The most basic of all human needs is the need to understand and be understood. The best way to understand people is to listen to them.

-Ralph Nichols

Listening is far too often overlooked as a skill that is important to businesspeople. Like all skills, it can be learned and improved on with practice. There are many elements that go into being a good listener- read below for some tips.
3 steps of active listening
Hearing- Hearing just means listening enough to catch what the speaker is saying. For example, say you were listening to a report on zebras, and the speaker mentioned that no two are alike. If you can repeat the fact, then you have heard what has been said.
Understanding- The next part of listening happens when you take what you have heard and understand it in your own way. Let’s go back to that report on zebras. When you hear that no two are alike, think about what that might mean. You might think, “Maybe this means that the pattern of stripes is different for each zebra.”
Judging- After you are sure you understand what the speaker has said, think about whether it makes sense. Do you believe what you have heard? You might think, “How could the stripes to be different for every zebra? But then again, the fingerprints are different for every person. I think this seems believable.” Reflective Listening
A good listener tries to understand how the other is experiencing the interaction and to shape their responses so that other person understands from where they are coming. There are four key elements to reflective listening.

• Empathy
• Acceptance
• Congruence
• Concreteness

Empathy
We all have a strong tendency to advise, tell, agree, or disagree from our own point of view. Empathy is the listener’s effort to understand the speakers internal frame of reference rather than an external point of view, such as a theory; a set of standards, or the listener’s preferences. Expressed verbally: “I follow you,” “I’m with you” or “I understand”. You should be as non-judgmental as possible while listening. A person who sees that a listener is really trying to understand his or her meanings will be willing to explore his or her problems and self more deeply.

Acceptance
You should having respect for a person for simply being a person- this acceptance should be as unconditional as possible to best encourage a free flow of information. Avoid expressing agreement or disagreement with what the other person says. This encourages the other person to be less defensive and to explore aspects that they might otherwise keep hidden

Congruence
Congruence refers to openness, frankness, and genuineness on the part of the listener. Candor on the part of the listener tends to evoke candor in the speaker. This can, however, be at odds with the principles of empathy and acceptance.

Concreteness
Focusing on specifics rather than vague generalities is the principle of concreteness. Often a person who is has a problem will avoid painful feelings by being abstract or impersonal, using expressions like “sometimes there are situations that are difficult” (which is vague and abstract). The listener can encourage concreteness by asking the speaker to be more specific. For example, instead of a agreeing with a statement like, “You just can’t trust a teacher. They care about themselves first and you second”, you can ask to what specific incident the speaker is referring.

Non-verbal Feedback
We listen and give feedback with our faces as well as our ears and the words we speak. Professor Alfred Mehrabian of Stanford, studied congruence and incongruent communication. He found that when ‘mixed messages’ were deliberately sent, 7% of people believed the words, 38% believed the message expressed in the tonality, and 55% believed the message expressed in the physiology, or body language.

Tips for being a good listener

1. Give your full attention to the person speaking
2. Make sure your mind is focused, too. It can be easy to let your mind wander if you think you know what the person is going to say next, but you might be wrong! If you feel your mind wandering, change the position of your body and try to concentrate on the speaker’s words.
3. Let the speaker finish before you begin to talk. Speakers appreciate having the chance to say everything they would like to say without being interrupted. When you interrupt, it looks like you aren’t listening, even if you really are.
4. Let yourself finish listening before you begin to speak! You can’t really listen if you are busy thinking about what you want say next.
5. Listen for main ideas. The main ideas are the most important points the speaker wants to get across. They may be mentioned at the start or end of a talk, and repeated a number of times. Pay special attention to statements that begin with phrases such as “My point is…” or “The thing to remember is…”
6. Ask questions. If you are not sure you understand what the speaker has said, just ask. It is a good idea to repeat in your own words what the speaker said so that you can be sure your understanding is correct. For example, you might say, “When you said that no two zebras are alike, did you mean that the stripes are different on each one?”

Time is on your side! Thoughts move about four times as fast as speech.

