HOW TO COLLECT FROM ANYONE, EVEN ENRON!!! (2)

Make Your Visit Count

10. Enlist your allies. Visiting a customer to collect a check may seem like trying to snatch a hostage from enemy territory. It needn't be that way, especially if one of the customer's employees is satisfied with your work. Tracy Wald usually has a good relationship with his clients' project managers. When Wald is looking to collect, he and the project manager will sometimes visit the accounting department together, with Wald playing the role of "bad cop" and the project manager playing the role of "helpless victim." "I'll bring the project manager down to accounting," says Wald. "Then I'll get him to say, 'It's not that I don't trust you. But Tracy says work will have to stop if he doesn't get a purchase order.' "

11. Always bring backup. When you visit a customer, make sure that you come armed with specific documentation to support what the customer owes you. The last thing you want on a collection visit is a dispute over the amount of the bill. You also don't want to hear customers say that they either lost or never received the invoice that you had sent. Cullen G. Williams, CFO of Larkin Enterprises, heard those and other excuses the first few times that he visited his company's largest customer. But each time he had backup on hand -- time sheets signed by the customer's managers, which showed that Larkin employees had worked a certain number of hours on specific projects.

12. Remain calm. "You have to be dispassionate about it," Williams advises. "Don't raise your voice, and don't make it personal. Be very bland. Use simple, nonthreatening sentences." Williams speaks from experience. His first visits to one customer came on the heels of some heated interactions between CEO Larkin and some of the customer's employees. Larkin, as co-owner of the company, understandably had both a personal and a professional stake in the large collection and was unable to remain dispassionate about the collecting process. So when Williams took over the task, his job was to diffuse "the harsh past" and make it clear that he'd do "whatever was reasonable to comply with the customer's requests," which meant, in this case, supplying backup documentation "10 times" over, he adds.

Use Phone Etiquette

13. Show some sympathy. Just as you refrain from getting mad in face-to-face encounters, it doesn't pay to lose your cool on the phone, either. But how can you remain calm when some faceless administrator is giving you the runaround? Nettie Morrison of Foresight -- an administrator herself -- has mastered the art of phone empathy. "I say to them, 'I know they're not paying you to chase around invoices,' or something to that effect," she says. Showing that you understand where people are coming from helps to mollify them and possibly even win them over as an ally.

14. Call before the due date. Remember when fax machines were first used and it was common to call just to confirm whether someone had received your fax? When it comes to invoices, no matter how they were sent, the same protocol still applies. It's best to make the call before the invoice's due date -- not only to confirm its receipt but also to ensure that the customer's accounts-payable department has all the supporting documentation it needs to cut the check.

15. Get a commitment. When you've got someone on the phone, always try to get a specific date by which you'll get paid. That is a good rule to follow, both during an initial call for a missed payment and in response to a previously broken customer commitment. Answers like "soon" or "next week" aren't acceptable. If the customer is dodgy about dates, calmly mention what you plan to do if you don't get paid on time. What should you say? You can refer to "the authorities." You can mention the idea of halting work on a project. And you can use statements like "You expect us to ship on time, so we expect you to pay on time," says the Brenner Group's Kadet. "Use that statement often," he adds. However, when you say things like that, be sure to maintain an even tone. And remember, your customer signed a contract. Don't be afraid to refer to it. Constantly. "You must create an expectation within their A/P department that you will call and insist on payment within the contract terms," says Kadet.

16. Keep a journal. Take detailed notes of every collection conversation you have. Record the date of the conversation; whom you spoke to; the specific commitment the person made to you; and finally, what you ever-so-calmly threatened to do if the commitment was not met. Then, after the actual phone discussion, E-mail your notes of the conversation to your customer contact. That will (a) serve as yet another reminder that you are determined to get paid and (b) create an additional record of the conversation in your (and your customer's) E-mail accounts.

17. Follow up wisely. If a customer reneges on a commitment to pay, you'll need to consider whether you should follow up on your threat. Keep in mind that your goal is to get paid as soon as possible. Sometimes giving a customer a second chance is the most effective thing to do. Before you follow up on your threat, ask if the customer is in any way dissatisfied with the services you've rendered. "I bring that up, especially when I know they're thrilled," says Tracy Wald. If your customer claims to be happy with your services, then you'll have another reason to act surprised when you ask -- for the second time -- why you haven't yet been paid. Perhaps the administrator that you're dealing with is new to the job; perhaps your contact person just came back from vacation. Regardless, you'll have to make one of two choices: get a second commitment from your customer, or take the action you initially threatened to take.

