Creating Business Practices That Support Longevity and Success

Chapter One Legal Practices to Protect Your Company and Your Customers

The story spread through the internet quickly, resulting in a lot of positive free publicity for southwest.

Remember: With the internet, every customer now has the power to reach thousands, even millions of people in the blink of an eye. Customer service is more crucial now than ever.

Information and Security (Your privacy policy)

You already know as a consumer that protecting your privacy is of utmost importance. It's vital that you take steps to protect your customer's information securely. Many states require websites to have a published privacy statement. However, consider also communicating it anytime it seems relevant.

For example, post a message and link to your privacy policy on your opt-in page and during your customer's purchasing/shopping cart process.

Provide a secure shopping experience for your customers through encryption and SSL and communicate that security by publishing your practices and any security certifications you have.

Creating Your Policies and Practices

The guiding principles for preparing your own policies are accuracy and clarity.

Thankfully, you don't need to start from scratch when you prepare many of your policies or practices. There are a number of resources available on the Internet that will serve as great starting points.

**We've also included samples of several statements and policies in the appendix of this report.

However, beware of simply copying another website's policy or statement word for word. This will increase the chances that the policy doesn't match what you do with your business or customer needs.

Take the time to make sure that your practices and policies match the way you do business.

When Creating Each Practice, Policy And System, Ask Yourself Five Questions:

1. Does this protect my customer completely and thoroughly?

2. Does this protect my business completely and thoroughly?

3. How do I best communicate this practice clearly to my customers?

4. Am I following all legal, ethical and moral guidelines?

5. Is this policy the best, most effective, it can be?

Potential Policies, Procedures and Practices to Create and Implement

· Opt in/unsubscribe policy

· Privacy policy

· Product/service guarantee

· Return/Refund policy

· Terms of Service

· Disclaimers – relevant if you sell information products, coaching, or have an affiliate team. For example, earnings disclaimer.

Two Examples

Here are two examples of how having a good privacy policy could have a big impact on your business.

The first example is Facebook. Twice in its history, the company took major hits in customer trust and in the media for issues with its privacy policies.

Several times Facebook promised that customer data wasn't being passed to advertisers, when it actually was. Then, they made certain aspects of user profiles public without giving customers the option to turn them off.

Each time Facebook made one of these mistakes, it was followed by several articles in major publications and backlash from its user base. Facebook eventually posted an apology on their front page and changed their privacy policy.

Although Facebook is still doing very well today, this kind of mistake could easily take down a smaller company. Most companies can't take that kind of publicity and still survive.

An example of how a properly done privacy policy can positively affect your business would be David's website. David runs a website in the dating industry that literally has millions of people coming through every month.

Even a small percentage gain in conversions would result in significant improvements on the bottom line.

After extensively testing his front page, he decided to try adding: "We take your privacy very seriously and would never spam or sell your email address."

His conversion increased. That one line has likely earned him six figures by now. That worked because customers want to know that their information is protected.

Summary

The policies and practices you establish in the beginning of your business set you up for long term success. By taking the necessary measures to protect yourself legally and to protect your clients, prospects and customers you establish yourself as a credible and professional organization.