It's the Little Things That Matter — My Experience in Dry Cleaning

It's the Little Things…My Experience in Dry Cleaning Hell

My wife and I are high users of dry cleaning.  Having two professional jobs you tend to need your clothing cleaned on a frequent basis.  And given that, we probably have a higher than normal customer lifetime value.

And we’ll pay for service.  Unfortunately, we’re also very forgiving of mistakes and give people more chances to correct situations than we should.  Which leads me to my latest experience AND solution blog post.

We’ve had the same dry cleaner for probably 5 years or more.  We’ve suffered through damaged clothing, lost shirts, not having the dry cleaning picked up and delivered for 6+ weeks.  The last straw was an incorrect billing of $700.  This incorrect billing forced me to reconcile 6 months of billing — a 4 hour job.  End result, we owed them $100 for the last couple weeks of cleaning.  Having to actually “manage” my relationship with a dry cleaner is completely unacceptable

Enter the solution - Men’s Warehouse Cleaning Services (www.mwcleaners.com). .  I was amazed at how the dry cleaning service has changed for the better.  And although some of you might already be experiencing such service it was completely new to my wife and I.  Here’s what I found:

1. Drive through lanes (3 wide) where an attendant will greet you and take your dry cleaning from your car and deliver it back to your car when you return.
2. Professional attendants — who are courtesy, helpful and attentive.
3. Frequent purchase programs — I can get a free shirt for every 20 cleanings of a shirt.  A great cross sell to get customers into Men’s Warehouse stores.
4. Free plastic collar inserts — holy crap!  I loose those things all the time, so having these is fantastic.
5. On-time pick up and drop off of dry cleaning.
6. Quick service — 1 day max for anything.  In fact, the attendant asked me if I needed something even faster as they would get it done immediately.
7. A summary of the billing and a quick review by the attendant of the invoice —ensuring it’s correct and that the number of items I brought in were what I was leaving with.
8. The assurance that if anything was not perfect, I need to contact them and they’ll make it right.
9. Altering service — yes you pay for this, but the attendant always mentions they’ll check for any buttons, etc. and alter those if required.  That saves me time and keeps me from having frustrations when I slip on a shirt.
10. A clean retail environment.
11. And higher prices.  Yes it costs more.  But, the price of the above services is worth it.  Service continues to matter folks.  And I continue to believe that the key differentiators with business is service and authenticity.  
12. Online Account — holy crap I can actually get access to the status of my laundry, etc.  

Men’s Warehouse get’s it.  Provide great service, keep customers happy and do an above normal job of the core offering leads to a higher household lifetime value.

Scott

@MWCleaners

You and Your Brand

You’re an asset.  Don’t forget that.  Your skills, the way you conduct yourself, your reputation and integrity define your personal “brand.”  And just as we develop brands for businesses, ensuring the message is correct, that the promise is delivered upon, etc., you must constantly be aware of your personal brand in your dealings.

If you’re in the beginning portion of your career, keep the following in mind:

1. Do what you say, say what you do — don’t promise something you can’t deliver.  
2. Don’t do anything you wouldn’t want your Mother, Priest, Spouse or the New York Times to know about.
3. It’s true, keep politics and religion out of your conversations.  In this political year, I’ve been negligent in expressing my thoughts… but I’m getting better at controlling myself.
4. Social media is easy — stay clean, don’t show the stuff which will embarrass you or your employer.  Look the separation of business and social media is tricky, my recommendation is to be conservative.  Because when you find out you were to liberal in your posts, etc., it’s usually to late to change it.
5. Golden Rule — do what your Mother told you… treat people with respect.  I pay very close attention to how people deal with others.  If you treat the waiter like crap, you show your true self.  It’s simple, but I’m surprised at how badly people treat others.
6. Which leads to Manners — do the simple things, thank you, please, your welcome.  It makes an impression.
7. Polish Your Shoes — two lessons here.  First, be wary of man who doesn’t shine his own shoes.  If you can’t do the dirty work, how can I trust you to get in the trenches when the real work starts? Second, when you walk into a room with a $1000 suit and shoes which look like combat boots, it shows your lack of detail and concern with your entire appearance.
8. Dumbest Guy in the Room — strive to be dumb.  What I mean is listen, listen, listen.  Get the thoughts of others before making a decision.
9. Remember, there is a difference between management and leadership.
10. Ebenezer Scrooge — I love the part in the story, when Ebenezer says he’ll keep Christmas in his heart all year long.  Try to do the same… it’s a 365 day year.  