I hope this helps you to improve your listening skills.
Have a great week!!!

“You’re insane, Mark,” my old schoolmate and multi-millionaire buddy told me. “I’m a successful businessman and you can’t convince me that intangible assets are more valuable than tangible ones. I’ll take real estate, equipment, inventory, and cash over ideas, experiences and influence any day! You’ve been living in California too long. Your brain’s starting to fry.”

Tired of reading already? Click here- LISTEN TO THIS ARTICLE. Now when Mike spoke, most people in New Jersey listened. He owned and operated the Budweiser distributorship for the state. To those unaware of the power of an exclusive alcohol distributor, let’s just say it’s a tad more profitable than being able to print your own money.

What makes my buddy’s success even more exasperating for me is that he wanted me to be his partner after high school. But Noooooo not me. I had to go to college and be the “smart” guy. Yet, despite our economic disparity, we are still pals.

“Ok Mike!” I asked him, “what do you suppose is the ratio of tangible vs. intangible assets for say Amazon.com or Yahoo or even Microsoft?”

He looked annoyed now. “Alright techno-nerd, maybe you have a point with those cyber companies, but what about in the real world?”

“Go ahead and name a company,” I asked.

“Here’s one you Californians know and love. How about Starbucks,” he challenged.

“Ok, they have lots of prime real estate as well as equipment, inventory and cash. But what do you think is worth more to them: these tangible assets, or their customer traffic? Or how about the ideas for leveraging that traffic in order to launch nearly intangible products like the latest obscure coffee concoctions they dream-up? Or the ability for customers to make their own CDs with the new Hear Music kiosks or the wireless high speed Internet connectivity? Isn’t Starbucks really selling an experience, ideas for a cool new lifestyle, a place where people can influence and be influenced? Isn’t it more about the “experience” than just the coffee?”

“Alright, alright, coffee’s for wimps anyway. Have a beer,” Mike goaded me as he handed me a Bud long neck. He still knew how to win an argument.

Carving Out a Piece of Your Life
Maybe you’re like Mike. Not yet ready to believe that the age of market share has past. Perhaps you think that it’s all about mind share. That is how aware people are of your company, product, or service.

Let me remind you that Starbucks isn’t vying for more of the coffee market. Nor do they care if you remember their name. As long as you dig the “experience” in the store. As long as you and your friends like to meet and hangout there. That’s what they’re really after. When that happens, they’ve won more than a greater share of the coffee market. They’ve gone beyond raising their top-of mind awareness. They’ve infiltrated your life. They have literally motivated you to carve out a piece of your life for THEM! They have gained greater heart share.

Today winning “share of heart” is far more critical than winning share of market or share of mind. “Market share” has been described as the proportion of industry sales that is controlled by a company. “Mind share” on the other hand is a measure of how people perceive the product, service, or company as compared to the competition.

“Heart Share” is the measure of the extent to which we make ourselves more desirable to the people that are most critical to our success. Not by the quality or even the economic value of the products or services but rather in the “way” we provide them. Market share focuses on the size of the market. Mind share focuses on the perception of the brand. Heart share focuses on the intangibles in the relationship.

Greetings from Mark Deo. I rarely use this newsletter to promote events unless I can personally attest to their value. My friend and mentor, Morrie Shechtman, and his wife Arleah have been huge influences on my life. You can read more about them at: http://www.morrieandarleah.com. They have a new venture they are working on, and that is the Love in the Present Tense Workshop. This workshop builds on the principles found in their best selling book, Love in the Present Tense, and helps individuals and couples learn to apply them to their lives in a lasting fashion. They have helped my wife Kathy and I build a stronger relationship than ever before. Below is some information about the event. I strongly encourage anyone seeking to improve their personal relationships to attend.

