Whether you are already operating a successful online business or you are about to embark on what you hope will be a successful enterprise, you absolutely must have a plan in place to handle various problems when they inevitably occur. No matter what you’re selling, when you’re an Internet marketer you’re selling your name, your brand; essentially, you're selling yourself. To keep damage at bay, you have to have a ready to implement plan or several of them in order to cover a variety of situations that can otherwise wreak havoc on your business.

Every successful business has their fair share of damage and every successful business also has a plan in place to combat it when it does occur. Instead of lulling yourself into a false sense of security by telling yourself it couldn't possibly happen to you, secure your good name by being ready ahead of time.

What is damage?

Broadly speaking, damage in this sense is anything that could hurt your business. Your servers go down and you are unable to access the Internet for hours or days at a time. The product you shipped to hundreds or thousands or millions of customers is defective. Maybe a former associate or irate customer is blasting you all over the Internet, telling everybody what a shoddy business you run. There are hundreds of scenarios, of course, and just as many solutions. The one thing you can’t afford to do however, when faced with a problem or situation that could potentially harm your business is nothing.

Offering a money back guarantee is a form of damage control. You’re telling your customers that you don’t merely want to sell to them but that you want them to be satisfied. You want to form a relationship with them, which is what you’ll have to do in order to form a loyal customer base. If you do offer a money back guarantee, no questions asked policy make sure you stick to it. Also make sure you outline the terms and conditions of said guarantee. How long do they have to return the product or ask for their money back? 30 days? 60 days? Eternity? Behind the scenes, weave that money back guarantee into your business plan. In other words, make sure you haven’t spent all the money you have taken in so that you will be able to promptly offer refunds when asked.

Always Have a Back up Plan

Maybe you’ve just started your online business and you depend on your ISP to keep you up and running. Plan now, today, to lose your connection. What is your back-up plan for getting online to take care of business? Will you run down to the local Starbucks? Check into a hotel? Troll the alleys for hotspots? Or will you do nothing and apologize three days later to your customers or clients? While everyone is likely to lose connectivity at some point, realize that excuse has already been beat to death and sounds an awful lot like, "My dog ate my homework," or "I had a flat tire on the way to work."

Your customers won’t care that you lost your connection or the myriad of other reasons why you either couldn’t or didn’t deliver what was promised. Part of being a successful Internet marketer is looking ahead and anticipating problems long before they occur. Plan today your line of defense for any situation that could possibly damage your business or your good name. Your livelihood depends on it!

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