This isn’t all of the list, but I hope you get the idea.  

Scott

Service Still Matters

In many cases companies advertise what they aren’t.  And when you must advertise your service level I usually find the service is terrible.  Service is best spread word-of-mouth.  It has authenticity when you hear it from another person, not an advertisement.

I was reminded today of the continuing importance of service — in fact EXCEPTIONAL service.  It was time for my 30,000 mile service on my car.  So I set my appointment through the handy technology imbedded in the in-car computer.

Arriving at Northside Lexus of Houston, I was greeted by a friendly Advisor who checked in my car and walked me to his office (yes an actual office).  He patiently explained to me what was involved in the service - explaining each item, made sure I didn’t a loaner car, etc.  At this point, he walked me to seating area’s…  Leather chairs, couches, multiple big screen TV’s, WiFi (and strong signal WiFi to boot) — it was a designer perfect family room.  The second area was a more general area with chairs and tables.  The third, was a business room with all the amenities — a fax machine, printer, etc. etc.  And fountain drinks, juices, coffee, cappuccino were all available.  

Then, Northside Lexus went for the “service kill”… freshly baked cookies…right out of the oven.  It is impossible for any man on the face of the earth to not fall under the “spell” of a freshly baked chocolate chip cookie — it’s like a love potion.  All along the way, my Advisor checked in with me to give me an update on the multitude of items they were checking, changing, tightening, washing and vacuuming, etc.  I received text messages with the estimated time my car would be ready. 

Check out was so fast and the Advisor walked me to my car.  The car was on, with the A/C lightly cooling the car.  And all along the walk the staff said thank you, enjoy the weekend, etc.  And this was like 3-4 people along the walk.  Oh, did I say they used my name.

If I didn’t have things to do I would have asked to stay a few more hours.  Northside Lexus of Houston doesn’t advertise its exception service, it doesn’t need too…I just did.

Scott

Is Mobile Phone Technology Peaking?

I was due from an upgrade on my iPhone for quite some time now and decided to get to the local AT&T store to get what I thought would be “killer” new tech.  What a disappointment. 

I upgraded to the iPhone 6 -- yes I know I was a laggard on this one.   Usually, I’m the first guy upgrading to any new tech, but alas I just fell behind on the phone front.    

For all of the hype which is made around new technology and the lines which seem to wrap around the block at the Apple store I found this one to be a total let down.  When you really consider it all in context of a consumer experience, you really only get:

Larger screen size – yea this is a nice to have, but not a game changer.  Puts them equal with Samsung.

New screen saver – it moves.  Wow!  Who gives a damn.

Wallet and Apple Pay – is really the only new functionality I see.  It’s great and a next step in evolution, but isn’t the must have reason to buy a new phone.

Better camera – I was ok with the last one given all of the apps you can purchase to improve the old camera versions.

It seems “Moore’s Law” on the growth of technology might be fading a bit in the mobile hardware and software space.

Scott

My iPhone Could Launch Apollo 11

I stumbled upon an article on the computer which ran the Apollo 11 space mission.   The 1960’s based technology was merely 64Kbyte of memory.  This computer helped get NASA Astronauts over 350,000 kilometers to the Moon and back.  As I pondered this achievement I looked at my iPhone and realized how far our technology has come.  With just the applications I’ve loaded to my phone I can:

1.       Consume Content

·         Play thousands and thousands of songs

·         Play, store and create videos

·         Read and store books

2.       Communicate

·         Video conference

·         Monitor house security system and cameras

·         Communicate via email, facebook, twitter, linkedin, etc.

·         Translate content into different languages

3.       Commerce

·         Form of payment

·         Purchase items from online merchants

·         Book and manage travel

4.       Inform

·         Instant access to news, stock quotes, weather, sports, etc.

