Rule One of Business: Get Paid

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

You may be shocked at the heaps of business people who have their customer base to pay up when and if they remember it. I know of one businessman who continuously makes bad debts like weeds. How? Just because he doesn’t bring himself to ask for the money and people just take advantage of him.

If you let somebody credit, do it only if they have cleared their worth to you by paying cash on delivery (COD) for a period. Secondly, you can gauge whether they have the funds to pay you - if they don’t then you should not do business with them. Don’t fool yourself into saying “I need the work” or “I need the sales”. It’s pointless doing the work or providing the goods for free if you aren’t getting paid.

If you are the sort of person who can’t request the money even after the job has been completed, try these cheats:
Tell your client that when the job is finished, you will need cash or cheque. They will probably have it ready at the point of sale and you will not need to ask for your pay.

When you send an initial quote, be sure your payment terms are simple.

Complete an invoice that has the terms of payment simply listed and send the client the invoice when the work is done. They should look at the invoice and reactively realise they can pay you the fee now without you being required to say anything. Invent an “evil boss” who will flay you alive if you can not leave with the payment for the work.

Ask your bank to provide you with Merchant facilities so you can take credit cards including Mastercard and Visa. Many people have credit cards and it should stop the issue of the client not having a cheque book or not having the right amount of cash on hand.

Alternatively, don’t be asked not to hold onto the promised goods till you have been paid. Understand, until the goods have been paid for, they remain to be yours.

If you choose to permit a client credit, be sure you get the following details off them at a point 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 possess all this information, contact the bank branch and make for certain that they do use an account with them. Then, contact each of the trade reference and request if they pay their invoices correctly or if there are any problems 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.

If you’re looking for a Brisbane web design company or Brisbane SEO company, talk to Search Tempo. Check out their SEO prices today.

Relationship 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.

Looking for online marketing assistance? For seo brisbane contact seovoodoo.com.au For assistance with web copywriting, contact copyvoodoo. Landing pages by salespages.com.au