Archive for May, 2010

Rule One of Business: Get Paid

Tuesday, May 25th, 2010

Being paid, you would figure is fundamentally the point to your business because if you do not get paid, why are you in business?

You will be shocked at the number of business people who let their customer base to make payment when and if they feel like it. I am acquainted with one tradesman who persistently collects bad debts like accolades. Why, do you think? Very possibly because he can’t bring himself to demand the money and people just overpower him.

If you permit someone credit, only do it because they have cleared themselves to you by paying cash on delivery (COD) for a period. Also, you should find whether they have the cash to pay you - if not you should not do business with them. Don’t kid yourself into the line of “I need the work” or “I need the sales”. It’s pointless when you do the service or providing the goods for nothing if you are not paid.

If you are the sort of person who can’t demand the fee even when the service has been done, try these hints:
Tell your client that when the service is done with, you will need cash or cheque. They will more than likely have it there at the transacation and you will not need to request your money.

When giving out a quote, be sure your payment terms are visible.

Complete an invoice including the terms of payment simply printed and hand the customer the invoice when the task is done. They will take the invoice and immediately know they will pay the money now without you being required to say a word. Manufacture a “cruel boss” who will skin you alive if you can’t leave with the pay for the job.

Ask your bank branch to provide you with Merchant facilities so you can take credit cards for example Mastercard and Visa. Most people own credit cards and it could stop the difficulty of the client not holding a cheque book or not having enough cash in their wallet.

Otherwise, don’t be afraid to keep your goods until you have been paid. Understand, until they’re paid for, the goods are still yours.

If you choose to give someone credit, be sure you have taken the following details about them some time PREVIOUSLY you let them credit.

  • Name
  • Address
  • Phone number
  • Bank name and address
  • Account no.
  • 3 trade references with their names, addresses and phone numbers

When you know all this information, contact the branch and make certain that they operate an account at there. Then, telephone all of the trade reference and inquire if they pay their debts on time or if they have had any dilemmas with them.

Most people will be willing to tell you if the person is troublesome. If everything is OK, allow them a moderate level of debt, say no more than $500 (depending on your business). Monitor the operation of the account for a few months before allowing this amount to be exceeded.

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Planning Your Ad Campaigns and Promotions

Thursday, May 20th, 2010

If you publish one underperforming ad, meaning, nobody responds, the world does not come to an end. But if you plan poorly, or not at all, you have reason to worry about your business failing.

Once you’ve determined where you should advertise, studied your target audience, and picked the media you’ll use, the planning of what you’ll say and when you’ll say it is essential to your success. You’ve got to plan with your goals in mind as well as your budget, your competition, your plans for the future, and the realities of the moment.

Might your short or long-range planning include promotions with other companies? Smart marketers are always on the lookout for fusion advertising opportunities, chances to tie in with other companies so that the advertising gets more exposure but at a lower price, since the cost is shared with others.

If three local stores, all compatible, such as a drapery store, a carpet showroom, and a wallpaper shop, combine to run a full-page ad in a regional edition of a national magazine, they all gain the credibility of the ad, but the cost will be only a third of what it normally would be. That’s one of the benefits of joint advertising, and that’s why you should consider the concept before planning your campaign. Just be sure that you never lose your own identity in partner ventures.

Plan your advertising campaign with an eye toward what you’ll do in case you are copied. If you come up with a dynamite plan and it is highly successful, you can count on being copied. So be certain that your name, your look, your logo, the whole works, are synonymous with your name and identity. You may be copied, but your consumers won’t confuse you with the others. Be certain that your plan takes into consideration five important variables:

1. Advertising
2. Promotions
3. Other marketing weapons like promotional products
4. Coordination
5. Timing

Think of these as a basketball team with five players. No matter how good it is, if it lost only one player and had to play with a four-player team, it would lose most of its games to complete teams that excel at teamwork. A good plan includes all the players and is the essence of teamwork. Alone, each of these players just can’t do the job. They need each other. Every smart marketing professional plays with his or her full team.