·         Track the location of where my kids are

·         Monitor traffic and get driving directions

·         Determine my exact location via GPS

5.       Work

·         Create spreadsheet, word and power point presentations and project them to another screen

·         Print to any wifi printer

·         Analyze calculations, etc.

And the above are just a smattering of all the things we can now do with technology which can be placed in our pocket.  What tomorrow brings will be even more amazing.

Scott

Estimated Media Spending Up? What’s Driving the Increase?

It seems all we hear about is how media budgets are being cut.  But some positive news came out of eMarketer which predicts media spend will increase  5.1% this year.  That number is slightly lower than had originally thought, but yes this is overall good news.  Let’s be wary of what is driving that increase. 

        

•       Politics -- political spend always tightens media inventory which naturally creates higher prices for media.  This supply/demand balance slow burns as caucuses occur state by state.  Then around June onward, inventory significantly constrains as we head into the Presidential election.
•           Olympics – the sporting events put a huge constraint on inventory during the summer months. Advertisers who normally don’t run consistent media schedules do burst media campaigns around the event.
•          Early Holiday Promotion – it seems Christmas shopping literally starts at Halloween.  Special “before” holiday shopping deals are becoming more prevalent.  Look at this new trend to constrain inventory as well.

So before we celebrate the “rise of media” let’s make sure we know the reasons for the increase and realize this might be an abnormal year of spend.

Scott  

And This Year’s Winner of the Oscar Is….

Bottom line the 2016 Academy Awards had a down year for ratings with 34.3 million viewers.  If you compare that to the last 15 years of viewership, it isn’t at the bottom but it’s far from the top of the ratings pyramid.

The show had the diversity controversy written all over the show.  From the opening monologue and mentioned continuously during the show.   I thought Chris Rock did a great job handling a very difficult situation, but at times I got a bit uncomfortable with some of the jokes around the subject.

Could the diversity issue drive down the year’s ratings to the third lowest in 15 years?  Perhaps, but a few other thoughts are worth noting.

-        

•   Must See TV – in years past I can recall “Oscar Viewing Parties” being held.  There was a sense of excitement.   My take… people aren’t enthused about the program or award.  They feel the content has become dull.
• -          Identity Loss – has Oscar lost his brand?  With the SAG Awards and Golden Globes all proceeding the Academy Awards it seems some of the luster might be a bit tarnished on the Oscar trophy.
• -          Movies – frankly, I had only seen one two of the movies up for the big award.  So the movie product might not have been exciting as years past.  Albeit, seeing if Leonard DeCaprio would win Best Male Performance was intriguing. 
• -          Competition – the show had no competition that night so that excuse is out the window.
• -           Host – Chris Rock was great.  He was dealt a very tough hand.  Striking a balance on diversity, humor and moving the show along had to be incredibly difficult.
• -           Cross promotion – it was very lean.  Little digital components left the show dry.

Ratings for this year and previous years of the show came in at:

2016 34.3 million 

2015 37.3 million 
2014 43.7 million 
2013 40.3 million 

2012 39.3 million 

2011 37.9 million 
2010 41.3 million 
2009 36.3 million 
2008 32.0 million 
2007 40. 2 million 
2006 38.9 million 
2005 42.1 million 
2004 43.5 million 
2003 33.0 million 

2002 41.8 million
2001 42.9 million 

Let’s hope next year’s event is a bit stronger.

Scott

Kim Kardashian vs. Donald Trump

       

This week, Kim K. posted a nude pic of herself on Twitter.   It’s gotten the typical response across the digital ecosphere, including a little “spat” between her and Bette Midler.

At the same time, Donald Trump was taking to social media, press conferences, rallies and the debate stage proclaiming the bravado we’ve seen since June.  But the Donald is really the social media master. Using it to create controversy, keep his name and message front and center….and he’s become the King of Twitter.

Kim K. seems to be playing second fiddle to the Trumpster on Twitter – by not getting the usual limelight.  I suppose we should medical classify this as “Twitter Deficit Syndrome or TDS.”

I suppose posting a nude tweet vs. Trump’s bravado political tweets is helping Kim to be the Queen of Twitter, if nothing but a few days.

