdens or at least mitigate problems. It means you accept a burden. Is it worthwhile? How can you make it worthwhile for yourself & customers?

If you make your business profitable, competitors are apt to notice. Keeping your competitive edge sharp may be harder than starting your business.

There are so many permutations; covering them all in a small space like this is impossible. Complexities keep consultants in business. It means you pay us to relieve your burdens & mitigate your problems. When we do our jobs well, you can be more successful by focusing on profitably helping more people.

I plan for the next part of this message thread to be about advertising frequency. Until you read it, you may want to consider this: When your message about a subscription or until further notice offer reaches somebody who makes a purchasing decision, you can focus more of your marketing on persuading others.

Selling through subscriptions, continuity programs or until further notice offers can make your sales cycles & revenue more stable than relying on occasional sales.

Thank you for using my blog. Please let me know if I should clarify anything.

Copyright 2010 Dennis S. Vogel All rights reserved.
When you compete against big businesses with big budgets you need powerful marketing strategies & tactics. You'll find them here-
https://thriving-small-businesses.blogspot.com/
http://www.voy.com/31049/

Subject: All Work & No Play Makes Jack A Dull Boy

I planned for this part of this message thread to be about advertising frequency. The effectiveness of frequent advertising depends on the subject of the 1st part of this message - - really! I promise!

For optimal marketing, each message should offer something. In effect, each time somebody receives your messages, you make your promises again. Even if your products are out of stock or if your appointment book is full, your messages make promises you should fulfill.

So, if you promise something more often than you can fulfill, people will be disappointed or worse.

Your advertising should be consistent without making your promises too often. You need to have the right balance. Before I develop an offer for clients, I want to be sure they can accommodate/fulfill more transactions than they currently do. They may want more sales & especially more money; but frustrating people would only decrease sales & profits. They can earn more money without hurting their reputations which would mean losing future sales.

Too Much Of A Good Thing Loses Its Effectiveness

After testing (experimenting) & tracking your results over time, you can estimate what your results will be. Example: In the past, when your offer was ABC for $123, you sold 200 on average; you could estimate your sales for the same or similar offer will be about 200.

When your results taper off (eventually they will), you can decide whether to use the offer again or discard it. If you test methods regularly, you can replace the old offer with what you find is currently effective.

Some business owners say NOBODY will experiment on/with THEIR businesses. HELLO! They need somebody experimenting to find more effective alternatives. In marketing, many things eventually become less effective or even ineffective. What works well is overused by many marketers & consumers stop responding to it - - positively. When something has been used too much, people may start responding negatively.

Using worn out methods costs (wastes) money without bringing any benefits. So, why would anybody still use what used to work & now is inefficient & probably ineffective?

Even the most experienced marketer is experimenting the 1st time s/he uses a marketing method. A successful method for a different business in a different situation (i.e. is a proven method & probably overused/worn out) is still an experiment when another business uses it in another situation.

How many times does something have to be used before somebody declares it to be a proven method?
How many times can something be used before it becomes so common (familiar) people rarely notice it anymore?

Too Much Of A Good Thing Wastes Opportunities & Resources

It would hurt clients if I brought them more customers than they could serve in a short time span. People would leave dissatisfied & may avoid those clients in the future. Clients & their employees would be stressed by trying to serve too many people who just leave in disgust

According to an old adage, we should make hay while the sun shines. I agree as long as a harvester has enough storage capacity available. Farmers prefer not to leave crops to rot in their fields, but harvesting more than can be stored or processed wastes a crop, PLUS everything used to harvest it.

If you have a choice between losing customers because 1) they got a competitive offer instead of yours or 2) you frustrated them; which would you choose?

Your chances of attracting those who didn't get your other offer are higher than attracting frustrated people again.

Everything in Moderation - - Including the Amount of Moderation

I do NOT want to dissuade you from starting, buying or expanding a business. I want to dissuade you from hurting yourself by taking on too much. Too much work can do more than make you a dull person. Without enough mental & physical recovery time, your health WILL DECLINE. I hope you realize what your limits are.

You should also consider stress in your personal life. Your total stress load can quickly undermine your energy & health, this is especially true if somebody is undermining you in business &/or your personal life. I speak - - write - - from experience.

Be careful what you wish for because you may get it & find it different from what you expected.

Avoid committing to more than you handle, no matter how profitable your business may become - - if you succeed. Investors, employees & customers may share your dream, but they won't accept your dream as payment for what you owe them.

Common advice for anybody considering the publishing of a magazine, ezine or newsletter is to start slowly. Example: Instead of committing to publish something every week, it may be better to publish it every month. Promising an issue each week & failing to stay on that schedule is worse than increasing the rate in the future.