18. Let the punishment fit the crime. If you decide to follow up on your threat, remember to be as professional as possible with your contact. Don't act as though you're out for retribution. Instead, remind your contact of the commitment he or she made and subsequently didn't keep. Explain that you're not trying to get anyone in trouble -- you're simply trying to get paid. One "punishment" many of our veteran collectors suggested was to E-mail your contact and "cc" his or her superior. The message would only restate the nature of the broken commitment. Here is another instance where it helps to have phone documentation. The E-mail message should also say something about what you will do if the bill remains unpaid. Allude to work stoppages and -- if you're working your way up the company hierarchy -- to other employees at the company whom you might need to "cc" on future E-mail messages.

19. Use guilt, not anger. To achieve your aim -- getting paid -- it's important to get the name of all the people you've talked to, especially if they've made a commitment. "Once you get that commitment, whoever you talk to will feel guilty when you call back," says Wald. "They've made you a promise, and I've found that they'll do what they can because they don't want to be thought of as someone with no integrity. It could be the owner, a clerk, anyone." What's the proper way to react if your contact lies to you? With disappointment rather than anger. "It's just a sigh, mostly," says Wald. "Then I say, 'I told my boss you guys were going to pay, and now I'm going to look like an idiot.' And after saying something like that, rather than being pissed off at them, I ask for their help."

20. Avoid the owner. One of Wald's axioms about collections is: "I normally choose not to collect from people who are spending their own money." He's found that entrepreneurs are less likely to pay up promptly because it's their own dough they're parting with. Rather, he prefers to have collection discussions with someone other than the business owner.

21. Never give up. If you have no choice but to deal with the owner, then you have to make like a salesperson. Do everything in your power to get past the receptionist just to get the boss's ear. First, make sure that you talk to an actual person, as opposed to leaving messages. "I will talk to anyone," says Wald. "I start to really talk at length and explain my problem to the clerk or receptionist. Then, when I've finished the explanation, I just ask them (after learning their name) if, when they see a certain person, they could simply explain how important it is to me that they call me back." Of course, business owners receive calls all the time and expect to be screened from anything that's not at the top of their agenda. In some cases, you may have no choice but to wait on hold. Wald says he once waited on hold for four hours just to reach someone. "I had the phone on hands-free so I could still type and go about my business," he says.

HAVE YOUR SAY: marielafernandasgro@gmail.com

HOW TO COLLECT FROM ANYONE, EVEN ENRON!!

How to Collect from Anyone (Even Enron)
Thirty ways to get paid within 30 days.
By: Ilan Mochari
COMMENT ON THIS ARTICLE: marielafernandasgro@gmail.com


Not a day goes by that Bob Fisher doesn't thank his lucky stars for Nettie Morrison. But this past March 21 he was particularly grateful that she worked for him.
That was the day that Foresight, Fisher's 50-employee software company in Dublin, Ohio, received a $1,635 check from Enron. The very Enron that, 109 days earlier, had filed for bankruptcy.

Yet the check, which fully covered Enron's renewal of a one-year licensing contract with Foresight, came to Morrison, the company's accounts-receivable specialist, as though it were business as usual.
How did she manage to wrest payment from Enron when so many others couldn't? Preventive diligence. Enron had been a Foresight customer since 1997. Beginning almost a year ago, when the news of Enron's accounting irregularities first broke, Morrison spoke to her Houston contacts almost weekly -- even though the contract didn't expire until February 2002. Using her internal connections, she worked her way to the Enron employee with the power to pay up. By starting early, maintaining good relationships, and remaining persistent, Morrison got her payment.

If you've been a player in the small-business arena this year, you know that getting paid at all, let alone on time, has become a tough assignment -- even if your customers aren't going bankrupt. Consider what happened to Rolf Albers. One of his big customers had the audacity to "declare a no-payment period," he says. "For the 25-day period between May 15 and June 8 they were simply not going to cut any checks."

Albers isn't alone. Of the small-business owners who responded to a recent Inc.com survey about collections, 61% said getting paid was more difficult this year than it was last year. We can't rectify the economic environment, but we can help on the collection front. Thanks to the assistance of such collection veterans as Morrison, Albers, and others (see "The Collectors," below), we've assembled the following list of 30 collection tips. Can we guarantee you'll always get paid within 30 days? We wish we could. But follow these road-tested rules, and you're bound to see some real improvement.
Here is n° 1 to 9.