Persons that attend this workshop will learn:
Transformational, Sustained Change – We facilitate the participant’s ability to act differently and experience the results over several days with feedback and coaching
New Skills And Tools – This is not therapy. It goes beyond talking about your life and allows you to learn how to take control of your emotions and create intamacy.
How Implement in Accountability – Learn the techniques for holding yourself and others accountable for their commitments.
Eliminate Fear Of Conflict – Learn how to stop arguing and start having great fights that permit you to use conflict to resolve differences.
Purge Yourself Of Self-Doubt – Banish that nagging, toxic critic, once and for all.
Develop Your Own Personal Vision And Your Vision As A Couple – Discover the force that gives meaning to your life and relationships.

Perhaps these are areas where you may seek to grow in your relationship. Or someone you know may be having trouble with communication in their relationships. Please let them know about this workshop. Just pass on this web address: http://www.sbanetwork.org/clients/morrie/blast.htm. If you don’t want to bring up this sensitive issue, just reply to this e-mail with their e-mail address and we’ll contact them to let them know an anonymous friend suggested that we do.

At that web page they can find everything they’ll need to know about the event, and learn how they can qualify to attend. Our availability is extremely limited, and we only want to have attendees that are eager to learn why their relationships are not what they want them to be, and how to get past these issues.

Thank you for your help!
–Mark Deo

Absolutely the best form of advertising there is. No sales pressure, no credibility problems, and very low cost of sales. People refer customers to you as a favor to their friends, the customers. If it’s done as a favor to you, that’s usually a bonus. Think about it. The last time you recommended a movie, or a business, did you do it as a favor to the person you were talking to or the business you were talking about? In all likelihood, it was to benefit the person you were talking to, probably a friend or business acquaintance. If your recommendation was to fall through, you lose credibility.