Even if you determine you can increase the frequency, you can publish regular issues on the same schedule & add others as bonuses or supplements. If you do it this way, it adds value without overpromising & under delivering.

People will respect you more if you admit your limits. People will disrespect you if you let them down too often.

Can you satisfy enough people with what you can realistically guarantee?

Before cell phones were popular & affordable, 2-way radios were used more. Prospective buyers (business owners) wanted to be able to communicate with employees even if they were 50 miles apart. A basic installation would be guaranteed to reach 35 miles.

Communications sales reps would ask how often those prospects need a 50-mile range. After prospects answered, sales reps helped them determine if they needed that much of a range often enough to warrant paying for more powerful radios & a taller repeater tower. Most customers were happy enough with the basic installation.

A basic installation could sometimes accommodate a longer range, though we never promised more than 35 miles. If customers discovered they could get more range, they were glad, because they got more than they were promised.

What Can Murphy Do, If You Violate His Law?

There are many unforeseen obstacles that could prove Murphy's Law. Health problems, personal & business financial troubles, personnel challenges, family hardships, economic difficulties, new legislation, etc. can force changes.

Problems can cause stress. Stress can undermine health. Compromised health can interfere with your ability to honor your commitments, which can cause you to lose your clientele.

This is similar to promising to provide a regular supply of products &/or regularly performing services. Things can go wrong & at the WORST possible times.

I know from experience how optimistic efforts can end with disillusionment. I want to help you avoid those situations.

You may have a lot of energy & talented employees. If you lose an employee, you could burn up a lot energy doing his/her job, plus your other responsibilities & trying to find & train a replacement.

People who owe you money may figure your business is over & decide not to pay you. You may be too distracted & tired to try to collect money while you struggle to pay suppliers.

Debts may be too small to sell to collection agencies or to hire somebody to collect what people owe you. Your total accounts receivable may be high, but each account could be too low be worth pursuing in court.

A Marketing Promotion Is a Promise

When people respond to your offers, they expect to get what you promoted, OK? When you have a successful offer, you can run out of stock or not have enough time to perform your service. If you sold the last of your products or filled your service appointment schedule yesterday, you may frustrate people. Anybody who gets your offer today may expect you to fulfill your offer today or tomorrow.

Depending on laws where you are, it may be wise to make your offers flexible.

In general, if your offer expired before your products are all sold, you can still fulfill your offer past the expiration. But, if you fail to fulfill offers before the expiration, you may violate a law.

If possible, a TV/radio broadcaster or newspaper publisher may let you change your advertising as your supplies are diminished or your schedule fills up.

Check the legality of stating your supplies are limited. You may want to specify how many you have to increase urgency & protect your reputation.

If a product could be defective, be ready to replace it without reducing the supply you advertised. Example: If you have 80 widgets, you can consider advertising your supply as 75 (unless that would be illegal where you are).

Would anybody complain if you promised 75, but sold 80? Maybe somebody would; but do your best to explain why you only promised 75.

Would anybody complain if you promised 80, but you could only sell 75? Yes!

It's usually better to under promise & over deliver, than to disappoint people.

How Could That Make Us Stronger?

I strongly disagree with this saying: What doesn't kill us makes us stronger. Realistically, what doesn't kill somebody doesn't ever make anybody any stronger.

After a concussion, a person can survive, but that concussion makes a person more susceptible to another concussion.

As far as I know AIDS or diabetes never killed anybody, nor ever made anybody stronger. AIDS & diabetes make people weaker, then something else gets those who are weaker.

Excessive stress weakens people to the point they succumb to other problems. I know that people who are alive & not in a coma will have some stress. The degree & amount of stress, plus how we respond determines if we thrive or barely survive.

(Note: I know the physics involved in what I described in the next paragraph is more complicated, but this is a marketing lesson, not a physics lesson.)

Stress is like friction. Without friction a car goes nowhere. Friction between tires & pavement creates traction. Excess friction tears rubber off & eventually a car with flat, worn out tires is unable to generate enough friction to gain traction.

Just another point to drive this home: If what doesn't kill you makes you stronger, anybody who hurts you would do you a favor, right? WRONG!

So, please avoid hurting yourself! You should expand your personal horizons. You can do it safely.

Analogy: If your goal is to lift a 500 pound barbell over your head, do NOT start your development by trying to lift 500 pounds.

Thank you for using my blog. Please let me know if I should clarify anything.

