Devoted to online marketing, viral marketing, and web marketing

The toy recall by Mattel gives a caution on those online marketers that may be using sources from other countries as suppliers. I talk about the specifics at my managersrealm blog.

Even the smallest company importing goods should have some program in place that at least tests the products to ensure their quality. If nothing other than pulling an occasional product to see that it meets the standards it promises.

Another thing to consider isn't just safety issues, but integrity and honesty issues. Even with many of the products offered by online marketers we need to be sure the promises we make are truly attainable and represented in what we tell people.

This is one of the reasons the inclusion of the term "results not typical" are included on television infomercials in many cases. It isn't necessarily because someone is lying, but because not every person will get the same results that uses the product, service or information. A lot depends on the individual using it.

The toy recalls reminds us that we must have high quality standards in place.

The other thing, when we do joint ventures, we need to absolutely check out the material and quality of what we are entering into. We should try out the product and services of those we have an interest in partnering with before we let them know we would like to do something with them. Otherwise we'll get the dating syndrome, where everybody puts on their best face and shows only one side of who they are.

What happens if we don't have quality control in place is we may be subject to a consumer recall (stop doing business with us) because we fail to perform due diligence. Never be so interested in doing a deal that you skip the necessary steps to ensure its quality. You'll be glad you took the extra time.