Referrals have to be earned. People will not tell their family and friends, to use your service if they are not confident in your abilities. Once you have earned this, it should come naturally. But it often doesn’t. Why? Simply put, people forget. They’re busy and your business isn’t their top priority. Referrals are the absolute best way to make sure that you keep the new business coming in. That helps you to spend more time working then selling. And it means time spent with people who know what you’re all about instead of cold calling! Here are 10 of the absolute best ways to get more referrals: 1. Ask for them The simplest way in the world to get referrals is to ask for them. Whenever someone compliments you on a job, let them know you appreciate it, and that you’ll do just as good a job for their friends. Tell them that you’d appreciate it if they could spread the word if they really like your work. You may assume that people would tell their friends, but it’s amazing the difference it makes if you give them that gentle reminder. People like to help those that do a good job for them. It makes them feel smart, and they feel good helping out their friends, who just happen to be your next customers… 2. Trade them. Make a deal with other businesspeople you know. If you know they do good work, offer to tell people about them every chance you get, and ask them to return the favor. It’s a good way to start building relationships and it tells you what they really think of your work. If they agree, make sure you keep an eye out for people to refer them to. Keep up your end of the bargain, and the odds are good they’ll keep theirs. 3. Reward them. The idea of `finders fees’ is very common in big business, but it is frequently ignored in small business. It shouldn’t be. Make it known that when someone sends you a job, there’s something in it for them. Perhaps a set fee, or a percentage of the total. If they send you a new customer and you’re in retail, maybe a discount on their next purchase. Whatever you do, make sure it’s something worthwhile for them and sensible for you – $10 for a $25,000 job is insulting – $10 for a one time retail customer buying a used tennis racket might be too much. For client to client referrals it’s best to go with discounts. That encourages the customer to make additional purchases, or increases their loyalty as they see what else they can do with the money. Anything that expands your customer base is worth rewarding. 4. Give them. Want someone to send you referrals? Send some their way. Nothing will start the process and make it solid like having them know that you’re ready to return the favor. So return it in advance. Some people will send you referrals after this simply because they know it’s not going to be a one way street. Others because they appreciate the thought you showed them. And some will do it out of a feeling of owing you something. Very few will ignore it. 5. Print them. Use testimonials in your literature and advertising. Some people will wonder if they are the only ones that really liked your service, or if you did a good job for them just to get some extra business. If they see that others also appreciate your work and were willing to say so in print, they’ll feel more comfortable in stepping out of their shell and making their own satisfaction known. Some people need the knowledge that they’re not the only ones who think a certain way before they’ll say so. 6. Give out more business cards. Yes, they do make a difference. If someone has your card, or hopefully more than one of them, they will do “something” with it. If you have asked them when they’re in the right frame of mind to pass it along, they will. One of the best things you can do with business cards is to give more than one. If a person has just told you how much they like your work, hand them 5 business cards. Tell them something like: “Well, I certainly appreciate the good word. If you think you’d be doing them a favor, maybe you could pass these on to people you know when they need work done. Make sure you keep one for yourself in case you need to get hold of me, though!” Yes, this works. It’s different, so they remember. And it’s personal, so it matters to them. 7. Community service. People are always willing to recommend those they see as leaders. Public service projects are a great way to become that leader and give something back to your community at the same time. Make sure you don’t do this just for publicity, though. Find a cause you personally believe in and work with that. It will be much more satisfying for you, and more productive for the group you help. And you won’t come across as a phony. If you’re helping with a cause you believe in, people will see that you care. They might realize you will probably care as much about your work as well. 8. Sponsor something. A sports team, a fund-raising drive or even a cookbook for a school. This falls into nearly the same category as community service, except that it is seen as advertising. It has the same effect. It keeps your name in front of the community and gets people talking about you and your business. What you sponsor should be dictated by the type of business you’re in. A doctor will do well sponsoring a marathon or charity golf tournament, but perhaps not a tavern’s dart team. Sports bars and construction companies do well with baseball teams, but might not do as well with a bake-off. Match your clientele with the activity. Don’t think this works? Ask the people who sponsor team after team, for years. They’re not doing it solely for fun. While these sponsorships require fairly large investments they pay off if structured properly. A while back I had one of my clients sponsor the LA Marathon. The cost of this was over $50,000. Sound too expensive? They received over $100,000 of FREE advertising in the LA market. But that wasn’t the biggest benefit. To top that off they received 15 new clients each valued at $12,000 DIRECTLY as a result of the sponsorship. Their $50,000 investment turned into a $280,000 return! 9. Be helpful. Yes, something that simple. People appreciate someone who is helpful. If they appreciate you, they’ll remember you and want to return the favor. Again, do this where it’s appropriate and where it’s meant sincerely. Like most things that lead to referrals, this is something that becomes an end in itself before long. 10. Join a networking group. You may be familiar with the idea of networking groups. They get together on a regular basis and exchange leads. These groups are composed of professionals who are checked for integrity before being accepted for membership so that each member is sure that they are only recommending quality businesses to their family and friends. Joining one of these groups is like having a troop of professional salespeople armed with the best closing tool available. Personal recommendations. If your business is run with integrity and you back up your work, it’s definitely an option worth pursuing. For more information on professional networking groups, see this website. Referrals can make a huge difference in the success of your business. Don’t leave them to chance. Get an organized plan for generating them. And keep at it. Make it work and soon you’ll be dealing with the problem of having more business than you can handle. And then, of course, you’ll be referring these new customers to someone else. Have a great week! I hope that this “Business Update” has been helpful in assisting you to improve the performance of your organization. For more information on how the Small Business Advisory Network assists companies in improving their performance, please feel free to contact us at 310-320-8190 or email mark@markdeo.com Mark Deo Print this article.

Are you a salesperson?

I hope that this “Business Update” has been helpful in assisting you to improve the performance of your organization. For more information on how the Small Business Advisory Network assists companies in improving their performance, please feel free to contact us at 310-320-8190 or email mark@markdeo.com.

Have a great week!

Have you ever looked at a brochure, web site, print ad or mailer and had to read it twice to figure out exactly what it was all about? Have you ever listened to someone talk about their business only to wonder what kind of product or service they provide? I am constantly amazed by the number of ads, business cards, brochures, web sites and logos that I see that leave me wondering just what it is that company does!

How can we clearly communicate what we do at a glance. And more importantly how can we communicate the BENEFITS that our target customers will receive if they deal with us.

