Picture your business down on Main Street
| Category: Online Payments | Date: 2002-05-13 |
I receive more questions - and complaints - regarding what is truly professional in online payment systems than any other single subject. Over time, it has become clear to me that online business owners are falling victim to the erroneous belief that business is "different" on the Internet.
Business is business; it is what it is - online or off! The only difference with a business online is its ability to reach world wide customers at little expense and the speed with which it may be conducted.
If you want to offer online payment on your web site in the most professional manner possible, all you have to do is picture what you would do if your business was down on Main Street. Think about it.
What payment options would you offer if you had walk-in customers? Cash certainly is not a viable option for Internet sales since the customer isnt standing in front of you. So we can lay that one aside.
Credit cards, of course, along with the ability to have the charge accepted or rejected on the spot. Online, we call that "real-time processing." Off-line, we call it normal procedure.
The option most rigorously argued - and resisted - however, is that of the online check payment option. Down on Main Street, you would also accept checks from customers. You might even have a service that verifies the funds for the check on the spot. Would you tell a customer that (s)he couldnt write you a check to pay for merchandise? Wont be in business very long if you do!
And, what if your customer is also a business owner who wishes to pay you for a business expense with a company check? Will you insist that (s)he use a credit card? If you do, you may be contributing to that business owner breaking the conditions of his/her contract with the issuing bank.
Without an online check payment option, other online business owners often use their personal credit cards for business expenses on the Internet. This is done in violation of their contracts with the issuing banks.
If you are a business owner - and you are paying business expenses online with your personal credit cards - please, listen up! Your credit cards can be revoked - and immediate payment in full demanded for the balance! Want THAT on your credit report?
Only credit cards issued to corporations, or to a registered company name, may legally be used for business expenses. Business owners who are aware of this do not use personal credit cards for business expenses.
Without the option to write an online company check, they must send their payments via regular mail. These business owners, who are upholding their credit card contracts, should also be given the option for quick payment. Fail to offer me an online check option and Ill guarantee you - youll lose MY business!
While were on the subject, no savvy small-business owner is going jack up their business expenses by paying that incredible interest on credit cards. What kind of business sense is that?
Daily operating expenses (not business loans) should be paid in full every month. A personal credit card is not a business loan! Then, if you pay even a business credit card (except American Express) in full every month, the issuing bank will cancel your card. Its a catch-22 situation.
They are in business to make money from that interest on your failure to pay in full each month. And, you wont be in business very long if you pay it. It WILL come back, sooner or later, and bite you on the ol wazoo!
Now yes, it is difficult for online companies outside the USA to set up online check options. But, not impossible. Companies in the U.S. do offer this out-sourcing service even though they usually only accept U.S. checks. Since almost 90% of online buyers are in the U.S., why should this be a big problem?
Next issue. If your customer down on Main Street paid you with a check, would you tell him/her to come back and pick up the merchandise after their check clears the bank? Nope! Yet its done all the time for Internet sales. Deliveries delayed for check clearance. How professional is that?
You may have to eat a check once in awhile - but all businesses do. Online or off - its a cost of doing business.
It never ceases to amaze me how many online merchants seem to think that they can run a business without ANY of the same "costs of doing business" that they would have down on Main Street. Obvious inexperience.
I dont do business with them. In the long run they are going to cost ME, as the customer, more than Im willing to pay in terms of things other than money.
And finally, what if your company down on Main Street sells a service wherein you never need to see the customer? Would you tell customers that they cant send you a check? Of course, you wouldnt! Why then do so many online merchants fail to provide for payment by regular mail? My guess is that its because they dont want you to know where they are. What does that tell you about the advisability of doing business with them?
So, there it is. The criteria for professionalism hasnt changed just because it came online. The next time youre wondering how to treat - and what to offer - your customers, picture your business down on Main Street. Then, act accordingly.
