Collection Letter Secrets to Getting Paid

How To Make Wads Of Cash As An Online Dating Coach

Hate collecting your money? Join the crowd. Recent OPEN Small Business Network Polls from American Express shows accounts receivables is the top cash flow concern of small business owners. Learn the secrets of collection letters and other mastery tips to ensure your customers pay.

You started your business to make a difference, to delight a customer, to express your vision, not to become the bank of choice for your customers. Use the following collection letter and debt collection mastery tips:

Take a Positive Stance: Don't take it personal if your customers aren't paying the bills. Explore why the bill is late. It could be your client simply forgot. Provide a gentle reminder immediately following the due date.

Increase Directness Gradually: One of the secrets of collection letter mastery is to gradually increase the assertiveness of the letter over time.

Your first letter is positive and helpful, the third collection letter may show concern for their situation, and so it builds.

Use Multiple Channels: In today's electronic age, handling your entire invoicing and collection letter sending by email is simple and quick. It also can ensure your correspondence is buried in an overstuff inbox and low priority. Use additional means of sending out your collection letter correspondence including faxes, phone calls, regular mail, courier, and telegrams.

Empower the Right People: As a small business owner the temptation is great to have the sales people handle accounts receivables. It's better to assign one person to the task and provide proper support, training, and incentive.

Call the Heavy Hitters: After numerous calls and collection letter correspondence you'll reach a point where the account is long overdue. Bring in a collection agency to handle these delinquent clients. Spending too much time and resources can be draining on your operations.

Don't Ignore FDCPA: There are laws and regulations as to how collection agencies can go about collecting debt. Debt collectors cannot lie to, mislead, or harass your customers. Make sure the collection agency you select abides by the Fair Debt Collections & Practices Act (FDCPA).

Run a Credit Report: Reduce your overdue accounts by running a credit check on your potential business client before the deal is done. Expect to spend at least $30 on a Dun & Bradstreet report. D & B uses self reported data but adds credibility by including: banking data from company suppliers, bankruptcy filings, media sources, suits, liens, and judgments.

Always Check References: Any small business planning to sign a "big deal" would be advised to run trade and bank reference checks. Simply inquiring with your potential client's or partner's bank can reveal important banking relationship information and how they have maintained their accounts.

Change Industries: To improve your collection abilities, diversify your business into industries that have a tendency to pay bills on time and who have lower failure rates.

Handling the debt collection process is a responsibility of successful business ownership. Too many small businesses place aging receivables and collections as a low priority. It's important to monitor your cash flow and aging receivables on a monthly basis or more. It's ok to write off bad debt, but in the end, it's your business savvy to handle the matter that will impact your growth.

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Gen Y makes a mark and their imprint is entrepreneurship

Local entrepreneur not too busy to get Cleary business degree

They've got the smarts and the confidence to get a job, but increasing numbers of the millennial generation — those in their mid-20s and younger — are deciding corporate America just doesn't fit their needs.

So armed with a hefty dose of optimism, moxie and self-esteem, they are becoming entrepreneurs.

"People are realizing they don't have to go to work in suits and ties and don't have to talk about budgets every day," says Ben Kaufman, 20, founder of a company that makes iPod accessories. "They can have a job they like. They can create a job for themselves."

Read more on usatoday.com.

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Koss DVD - College Sophomore On Track To Become A Millionaire Selling DVDs On eBay

Work-at-home is where the CEO is

http://www.kossdvd.com

Corey Kossack, 23
Tempe, Arizona
eBay User ID: kossdvd
2006 Sales: $1 million
Projected 2007 Sales: $3 million
eBay Business: New DVDs, iPod accessories and video games

In 2004, Corey Kossack was a college sophomore doing some online shopping from his dorm room for a digital camera memory card. One of his stops was eBay to see if he could find a deal. Although he says he "always thought of eBay as a place for people to get rid of junk," he found someone selling hundreds of memory cards that day. This was clearly a businessperson, not an individual selling castoffs from their personal collection, and it changed Kossack's thinking about eBay. He saw a business opportunity and wanted in.