Scott

These Are A Few of My Favorite Things

From time-to-time I’m asked what information I keep in touch with.  A few of my favorites include:

Web Sites

Advertising Age – http://adage.com/

AdWeek http://www.adweek.com/

Creative Magazine http://www.creativemag.com/

Marketing Week http://www.marketingweek.co.uk/ 

DMA Organization News http://www.the-dma.org/news/

B toB – The Magazine for Marketing Strategists http://www.btobonline.com/

Chief Marketer http://chiefmarketer.com

Direct Marketing News http://www.dmnews.com/

Ad News http://www.adnews.com/

Campaign Magazine http://www.campaignlive.co.uk/go/news/

PR Week http://www.prweek.com/

CNET  http://www.cnet.com

American Marketing Association  http://www.ama.org

WSJ CMO Today  http://www.wsj.com/news/cmo-today

CMO http://www.cmo.com

HubSpot  http://www.hubspot.com

Engadget    http://www.engadget.com

Tech Crunch   http://techcrunch.com

eConsultancy   https://econsultancy.com

Chief Marketer   http://www.chiefmarketer.com

Social Media Examiner    http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com

Talent Zoo   http://www.talentzoo.com

Twitter

@wsjcmo

@cmo_council

@britopian 

@pkfletcher

@TimHanlon 

@siriusdecisions

@rishad

@mmaglobal

@charlenli

@tedtalks

@timsuther

@sesamestreet

@bogusky 

@mckquarterly

LinkedIn Groups

Digital Marketing

Marketing Communications

eMarketing Association Network

Executive Suite

Marketing & Communications News

Chat Functionality

Companies love to jump into chat — the next frontier in customer touches and service.  It sounds great, but there are things to consider, such as:

1. Where you put the chat button — the top?  the bottom?  My preference is the lower right hand corner.  It’s usually the standard on most sites, so why break the trend.  And, it stays out of the way of the left rail and top navigation areas.
2. Training — chat is not like picking up the phone.  Communicating clearly, with brevity are key aspects of chat.  And, reps should be able to carry on 2-3 sessions at the same time so juggling multiple conversations is important  Spend a great deal of time and money getting your reps trained… use a 3rd party training company.
3. Customer service skills — chat is at it’s core customer service which helps drive sales.  Your reps need to clearly be trained and compensated based on service level not sales.  Goaling on sales will create aggressive reps who will push your customers away from the purchase funnel.
4. Metrics — always measure the results.  How many sales can you confirm were made by the chat?  Customer service requests?  How many no’s for help?  How many never responded?  You must understand if you’re getting any type of return.  Don’t necessarily be concerned about sales only… cost avoidance in helping online is a benefit as well.
5. Time of day — go back to your analytics and staff based on the level of traffic you’re getting during specific times of the day.  
6. Geography coverage — are you ready to work with customers in different countries?  Should you?  Take a look at where your web traffic is coming from and staff appropriately.  Plus, if you aren’t concerned about international business, limit your chat to those country’s you are interested in.
7. Language — this is a big one.  Do you have staff who are skilled in more than one language?  If your web site is only in English I’d only use English as the language supported.  If you have a translated site, then look at the traffic on those translated pages, where are your sales coming from and decide whether the investment in multi-language support is warranted.
8. Privacy/Legal — ALWAYS have your legal department draft the appropriate language informing customers of their rights and of your policies.  
9. Where you want to chat — put the chat button the high traffic areas, vs. your long tail pages.  Staffing everywhere is inefficient and your staff is probably not going to understand all of your products, so stay where customers gather. 
10. What results do you want out of chat — define what you want upfront.  Sales?  Customer service?  This is critical as other numbers might look great - number of chat sessions are up!  The time per customer is dropping!  All sound great, but keep your original goals in mind to determine success/failure.
11. Sales expectations — keep your expectations low.  You’ll probably do more customer service type of work with chat.  But you will certainly help your customers through the sales funnel by answering questions, directing them to areas on the site and most importantly help a customer in the sales checkout process.
12. The creepy factor — personally, having someone abruptly and without warning open up a chat session with me creeps me out.  It’s a big brother thing.  Chat might actually drive customers away from your site.  Measure this as well.
13. Expect the craziest stuff —What are your hours?  How do I get in contact with Accounting?  Where’s my shipment?  Your product is terrible.  Will you donate to my kids baseball team?Do you know Bob in Marketing?  He’s my nephew.  This and more will come through your chat.
14. Trial — start small.  Put the chat button on just a few pages when you first start.  If successful, gradually expand to other pages.  This will allow you to find out how many “pages per rep” can be managed, making staffing a bit easier.
15. IT — don’t make the mistake of not including your IT staff in this process.  Security protocols could be impacted, your site will need to be modified and you need someone to help manage any technical malfunctions.