“Marketing Mimes give us the ability to become instantly understood.”

Where They Come From:
In 1976 Oxford University biologist Richard Dawkins wrote a book called “The Selfish Gene.” In this book he introduced a new concept. Dawkins asserted that like a “gene,” a “meme” is a self-replicating idea that is passed along from person to person. He sited examples of memes: memorable tunes, ideas, catch-phrases, fads and so on. Just as genes propagate themselves in the gene pool by leaping from body to body in the form of sperm, memes propagate themselves by leaping from mind to mind in a form of cultural imitation.

What a Meme Does:

• It is obvious in its meaning
• It focuses on the outcome
• It is self-explanatory and simplistic
• It is easy to replicate in someone’s mind
• It actively transfers information

Developing the Meme:
The meme is not necessarily a slogan, headline, or a tag but it is most effective in that form. It really is the core message of what you do. In some ways the meme is your branding position statement. Memes are often seen with a company’s logo. This is called a logo assembly. Here’s some tips on developing your meme:
First ask: What do my clients get as a result of using my service?
Next: Strip the phrase down to the essentials.
Try to strike an emotional chord with your meme
Make it easy to remember
Make sure it rolls off the tongue nicely
Examples of Memes:
The meme is not necessarily a slogan, headline, or a tag but it is most effective in that form.

Hewlett Packard – “Expanding possibilities”
Fiji Film – “You can see the future from here”
United – “Fly the Friendly Skies”
Service Merchandise – “One Call. Done.”
In Focus – “Project yourself”
Continental – “Work hard. Fly Right”
Best Buy – “Now that’s a great idea”
Jeep – “There’s only one”
Alamo – “Drive Happy”
AAA – “We’re always with you”
Moore Paints – “We make it simple. You make it beautiful.”
Testing the Meme:
Once you’ve developed your meme, you need to test it. When you communicate your meme, do people ask the right kind of questions?

Example:
I.T. Advertising – Not just pretty pictures and clever headlines – bottom-line RESULTS! Well that’s what advertisers want, right?The Small Business Hour – “Helping small business owners make better decisions.” – – – This begs the question, What kind of decisions?

MarketingQuestions.com – “Providing answers for small businesses” – – – This begs the question, What kind of answers?These are precisely the kind of questions that allow me to demonstrate how I am different, how I solve problems and how I may be the ONLY solution in some cases.HERE ARE SOME TIPS for writing good memes, taglines or slogans for your business:1) Start by noticing ads on billboards as you drive down the road. Billboard advertisers have but a couple of seconds to grab your attention and sell their product or service. Usually their copy is going to be a very good meme or tagline with a picture of the product or service. These are great examples of how to write effective taglines.2) Notice other media forms like magazine and newspaper display ads, business cards, brief radio and TV commercials. Observe the thing that caught your attention and makes the message easily remembered. It’s usually a concise and well-written meme.3) Write down everything you can think of that relates to your business. You may even start with a narrative description in paragraph form.4) Now, make a list of the top 25 or 30 things that are important and worth mentioning. Whittle that list down to 8 or 10 of the most important things you wish to say. Now eliminate repetition or things that are not really that necessary to your product or service. Get your list of words or phrases down to 3 or 4 central elements.5) Based on your final core selection, make up some phrases that will serve as your meme or slogan for consideration. Keep it short and use simple, everyday language.The authors of “Advertising: Its Role in Modern Marketing” (Dryden Press, 1994) list five rules for slogan writing. Dean Krugman, Leonard Reid, Watson Dunn and Arnold Barban say:

• Make the slogan or meme easy to remember and unlikely to confuse.
• Make it help differentiate the product (or service) from the competition.
• Make it provoke curiosity, if possible.
• Make it emphasize a reward or action.
• Use rhyme, rhythm or alliteration.