Recognizing the need to carve out his own niche, Kossack decided on DVDs. He reasoned that there are always new titles coming out, creating an ongoing demand for the product, and most DVDs are the same size and weight, which makes the process of packing and shipping them much simpler.

However, "finding suppliers was difficult," he says. By calling major distributors from the study room in his dorm, Kossack eventually got his foot in the door. But he says the sales terms at the outset "weren't very good," mainly because his sales volume was low.

That soon changed as Koss DVD's sales volume increased. In its first year in operation, the company sold $500,000 worth of DVDs. But what has kept the business on course has been Kossack's focus on profitability, not sales. "Sales volume isn't all that's important," he says. "What's really important is profit."

While most businesses focus on the top line--sales--Kossack has paid equal attention to keeping costs down. One change to the company's shipping process, replacing the bubble envelopes it had been using with a lightweight alternative, shaved 0.3 ounces off each package's total weight and saved the company $10,000 in its first year.

From the start, Kossack has tracked each order's profit margin carefully, taking note of all the factors affecting profitability to make constant improvements. But in 2006, recognizing how important such calculations could be for any eBay business, he paid another student to create software and used the new formulas to replace his manual calculations. Since then, he is selling it commercially.

In addition to automating his profit tracking, Kossack has renegotiated deals with his suppliers based on his company's track record of growth and success. He's also expanded his product line, from 1,000 DVD titles to 10,000, and added video games and iPod accessories to his store. He says, "We're becoming more of a superstore."

Be sure to research your intended industry thoroughly to understand what margins are typical. You will be better armed to negotiate with suppliers, and you can confirm upfront that your business can be profitable.

[Via - Entrepreneur Magazine]

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Fire Your Bad Clients

The Single Greatest Copywriting Success Secret

Got a few bad-egg clients? Maybe you should fire them. That's right—I said "Fire them." Cut them loose. Give them the heave ho. Tell them goodbye and never look back.

I know you think I'm crazy—why would anyone say goodbye to hot prospects—but when you realize the positive impact it could have on your bottom line, you’ll wonder why it took you so long!

As business owners, we often feel that we should take on every client who comes calling. But that's not always the best choice: Just because someone comes to you who's interested in a business relationship doesn’t mean they're going to be a good client. In order to make your business as profitable as possible, you really need to assess your client relationships and ensure that they're win-win opportunities for you.

This is where the 80/20 rule comes into play: You should be focusing your time on the clients who are most profitable and who fit within your reason for existence. And you need to learn to say no to a potential or existing client when they don't fit within your business model. Most recommendations are that you should fire the bottom 10% of clients (in terms of profitability) each year so you can focus on your more profitable clients with your limited time.

Not sure this is the best idea for your business? Here are five types of clients you need to fire who are causing your business to be less profitable:

Focus drainers. In order to make the most of your time, you need to focus on your core competencies. Clients who don't fit within your targeted service or product focus may be costing you money. Have you started offering products and services that aren't a fit with your core business strategy just to keep some clients happy? If that's the case, perhaps you need to reassess whether that's a smart business move.

Low-profitability clients. If you're not generating money—or much money—from some of your customers, then you're on the losing end of a bad relationship. You only have so many hours in the day to work on your business, so make them count. Only work with clients with whom you'll enjoy a good return on your invested time.

Complainers. Ever feel drained at the end of the day because you had to deal with complaining clients who always want something for nothing? It's not worth it! It’s time to say good riddance and work with those people who truly appreciate what you do and are willing to pay for what you provide without complaining!

"Something for nothing" clients. Get rid of those customers who always want something but don't want to pay for it. They don’t value what you have to offer, and you constantly have to justify your prices. If they don’t value you now, they never will, and you'll constantly be justifying the work you do and the prices you charge. Only work with those people who understand the value you have to offer and will appreciate it.