There’s a number of additional tips, but I’ll leave it here.

Scott

eCommerce Tips - Part 3

1. Make if easy to get to the cart — nothing chaps my ass more than having to hunt and peck to get to the checkout cart.  And once I get into the cart, having more questions to answer and stuff to type in.  Make it easy to check out… keep the steps to a bare minimum.  Again, get em in, get em out.
2. Access to the system — an employee leaves… what if they download your customer list, credit card information, etc.?  Limit access to the system to only key staff.  And when you have the platform built talk to the developers and software company about fail safes on the system.  
3. Audit your eCommerce system — have finance audit your system for accurate reporting and integration with backend financial systems.  
4. Pay hackers to hack.  Sounds crazy, but find a security company who can hack away.  If they can get in, you’ve got a problem.  I’d also keep them on retainer to hack at intervals.  By the way, let your IT Security, Audit and Executive Management know you’re doing this.
5. Have longer term service contracts — don’t get caught without having support from your dev vendor.  Bulk up the hours you need them after the immediate release.  You’ll have issues to take care of so be sure you have those hours built in.  Put less hours on the backend of the contract as you’ll probably be in the small fix mode at that time.
6. Chat - I have mixed feelings on chat.  I love it because you can help direct and answer customer questions.  However, it can be very obtrusive if it pops up while a customer is browsing… you’ve seen it “How Can I Help You” pops up in the corner.  I get the creeps when it happens to me and I’m pretty sure others do as well. Think twice on how you implement the Chat functionality.
7. Mock Disaster Drills — just like having fire drills to prepare for the worst… do the same with your eCommerce system, processes and team.  You can determine the extent to which you want to mock a drill… get creative to stress test your system, backup servers and staff.
8. Lifetime value — ensure you are capturing all the data you’ll need to complete LTV later in the life of the eCommerce platform and business.  You won’t be able to do it when you launch but 18 months later it will be something you’ll want to do.
9. Order verification emails — it’s mandatory!  Tell your customer you’ve received the order, verify the cost, provide an order number AND Cross Sell!  Provide a coupon code, ask for more sales, show companion products they might consider.
10. Coupon codes — people love a deal.  Try different offers… 10% off, $10 off, Free Shipping, Buy 1 get the 2nd 50% off.  Provide the codes in emails, on your web site, 3rd party sites, etc.  However, you must be cognizant that your site doesn’t become the discount bin at the 99 cent store.  Use coupons in a smart way.
11. Hold the dev companies responsible — it sounds obvious, but I know company’s which do the “one and done” IT support model.  My preference, keep them on retainer for 1 year.  With the first 6 months of that having the most hours as you’ll need them to fix the launch issues.
12. Agile vs. Waterfall — Waterfall methodology will not allow you to fix issues along the development cycle.  In the end you’ll spend much more time in dev and when you launch, you’ll get a ton of surprises when stuff doesn’t work together.  Agile, will reduce the surprises at launch and keep dev moving at a solid pace.
13. Hire a full time search professional — I screwed this one up.  I should have had a search person on board full time to focus on the meta data tagging, how the search works on the site and optimizing external search.  Trust me on this… hire one early.
14. Learn to say no — you will have multiple requests for additional items to be added to your project during the dev and planning cycle.  Stay focused, say no, prioritize them later.  Get the initiatives launched successfully, then start on the other request.
15. Auto fill in — the greatest speed enhancer created by developers!  I recommend you turn it on.  Again, get them in and get them out.  The faster they can complete the information the faster to checkout.
16. Team — of everything I’ve posted, this is the MOST CRITICAL piece of the entire development and ongoing management of an eCommerce platform.  Nothing else matters, nothing will get done, it won’t get done correctly, on time, etc. without the best possible team.  I look for passion first.  If someone is passionate they’ll have the internal desire to learn, go further, drive harder and exceed any and all expectations.  Second, trust.  You must trust the team with the ability to make decisions.  Not all of those decisions will be correct… but you must have faith they’ll do what’s right given the information they have.  Third, I look for digital/eCommerce experience.  Someone who has lived through the crap it takes to pull off and manage an eCommerce platform and manage the business.  As for the incredible team I was honored to lead in the latest eCommerce business I was involved in… Colleen, Gina, Donna, Jon and Jim are my heroes.  
17. Mobile — this should already be included in the specs and dev… but ensure it’s working on day one.
18. Keep it clean —I hate sites that you must sift through to figure out what to do.  Keeping your site clean helps the customer find the product easier and get to checkout faster.
19. Worst case scenario plans — be proactive and put together your response action plans in the event your data is stolen, credit card data stolen etc.  A few key points to consider:  How do you inform management, how do you inform customers, what do you say to customers, how do you communicate with the press, hotline phone and email to answer questions, 3rd party monitoring services for free, IT development plan, etc. etc.
20. Celebrate success — you and the team might need to be medicated by the time you get the system up and running.  This is very hard and frustrating work.  The stress is intense.  Stop and celebrate along the way.

