It's a scenario that keeps playing out on the internet: I stumble upon a website that eagerly extols the virtues of a product, detailing all its wonderful features, but when it comes to the price, it's nowhere to be found. In some cases, I'm even required to fill out a form just to get a glimpse of the price tag.

 

Honestly, it makes me want to shake my head in disbelief. What on earth were these website owners thinking? They've invested time and money in advertising and marketing. They've meticulously researched and planned their strategies to lure me into their online store. They've passionately explained all the benefits and made a convincing case for why I need their product right now, today.

 

And then, they hesitate to close the deal by not revealing the price. It leaves me with only two possible conclusions. Either their product is priced so exorbitantly high that I wouldn't consider purchasing it, or they believe their product is so unique and unrivaled that there's simply nothing comparable or competitive with an online price tag.

 

But here's a reality check for them – they might be entirely mistaken. By keeping the price under wraps, they risk losing out on potential sales.

 

I once received some valuable sales training at Home Depot from a fellow who excelled at selling custom kitchens. It was one of those hands-on, one-on-one sessions that you wish happened more often. Although I can't recall his name, I vividly remember his parting advice after the generic presentation. He emphasized that the final two steps in every successful sale were to inform the customer of the price and then simply stop talking.

 

That, according to him, was the key to his remarkable success. He would walk customers through all the benefits, customize the kitchen to …

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I recently had a conversation with the previous owner of EAAHosting.com, and he shared a cautionary tale that truly resonated. Regrettably, I realized I had neglected to inquire about his name during our discussion.

 

According to his account, EAA Hosting embarked on its journey as a modest operation and rapidly garnered a substantial customer base. With growth came improved pricing options from larger server wholesalers. However, they opted to keep their Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system hosted with a smaller server provider.

 

Sometime in the previous year, their CRM server, managed by fatnetworks.com, experienced a catastrophic failure, resulting in the loss of not only their CRM but also all customer contact information. Although most of their clients were hosted on servers from other, more dependable providers, EAA Hosting was forced to close its doors due to the irrevocable loss of vital customer data.

 

It appears that they were unable to persuade fatnetworks.com to restore the server or retrieve their lost data.

 

This unfortunate situation offers a vital lesson. It emphasizes the importance of choosing a CRM program that includes an offline or remote backup solution. Relying solely on control panel (CP) or H-Sphere to manage your customer data is risky unless you have a robust database backup strategy in place.

 

Personally, I wouldn't have immediately considered taking such precautions, but EAAHosting's story serves as a stark reminder of the potential consequences of neglecting data protection.

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