Spreading the Word - 5 Easy Tips

We don't want to just satisfy customers. We want them to be so satisfied that they tell others how they satisfied they are.

Imagine if you told 7 people and those 7 told 7 each, then those who had been told tell 7 more each, then... you get the picture. After only about 6 levels of word-of-mouth, we'd have all the officials in the U.S. hearing the good news.

How to spread the word? My easy tips.

1. Directly face-to-face as when you umpire with another person or at an association meeting.
2. By e-mail: we have a handy-dandy tool that you're welcome to use.
3. Ask your association or group president to place a link on your association's or groups website. Grab images and links here.
4. Mention us when you post on forums: Umpire.org's umpire equipment forum and Officiating.com's
5. Send us a testimonial by e-mail. We'll post it for the world to see.

Or come up with your own way.

The Great Package Hand-Off - The Alternative to USPS and UPS

Imagine this scenario: "Paul, you've got the the Midwest run today. After looking over last night's orders, it looks like your best route will be to head up to Chicago and stop by for package deliveries to Clarksville, Indianaopolis and Kokomo, Indiana before dropping off these three packages to the Chicagoland area. Then get on I-90 over to Toledo for a delivery, then south toward Cincy and stopping at Kings Mill, Ohio for your last delivery before 2 in Cincy proper. Blake, you've got the West coast. Take the red eye into L.A..... you guys get back in here within the next few days as we have more orders to pack and deliver."

Wouldn't that be fun?! So thank goodness for the Post Offices, UPSs and FedExs of the world. If not for them, not sure I'd be writing this right now.

We put quite a bit of faith in these companies to not ruin our good name by getting packages to where they need to get to when they need to get there. And except for a few every once in a while issues, they do pretty well.

Usually problems that occur are a result of poor communication or lack thereof. Here are my favorites:.

• Postal carrier places package behind a bush instead of the usual place
• UPS delivers to apartment management office which closes before the customer comes home
  
• Wife accepts package and forgets to tell husband she's already taken it out of the box and put up the items
  
• My all time favorite: Customer calls 3 separate times after I suggest usual places to look on a package that tracks as delivered. I finally ask "you have checked your mailbox, corect?". Her reply, "no, I didn't think it would fit". She checks... it's there.

The biggest leap of faith: International orders via the postal service. Via UPS or FedEx (which global express guaranteed is) it's typically trouble-free as it's end-to-end with the same company. But with the usual cheapest option, our post office simply drops it off with another country. I have no idea how reliable Argentina's postal service is. Do you? Maybe w/ time we'll figure out the reliability of all the world's post offices.

And I have no idea packages are going to sit in customs and how much extra fees will be. It's no wonder we receive a disproportionate amount of negative comments from our International customers. I'd be ticked too if it took 5 weeks to get my package and had to pay an additional 75 pesos.

We Encourage Innovative Ordering Strategies

We like to do things differently here. And we understand with the nature of this business that you can not simply try on something before you buy it unless you have a buddy who has one or you've already had one in the past.

For that reason, we're pretty liberal on what you can do ordering and return-wise. One common question we get goes something like this: "I can't decide between the Gold and Platinum chest protectors. Can I order both and send back the one I like the least?". Our answer: "Please do".

We think by following the above strategy that it actually creates more customer satisfaction. Imagine someone who's unsure ordering 1 and liking it enough not to go through the hoops to try the other. This may, in turn, cause that person to miss out on what could have been a more preferred item. By buying both, it insures you in finding your favorite with the only downside being your cost of shipping it back to us.

Do this when you can't decide between referee shirt fabrics, different brand pants, masks, shin guards, etc.

Let's say you need something really quickly for an upcoming game. This is a common occurrence, and you can't afford to get something the day before only to find it doesn't fit. Order two separate sizes so that you have the one you need immediately and then send back the other for a modest shipping cost. This option is certainly better than having to drive an hour and a half to the closest bricks-and-mortar store or having to pay for Next Day Air to get what you need.

Let us know your online ordering tips.

I Hate Returns: Reduce Them with Knowledge

You'd think I'd know our products inside and out. The fact is that I, and the rest of our team, learn something new all the time. We'll, in turn, share that knowledge with customers when we do.

We recently researched our percentage of returns by product for the spring season. Frankly, I hate returns. But I realize they are a part of selling online as you don't typically get a chance to see, touch, or feel the product. But fortunately, we don't get as many returns as one might think. Why?

No one else out there provides as much information as we do to help the customer get it right the first time with many alternative, zoomed images and thorough descriptions.

But we don't always get it right. Our research showed us that certain products are returned more than others with the reason being attributed to a lack of knowledge or information-sharing. Which products?

1) Specific ones due to a lack of the right information.
One product we noticed a few months back that got returned often was one of our nicest products, the Majestic umpire jacket. We were stumped. Why was this nice jacket getting returned so much? One reason derived out of the fact this jacket was to be worn tucked into your pants, not as a pullover. We knew that. (And boy does it look sharp tucked in like the Major Leaguers do.) But we hadn't shared it, nor had the manufacturer. Now, since this tidbit has been shared, the percentage of returns of this item has dropped to about 20% of previous levels.

2) Sizing discrepancies by manufacturer.
We have 3 combo pants in stock this season. All 3 are roughly the same level of quality overall, but we found our medium priced Letrell brand was getting returned at a rate of about 3 times higher than the other brands. Why? After deeper investigation we found the problem to be that they are around 3/8 inch smaller around the waist compared to other brands' sizes (so a 34 is really like a 33 5/8). Frustrating. We have since shared this newfound knowledge for now, but are looking at longer term solutions.

3) The smaller sizes of protective gear
When people choose a chest protector or shin guards, the smaller ones get returned at a rate of about 3 to 1 compared to the larger. I hope now that since we've mentioned return rates on each product size, where there is a disrepancy, that it will help those few people who are having trouble deciding between the 2 sizes to nudge them along to think the larger one instead. I think this will help, but in the future what will help most is to show images of both sizes side-by-side and/or worn. I'll add this to the project list.

So knowledge is important. So let's all "keep" learning so you "keep" more of the products you buy without returning them.