Time wasters. If you're spending time with clients who waste your time because they're never ready or aren't willing to listen to your advice, run now. These will be the ones that will constantly assume more of your time without providing anything in return and then will wonder why they're paying you. You can’t help those who don’t help themselves.

As you take a long, hard look at your goals for the year, make sure that one of them is to run your business more efficiently, especially when it comes to managing your money. One of the ways you can do that is to more effectively manage your clients. So look at your customer profitability for 2006, and decide which clients you're going to fire to improve your 2007. It'll be one of the smartest moves you make.

Pam Newman is Entrepreneur.com's "Financial Management" columnist and president of RPPC Inc., which helps entrepreneurs succeed in their businesses through small-business training and consulting services in the areas of accounting and management. She's also the author ofOut of the Red, a management accounting guide for small-business owners.

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GPSDude Maps Out Success

What is Google's Supplemental Search Result and How to Deal with It.

With apologies to "The Big Lebowski": If you're in the market for a GPS unit, the Dude will do plenty more for you than just abide.

Jay Moore, a.k.a. the "GPS Dude" of GPSDude.com, has been at it for over four years now, with steady revenue and site visit increases every month. It's about three and a half years longer than he ever thought he'd be advising on and selling satellite-based navigation devices to consumers.

"I initially thought, if I make a little money, great, but I'm only going to have it for a little bit of time," admits the 40-year-old Moore, who holds an MBA and has also been doing business consulting since 1990.

It was a drive to help his consulting clients enter the online marketplace that got Moore interested in starting GPSDude.com, which he still calls an "experiment" — an internet laboratory to test e-commerce methods, using his own money, from which he could report back successes and failures.

"It was an incubator, and it still is," says Moore, who lives near Cincinnati. "I'm constantly looking at things." Choosing to sell GPS devices came easily; Moore spends a lot of time outdoors, and has used a GPS device wherever he goes for years.

Opportunity Knocks

But it was also financially appealing. The GPS market, led primarily by Garmin and Magellan, was exploding five years ago, yet big-name retailers were slow in catching on. Moore also figured out he could drop-ship the units online (relying on third-party distributors to fulfill orders; he now has five), and keep prices high enough to offset shipping.

Moore now sells 300-400 units per month, enough to push him towards $1 million in annual sales. But the secret to his success isn't technological at all — rather, it's old-school customer service.

The most popular feature on GPSDude.com is "Ask The Dude," where visitors can fill out a query form and receive advice from Moore or his one employee on which GPS unit to buy, depending on the customer's needs and budget. And, it works, pure and simple: 75 percent of these customers are converted to sales.

"All that most of those folks want is a little personal contact," says Moore. "When we send an e-mail out, my name's on it."

He doesn't stop there, though. Aside from military personnel and traveling salesmen, many of his prospective buyers are retirees — Moore admits pleasant surprise at the 70-something set's Web proficiency — who want GPS units for road trips.

Selling to the Senior Set

More often than not, retirees fill out the online form but request a call back instead of an e-mail. "There's not a high level of trust with Internet retailing," says Moore. "If I talk to them on the phone, it's a guaranteed sale. Unfortunately, there's just not enough time to talk to everyone on the phone!"

All purchases are made by credit card online, never by phone, with PayPal Merchant Solutions processing charges. Last July, Moore switched his hosting solution from Monster Commerce to ProStores, another eBay-owned company.

"I liked the fact they were integrated with PayPal, and they're affordable," says Moore of ProStores. "I figured we wouldn't have any problems long-term with them being in business. Hosting companies are like a lot of Internet stores, you don't know who owns them, or how long they're going to be there."

As for his storefront, Moore likes to keep his site navigation as simple as possible, separating out his left-side menu by brand (he sells seven at present) and model. Yet he still wants to improve its functionality, and better connect customers to their ideal GPS units. "I haven't found a great way to do that yet," he admits.

Viral Marketing is Catchy

Marketing his site, which costs him about $2,000 per month, has also been a mixed bag thus far. Moore uses Google and Yahoo search-term services, although he says they result in few sales. He also places ads in print publications, including RV magazines, military publications and newspapers, and spends many hours posting responses with his name in popular GPS online forums and bulletin boards — a viral marketing technique he feels is most effective.

