Summary by ChatGPT

In episode 931 of Screw the Commute, Tom Antion discusses why he doesn’t waste time on customer service while still maintaining a high level of service. He emphasizes that although he is dedicated to providing excellent customer service, he uses sequential autoresponders to handle routine tasks. This automation allows him to focus on more complex issues while still offering timely responses to his 65,000 customers and 150,000 email subscribers.

Tom explains that autoresponders, especially sequential ones, send out automated messages triggered by specific customer actions, such as purchases or opt-ins. These messages provide helpful information, customer support, and even special offers. He shares how autoresponders improve customer satisfaction by offering value consistently, which builds trust and opens opportunities for sales promotions.

He credits KickStartCart, a shopping cart and email system he has used for over 20 years, as a key tool in automating customer service and sales processes. He highlights the power of automation in saving time and boosting revenue through coupon codes, upselling, and maintaining regular communication with customers. The episode is part of a series where Tom talks about other things he doesn’t waste time on, like AI and writing books, and he teases future topics like website design and social media.

Finally, Tom directs listeners to additional resources like episode 654 and 337, where he delves deeper into autoresponders and their capabilities.

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Episode 931 – Why I Don’t Waste Time On Customer Service
[00:00:08] Welcome to Screw the Commute. The entrepreneurial podcast dedicated to getting you out of the car and into the money, with your host, lifelong entrepreneur and multimillionaire, Tom Antion.

[00:00:24] Hey everybody! It's Tom here with episode 931 of Screw the Commute podcast. Today is part of our series Why I Don't Waste Time on Stuff. Today's is why I don't waste time on customer service. Now, don't even get an inkling in your mind that I'm not a customer service freak. I am totally. There is nobody at my level that gives this good a service as I do. I'm accessible and I'm helpful, but I don't waste time on it. And that's what this episode is about. Now, other ones in the series are. Episode 929 I don't waste time on Artificial Intelligence, I and 930 was I don't waste time on writing books, but I've written 25 of them and some of them have made millions of dollars. So check out the rest of the series anytime you want to get to one of these back episodes, you go to screwthecommute.com, slash, and then the episode number. 929 AI, 930 was writing books. Today is 931 customer service and also pick up a copy of our automation book at screwthecommute.com/automatefree and check out my mentor program. Longest running, most successful, most unique ever in the field of Internet and Digital marketing at GreatInternetMarketingtraining.com. Okay, how do I not waste time on customer service when I've had as many as 150,000 subscribers to my email magazine that that asked questions all the time, and 65,000 customers that mess up downloads and didn't get their order and things like that.

[00:02:07] How do I do it? Well, the simple answer is auto responders. And in the beginning, way back in the when the first auto responders came back, somebody would ask for something or send an email to a certain email link and they would get the response back. Just one response. That was in the early days of auto responders. I've been there. Remember I started in 1994 when the commercial internet started and there wasn't even auto responders then. Okay. We waited for a while, but the more modern version is called a sequential auto responder. This is where the customer triggers. The customer always triggers the auto responder. A broadcast is different. People get these mixed up broadcast. Anytime you feel like it, you send out an email to a bunch of people. Auto responders are always triggered by somebody else, either from filling out an opt in form to get a freebie or making a purchase. Those are the two main ways. In the old days, they could send an email to a certain address and get an autoresponder response, almost like the old old and most of you don't even remember the facts on demand. But anyway, today sequential autoresponders are the key.

[00:03:27] And if you put a bunch of people at my level who've been around as long as me, which there's not that many of us, right? And ask them what are one of the most powerful things ever for online marketing? The sequential autoresponder would be right at the top of the list. Now sequential. What does that mean? That means once the person triggers it by opting in or buying something, usually those are the two main ways the first message goes out, usually immediately. You can set it however you want, but usually immediately. Then you get to decide how many more messages you want that person to get and how long. In between them. Now we use Kick Start Cart, our shopping cart system that has broadcast email, auto responders, your shopping cart, coupons, upsells, all a million things. Kickstartcart.com. Get your free trial. Anyway, you get to set the number of days between them. So for customer service, if they buy something, they might or they'll get an immediate autoresponder message thanking them and telling them all, you know, if they have any trouble, how to contact me and all this stuff. Then the next day they might get another one with some extra tips about what they just bought or and again reiterating, hey, if you have any trouble, if you didn't download it yet, let me know.

