On Difficult Customers...

That is a difficult question and one that has long since bothered anybody that has ever sold anything.

Those that sell WSOs for very cheap see it all the time. Somebody buys a $7 product and then you spend $107 worth of man hours helping them figure out what they bought.

A good way to overcome this is to hold a group training session via webinar. You tell all potential customers that they will be invited once they buy. You invite the customers. Answer all of their questions at once. Record it and then you have the archive forever to refer new customers to.

My experience has been that someone who asks a laundry list of questions before they purchase is going to be more of a headache afterward. Refund probability is high.

Whatever happens, YOU set their expectations. If you take an hour of your time to hold their hand before they buy then you only have yourself to blame when they expect even more after the fact.

What I would do is create a FAQ form and whenever someone asks a question point them to it. If they have a valid question that might not be on the FAQ I would answer it and then add that question to my FAQ. If they're just breaking balls or asking a ridiculous amount of questions I would simply send an "automated" email telling them that you get many replies and can't answer every single email. If they buy it they buy it, if they don't no big deal - one sale isn't going to make you or break you.

I have this philosophy if I sense a customer is unsure about something, I simply leave it in their hands. They are the ones who have to make a decision and if I'm too short with you because of that, then so be it. Someone who is going to buy something and is unsure is most likely going to request a refund, which is just a big waste of time.

I would rather tell someone this isn't for you, bugger off (politely of course!) than have them make a purchase and be disappointed, then get angry because I can't refund them the second they hit the send button.

Now if you have a LOT of customer's purchasing your instructional product and are sending you inquiry after inquiry then it might be time to take a look at your teaching style. If its just one or two you can chalk it up to them just learning different. I've always been available to help my customers for the whopping one product I've sold.

However, those that were unsure I simply said this may not be for you. Sure I lost a sale, but saved lots of time putting up with odd emails varying in degrees of confusion and anger.

If you really don't want the prospect as a customer, tell him that your product is great for some but may not be the best in his particular situation. Tell him he should really do some shopping around, as you want to be sure he makes the choice that will best suit his goals.

If he comes back, hopefully he educated himself on your competition, saw the value in your offer and is going to shape up. If he goes away, there are always more fish... as they say.

You pick a lot of this up over time but it really does boil down to setting up the right expectations and creating great documentation.

You can weed out some before they buy. If I create a push button product for example, I state right on the sales letter something to the effect of "if you need a video to show you how to click a button, you're not ready for this product."

Create a pre-sales faq. Create another one for after the sale. If you sell software, create a requirements and compatibility page. Create cut and paste email responses that point them to the faq, documentation and help files. Create docs, manuals and help files.

Most importantly: Consider the type of customers your product will attract before you create it.