The smart marketer knows that an advertising campaign must have continuity to do the persuading job well. In advertising, intermittent communication is no communication at all. Your plan must have consistency built right into it. The idea is not to flirt with your public but to convince them. There is a huge difference between the two. Any true advertising expert will tell you that frequency and persistence are the secrets of success in advertising. A major commitment to one or a few of the media will work better in most cases than an across-the-board plan with a variety of media but a short insertion schedule.

You should plan your campaign so that you are consistent, but never boring, committed, but never predictable. You’ve got to build special promotions into your plan to keep your staff on their feet and your competitors off balance. The only part of the plan engraved in stone is your identity. Flexibility and an ability to make alterations in your advertising is crucial.

Promotional products like printed carrier bags, promotional balloons and promotional badges are a great marketing investment. They can be used to thank existing customers, generate curiousity in prospects and keep your brand top of mind. Need ideas? Visit hotline.co.uk today and browse our fabulous range of promotional products and corporate give-aways.

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What is a Cockroach?

Thursday, May 20th, 2010

The word cockroach is stemmed from the Spanish cucaracha. The cockroach is characterized by a flattened oval body, long hairlike antennae, and a gloss black or brown leathery integument. The head is aimed downward, and the mouthparts are directed rearward instead of forward or downward as is the case with the majority of other insects. The male generally has two pairs of wings, but the female, who in some species, is wingless or possesses vestigial wings. The female generates eggs in egg cases (known as oothecae). These are on occasion held away from her body or may be held in protected locations. After the female generates an egg case, the soft, white nymphs emerge. As their exoskeleton solidifies, it turns brown in colour. The shape and big size (certain species possess a wing measurement of longer than 12 cm [4.7 inches]) of cockroaches have become a significant study in the biological laboratory.

The cockroach enjoys a warm, humid, dark habitat and is frequently located in tropical or other mild climates. Just a small number of species have become pests. The insect inflicts damage upon more material than it eats and possesses a unpleasant odour. The food of the roach, which is both plant and animal products, can be from food, paper, clothing, and books to dead insects, including bedbugs. Insecticides can be taken in roach destroying.

The American cockroach (species Periplaneta americana) is 30 to 50 mm long (up to about 2 inches), reddish brown, and lives in an outdoor habitat or in dark, heated indoor locations (e.g., basements and furnace rooms). In its adult life, a time of about 1.5 years, the female generates 50 or more oothecae, each containing around 16 eggs that hatch after 45 days. Nymphal life lasts from 11 to 14 months. The American cockroach, indigenous to tropical and subtropical America, possesses well-developed wings. However, most species are unlikely to be good at flying.

The German cockroach (Blattella germanica), a common pest in houses and sometimes erroneously referred to as a waterbug, is light brown with two dark stripes on the prothoracic area. The female generates the ootheca three days after mating and carries it for generally around 20 days. Because it is miniature (about 12 mm [less than 0.5 inch] long), this cockroach often can be carried into residences in grocery bags and boxes; it has moved across the world by boat. Three or more generations can occur yearly. This cockroach, found in abundance throughout the water pipes of the Croton Aqueduct in New York City, is commonly called the Croton bug.

The brown-banded cockroach (Supella supellectilium) is similar to the German cockroach but is a bit smaller. The male has fully developed wings and is paler in colour than the female, whose wings are undeveloped and nonfunctional. Both sexes have two light-coloured bands across the back. The adult life span is about 200 days, and there could be two generations annually. Eggs are be left in clothes, wood molding, or cracks in the floor. With the introduction of heated buildings this cockroach became established in cooler locations.

The Oriental cockroach (Blatta orientalis) is thought to be one of the dirtiest of household pests. It is oval, shiny black or dark brown, 25 to 30 mm (1 to 1.2 inches) long, with a life cycle resembling that of the American cockroach. The male has short, fully developed wings, but the female possesses vestigial wings. This cockroach has been taken in vehicles of trade from its Asiatic origins to all the temperate regions.

Wood roaches are non-domestic pests. Parcoblatta pennsylvanica, the common wood cockroach, habits beneath logs and stones in northern latitudes. The male and female are so different in appearance that they were once thought to be individual species. The male, 15 to 25 mm (0.6 to 1 inch) long, possesses wings that expand beyond the abdomen; the female is smaller and possesses much shorter wings. Cryptocercus punctulatus digests wood with the aid of select protozoans in its digestive tract.

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