Lying to customers, selling inferior merchandise, and not offering refunds, left a firestorm of irate customers in their wake.

Without fail, all of this “ill will” led most businesses to bankruptcy, and in some cases, Federal Prison.

I realize that not everyone engages in “business criminality” that rises to level of fraud and incarceration. Most people try to be good stewards, and approach their enterprise in an honest and forthright manner.

For those of you who own thriving business concerns, you already know that in most cases customer is always right.

You make sure that you communicate effectively, refund monies if buyer is truly unhappy, and try to meet needs of people who buy your goods or services.

However, there are more than a handful of Ebay sellers that are of mind that customer service and effective communication is not something that they need not participate in.

Take case of a woman named Barbara, (Nickname: BoAnn) who recently posted her disappointment on Ryze Business Network:

Quote:

Barbara Cerda wrote:

Greetings Everyone,

When will sellers on Ebay understand that customer service is key? And when will Ebay sellers learn using customer friendly approaches can only make their business grow?” Again today I've bought from a less than friendly seller.

Thought I was placing a bid and instead bought item at buy now price. Of course seller refused to allow retraction, nor was I allowed to place a bid. I always pay for my winning bids immediately upon email confirmation.

And did so in this case. But it would have been customer friendlier for this seller to accept my retraction to be replaced with a bid.

He would have gotten repeat business from me and my friends. His "Buy Now" price is 30% over retail price for this item.

Lesson learned by me again - that there are way too many sellers on Ebay out to grab a buck and hell with fair practice. Lesson learned yet again.

Bobann

End quote…

The operative phrase here is “repeat business from me and my friends”. There is no better endorsement of your product or service than word of mouth advertising.

Lack of flexibility on part of seller, not only cost him/her one customer, but also destroyed possibility for future business. Good news travels fast, but bad news travels faster!

As an auction seller, (Ebay auction ID: LevelBest77) I would have accommodated her right away. And while I have never had anyone use “Buy It Now” by accident, I have had several people over years ask me to retract bids.

The number of people who have made that request can be counted on one hand! Some did not even understand process; (bid retracting) and I guided them through it.

People make honest mistakes, and you should never “abuse” a buyer for doing so. If you plan to get into Ebay auction selling for long haul, always practice good will toward your customers.

Unless someone is totally unreasonable, and you have done everything in your power to accommodate their request, never deny people ability to change their mind, return an item, or retract a bid!

Developing good will also requires that you anticipate customer needs…..

For instance, I had a few overseas customers bid on a wireless router. This particular item needed to be powered with a Universal Adapter, since voltage requirements in France and Australia are obviously different from those here in United States.

I made this abundantly clear to both bidders before they sent me any payment. The purchase of such an adapter, not to mention shipping price, would have doubled US retail cost.

I told them that they could probably get product cheaper at their local electronics stores. Without hesitation, I let them out of their obligation to pay for item. I then contacted next highest bidder and offered that person chance to make purchase.

Both bidders thanked me for my honesty. They had forgotten about electrical differences. I could have ignored that little detail, and sold them item anyway.

ursing shortage have been an issue for sometime now in country. The causes are varied and have been discussed in many articles in recent past.

The purpose of this article is to explore strategies US Hospitals are employing to overcome nurse shortage. The remedy of a problem is dependent on its cause. This is no different here. Since causes of shortage of nurses are varied possible solutions proposed are many too. Nurse shortage stems from lesser number of students choosing nursing as profession , Uncertainty created by a wrong research report in 1988 by a reputable organization predicting impending nurse oversupply (resulting in students deciding not to chose nursing), more nurses choosing to work in out patient setting creating a mal distribution of nurses in some areas of country , dissatisfaction among nurses because of shift work, mandatory overtime, insufficient pay, lack of a career ladder are some of common causes. Many nurses are choosing Temp. work as it pays more money and allows some control over work hours and benefits. In private sector turnover is higher then in govt. sector. Hospitals are doing all sorts of things to recruit and retain nurses. Financial incentives to recruit nurses are temporary fix in general. These do not guarantee retention of nurse in same facility. Long term planning for this national problem is addressed by federal as well as state level. These will have effect though not in very near future. A serious effort by hospitals, nurses themselves as well as government and nursing organizations will be needed. Image building , making profession attractive are sort of things which will take time but will have lasting effects. For short term it is hospitals which have to deal with nursing shortage.

The latest news is that some nurses who are in army reserves are now being called in for active duty and sent to Germany (3 from our institution). There are not many innovative strategies available to hospitals to deal with shortage of nursing staff. Here are some ways different health care organizations and hospitals are dealing with this nursing emergency: (These strategies are for recruitment of new nurses, new graduates as well for retention of existing workforce. Some strategies are short term and some are long term. Your institution or hospital may already be employing many of these methods.) Commonly employed strategies to attract and retain nurses in organization include: •Signing referral bonuses •Salary incentives •Flexible hours. •Lower eligibility threshold for benefits. •Improvement in working conditions. •Increase recruitment in training programs. •Recruitment outside of prime age. •Identify cost effective and quality based practice models that promote quality patient outcomes and job satisfaction. •Accommodate aging nurse force. •Image building of nursing staff. •Assign responsibilities and challenges for motivated members of nursing staff . •Create role models for junior nursing staff members. •Promote leadership development programs. Baptist Hospital of Miami, Florida is employing following strategies for some time with good success. •Sign-on Bonuses offered to all RNs and Out-of-Area Applicants ($5,000 and $2,500) •On-Campus Recruitment Twice a Year at each of Four Local Nursing Schools •System-Wide Posting of all Job Openings •On-site Child Care Center. •Post Office. •Choice of multiple health plans •Group Legal Insurance. •Leave Sharing (PTO donations to employees in need) •Larger and more frequent advertising in Local Newspaper and Nursing Journals •Special Annual Ads (i.e. Florida Hospital Association Guide, RN Magazine, AJN). •Commercial Internet Postings. •Special Nursing Limited-Time Offer ($5,000 and $2,500) •Nursing Recruitment & Retention Committee •Birthday Cards from Human Resources with 2 Movie Tickets •Employee Activity Committee Events

•Regular Bonuses of $1,000 and $500 •Year-end Raffle for "Trip for Two" •Stepped-Up Publicity of vacancies (posters, brochures, raffle boxes) • Employees Referrals program (RN Hires through employees referral program increased from 28% to 31% after Introduction of Program). •Relocation Assistance offered •Extra Pay Option (in lieu of benefits). •Staffing Incentive Bonus Programs (including $25 gift certificates) •Special Weekend Scheduling Option ($7/hr diff) •Supplemental Weekend Plan ($3/hr diff) •Increased Base Rates and Per Diem Rates •Guaranteed Overtime •Preceptor Honorarium ($200) •Special Call Back Pay (%20 or time and a half) •Thanksgiving, Christmas & New Years Holiday Pay (time and a half)

•Annual Spring Luncheon for Graduating Nurses (all colleges) •Pay for NCLEX Review Course •Nursing Student Clinical Rotations and Practicums at Hospital. •Students Hired as Nurse Care Techs at Top of Pay Scale until Graduation •Nurse Care Techs Recruited into New Graduate Training Program