Copyright 2010 Dennis S. Vogel All rights reserved.
When you compete against big businesses with big budgets you need powerful marketing strategies & tactics. You'll find them here-
https://thriving-small-businesses.blogspot.com/
http://www.voy.com/31049/

Subject: Requests For Clarification Author: Blog Readers
In reply to: Dennis S. Vogel 's message, "All Work & No Play Makes Jack A Dull Boy"

To conserve space & guard confidentiality, this is a paraphrased summary of questions & concerns. So, I can help many business owners, my response is general. Focusing on one business would mean ignoring others.

Some of what I wrote below may seem basic & boring to some. I want to be sure each of you understands all of the content.

If you feel more comfortable sending me questions & comments via email instead of posting here, please do it that way. Indicate what you want to keep confidential.

Please let me know what you offer or want to sell, who is in your market niche plus how you can reach them & where. I can help you more when you give me enough information.

I hope what I wrote below sums up what people are concerned about.

SUMMARY-

I understand what you wrote in the following paragraph. If you understand my situation, maybe you can help me implement it.

For optimal marketing, each message should offer something. In effect, each time somebody receives your messages, you make your promises again. Even if your products are out of stock or if your appointment book is full, your messages make promises you should fulfill.

Very often, especially in winter, I can only afford to do what you call name, rank & serial number advertising. I also include my store USP, preemptive advantage &/or positioning statement.

(Note - Advertising that contains only the kind of information on business cards is what I call name, rank & serial number advertising. It seems like business owners are prisoners of war revealing only what captors need to inform the other side whom they caught.)

I have limited storage space & a limited inventory budget. Before I advertise specific products, I need to be sure I can get more of it in less than a week. In most cases, I can only afford to stock a dozen of a product. Yet, if I advertise for only 12, my ROI is too low to justify the advertising.

This winter, like some others in the past, either I was snowed in or my suppliers were.

Sometimes, customers will tolerate an out of stock because of weather problems. If it happens more than a few times with the same customer, she thinks I should be smart enough to learn my lesson & plan better.

Some have a hard time understanding my situation. I have to plan my promotions, at least a month ahead. If I would order enough to allow for a weather interruption, I would buy more than I can pay for & more than I can store in my back room.

Even if I advertise limited supplies, people still expect me to have enough stock so they can buy when they respond 5 days after my promotions start.

They expect a limited supply to be at least 50.

Just in time delivery sounds great in theory, but small amounts mean more shipments. If I order the same thing more than once, it costs too much.

Shipping companies charge a minimum price for each package. No matter how much the total price is, shippers will charge no less than the minimum. Example- From usps.com of the United States Postal Service - Express Mail Overnight, most locations From $13.25 Prices based on weight and distance Flat rate envelope available! Weight Not Over (Pounds) 0.5 $13.25

If a package weighs less than a half of a pound & is sent across town, the minimum charge is $13.25. To send a package the next day, a customer would still pay at least $13.25.

It would cost less to ship 8 pounds of merchandise for $27.65 in one package compared to sending 4 pounds this week ($18.90 per 4 pound package) & 4 pounds next week. The price only includes insurance for up to $100. $100 may be too little to cover some merchandise. Additional insurance adds to the shipping costs.

For this example we can think about jewelry being mailed. A jeweler may only have available space in a safe for 20 rings. Plus, if gold costs about $1,000 per troy ounce, for a jeweler in a small store, buying 10 rings may be too expensive for one order.

A retailer who buys too much inventory ties up too much money & hurts cash flow. Even successful businesses have been ruined when they ran out of cash to pay current bills. An electrical utility demands money (not a retail product) to pay for electricity. A retailer, who habitually buys too much inventory instead of paying electricity bills, can have a great security system but no electricity to power it.

The post attached to this is my response to these questions & concerns.

Subject: Basic Marketing Information For Advanced Results Author: Dennis S. Vogel
In reply to: Blog Readers 's message, "Requests For Clarification"

Thanks to those who sent requests for clarification. If I write something that confuses you, please ask for clarification.

What I wrote below is very basic because I want to be sure all readers will understand the concepts. I wrote at a level probably equivalent to Marketing 101. Even some MBA level textbooks have very basic content for those who got Baccalaureate degrees without studying undergraduate level marketing.

Mass Appeal May Be Unappealing To Small Businesses

I understand mass media advertising is expensive; a major reason for the expense is its inefficiency. Advertising sales reps call it various things: circulation, audience, viewership, readership, reach, households using television (HUT), Area of Dominant Influence (ADI), Designated Market Area (DMA), etc.

The basic meaning of these terms is: ads/commercials are potentially received by many people, some of whom have no interest, need or budget for what you offer. There are at least 2 reasons for the term Gross Rating Points (GRP). Gross can be broad/general &/or disgusting.

