Put yourself in your customer's shoes. I've been on both ends of uh-oh stick and neither is very comfortable. My company has dropped ball on occasion and we have also been negatively impacted when one of our vendors did same. Put yourself in your customer's shoes and consider what could be said or done to remedy situation from their point of view.

Take responsibility for actions of your company. In my role as a company president there have been times when I've had to call up a customer and confess that a mistake was made, and as president it was also my responsibility to take heat for it. Remember, you're head cheese, Charles, you get to sit behind big desk and take home nice paycheck. You're also one that gets to mop up when your employees makes a mess. It just goes with job.

Do not place blame on specific employees. No matter how tempting it is to put blame on specific people in your organization (even if that's where blame lies), do not do it. It is unprofessional, counterproductive and can backfire on you, especially if person you're blaming reports directly to you. Saying something like "My sales manager is always making mistakes like this!" is not going to make your customer feel any better. To contrary, such statements will make customer question your leadership ability and quality of all your employees, not just one that made mistake. If you don't have faith in your company and employees, why should your customer?

Don't deny that a mistake was made, especially when there is clear evidence to contrary. You're not Richard Nixon, for petesake, so don't try to pretend that mistake didn't happen or stage some elaborate cover-up to try and dodge blame.

Admit your mistake. This may sounds trite, but you must admit your mistake before you can move ahead and start to make amends. Don't be so afraid to take this step. I doubt your company is first one to screw up with this customer and I can guarantee you certainly won't be last.

Apologize for mistake. The one thing that could make situation better is often thing that companies find hardest to do. I don't mean to sound like Dr. Phil, but simply saying you're sorry is often best way to get a business relationship back on track. Ensure customer that it will never happen again. After you have taken responsibility for mistake and apologized in a sincere and professional manner, you must then start process of rebuilding trust that was lost. Promising that such a mistake will not happen again is a good way to start.

Compensate customer for his loss. Even if your mistake didn't cost customer a dime, he will appreciate an offer of compensation. This can be something as simple as a lunch on you or a discount on his next order. The size of compensation offered should be in direct proportion to size of your mistake. A word of warning: don't let customer bully you into overcompensating him for your mistake. That can be more detrimental to relationship than mistake itself.

As my daughter understood all those years ago, Charles, a sincere Oop-see can help make things all better.

Here's to your success!

Tim Knox tim@dropshipwholesale.net For information on starting your own online or eBay business, visit http://www.dropshipwholesale.net

And when you finally think you have thought of everything there is to think of, that you have done everything that needs to be done, you launch site amid little fanfare and much prayer.

Then it suddenly occurs to you (always in middle of night) that only thing you forgot to build in to your new site is a way for your customers to pay for their purchase online with a credit card (there was no Pay Pal in dark ages, my child…).

You awake in a cold sweat and finally understand why you haven't sold a single Beanie Baby since your site was launched.

Ah, good old days… Thank God they are gone.

Lucky for you and me, Beth, there are now a number of companies on Web that can help folks like us set up a turnkey dropship website without ever breaking a sweat.

By turnkey, I mean they will provide you with a complete, payment- enabled website and merchandise to sell on site. All you do is turn key (so to speak) to start your new business.

You select design of site, products you want to sell, and they do rest. They can show you how to setup an online payment system, help you register a domain name, offer technical support, and more.

It is up to you to market site and drive customers to it, but in some cases companies will even help you do that with free search engine submissions and marketing tips.

You can also sell merchandise at online auctions like eBay and Yahoo! Auctions. There is no quicker way to get your dropship business up and running in a matter of days.

Here's to your success!

Tim Knox tim@dropshipwholesale.net For information on starting your own online or eBay business, visit http://www.dropshipwholesale.net