Garage Entrepreneurs

by Natalie Tags: best customer service, business owner, customer experience, difficult customer, family businesses, how to build a website, own business, Young Entrepreneur

Dec. 29^th 2009

Joining me today is young entrepreneur, Ashley Bodi, the Vice President and creator of Business Beware. She majored in Communications and Marketing while also playing volleyball in college. After coming back from working on a documentary in Los Angeles she remembered the idea Robert told her when she got out of school and was ready to pursue Business Beware. While working on the site, she started her own business doing editing and design work. She also worked for her family’s business. It was working for the family businesses that she grew a passion for creating Business Beware and ended up where she is today.

Natalie: Can you tell us a bit about Business Beware and where this idea came from.

Ashley: Sure! Business Beware is where businesses can warn each other about problem customers in their area. For so long the slogan has always read “The Customer is Always Right,” and in today’s society that is not always true anymore. Customers have many outlets to rate businesses like the Better Business Bureau, Angie’s List, Rip off Report etc. My father (Robert) and I talked about the idea of BusinessBeware.biz a few years ago when I was getting out of college. My dad has been a business owner in the service industry for over 30 years and he has always said that businesses needed an outlet to get the word out about problem customers. At the time I had no clue how to build a website, especially with how we wanted it to work. So after many long nights on researching, creating and testing everything we launched the site in 2007.

Natalie: I’m fascinated by this concept because I ran a customer service auditing business for awhile and wrote reports for businesses to improve the customer experience. At what point is it not worth it to deal with a difficult customer?

Ashley: Customers are the bread and butter of a business so we strive to treat them with respect and provide the best customer service we can. I’m sure some customers would disagree with that but it’s true. The point that you really just have to say to the customer “I’m sorry, we don’t need your business,” is when they continually want the bill adjusted, lie about the situation when you have documentation and don’t stick to the contract that they signed.

For example, we had a man with our irrigation company that we installed a pump/irrigation system at his house and he signed the contract at the beginning before any work was done. We finished the installation and everything was done just as the customer wanted and they were satisfied, or so we thought… When we sent out the invoice to the customer, a few weeks went by with no response. We gave him a call to make sure he received the bill and he gave us an ear full of how he could not believe he was charged that much, even when he signed the contract that showed the exact price. Then hung up. We sent out a late notice to remind him to pay the bill for the service that was performed. About a week later he sent in a check that only covered half of the payment due with a note that said “I will not be paying the rest of this bill because I believe that I should not have to pay this much for the work that was done. Consider this a bill to your business of $100 for the time I had to take to write it.” And once again, he had signed the original contract that stated the price.

That is just an example of when it’s not worth your time to worry about customers like that but other businesses should be aware of them. If a customer cannot respect you enough to stick to a contract or pay you for the services/products that you provided to them, then you need to fire that customer. This is a minor situation but this stuff happens to businesses all the time.

Natalie: There are two sides to every story so what can a customer do if a business files a bad report about them?

Ashley: You’re completely right, with Business Beware we want to put trust back between the customers so we let the customer have the chance to tell their side as well and file a “rebuttal.” Hopefully the business and customer can work out their situation on the site. We even have some that become friends after they worked out the situation! We also let the complaint/rebuttal be deleted if they want it taken down, unlike some sites where it always stays in the database. Even though our site is mainly for businesses, we want to let the customer tell their side as well if they choose.

Natalie: What tips do you have for businesses regarding customer service?

Ashley: Customer service is easy, treat the customer as you would want to be treated. Be upfront with them and give them all the information they need for your product or service. If they have questions make sure and get back with them and follow up. We all are customers and we like it when a business is friendly and follows up with us so remember that!

Natalie: Do you have any final advice for young entrepreneurs?

Ashley: Never give up! It’s so easy to feel like you’re defeated when trying to start up a business or get the word out about your business but don’t let that stop you. Being an entrepreneur, I think we experience more ups and downs than every day employees because it’s all on us if we fail. But if we didn’t fail, how would we know how to succeed? That is one thing that I have learned as an entrepreneur. You’re going to have ups and downs but it’s what you do with the things that get thrown at you that makes you a better entrepreneur and business person overall. Also, never let others tell you that something will or will not work. Most of the time, those are the ones who just don’t have the drive, like you do, to see the idea through. If they tell you it’s impossible, show them it’s possible.

I’d like to thank Ashley for taking the time to do this interview. For more information about Ashley or Business Beware, contact her directly via her Garage Entrepreneurs profile.

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