Rule One of Business: Get Paid
To be paid, just as you would understand is essentially important in your business because if you are not being paid, what’s the point in business?
You would be surprised at the amount of business people who only have their customers to simply pay when and if they remember it. I know a trader who habitually gets bad debts like trophies. Why, do you think? Very possibly because he cannot bring himself to take the cash and allows people to overpower him.
If you allow a customer credit, only do so after they cleared consistency to you by paying cash on delivery (COD) for a while. Furthermore, you can see whether they have the money to pay you - if not then you should not do business with them. Don’t trick yourself into the line of “I need the work” or “I need the sales”. It’s ultimately doing the work or providing the goods for zero if you don’t get paid.
If you are the kind of person who can’t ask for the cash even when the work has been done, try these ideas:
Tell your client that when the job is done, you require cash or cheque. They should be likely to have it there at completion and you don’t need to demand your fee.
When giving out an initial quote, be sure your payment terms are understandable.
Create an invoice with the terms of payment evidently listed and hand the customer the invoice when the job is finished up. They should look at the invoice and immediately realise they need to pay you the fee now without you being required to say anything. Manufacture an “evil boss” who may torture you alive if you don’t return with the payment for the work.
Set up your bank branch to hook you up with Merchant facilities so you can accept credit cards like Mastercard and Visa. The large part of people utilize credit cards and it should prevent the issue of the customer not owning a cheque book or not having the right cash in their pocket.
Moreover, don’t be asked not to hand over any goods until the payment has been made. Don’t forget, until they’re paid for, the goods remain yours.
If you choose to permit a customer credit, be sure you have the following details off them some time 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
When you know all this information, telephone the bank and make sure that they use an account there. Then, ring each trade reference and inquire if they pay their debts on time or if there are 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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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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