Regardless, Moore continues to focus most on providing superior customer service, advice he also continues to give his consulting clients, as old-fashioned as it sounds.

"Like any business, I have to get my name out there," Moore says. "I'm going to be a failure if I try to compete on price; at the end of the day, Wal-Mart is going to sell it cheaper than me.

"I'm attempting to build a brand, in this case, The Dude, that some small segment of people will recognize and buy from."

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Now, let's turn our attention to a topic that quite possible offend some of you, but without it...the entire world comes to a screeching halt. That topic is of course...SALES!

Sales...when speaking about sales, you must first address sales people and If you employ sales people or will in the future you've got sales management problems. Although I can't even begin to provide a full analysis of the solutions to sales management problems in a single email there are several fundamental and important things we can discuss that will help you have more productive relationships with your sales people, your distributors, or your franchisees.

First, you should remember that sales people are people. There are any number of problems that they can have at various times that will negatively affect their performance and productivity. Fears and insecurities, laziness, depression, personal and family problems, financial problems, health problems, automobile problems, all these things become factors affecting your business when you market through sales people.

This is probably one of the reasons for the volatility of the 80/20 principle in sales organizations. This principle In managing says that 80% of the sales come from 20% of the reps and 80% of the problems come from 20% of the reps. As long as it's not the same 20% you're in good shape and it rarely is.

In managing sales people you'll actually be dealing with three distinctly different situations. One - coaching the willing sales person to peak performance. Two - trying to motivate the mediocre performer and three - frequently cutting out and replacing the poor performers.

Let's take the poor performer first. Most managers spend way too much time on the poor performer and too little time with their high performers. And most managers postpone cutting the inadequate performer much longer than they should.

Once an individual has demonstrated his unwillingness or inability to perform effectively in your business you do no one any favors by letting him hang on. In fact, firing this person is the best thing you can do for him. He'll probably be more relieved than anything else and will now be free to find an employment situation that is some how better matched to his personality. It's also the best thing you can do for your own sanity as well as for the organization.

A firing now and then in an organization is a vivid reminder that unsatisfactory performance will not be tolerated. I have a poster hidden in one of my offices that says, "You should never try to teach a pig to sing. It only annoys the pig and you get covered with mud in the attempt." The point is that there are some people burdened with such a combination of negative attitudes and experiences that turning them into winners is much more trouble than it's worth. A lot of the manager's time is consumed by the mediocre performers. Those doing just enough to give you hope but not enough to warrant celebration.

Then there are the high performers, producing about 80% of the positive results who are mostly ignored by management.

[Via Dan Kennedy]

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Entrepreneur Magazine: News You Can Use

Young Entrepreneurs Face Higher Hurdles

 

When new Transportation Security Administration guidelines banning most airline carry-ons and liquids were announced last September, Adam Gilvar, 33, saw opportunity. His New York City clothing storage company, Garde Robe, already offered luggage-free service that could help travelers bypass luggage restrictions.

"Our first thought was that we have a solution for this," Gilvar says. However, his service hadn't been heavily marketed, so he immediately sent an e-mail reminder to customers. There has since been an upswing in demand among his existing clientele, and he's successfully using luggage-free travel as a hook to land new customers. 

Sandra Beckwith, author of Streetwise Complete Publicity Plans, offers these tips to use the news for marketing.

Tune in. Read and watch the news to spot stories that relate to your business.

Be ready. Prepare lists of the media and your customers so that you can capitalize on an opportunity quickly.

Talk it out. Says Beckwith, "When news breaks, use your standard communications vehicles--e-mail, phone, fax, website--to get ahead of your competition and provide your target audience with the news and tips on how to deal with it." For the media, offer to be a local source for a national story or write an op-ed on an issue that affects your business.        

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How To Be A Better Animal Or Is Capitalism JUST A SCAM?

