A tale of two help desks

I invest heavily in my education, and I advise you to do the same, my loyal subscriber. Not naming names, but I recently bought two different info products… and had two separate issues with them.

The first was through no fault of my own - I bought an email course, and for whatever reason, I'd not been added to the automation. Not the end of the world, easy fix, but when it's the first time you've ever bought something from someone… you're left with a sour taste in the mouth that's difficult to shake.

The second was my own fault - I bought some audio recordings, but with a different email address than the one I signed up to the app with... like I said, all my fault - my inconvenience was of my own making.

In both instances, these are marketers I trust enough to pay, but for whatever reason, something has fallen short.

And when things aren't seamless... it's a stark reminder that customer service is much more important than many marketers allocate for. Who cares if your sales page is converting, your ads are ripping crazy ROAS, etc… if all your customers are having a shyt time consuming your product.

I emailed both marketers to have both issues sorted.

The first didn't get back to me for 9 hours. Fair enough, time zones are a biatch, I get it. They provided a temporary band-aid solution, but mainly just reassured me, a first-time buyer, that the issue would be resolved ASAP. I had also copied in the help desk - this ain't no one-man band, this marketer is running a big enough op that they've got backup.

It took the help desk almost 24 hours to reply… only to apologise for the delay and to reassure me they were looking into the issue.

Now in corporate land… these might be great response times. But if you're a customer who's taken a chance on an internet marketer, forked over a chunk of change, not received what you bought… and you get radio silence for hours? It's not a good look.

The second marketer... now bear in mind, I'm a paying subscriber to this marketer. So you could perhaps forgive them if they were a bit lax on the situation, knowing that I trust them enough to have bought from them in the past and will likely continue to do so.

3 minutes.

That's how long it took for this marketer to get back to me.

Now don't be fooled. This guy is one of the most respected names in the email marketing game. You'd assume that, with running multiple businesses, tens of thousands of paying subscribers, etc., the response time would be slower than in the first example.

Nope.

Every time I've ever emailed this guy, it's been almost instant.

Any worries that I might have made a mistake by handing over my hard-earned cash were evaporated. Again, the reply was only to reassure that they'd solve the problem and to say that he'd copied the help desk in… but with that speed of reply, as a customer, you relax a little again, knowing your cash hasn't just been sent to some black hole online and that you will receive your purchase shortly.

Now, full transparency… the help desk took focking AGES to get back to me, claiming they hadn't received anything about my issue (a bold claim, considering the marketer who pays them was the one who copied them in). But once I resent the email trail, they did indeed resolve my issue. I thanked them and asked whether the email address associated with my account could be updated to avoid this issue from happening again… but I was summarily ignored. They had resolved the issue, though, so I guess it was fok me and my additional query - they have other issues to solve.

But both experiences taught me two powerful marketing lessons that I now pass on to you.

The first: no one else is going to give a fack about your business as much as you do. Outsourcing customer service to a help desk seems like a no-brainer once you reach a certain size, right? But in both cases, the founder of the damn company got back to me quicker than the help desk…

The idea that you're going to build a biz and then kick back on the beach and just watch the cash roll in is nonsense. You're going to constantly have to move the ball forward, or else the outsourced functions of your business become your only representative to your customer.

Which leads me to the second and more important lesson:

If the founder of either biz hadn't been around in my situation… I doubt that I'd spend another penny with them.

Why?

Because experience matters.

If I ever have to choose between which marketer to buy from or work with again… I'm choosing the 3-minute reply over the 9-hour reply.

I'm sorry, I don't make the rules.

It's blindingly obvious which one gives more of a shyt about me, their customer. And if you're voting with your dollars, you go where you're cared for most.

This is why I bang on about experience. Honestly… the 9-hour reply marketer's product might be night-and-day better than the 3-minute reply marketer's. But the fact is, my issue still hasn't been resolved, and it took 9 hours for someone to even get back to me.

Now you might start to understand why all this lifestyle biz bullshit you see people peddling on the timeline will get you nowhere. There are people talking about how they started a business to work less than they do at their 9-5. How they are automating things so they can spend more time with their family, travel, whatever emotional heartstrings they can pluck to get you to buy.

It's all horsesheet, don't fall for it.

Business is a fooking war of attrition. If you relax for 9 hours, the enemy gains ground. The 3-minute reply steals your customer, who they will remain loyal to far longer than they will to you.

I'm not saying you need to be online 24/7… but I am saying if you got into this solo biz game for passive income… you're sorely mistaken.

Reply speed is just one tiny fragment of the equation when it comes to customer or client experience - much of it comes down to clearly informing and setting expectations for your customer or client, so they are never left wondering…

"Is this guy legit - or not?"

Now, if you be liking the way I think about doing bizznizz... I'm currently on the prowl for new clients to work with in 2026.

So if you've got a fat list you know you've been neglecting...

If you're sending an email a few times a week and hoping for the best...

If you aren't using systems to lighten the load and help you sell while you sleep?

I wanna help you.

If you'd like to work together to make fat stacks of cash by making your customers happy, send me an email with the phrase 'PRIVATE CLIENT', and I'll be in touch.

James Perkins

P.S. This offer ain't for beginners. You need an established list fo' this one. HOWEVER... if your own list ain't ready yet, but you put me in touch with someone I do end up working with? You'll be rewarded handsomely. No bullshyt.