I hope this has been helpful for those of you considering tag lines or slogans for a new business or even the introduction of a new product or service. Developing these kinds of promotional elements are precisely what we focus on in our classes and workshops.If you are interested in applying this kind of creative promotional strategy to your marketing effort, enroll in my “Out-Marketing The Competition Class.” This nine week course focuses on learning and practicing specific marketing methods and strategies that can be implemented very rapidly and cost-effectively in a small business. Participants will develop a complete marketing plan by the end of the class.

Friction is the force that appears whenever two things rub against each other. Although two objects might look smooth, on a microscopic level, they are very rough and jagged. No matter which direction something moves in, friction pulls it the other way. Move something left, friction pulls right. Move something up, friction pulls down. It appears as if nature has given us friction to stop us from moving anything.

We can encounter friction in relationships with people as well. When one person’s perception differs from another then there is “relationship friction.” Creating attraction is the fastest way to bring about change because we reduce or even eliminate friction. Typically friction is inversely proportionate to the amount of change we want to produce. For example, if we are looking to launch a new product, the typical approach would be to design and print product announcements and send them to customers. We may also develop press kits and send them to the media in hopes of published product reviews. By the way, I am not suggesting that these actions are ineffective, simply that launching such initiatives will produce some degree of friction.

Let’s assume we do in fact send the above mentioned product announcements and press kits. When this happens we unwittingly create friction in a number of ways. First, the customers that receive the announcement may say; “my supplier is just looking for a way to sell me more products at a higher price.” Or the media that receives the press kit might have so many press kits to review that there is just not enough time to do so. In other words, the time required to perform the review or the investment required to buy the new product rubs up against the perception of the potential value gained.

This force operates in the world of management as well as the world of marketing. What if we are experiencing a reduction in customer satisfaction levels? What if we needed to change the way our customer service representatives are handling clients? Again the traditional approach would be to launch some type of customer service training initiative. Again this would produce friction. First, the customer service staff will need to commit the time to attend the training. This will “rub against” the time they will need to invest, which typically would be dedicated to assisting customers. When announcing such training you may have even heard employees say, “Why bother and train us to serve the customer better when all this does is give us LESS time available to serve the customer?” Again regardless of your perception of the value of customer service training, the point I am making is that merely attempting the change creates some type of friction.Attraction is the opposite of friction. I like to believe that if we can reduce friction in our business relationships then we will be more successful in creating attraction. This can alter our ability to motivate customers to take action as well as employees to become more productive and committed. We will transform “adapting to necessary change” into LEADING revolutionary change! This is one of the reasons that I have created my “attraction principles.” I believe that with the right knowledge, mindset, and discipline we can actually “attract” a positive, desirable change, rather than being swept-up in unwanted change. Check out the Attract More Business Program and sign-up for our upcoming Attraction workshops. Seeking a way to put this into practice for your business? Come to our Attraction workshops! Go to: http://www.sbanetwork.org/classes/upcoming_classes.asp for more information!

While attending a business conference in a rural setting, a business executive decided to take a walk. He hadn’t gone far before he encountered a large dog sitting in the middle of the road barking at everyone. Nearby was a young man who said to the executive, “He doesn’t belong to anyone; in fact he didn’t even have a name until some business types attending a conference took to calling him “Credit Manager.”

At this point, with a puzzled look on his face, the businessman asked, “Why did they name the dog Credit Manager?” The young man answered, “They said that they named him Credit Manager because all he does is sit around on his dead end and bark at everyone.”

The sales avoidance department, the ugly stepchild of accounting, and a necessary evil. Many business managers still think of credit and past due A/R management as a cost center and as a risk avoidance function. If the goal of a business is to avoid risks it should get out of extending credit terms and out of sales.

Wrong Area/Measurements
Traditionally the credit and A/R management area is found within the accounting department. The reason being to keep the sales guys from giving away the store and to safeguard the assets of the organization. Such traditional thinking often results in the credit / A/R management area taking on the characteristics of the accounting department.