How the "Lord of the Rings" movies should have en...

Man, it’s like deja vu all over again.

There are a ton of marketers making a ton of money, both online and offline right now… selling pure, uncut crap.

Nothing new about this. Back when the first caveman discovered the art of salesmanship while convincing another caveman to buy his old cave for a slab of mastadon meat… the next transaction to happen was probably a scam.

Like maybe trying to sell a fake cave. Or a cave with a bear sleeping in it. “Oh, didn’t I mention that bear? Sorry. And no, you can’t have your slab of meat back.”

The thing is, our capitalistic system allows for rapid financial reward regardless of whether you’re selling quality goods… or crap.

That’s why there’s never really been a truly “free” market. The moment someone with any power got scammed, laws were written and scofflaws were tossed into newly constructed hoosegows. (Did you know, by the way, that the early European settlers in New England didn’t have anything resembling a jail for over a century? One colony tried digging a pit, but the prisoner escaped. We’ve come a long way, now with more folks per capita behind bars than any other civilized nation on the planet. Just something to chew on…)

Anyway, when you’ve been around business as long as I have — and I’ve been around a loooooong damn time — then you start to notice certain things that keep happening.

Like, for example… the cyclical return of the predatory multi-level marketing monster.

I’m not gonna name the current MLM goop out there, cuz it’s irrelevant. If it wasn’t this particular recipe of selected tangy herbs and zombie-ized crap, they would have found something else.

I’ve lived through three or four of these cycles. Lots and lots of money is made by some folks, and the buzz on the goop gets so hot that eventually stories appear in all the major magazines. (The same stories, pretty much, too. “Is this stuff for real?” the writers ask, all agog at the money and perplexed about the claims. God forbid they do any actual research on the goop…)

During the last go-round — in the late ’80s — the company behind that particular goop even bought a huge skyscraper in Los Angeles, and was drawing up plans for world domination just before the roof caved in on them. (MLM health-goop crashes happen just like the Dot-Com bust seven years ago — suddenly, taking whole groups of people down in financial chaos… and later, when the dust settles, it all seemed so obviously dumb…)

So allow me to set you straight here, in case you’re a little unclear on the concept: When it comes to maximum health, there are just 3 factors.

1. Good genes.

2. Good living.

3. And good information.

I hate to bust your bubble… but there ain’t no magic concoction out there that will cure your ills and make you live forever. At best, you may be coaxed away from your bad lifestyle, and introduced to the fundamental nutrients you’ve been avoiding, which may help a lot. (Amazingly, leading an unhealthy lifestyle actually contributes to ill health!)

At worst, you will be engaging in the power of suggestion and placebo… which also can work wonders for someone who strongly believes in magic.

In the end, however, if what you desire is good health and long life, you need to get hip to your body’s schematic. For every uncle you had who lived to 101 guzzling whiskey and chain smoking, you’ve got to factor in the four other relatives who dropped dead at 40 from heart attacks. That’s infomation.

Good living can be defined however you like… but in the end, it has to translate to being a better animal. Exercise, eating well, indulging in a full life… we all slack off on the things we intuitively know can make us happier and healthier. So stop it.

Pot-bellied grouches die early. Smart, fit, upbeat people have a better shot at becoming Rip Van Winkle.

Finally, if you need a little magic to make sense of the world, then by all means go for it.

Whatever floats your boat.

But please — don’t fall for the scams.

Right now, the money flowing into that huge multi-level marketing monster roaming the country is just shocking.

So listen carefully: This type of magic elixir comes around like clockwork every generation.

And here’s how it works:

The goop is irrelevant. It could be (and sometimes has been) pureed compost heap. (The term “snake oil” comes from the common mid-18th century potions made from fermented rattlesnake heads and alcohol. Yummy.)

The ingredients do not matter.

What does matter… is the pitch…

…and the choice of marketing organization.

The easiest way to generate a lot of money, fast, is to use the multi-level organization. I swear to you that many of these guys set the organization up first… and THEN go looking for some goop to plausibly fill the minor role of “product”. (They stay with herbs and “natural” ingredients to avoid the wrath of the FDA.)

