Rule One of Business: Get Paid

May 25th, 2010

Getting paid, you would realise is essentially crucial at your business because if you are not being paid, what’s the point in business?

You will be laughing at the loads of business people who let their clientele to pay them when and if they remember it. I know of such a business owner who repetitively holds bad debts like awards. How? Simply because he won’t bring himself to take the payment and people can just intimidate him.

If you give someone credit, do it only after they have cleared their integrity to you by paying cash on delivery (COD) for a period. Also, you can see whether they have the cash to pay you - if not then you shouldn’t do business with them. Don’t kid yourself into the pattern of “I need the work” or “I need the sales”. It’s damaging to do the service or providing the goods for nada if you aren’t paid.

If you are the kind of person who can’t demand the fee when the job has been done, try these cheats:
Tell your client that when the job is done with, you require cash or cheque. They should more than likely have it to hand over at the point of sale and you don’t have to request your pay.

When you send out the initial quote, be sure your payment terms are clear.

Complete an invoice including the terms of payment clearly printed and hand the customer the invoice when the job is finished. They can see the invoice and reactively know they can pay the money now without you needing to say anything. Make up a “vicious boss” who would flay you alive if you don’t leave with the cash for the job.

Ask your branch to provide you with Merchant facilities so you can use credit cards such as Mastercard and Visa. Most people utilize credit cards and it should stop the dilemma of the customer not having a cheque book or not having the cash on hand.

Otherwise, don’t be frightened to hand over your goods til after you’ve been paid. Don’t forget, until they’re paid for, the goods still remain yours.

If you plan to let someone credit, make sure you have the following contact information of them a week BEFORE you allow them credit.

  • Name
  • Address
  • Phone number
  • Bank name and address
  • Account no.
  • 3 trade references with their names, addresses and phone numbers

Once you take all this detail, telephone the bank branch and make for certain that they do operate an account with them. Then, contact all of the trade reference and request if they pay their fees on time or if they have any difficulties with them.

Most people will be willing to tell you if the person is troublesome. If everything is OK, allow them a moderate level of debt, say no more than $500 (depending on your business). Monitor the operation of the account for a few months before allowing this amount to be exceeded.

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Relationship Marketing Fundamentals

January 2nd, 2010

As a customer service concept, relationship marketing is not new. For decades, business-to-business marketers have employed account managers who have the responsibility to dedicate themselves to key clients. In the financial world, `relationship banking’, whereby high-yield customers are assigned a personal manager, has been practised for many years.

When direct marketing is embraced to establish connections or relations between the marketer and the consumer, it is too easy to suggest that all forms of direct marketing communications achieve a closer relationship, a closer bond between the two parties. Such a conclusion exaggerates what generally happens in the marketplace.

Direct marketing is all about generating a direct response from the consumer and about direct communications to the consumer. A direct response is needed to generate better understanding of the advertising message or to motivate transactions. Direct communication is simply about media reach efficiency. Relationship marketing is a concept that transcends these pragmatic direct marketing objectives.

Kotler appropriately positions the concept of relationship marketing as one which applies principally to business-to-business situations:

Smart marketers try to build up long-term, trusting, `win—win’ relationships with customers, distributors, dealers and suppliers. That is accomplished by promising and delivering high quality, good service, and fair prices to the other party over time.

It is accomplished by strengthening the economic, technical, and social ties between members of the two organizations. The two parties grow more trusting, more knowledgeable, and more interested in helping each other. Relationship marketing cuts down on transaction costs and time; in the best cases, transactions move from being negotiated each time to being routinized.

Outside of `membership’ or `continuity’ programs, there are two basic ways to approach consumers. The first is with a product and price combination considered to be `the standard’. That is, the proposition is essentially of long standing and relies on the features and benefits being competitive. The second way, normally of short-term duration, is a `special offer’. Direct marketing textbooks are full of the theory, practice and case histories relating to `the offer’.

The choice of basic propositions or selection of special offers depends on the circumstances of the individual firm and its competitive environment. The right proposition or offer can make a world of difference to response cost-effectiveness.

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