1. You do the math. Foresight's invoices contain the following phrase: "If paid by September 30, your cost is x; if paid after September 30, your cost is y (invoice amount plus interest)." Morrison found that specifying what the amount of interest would be -- as opposed to merely stating that 1.5% of the charges would be appended every month -- made a huge difference in how quickly customers paid up.

2. Stay consistent. "The language on the invoice should match the language on the contract the customer signed," says Tracy Wald, chief financial officer at consultancy Leonhardt Fitch. That way there's no excuse for customers to claim confusion over precisely what they are being billed for. That is especially important if you sell an unquantifiable service like branding, as Wald does.

3. Work off milestones, not months. Avoid billing at monthly intervals if you can. After all, you're not the phone company. It's far better, says Wald, to tie your billing milestones to tangible deliverables. For example: At some point during a project, you and your team give a major presentation to a client. Don't wait until the end of the month to bill for it. Instead, use the presentation date as a milestone in your billing cycle. Which relates to ...

4. Stagger your billing. Don't mail your invoices on a set schedule. When possible, try sending them out so that customers get them a day or two after receiving your product or accepting your service. That makes your job a whole lot easier when following up with collection phone calls. If you've followed tip #2, your customers will have the perfectly worded invoice in their hands when your service or product is still fresh in their minds.

5. Don't let last be least. The hardest check to collect is often the last one, since that's when the job is complete and your negotiating power is reduced. So Richard Larkin, CEO of staffing company Larkin Enterprises, is careful about when he mails out his final invoice. He plans for it to arrive while his workers are still at a job site. If his customers take too long to pay, Larkin has the option of pulling his workers off the job before they complete it.
Practice Applying Pressure

6. Know your customer's stress points. If you can't directly pressure your customer, then pressure your customer's stress points. Larkin does that in extreme cases by calling for work stoppages. Many of his customers are general contractors who have been hired by large utility companies to build or overhaul a power plant. He knows that if the general contractor isn't paying him, then he can threaten to cut off the contractor's supply of employees. The utility then gets upset at the general contractor, because without Larkin's employees, the contractor usually fails to meet the utility's deadlines. And Larkin also knows that contractors can rarely afford to alienate their large customers.

7. Take legal action. If things get really bad -- if a customer breaks a promise about making an ultralate payment, for example -- then Larkin places what's called a "mechanic's lien" on the utility's property. That's when the utility (again) gets angry at the general contractor. "It tends to cause a rift between them," says Larkin, who adds that for both parties the prospect of a mechanic's lien is dreadful. "Just the threat of it usually accomplishes the mission," he notes. According to Bob Edinger, contract manager at Larkin Enterprises, the cost to file a mechanic's lien is minimal.

8. Revoke privileges. Rolf Albers of Albers Manufacturing Co. has been in business for 23 years. One thing still baffles him: "If I went to Sears today and wanted to buy a refrigerator, they would make me pay today, in one form or another," he says. "But a small manufacturer with no track record can call me, wanting $1,000 worth of equipment, and they think they can wait 90 days to pay. It's a stupid system, but that's the way it is." So Albers does his best to prevent his customers from taking advantage of "the system." If a customer gets too far behind in payments, Albers immediately converts that customer to COD status going forward. Unless it's one of his big customers. In that case, "they pay when they feel like it," he says.

9. Just drop by. If you don't receive a scheduled payment, you might call your customer and ask, "Where's the check?" Whereupon your customer might say: "It's right here. It's going out in today's mail." To which, all our experts agree, you should always, always reply: "Don't bother sending it. I'm going to be in the neighborhood today. I'll pick it up." That simple tactic might be the most effective collections procedure out there. Larkin says he once visited his biggest customer, an international energy goliath, and came away with a $3.8-million check. Albers recalls walking out of a customer's office with a check "in the $10,000 range." Richard Kadet, a veteran CFO who works for the Brenner Group, also recommends making collection visits, especially for large invoices. And it doesn't always have to be the CEO or CFO who makes the visit. "For out-of-the-way customers, your salesperson in that territory can personally go for it," he says.

Have your say: marielafernandasgro@gmail.com

HOW TO START A MAILING LIST!!!!!

How to Start a Mailing List
By: Mitchell Friedman

E-mail lists can enable you to generate awareness and, more importantly, build mutually beneficial relationships with key audiences.

