Ep 21: How to Deal with an Influx of Customers with Robby Blanchard

Problem: My online business has an influx of customers because of COVID19.

Why should I start an online business?

There are thousands of people who are out of a job due to the current pandemic. They are having to stay at home with no source of income. Robby would be one of these people if not for his online business. This is why he insists that now is the right time to start one.

This is a great time to start a passive online income or start an online business because everyone is at home in front of their computer or other digital devices (be it phone or tablet). Not only are they spending a lot of time at home, they are also on social media all day. Robby finds it fortuitous because his Facebook ads are always bringing people in.

If I still had still hadn’t taken the leap to online business five years ago, like, now I would be freakin’ out.

Advice Robby would give to his younger self

Robby would focus on his own journey, rather than the journey of others. It is easy to get distracted by comparing yourself to the people around you. However, if you stop paying attention to other people and keep doing what you need to do, you’ll find that you’ll make your own goals faster.

Focus on the task at hand. I think that is the most important thing.

How to measure customer satisfaction

Robby measures his customer satisfaction and success based on what the support tickets are saying. He loves the input of critiques and while their customers won’t tell him (personally) what issues they are having or what they don’t like, they will tell his support team. All of this feedback allows him to fix those problems so he can be a better course owner, and a better business owner.

He also asks for feedback by asking his clients and colleagues:

• What do you want to see in the course?
• What do you want to hear?

Not only do these two things (reading support ticket trends and asking his clients questions) help him by giving him much-needed information, they also help their clients feel heard and validated.

Tips for handling an influx of sales/customers

Tip One: Make sure your systems are in place

The best thing you can do is to make sure you have your systems in place. Double-check your automated responses (macros). When you start getting 1000+ tickets from new customers and you’re telling them all different answers, you’ll start to go insane and you’ll make your customers mad.  

Tip Two: Prepare your business before you start to scale

If you are a new business, make sure you have prepared for new customers. Make sure your systems are all dialed in. These problems might not be a big deal now but Robby is a big believer in nipping problems in the bud.

If you have little problems, they turn into big problems. 

If I fail, it’s my fault. If I succeed, it’s my fault too.

– Robby’s favorite quote

Additional Resources

Extreme Ownership by Jocko Willink and Leif Babin is a book that both GQ and Robby have read. While Robby doesn’t spend a lot of time reading, he does recommend invest in courses and joins mastermind groups. Instead of reading the books by experts, he recommends going to events and meeting them in person. That is how he learns from their expertise, by talking with them and observing them.