Painters were at our house this weekend, doing the trim outside

and a few rooms inside. My wife provided most of the direction,

but I asked the head guy (and owner of the company) to pay

attention to a few details for me.

The whole experience reminded me of how critically important it

is to pay attention to customer requests when dealing with eBay

sales. On the Web (and with email) it’s easy to lose contact with

customers and forget to address their concerns.

Make sure you don’t fall into this trap. You may not see the

results directly, but your customers will become upset and you’ll

eventually lose business – like my painter has. Not only did he

lose business, he lost a valuable referral source.

He started to lose me when he failed to record my suggestions

and concerns. I didn’t get into interior design much, choosing

between mauve and tope, but I did have some input as far as the

whole project goes.

I wanted them to make sure they cleaned up the "misses" on the

outside, where some black trim paint accidentally hit the white

house paint. I needed them to unstick some of the windows and put

all the screens back, as well.

When the project started wrapping up, it was obvious that the

lead was ignoring some of my requests -- namely the screens and

window unsticking. I loved the work, but I wasn’t so hot on their

finishing skills.

From a customer service perspective, the timing couldn’t have

been worse. Just when the painters wanted to consider it a job

well done, I was having second thoughts about their competence.

That sinking feeling should not have come at the end of the

project. The lead should have been going out with a celebration

rather than with some gripes. He should have lead me around,

showed me how great everything looks, showed me the extra work

he'd thrown in, and gone down my list of requests one by one,

demonstrating that he met my needs and respects my wishes.

If he performed these "finalizing" customer service/marketing

steps, he'd have my 100% recommendation. I'd rave about him

to friends, pass out his business cards and even write up a

testimonial for him. I'd offer to help him out with his

advertising materials, in fact. We'll certainly have more

painting jobs in the future, and I'd like to stay on good

terms with him.

On eBay, the same steps need to be followed in order to build

business and collect loyal customers that rave about you. You

need to send customers follow-up emails that confirm what they

bought, what kind of deal you're giving them (on shipping,

bonuses, etc.), and how you appreciate their business and would

welcome any questions they may have. You need to offer them

targeted cross-sell and up-sell items as they bid and shop. And,

you need to quickly address their concerns as they come up. All

this attention and service ensures that your customers refer you

to others, leave positive feedback, and return to do more

business with you.

Don't be like my painter. Pay attention to detail and your

business will grow at a healthy pace.