Two main categories of mailing lists exist: those others create and manage, and those you create and manage. This column looks at the latter.

You can quickly and easily set up mailing lists using Microsoft Outlook or Outlook Express, Eudora, Yahoo, Hotmail and other popular e-mail software and services. It's simply a matter of following the instructionsprovided.

If you envision creating larger lists or prefer not to deal with administrative tasks such as removing bad e-mail addresses andmanually adding new people to the list, consider services such as bCentral List Builder, Yahoo! Groups, and Topica. These servicesenable you to set up and oversee mailing lists quickly and easily.

It's a relatively simple task to set up a mailing list, regardless of which option you choose. But more must be done to get the mostbenefit from your list. Begin by answering the following questions.

What's the purpose of the mailing list? First, decide whether you have worthwhile information to communicate. Second, determinewhether e-mail is the best tool for communicating this information.

Are the individuals in your audience e-mail savvy? Do they want to receive information from you via that channel or via anothermeans? Is e-mail the most efficient and effective means for you to disseminate that information?

Who is the audience for the mailing list? Customers? Vendors? Business partners? Media? An effective mailing list -- or any formof communication, for that matter -- can't meet the needs of all audiences. You need to focus your content to have a chance atsucceeding in your communications efforts.

What content will you offer, and how will you present it? You not only need to determine what to include on your list but how oftenyou will disseminate information, how to secure it from appropriate staff, and how to present it in a format suitable for e-mail.

In other words, you'll have to develop a schedule for collecting, developing and formatting mailing list content. You'll need to consider offering mailing list subscribers options for how they want to receive information, as plain text or as an HTML document.

How will the list be promoted? The possibilities are endless. You can mention it on your Web site, in your signature file, on your letterhead and packaging, and in any other communication directed at your target audience: e-mail, brochures, business cards, pressreleases, articles and voice mail.

Will the list be used for announcements or discussion? You can use a mailing list to send press releases, product details and other materials to subscribers without offering them the option of contributing to the list content or talking to each other. These lists are often referred to as announcement or distribution lists.

However, you might wish to create a discussion list that allows subscribers to exchange ideas.

This alternative might be attractive ifthe list consists of individuals for whom the ability to interact with colleagues is essential.

Mailing lists used for discussion purposes typically demand more active management. Such mailing lists tend to suffer when members send incendiary messages or when they fail to stay on topic or otherwise don't contribute constructively and substantively.

Skillful list management creates a supportive, productive environment. Be sure to consider the ongoing commitment this role requires when allocating resources to Internet public relations activities.

Is membership in the list open to anyone, or is it restricted? You might wish to allow anyone interested in a list to subscribe to it.But some lists, such as those just for customers, will be exclusive, so you'll need to evaluate each request to join. Again, such a taskadds to the work of managing the mailing list.

Will the list be moderated? A mailing list moderator plays the role of traffic cop, receiving messages subscribers want to post to the list and determining whether they are appropriate.

This role allows you to remain tuned in to what's important to your subscribers and to build relationships through the conversation. The alternative is to create an unmoderated list.

Other list management options include offering subscribers the option of receiving a digest of messages posted to the list during acertain period of time. You might also wish to create a searchable archive of all mailing list content, which benefits current as well asprospective members.

Once you've got the ball rolling, follow these guidelines:
Be concise. Write in short paragraphs and provide summaries of longer articles. Include links to additional information for thosewho want it.

Create a welcome message that is immediately sent to subscribers. This message should include the list's purpose and targetaudience, frequency, appropriate topics for submissions, and contacts for questions about list content and technical issues.

Create an opt-in mailing list, whereby you invite people to subscribe - rather than simply adding them without notice. It's to your distinct advantage to send information only to subscribers who have chosen to receive it, rather than alienating people you've added indiscriminately.

Make it easy to subscribe and unsubscribe from your lists. Always include information on how to subscribe and unsubscribe in all mailing list messages. Subscribers often don't save or can't easily find your introductory message that includes list directions. Or,hopefully, they've forwarded the message to someone who's not currently a subscriber but who decides to join.

Assure subscribers that their e-mail addresses will not be sold or used for any purpose other than list-related communication.

Be true to your purpose, audience and content. In other words, give your subscribers what you promised and, presumably, what they value.

The Internet is overflowing with mailing lists clamoring for subscribers. By following these guidelines, you'll stand out, attract a loyal following of subscribers, and be on the way to creating a list that meets your public relations goals.