MLM success is based not on actually selling the product… but on convincing others to sell it for you. So you sit at the top of your own private pyramid, doing nothing but cashing checks, while your minions scurry about below either hawking the goop… or creating their own little pyramids of sub-sellers.

And you get a piece of all the action filtering up through your seat on the pyramid.

Most level-headed people, upon hearing of how the MLM scheme plays out, pause.

The organization seems to defy a basic law of the marketplace — if the goop is really as good as the pitch says it is… then why is the emphasis not on selling it, but rather on getting other people to sell it for you?

To go into the logical curli-ques of the MLM pitch would take many pages.

Because, after the organizational set-up, the next most important part of the scheme is the pitch.

And, when done right, that pitch will exhaust your brain, murder your intuition, and leave you believing that black is white. Reality and fact be damned.

It’s only job is to generate enthusiasm. Enthusiasm for all the money you’ll make, so fast and easy, coupled with your new ability to live forever by guzzling this delicious new goop.

Whatever the goop is.

Doesn’t matter.

MLM is all about the suspension of belief… so, in your fevered excitement, you begin to believe that YOU — yes, YOU, among all the people who have sought it from the dawn of time — have been chosen to be among the blessed few to finally — FINALLY — discover the Fountain of Youth.

And you deserve to made rich for doing so.

You may as well join a cult. Because the brainwashing will never cease, and you are in for a ride that will not end until you are forced to face reality again.

Some people will get rich. That’s a given — it’s the reason the “snake oil” miracle remedy has been part of civilization since cockroaches decided to partner up with us.

We all want that simple, easy answer to our problems.

We all want magic in our lives again.

We really, really, really want it.

And we’ll PAY for it, by golly.

MLM schemes have a half-life of many years. Unless they are careless — and a good organization will avoid saying anything in their pitch exposing them to easy prosecution — they will not be brought down by any legal action. You can’t legislate the yearning for magic.

Mostly, they just peter out. Some hang around in the shadows for generations.

Hell, some even have some half-way decent product to sell.

But if you’re paying someone, who’s paying someone else, who’s paying someone else, etc., for the right to sell your share of this wondrous goop to friends and family… then you’re not the rebel marketer you believe you are.

You’re just part of an MLM organization.

Hey, for some people, it’s a way to dip their toes into the business world, I suppose. Maybe a way to make a few extra bucks. (Though studies confirm that the average MLMer never makes back their initial investment.) (Which they probably paid to a relative, or someone at work.)

The thing is… you gotta get clear on how you define “success”.

If all you care about is making money, then go smuggle drugs. Tons of cash in that line of work.

If you want to have a legitimate biz, then strive to make it a good one. And watch who you’re learning from.

Just know this: There are mobs of marketers out there earning boatloads of money… selling crap. Not just the MLMer’s, either.

If your chosen mentor or teacher bases his pitch to you on the idea that he has made a lot of money, then do a little digging. Especially now, with the globalized reach of the online business world, it’s EASY to make a bundle selling shoddy, screwed up goods and services.

Because, again, the product often doesn’t matter. The pitch hits your hot buttons… and the organization attaches an umbilical cord to your wallet and starts siphoning up money.

Look for quality. Look for honesty, integrity, and a product that does what the pitch promised.

You can admire an organization’s ability to round up a herd of prospects, and a pitch’s masterful way of harnessing cash.

But you don’t have to admire the people behind it all when they’re selling crap.

We live in a world filled with illusion and greed and clever thieves.

Watch your ass. And skip the goop. Go buy a blender and some cheap but good protein powder, eat more fruits and veggies, and get off your butt more and go do stuff that makes you sweat.

No one’s gonna live forever.

And if you truly desire to get rich, you can do it with your head held high, selling quality products and offering damn good services.

I shouldn’t have to keep reminding you of this, you know…

Stay frosty,

John Carlton, http://www.marketingrebelrant.com/

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