Many small business owners are disgusted with mass media. How about you, have you been advertising more but liking it less?

After your budget is blown you may be s___ out of luck (SOL) & call the advertising rep a son of a b- (SOB).

To be realistic & fair, mass media advertising can be beneficial for some mass marketers who use it wisely.

A Marketing Budget Is a Terrible Thing To Waste

Mass marketers can afford to waste a little money when they reach thousands of people in the wrong demographics. As long as the majority wants what mass marketers offer & buy millions of dollars of merchandise, a little waste is tolerable.

A LITTLE waste is relative.

For a small store with less storage & display space, plus a far smaller budget, a little waste can be hundreds of dollars. That loss can be a major part of a marketing budget & the difference between staying in business & failure.

When you can only stock a small amount, you should limit the reach of your messages commensurately.

You should know who wants & can afford what you offer. You should know where these people are. They may live in the same neighborhood. They may work for the same company. They may belong to the same clubs, groups or sports leagues. They may attend the same events.

Prospects are prospective buyers meaning they have a desire & ability to buy from you. Suspects are people you suspect may have a reason to buy from you.

A response rate is a percentage of people who receive your offer & inquire (make an inquiry) about it. A conversion rate is a ratio of people who inquire compared to the number of buyers. In this example an inquiry is a visit to a store to check a product or a phone call for more information.

Example: If you think you can reasonably expect 2% of inquirers to convert (buy from you), then you should consider the size of your inventory & how many people you need to buy what you have in stock.

If you can reach 100 prospects effectively & efficiently & your conversion rate is 2%, your sales will be 2. For big-ticket products (boats, cars, appliances, etc.), 2 may be enough.

Networking for Influence

Degrees of separation may be a factor in your ability to reach prospects. Many people figure they can reach anybody in 6 degrees of separation or less.

LinkedIn has its Six degrees of separation Experiment http://www.linkedin.com/groups?home=&gid=73997

LinkedIn seems to be this concept in action. The following paragraph from LinkedIn explains the concept of its experiment.

Six degrees of separation refers to the idea that, if a person is one step away from each person he or she knows and two steps away from each person who is known by one of the people he or she knows, then everyone is an average of six steps away from each person on Earth.

If you know somebody who has contact with a business owner, it means you have only one step between you & the business owner. After being introduced, it may be easy to get your marketing messages to the employees. When those employees are happy with what they buy from you (They will be happy, right?), the employer may introduce you to another business owner.

Some of my other posts have details about reaching customers & employees of other businesses. Reaching club or sports league members is similar.

When Your Transactions Are Low, You Need A Bigger Network

If your net profit from a typical transaction is low, you need to reach a bigger group &/or multiple groups.

If you can reach 500 prospects effectively & efficiently & your conversion is 2%, your sales will be 10.

In that case, if you can only afford to keep 8 of a product in stock, sending your message to 500 could cost you a small amount of money, but your response rate may be too high. Always consider the consequences of demand being too high for your supply (being out of stock).

How much more likely are you to be victimized by shoplifters if your store is crowded & customers distract you?

Whether you have a marketing consultant or do the marketing work yourself, be sure you can fulfill your results, even if your results are higher than you expected.

You should also consider the consequences of too many people in your store at the same time. How likely are your prospects to shop at the same time?

Marketing to employees in the same workplace can be efficient.

Employees of the same business may get to your store soon after their shift ends. Even if you have enough stock, your crowd could exceed the number allowed by the local fire code. You &/or your staff could be overwhelmed & stressed. Consumers may leave frustrated.

Frustrating a few people may seem minor but remember people are more apt to complain to relatives & friends. They may gripe to anybody who will listen.

You should consider how many members are in their networks. Six degrees of separation can work against you, too. If everyone is an average of 6 steps away from each person on Earth, complaints about your out-of-stock can spread quickly.

You can substitute complaint in the place of lie in the following quotes.

The main difference between a cat and a lie is that a cat only has nine lives. Mark Twain

A lie can travel half way around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes. Charles Spurgeon

That shows how serious complaints can be. Though nobody is apt to prevent all complaints, preventing reasons for complaints is critical. None of us will ever be perfect every time, limiting mistakes is essential for developing trust. Fixing mistakes affects trust, too.

Thank you for using my blog. Please let me know if I should clarify anything.

Copyright 2011 Dennis S. Vogel All rights reserved.
When you compete against big businesses with big budgets you need powerful marketing strategies & tactics. You'll find them here-
https://thriving-small-businesses.blogspot.com/
http://www.voy.com/31049/