These are just a few of the things I’ve learned.  I know I’ve left some out, but I hope part 3 adds some additional tips which you find useful.  Remember parts 1 and 2 were published earlier, so check out my earlier posts.

Best of luck,

Scott

My Top Super Bowl Commercials...

It’s Super Bowl time again… when we all sit around the big screen TV and watch commercials, and a football game if actually relevant.  My top five Super Bowl Commercials of all time include:

Snickers - You’re Not You When You’re Hungry

Coke — Mean Joe Green

McDonalds - The Showdown

Volkswagon - The Force

Wendy’s — Where’s the Beef?

What’s your list?

Scott

eCommerce Tips -- Part 2

Part 2 of eCommerce tips...  look for Part 3 coming out shortly.

Scott

1. Executive Management — typically you’ll find Executive Management has the misconception that once the site goes live the dollars will start rolling in immediately.  As we know this is absolutely ludicrous — the site needs to mature, have campaign dollars spent on it, let alone ensuring the search engines start indexing the site.  Make sure you are DAMN clear by always saying the site won’t generate a single sale for 6 months.  Start your conversations and end your conversations with this important point continuously.
2. Timelines — first, you won’t hit your original timeline.  Live with it.  And if you do, you’ve probably left something off which is critical.  Second, timelines should be built on quarters not months.. it will give you some leeway and is actually more accurate in the end.
3. Privacy and Security — you must make your site bullet proof… your customers data and personal information is critical.  If you’re not going to take the time and money to make your site safe against malicious or accidental incidents then you shouldn’t get into eCommerce.  Hire an eCommerce security and privacy consultant to put the processes and security protocols in place.  This is the most important development and process area when you develop your eCommerce site.
4. Currency — get a currency converter on the site so your customers can understand the true cost in their preferred currency.  Get the data from a company which updates currency rates during the day.  I like to bill in US dollars and collect the money in US dollars vs. the hassle of taking conversions later.  It doesn’t impact the customer as they pay the same on their credit card.  
5. Embargo countries — remember, the US and EU prohibit companies to do business with certain countries e.g. Iran.  So ensure your system is setup to reject these sales.  I’ve always kept the order data in the eCommerce system so I had a record of the failed transaction.  That data could come in handy one day.
6. Trigger on multiple purchases — got caught on this one once.  Someone pinged the site and made multiple independent purchases, paid for them with the same card and they all went through.  Of course the card was stolen and they got some free content.  Put a limit on multiple orders from the same card, address, etc. which can be done during a certain time period.  It will help eliminate another area of fraud.
7. Cross sell across the entire site.  “People also looked at these products”, “People purchased these products as well”, “Consider these companion products”…. are key on the site.  Merchandise the site aggressively.  Tip… if you’re using one of the big platforms, you’ll probably use an algorithm which will personalize these recommendations.  But it will take time for the algorithm to learn…so hard code some cross sell products on the site until it gets enough data.
8. Search engines — once you’re open for business, Google, Yahoo!, Bing, etc. will start sending down search bots to begin indexing the site.  Note… keep the content up to date, fresh and at the top of the site.  It will make it easier for indexing and will keep the bots happy.  Also, everyone focuses on Google but don’t forget to keep things simple for the other engines as well.
9. Shipping costs — free shipping is all the rage during the holiday buying season.  And certain free shipping promotions can help drive purchases as well.  When you’re building the system check that the rates for each shipper you use are accurate.  
