Lesson 4: Referrals VS Advertising

(Scroll down for Mixtape) I put amazon ads on my blog because I frequently use the site to buy cheap items. I LOVE books! I have books all over the place, which is why I plan on putting ads for a lot of the books that I've read on this blog. So if you see an ad on my site for something I either use it myself or I have done research to determine that it might help someone out. Advertising is great, but in business it is far better to create a good reputation and be referred to someone else. Yesterday, I was looking for a place to buy a lot of eggs for one of my secret plans. I called about three places and most of the people that I talked to were very nice and polite. People can smell a rant from a mile away so let me just get to it. Everyone responds differently to certain speech styles and I have to say one of the companies really struck me as rude. Eggs Hawaii INC. Ugh what fugly customer service etiquette. The representative I first spoke to was nice, but when she transferred me to her manager to answer some of my questions, the manager was so condescending. I just wanted to know if they did delivery and she threw me into the fire. What is your store? Do you even have a business? Where is your location? What, where? No we don't even do that! Although they have good prices, even if I was a big name store I would never want to do business with them. I want to deal with people who are smart enough to know how a potential customer should be treated. It's okay to be exclusive when it comes to choosing who you want to sell your products to (as I understand that some companies only want to deal with high profile clientelle), but make sure to be upfront about that fact in a professional way. If you dont want regular individuals calling you, make that information readily available, discuss the minimum quantity you are willing to sell and don't treat the customer like they are wasting your time. A high maka maka company should have a high maka maka advertisement with more information that just a phone number. If you put an advertisement in the phone book expect many different types of people to call you. In theory an advertisement is a paid referral, a real referral is created through hard work, a sound business strategy, and a proven track record of success. Anyhow this is just my opinion on the whole thing, since it is a free country and all.