[00:04:56] Sometimes you know they're set so that the links expire so people can't give the link away on a discussion board and download thousands of books without paying. So I tell them if it expired, hey, don't don't worry, just email me and I'll email you a copy of the book or whatever the access to the course or whatever it happens to be. And then two days later. Hey, how are you doing with the book? How are you doing with the course? Or three days later? A week later. Hey, you know, since you bought this thing, this other thing, we're going to give you a coupon code and a discount. So not only is it customer service taking care of the person. And here's my overriding principle, by the way, I want people to get used to getting emails from me that help them not just sell, sell, sell, sell, sell all the time. However, after they get that feeling that, hey, this guy takes care of his customers, I want them to realize that, hey, I'm going to give you special deals because you order with me, so I'll give them a coupon code. Now, this is all automated. I get stuff coming in all the time that I. The person bought something six months ago, and they got an autoresponder message because I loaded up the sequence for that particular product.

[00:06:15] When they bought one product. They keep getting emails over time, giving them special deals, giving them tips, giving them things like that. See? So make sure they always get something that help them and they get used to that. And then when you try to sell them something, they don't get upset about it because you've done so many great things to help them. Right now I got over 400 of these sequences. Now you're not going to start like that. I've been in this a long, long time, but these sequences are working for me while I'm sitting here making this podcast for you see, so very, very powerful. So this is why I don't waste time on customer service. See, having these autoresponders taken care of all the mundane stuff gives me time to take care of the more what I was going to say. Important but not important stuff. More complicated stuff. All my customer service is important from you buying a $17 e-book to you buying a $1,000 speaking course, or a $9,000 mentor program. Whatever it is, I'm going to take care of you at all levels. Okay. So it allows me to have the time to do those kinds of things at the higher levels or the more complicated things that need taken care of, because the mundane stuff is taken care of via autoresponders.

[00:07:42] And I mentioned earlier, it could be a sales tool too, because after a while, you know, the autoresponder said gives them a coupon code and says, hey, since you bought X and the autoresponder is tied to whatever they just purchased or if they downloaded something, but it said if you just since you bought X, here's a new thing we came out with that's perfect to go along with X. And since you bought X we're going to give you this coupon code. People love sales folks. They love sales. So giving them coupon codes for a discount will really, really ramp up sales for you. So that's that's the power of these things. And if you want unlimited numbers of these we have the shopping cart system kickstartcart.com I have been using personally for 20, let's see, 22 years plus now and it's the it's the least costly, most powerful system out there. Yeah, it's it's been around a long time, but it's I got to tell you, it does 90% of what some of the things do that cost $400. And I've had people come to me and say, well, we don't even use all that crazy fancy stuff that they have. And this it's just so powerful. And we give unlimited, free, one on one tutoring to teach you how to use it.

[00:09:08] So you take advantage of all these tools and upsells and coupons and broadcasts and autoresponders and the whole schmear. See, so that's kickstartCart.com. Get your free trial and then contact me as soon as you decide you want it. Then you grab it and then I teach you how to use it That's how either myself or Larry or Travis or somebody will teach you one on one to teach you how to use it, and your staff can be involved if your staff. If you have a staff person, we'll train them too. Oh, and one thing I forgot to tell you. Episode 654 and 337 totally go into the depths of autoresponders all the things you can do with them, the upselling techniques and all that stuff. So make sure you check out 654 and 337. This was why I don't waste time on customer service. I use powerful, powerful autoresponders. All right, we will catch you on the next one. Let's see. We got coming up. I don't waste time on website design and I don't waste time on social media. And maybe next week I'll think of some more things I don't waste time on. Okay, I don't waste time on thinking about what I don't waste time on. Okay, so so maybe I get I to to figure that out for me. All right. We'll catch you later.