Copyright 2006 Richard Grady

It may seem obvious but if you offer your customers exceptional value for money, you will gain new customers AND retain existing ones. Unfortunately not everyone seems to realize this :-(

I don't know whether it is just me but I do get the feeling that many online sellers are more interested in lining their own pockets than providing a top quality service and superb value for money.

Now, don't get me wrong, we all need to make a living BUT the ideal business transaction is one where everybody involved wins and that means both the seller AND the buyer.

Regardless of what you are selling, be it tangible or intangible products, there is always a way of going the extra mile to give your customer that little bit extra. The benefits to you and your business will far outweigh any small cost that might be involved.

For example, let's say you are selling a tangible product online and it requires batteries. Instead of shipping the product without batteries, include them in the package. Batteries are incredibly cheap and you don't have to send your buyers the top of the range Duracells! If they weren't expecting them, it makes a nice surprise especially if you include a note pointing out that you have included them as a goodwill gesture.

Some years ago that was a seller on eBay who would include a handful of sweets with every package that he/she sent - for all I know they are still doing it. How much effort/cost did that take? Hardly anything but nearly all of the seller's feedback comments referred to the sweets and 'what a nice gesture' they were.

If it is appropriate, why not consider including some form of intangible digital product with your sales? There are numerous ways of wrapping a digital product around a tangible one - an eBook about the product, a training video explaining how to use it, an audio CD detailing how to get the best results from the product and so on. Digital products are extremely cheap to reproduce and again whenever the buyer gets something more than they are expecting, it gives them a pleasant warm feeling inside :-)

At the end of the day, the ideal situation is to make your buyers feel like the money they have spent with you is the best they have ever spent and that they have really been looked after. It doesn't matter if they are spending 5 or 500, they have chosen to give their money to you and you should respect that and ensure that they receive fair value in return. Personally I like to give my customers fair value and then some!

Take my recently launched SimplyWholesale.co.uk website... Anyone that has joined in the past month received access to hundreds of pounds worth of products and resources on day one (which is already great value for money given that membership costs from just 3.08 per month) but I didn't stop there. All members have also received the following 'extras' over the last few weeks, all at no extra cost:

1. Almost 200 new wholesale offers from UK wholesalers

2. An 80 minute Adsense training video (normal price about 15)

3. 'Be Found' ebook by Martin Pickering (normal price 7.95)

4. 'Lazy Mans Guide to Making Big Money' eBook by Martin Pickering (normal price 19.95)

5. Special wholesale pricing and free shipping on orders for PowerBall products available to members only.

6. Entry into a free prize draw - one member walked away with an iPod Nano (not bad value for his 4.99 membership fee!)

It would be very hard for any member to claim that they hadn't received their moneys worth which brings me to another benefit of giving great value for money - refunds - you won't get asked to give them!

Think about it, if your customer has received unbeatable value for money, they aren't going to ask for their money back are they?

Bottom line - offer real value to your customers and you will keep them coming back. It is far better to have a customer that is happy to buy from you again and again as opposed to offering a sloppy deal which makes you a few quid but means that the buyer will never buy from you again.....