I know this sounds like an unlikely title...and it is. Let me first say that I am a fisherwoman. Not tournament, but pan fish. I like the little ones; the ones other fishermen throw back and tell me not to waste my time on. I can't tell you how often I hear "They are soooo small". I have a theory that if the fish is as big as my hand, I can get a fillet off of it, and what a wonderful meal I will have!

What does all this have to do with customers and an online business? It is really simple. A lot of experienced online marketers will tell you that if a person does not take the opportunity you are offering, then that person does not have "what it takes" to become an internet marketer, and therefore you should go to the next customer and forget about the first one. They theorize that there is no profit to be made in that first customer, as he or she will never achieve their goals.

Ever since first grade, or maybe sooner, I have had an aversion to people telling me to quit. That I can't do something...it has gotten me in a lot of trouble over the years, but I preserver. That is why when a more experience marketer tells me as part of my training to move on to the next, I hesitate.

Did these same marketers ever think that maybe the offer they have, is not something the customer is interested in? Or maybe the offer seems to complicated for most people. The average person is clueless about what Internet Marketing is all about. They have no idea how much time and effort it takes to sell one product. Sometimes an experienced marketer forgets what it was like starting out in this ever-growing business. It can be rather intimidating to those with less experience on the computer.

So what should you do? My thought and what has worked for me, is communication. If a customer is truly interested to start a home based business, then your job is to make sure the home based business fits their needs. After a few conversations, usually through email, I can tell if a person is interested in doing the actual work, such as typing at home, or if he is interested in developing his own website. Whichever one he is interested that is the direction in which I steer him.

It may take a while of contacting the person, of making sure he knows his options. He in the meantime learns that you are a real person, interested in him and his needs, you developed a relationship with the customer and a great deal of the time a sale is made. The one thing you really have to be careful about with this type of contact is: NOT TO SPAM! Make sure the customer knows that if he doesn't want any further communication from you that all he has to do is let you know.

So you decide what you want to do with this type of customer. Do you want to "throw it back" or are you willing to wait until you have the right "bait" for them?