6. February 2008 by Tara.

Penzey’s Spices
2901 28th St. SE 
(616) 954-7077

www.penzeys.com

Tara:  Beep, beep, beep-beep, beep, beep, beep.
Penzey’s:  Penzey’s Spices, how may I help you?
Tara:  How late are you open tonight?
Penzey’s:  Until 5:30.
Tara:  Oh no! It’s 5:20! Waaaahhhhh! I can’t make it on time!
Penzey’s:  Are you having a spice emergency?
Tara:  Yes, I am!
Penzey’s:  Do you have a checking account?
Tara:  Yes.
Penzey’s:  Okay; what do you need? I will leave your spices in our mailbox. When you come to pick them up, just leave your check in their place in the mailbox.
Tara:  Really? You would do that for me? That’s great!!
Penzey’s:  It’s no trouble. What can I get for you?
Tara:  I need a small jar of ground cloves and a bag of whole Madagascar cloves.
Penzey’s:  Okay, they’ll be ready for you!
Tara:  Thank you so much! I really appreciate this. I’ll be there as soon as I can tonight.

Yes, this is a true story. Although not word for word, this is essentially how the conversation went down that fateful Friday evening. I was having friends over the next day to make orange-clove pomanders and needed more cloves! (Don’t mock me…it was a real spice emergency!!)

I can’t guarantee that the friendly folks at Penzey’s would do this for everyone, but I was amazed and so happy that they did it for me. The lady at Penzey’s didn’t ask for my name or for collateral…I could easily have taken the spices and run! But I would never do that, being an honest person, and was so impressed that in this day and age, where trust is at a minimum, someone would put her blind trust in me as a customer.

I was thrilled with Penzey’s before, since they carry just about every spice known to man, and then some, at very reasonable prices, but after that experience, that lady who answered their phone has earned Penzey’s a customer for life.

If you’re in Grand Rapids, visit Penzey’s at the above address. Anywhere else, visit their website to see if there’s a location near you…or you can order from their website or mail-order catalog. If you come and visit me, I’ll take you there myself so you can see for yourself how amazing this place is, and how great their customer service can be.

Posted in Grand Rapids Reviews | Print | 1 Comment »

6. February 2008 by Tara.

I used to have a great client who would send work regularly. He even struck a deal with me that instead of asking for a volume discount since he sent so many audios, he would pay the regular price if I would just turn his transcripts around faster. It was a great deal and he was one of my favorite Internet Marketers to work with.

I felt comfortable asking him for help. I learned about his family-wife and kids-and even sent them a gift when their second child was born. He just seemed like an all-around nice guy. I made sure that each and every transcript of his was polished and professional, and even went the extra mile by designing a layout, complete with graphics that matched his websites, so that his readers would be even more impressed with the products he created.

This person’s mentor had been a very demanding person, another Internet Marketer who claimed to have made over $1 million online. When I was a partner in another transcription service, we had the mentor as a client and although he offered us a lot of work, he wanted us to always keep his projects a top priority and we worked sometimes day and night to try and keep him satisfied. He was always asking, “Where is this? Where is that? Is this done? Is that done?” even though we were keeping up with the agreed-upon time schedule. He demanded that things were on time, yet it was like pulling teeth to get him to pay his invoices. I hoped that my client would not turn into his mentor.

My client had also been very generous with his list members and customers, giving away hundreds of dollars during teleseminars through contests. He was coming into his success with Internet Marketing and I thought it was so refreshing to see someone sharing with others, not just claiming to have made so many thousands online, but possibly helping others to fund their online dreams of independence too.

Well, something changed one day. I hadn’t heard from my client since his last project and I knew he had others coming up and would need audios transcribed. So I decided to send him a friendly email, asking how he was doing since I hadn’t heard from him in a while. The reply I received stunned me since I thought this guy was different. He was going to be someone who wasn’t always looking for the cheapest deal and would appreciate quality over saving a few bucks…

He told me that he had found another transcription service that charged about 1/4 of my rates, and that although he had to do more work on his end to fix their errors, he decided to go with them because of the lower price.

Where’s the loyalty? Why didn’t he ask me if I would give him that volume discount he never wanted before? What happened to making those thousands upon thousands online and paying for a high-quality transcription service so he could work on expanding his business, rather than having to correct poor-quality transcripts?

I know that things happen for a reason, but it really gets me about certain Internet millionaires who brag about all the money they’ve made and their lovely homes and sports cars, but they ask, “Do you give a discount?” While here I am, struggling to make ends meet, working hard every day.

Since my business has grown exponentially over the past year, I had all but forgotten about this former client. My current clients have shown me that they do appreciate quality, and some of them have stuck with me for years…which I appreciate so much! So for whatever reason this guy turned to being a cheapskate and sending his business elsewhere, it turned out to be a blessing for me. I have the best clients from all over the globe and I appreciate them too.

Posted in Transcription 101 | Print | 1 Comment »