About the author:
Dr. jl scott is the Director of the International Council of Online Professionals (iCop) - and also the publisher of MONDAY MEMO! - the ezine dedicated to upgrading Professionalism on the Web. For your FREE subscription: Monday-Memo-on@MondayMemo.org
jlscott@i-Cop.org
http://www.i-cop.org/
Business is business; it is what it is - online or off! The only difference with a business online is its ability to reach world wide customers at little expense and the speed with which it may be conducted.
If you want to offer online payment on your web site in the most professional manner possible, all you have to do is picture what you would do if your business was down on Main Street. Think about it.
What payment options would you offer if you had walk-in customers? Cash certainly is not a viable option for Internet sales since the customer isnt standing in front of you. So we can lay that one aside.
Credit cards, of course, along with the ability to have the charge accepted or rejected on the spot. Online, we call that "real-time processing." Off-line, we call it normal procedure.
The option most rigorously argued - and resisted - however, is that of the online check payment option. Down on Main Street, you would also accept checks from customers. You might even have a service that verifies the funds for the check on the spot. Would you tell a customer that (s)he couldnt write you a check to pay for merchandise? Wont be in business very long if you do!
And, what if your customer is also a business owner who wishes to pay you for a business expense with a company check? Will you insist that (s)he use a credit card? If you do, you may be contributing to that business owner breaking the conditions of his/her contract with the issuing bank.
Without an online check payment option, other online business owners often use their personal credit cards for business expenses on the Internet. This is done in violation of their contracts with the issuing banks.
If you are a business owner - and you are paying business expenses online with your personal credit cards - please, listen up! Your credit cards can be revoked - and immediate payment in full demanded for the balance! Want THAT on your credit report?
Only credit cards issued to corporations, or to a registered company name, may legally be used for business expenses. Business owners who are aware of this do not use personal credit cards for business expenses.
Without the option to write an online company check, they must send their payments via regular mail. These business owners, who are upholding their credit card contracts, should also be given the option for quick payment. Fail to offer me an online check option and Ill guarantee you - youll lose MY business!
While were on the subject, no savvy small-business owner is going jack up their business expenses by paying that incredible interest on credit cards. What kind of business sense is that?
Daily operating expenses (not business loans) should be paid in full every month. A personal credit card is not a business loan! Then, if you pay even a business credit card (except American Express) in full every month, the issuing bank will cancel your card. Its a catch-22 situation.
They are in business to make money from that interest on your failure to pay in full each month. And, you wont be in business very long if you pay it. It WILL come back, sooner or later, and bite you on the ol wazoo!
Now yes, it is difficult for online companies outside the USA to set up online check options. But, not impossible. Companies in the U.S. do offer this out-sourcing service even though they usually only accept U.S. checks. Since almost 90% of online buyers are in the U.S., why should this be a big problem?
Next issue. If your customer down on Main Street paid you with a check, would you tell him/her to come back and pick up the merchandise after their check clears the bank? Nope! Yet its done all the time for Internet sales. Deliveries delayed for check clearance. How professional is that?
You may have to eat a check once in awhile - but all businesses do. Online or off - its a cost of doing business.
It never ceases to amaze me how many online merchants seem to think that they can run a business without ANY of the same "costs of doing business" that they would have down on Main Street. Obvious inexperience.
I dont do business with them. In the long run they are going to cost ME, as the customer, more than Im willing to pay in terms of things other than money.
And finally, what if your company down on Main Street sells a service wherein you never need to see the customer? Would you tell customers that they cant send you a check? Of course, you wouldnt! Why then do so many online merchants fail to provide for payment by regular mail? My guess is that its because they dont want you to know where they are. What does that tell you about the advisability of doing business with them?
So, there it is. The criteria for professionalism hasnt changed just because it came online. The next time youre wondering how to treat - and what to offer - your customers, picture your business down on Main Street. Then, act accordingly.
About the author:
Dr. jl scott is the Director of the International Council of Online Professionals (iCop) - and also the publisher of MONDAY MEMO! - the ezine dedicated to upgrading Professionalism on the Web. For your FREE subscription: Monday-Memo-on@MondayMemo.org
jlscott@i-Cop.org
http://www.i-cop.org/
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