Credit / A/R management is not an accounting function; it is a sales support function and those involved in credit and A/R management must be able to interface and communicate with just about every other area of the business as well as with customers, transportation companies and other vendors. Yes, the accounting department needs to know what is going on with the extension of credit and the management of what may be the largest asset a business has, its accounts receivable; but the primary goal of credit and A/R management is to support sales.

The other problem, besides the type of people involved, with credit being located within accounting lies with how it’s performance is measured, i.e. D.S.O. (Days Sales Outstanding) and % bad debt.

Measure for D.S.O. and % bad debt and the message being sent is that the job is to look for a way to say no, to reject any potential risk and should a customer ever become past due the job is to stop further credit sales. Measuring performance of the credit area by DSO and % bad debt results in the investment made in getting a customer to the point where they want to buy being lost; and along with the investment you can kiss off any potential future business with that customer.

Say Yes To Sales and Profit
Credit Approval should be defined from a perspective that the job is to fine a way to say yes to a profitable sale while remaining confident of payment. The risk associated with the “type” of business the customer is in, the “time” the customer has been in business and with “how” the customer has paid in the past must thenbe weighed against “the product value at time of sale.” There’s always a way to say yes based on terms and conditions of sale: down payment requirements, shorter terms, personal guarantees, third party guarantees, credit insurance, first born child. There’s always a way to say yes. Credit rejection should come from the customer, not the seller.

An enlightened credit department approaches credit approval from a perspective that the job is to find a way to say yes to every profitable sale.

Completing the Sale
When past due A/R management is placed within the accounting area and it’s performance measured by DSO and % bad debt it is referred to as “collections,” as the enforcement of payment.

An enlightened credit and A/R Management department understands that most past due accounts are good customers and that the traditional definition is out of step with the reasons why customers become past due.

A survey of 8000 businesses in a wide range of industries found that close to 25% of accounts receivable are delinquent at any given time, one day plus beyond terms, but less than 1% are written off as a bad debt loss.

Approaching the management of past due accounts, as the “process of completing the sale” recognizes that the large majority of past due customers are good, and that delinquent accounts represent lost sales opportunities. Customers who are past due may well take their next order elsewhere rather than deal with a vendor/supplier with whom they are delinquent. Keep customers current and you keep them buying. Mishandled “collections” may bring in the money, but may also create the loss of customers.

A successful client relayed to me, over a cup of coffee, that when she was a college student she had received a phone call from a bill collector working for a major retailer. She was past due and did pay the bill, but she has never again stepped back into one of the retailer’s stores and twenty years later she still resents the way with which she was dealt. Even more problematic than an affluent customer boycotting a retailer is the loss of a commercial customer’s goodwill; there are fewer of them and they have generational memory.

In Closing
Things are changing. More and more business executives are coming to see the role of Credit and A/R management as a sales support function. DSO and % bad debt still have a place as a way to gauge cash flow and losses, but the performance of the credit function is better measured by % of dollars applied for approved…and exceeded and by the % of A/R current to 30 days past due.

Who knows the day may come when some big , friendly, lovable dog without a name comes to be called “Credit Manager”.

This article was provided by our partner, Abe WalkingBear Sanchez.
The Author
Abe WalkingBear Sanchez is an International Speaker / Trainer / Consultant on the subject of
cash flow / sales enhancement and business knowledge organization and use. Founder and President of www.armg-usa.com, WalkingBear has authored hundreds of business articles. A hard hitting and fast paced speaker, he brings life and energy to a critical business function whose true potential has yet to be realized by most businesses.

Atradius, Irish Institute of Credit Management, TEC, CU, CSU, Texas A&M, National Association of Credit Management – Kansas City, HTDA, BCFM, Poli Hi Solidur, Skinner Nurseries, Deardens, Rain Bird, STAFDA, IBM, Wisconsin Credit Association, are but a few of the groups, schools, companies and associations for whom WalkingBear has conducted programs.

WalkingBear can be reached through:
A/R Management Group, Inc.
P.O. Box 457
Canon City, CO 81215
(719) 276-0595
email: abe@armg-usa.com
www.armg-usa.com

Have a great week!

–Mark Deo