Rule One of Business: Get Paid
Getting paid, as you would realise is essentially fundamental at your business because if you aren’t paid, what are you doing in business?
You would be astounded at the number of business people who have their customers to pay them when and if they feel like it. I am acquainted with a tradesman who repeatedly collects bad debts like accolades. Why is that? Simply because he can’t bring himself to take the payment and people can just take advantage of him.
If you let a customer credit, do it only when they have proven their integrity to you by paying cash on delivery (COD) for some period. Furthermore, you should see whether they have the resources to pay you - otherwise you shouldn’t do business with them. Don’t fool yourself into the line of “I need the work” or “I need the sales”. It’s ultimately to do the work or providing the goods for zip if you are not getting paid.
If you are the kind of person who can’t request the money even when the service has been finished, try these cheats:
Tell your customer that when the work is done, you require cash or cheque. They should probably have it to hand over at the transacation and you won’t have to request your money.
When you send an initial quote, be sure your payment terms are understandable.
Create an invoice that has your terms of payment plainly printed and send the customer the invoice when the work is finished up. They should take the invoice and reactively realise they need to pay for it now without you having to say anything. Manufacture an “evil boss” who may flay you alive if you can’t bring back the fee for the service.
Organise your bank to provide you with Merchant facilities so you can have credit cards including Mastercard and Visa. The majority of people own credit cards and it would solve the difficulty of the customer not holding a cheque book or not having the right cash in their pocket.
Alternatively, don’t be asked not to hold the promised goods till after payment is paid. Understand, until the goods are paid for, the goods remain to be yours.
If you plan to let somebody credit, be sure you get the following information from them at a time PREVIOUSLY you let them credit.
- Name
- Address
- Phone number
- Bank name and address
- Account no.
- 3 trade references with their names, addresses and phone numbers
After you have all this detail, telephone the branch and make for certain that they operate an account then. Then, ring all of the trade reference and find out if they pay their invoices consistently or if they have any dilemmas 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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Sphere: Related ContentRelationship Marketing Fundamentals
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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