10. Handling costs — wonder why you can “get 2 ShamWows for the price of 1”… just pay shipping and handling?  Because handling is another way to get profit.  Yea, you might need to have someone pack the stuff up and that costs you…but using handling costs for profit enhancement is a good idea.  I’m 50/50 on this practice.  It’s nice to have the extra profit, but I question whether it’s worth the possibility of pissing off a customer.   
11. Shippers — I like to use multiple shippers.  UPS, USPS and FEDX.  If overseas, DHL is a good choice.  As delivery methods, costs, time etc. are different, the variety provides your customers with choices.  But, that choice means your systems and logistics need to be setup to accommodate the different shippers.  Making labels, putting in a tracking number etc. should be integrated into your eCommerce logistics.  Speak to a logistics specialist.  And when looking at 3rd party software, see if this is an Out of the Box feature or if you have to buy additional software.
12. Distribution of product — when you start out your site, it might be easy to just have the mail kid pack up the stuff and send it out.  However, be ready to quickly put more resources into product distribution at any time if/when product sales increase.  By the way, make sure you look professional when you distribute your products.  Don’t throw them in a box without proper protection material (styrofoam peanuts, bubble wrap).  Show you’re environmentally responsible by using recycled eco-friendly materials  And don’t hand write the mailing label… print it out professionally.  Tips… include your latest catalog in the box, a thank you note, a coupon for future purchases, etc.  
13. Right products — its key to get the right ones on the site…that’s easier said then done.  It’s a test and learn process… so switch it around.  
14. Right price points — with anything else, getting the price at a point which maximizes profit while maintaining competitiveness will be key.  Set up a site scrap of competitors sites for pricing.  It can help you keep your prices competitive.
15. Consider credit card limits — if a customer can’t pay for it, they can’t buy it.  Credit card limits vary, but it’s easy to determine that the more expensive the item you’ll probably not have as many buyers.  And business credit cards usually have a limit of $5,000 for travel and expenses… Purchase Order Cards can be higher, but I’ve always relied on the $2,500 top end for business card purchases.  Anything above that on the site, will probably require an employee to get a purchase order.
16. Credit Cards — my view… accept as many types as possible.  MasterCard, Visa, Discover, American Express… if people have them, they use them.  The discount rate is always a big concern as its an expense… some sites don’t accept AMX for the high discount cost they charge.  Yes, it can be 100 basis points or more in cost, but I’ll take a bit less in profit to get a new customer any day.
17. Purchase orders — if you’re focused on businesses you should have the ability to purchase using a PO number.  This is going to require integration with your back end finance systems and isn’t a trivial development task.  
18. Tax consequences — for the love of God, charge tax.  It sounds like a no brainer, but I’ve seen sites which don’t do it.  For most products you must charge tax.  If you don’t charge YOU will pay the tax for your customers.  That usually means you’ll lose 5-8% profit.  Hook up the eCommerce tables to accurate tax tables.
19. Backup servers/systems — it sounds like a no brainer as well.  Keep it in mind when you setup your site on a 3rd party server provider.  Find out how the procedure works, what defines “an outage”, timing until the site comes back up, etc.
20. Get em in, get em out… I’m probably in the minority on this, but I like to get people on the site, have them find stuff quick, pay for it and then decide to leave or hang around after that.   If your on site metric is increasing and sales are decreasing it’s more than likely that your customers can’t find the product. Look to lower your on site time while increasing your sales at the same time.