6 Secrets to Getting Debtors to Pay Up
Issue #2190
- WEALTHY: Is it time to empty your mind? (Rick Pendergraft)
- HEALTHY: Enjoy this family of foods for natural protection (Kelley Herring)
- WISE: George D. Prentice on debt
ALSO IN THIS ISSUE:
- 6 insider collection tips that can prevent you from losing thousands (Paul Lawrence)
- A number that can help you make more sales (Wendy Montes de Oca)
- It’s Fun to Know… about the sound of silence
- Add "unctuous" to your vocabulary
Welcome to the Turning Point in Your Life
How can it be a group of people in the same city, with the same education, upbringing, bank balance and opportunity make riches beyond their dreams, and others don’t??
Answer: They used a system… a set "proven" process which set them apart.
Want to know what this system is?
They followed a set of simple instructions which made money automatically come their way… money was attracted to them like metal to a magnet long BEFORE they became wealthy.
It was following these simple instructions I now call "The Billionaire Way" which gave ME an unbelievable ‘piggy-back ride’ from a simple insurance sales guy to founder of the world’s first TV shopping network.
The Usefulness of a Cup Is in Its Emptiness
The ancient Chinese proverb "the usefulness of a cup is in its emptiness" applies to life, learning… and trading.
Not being able to receive and translate new information is bad in any situation, but it’s a death sentence for a trader. That’s because each and every day you’re exposed to news that can and will affect the markets. If your mind is too full to process it, you’re doomed to miss out on opportunities.
One of the most common things I’ve seen traders do is come to a conclusion about a trade and then stubbornly stay with it – even when new information coming in tells them they’re wrong. Their minds are full of old, possibly outdated, conclusions, and there isn’t any room for new ideas.
Trading is an art comprised of two simple actions: getting in and getting out. And having a clear, open mind is critical to getting in and getting out at the right time.
If your cup is extremely full and in danger of overflowing, you might want to step away from the markets for a few days to clear your mind.
[Ed. Note: In ETR's free e-zine, Investor's Daily Edge, Rick Pendergraft and a select group of market specialists will give you to-the-point analyses and tell you how you should act TODAY to make the most money with the least risk.]
"Some people use one half their ingenuity to get into debt, and the other half to avoid paying it."
George D. Prentice
6 Secrets to Getting Debtors to Pay Up
Immediately after finishing college, I fell into a job that I was not happy with. At the time, I had no idea that it was going to provide me with a valuable skill – one that would help me avoid losing thousands of dollars and also give me the chance to help others protect themselves against monetary losses.
The industry I’d fallen into was the "rent to own" business. As an "account manager," I worked in the field to collect delinquent payments.
Our customers were people who didn’t have enough cash or credit to buy things like televisions, stereos, refrigerators, etc. As you might imagine, the majority of them were in a fairly low income bracket and had a default rate that would make a bank loan officer faint.
At first I thought it was going to be impossible to collect from these people, and that I was sure to be fired. Fortunately for me, the president of the company took me under his wing to teach me the ropes. And I discovered that collecting money from people is really just a form of salesmanship.
When you contact people about paying you money they owe, they are, understandably, going to be disagreeable. Their natural reaction will be to respond to your request for payment with anger, and you can end up in a nasty confrontation. Although it’s sometimes possible to argue a debtor into paying up, my mentor taught me that it’s much easier – and more pleasant – to use the art of persuasion.
One technique he taught me was to start my conversation with the debtor by asking why he hadn’t paid. And during the three years I worked for him, I never once had someone tell me he didn’t pay because he’s a no-good deadbeat.
There was always a reason. Many had lost their jobs, had unexpected car repairs, or were fighting a debilitating illness that was draining all their financial resources. Others just didn’t know how to handle their money responsibly, and kept blowing their paychecks on things they really couldn’t afford. But it didn’t matter what the reason was. Because I listened sympathetically, they felt that I understood their situation. And that made it possible for us to calmly and rationally come up with a plan for them to pay what they owed.
After leaving that job, I took on a collection job for a high-end jewelry retailer – and I discovered that the same techniques that I’d perfected in the rent-to-own business worked with white-collar debtors who had good credit and upscale lifestyles. Once again, I was able to maintain a very high success rate without much trouble.
One extremely effective strategy that I used was to call people at their jobs. The great thing about calling someone at work is that it’s hard for them to dodge the call without divulging to their co-workers or boss that they’re in debt and someone is trying to collect from them.
Now, I should warn you that there are laws regarding what’s legal and what’s not legal when you’re trying to collect money. If you violate those laws, you can end up being liable for significant civil damages. I’m not a lawyer and am not dispensing legal advice here, but my understanding is that it is perfectly within your rights to call a debtor at work as long as you don’t discuss their debt with anyone else there or don’t do anything that could be reasonably seen as jeopardizing their job.
I developed a large arsenal of highly effective collection techniques – and even when I was no longer officially in the collection business, they were very helpful to me as a small-business owner, as a landlord, and as someone who likes to help out friends and family members when they have a problem. (I’ll never forget my mom’s smile as she thanked me for helping her collect several thousand dollars that a former employer owed her.)
Certainly, there are formal steps you can take to collect money that people owe you – like taking them to small claims court or hiring a lawyer – but it is often not worth the expense and effort. However, if all it takes is a few calls or a letter, it can make sense for you to go after even relatively small debts.
Here are the basic steps to collecting what’s owed to you, whether it’s a business or a personal debt:
- Determine when you’ll start to take action against the debtor.
You don’t want to bring down the hammer on a friend who borrowed 20 bucks just because he hasn’t paid you back within two weeks, or on a good customer just because he’s a little late with a payment. As soon as you start going after your money, your relationship is going to turn into an adversarial one. So, chances are, you’re going to lose that friend or customer.
But at some point, even in cases like those, you’re going to have to try to collect. The question is when? After 30 days? 60 days? 90 days? Every situation is different, so you’ll have to decide what makes sense.
- Contact the debtor with a gentle reminder.
Your first contact with the debtor should be in the form of a gentle reminder, either by mail or on the phone. Say that you’re just making he’s aware that the debt hasn’t been paid. This approach allows him to save face by claiming that he "didn’t know" or "forgot." And, in fact, a certain percentage of debtors will pay up as soon as they realize that you don’t intend to let the debt just vanish.
- If the gentle reminder doesn’t work, the next step is to demand payment.
You’re no longer pretending that you think the debtor may just be confused. No need to be hostile, but make it clear that you are rightly owed the money and you expect either (1) to be paid immediately or (2) a definite commitment as to when payment will be rendered.
This will work with all but the most difficult debtors: those who honestly don’t have the money or those who just don’t feel like paying.
- If that doesn’t work – or if the debtor doesn’t keep his promise to pay by a certain date – you have to take an even stronger approach.
If he just doesn’t feel like paying, you have no choice. You’re probably going to have to take legal action. But if he’s simply overextended and doesn’t have the money to pay all the bills he owes, you have to get yourself to the top of his list of priorities. How do you convince him to pay you before he pays someone else? By constantly contacting him – by phone, by letter, through e-mail, and maybe even by knocking on his door. Your persistence will pay off.
Collecting money isn’t fun, but you can be assertive without being threatening, and civil without being ineffective. It’s your money, so there is no reason to feel reluctant about using bold tactics to collect it. And not having to write off losses from bad debts can make a significant impact on your balance sheet.
[Ed. Note: Paul Lawrence is the creator of the Quick and Easy Microbusiness System, ETR's program for starting a business for under $100. Paul has put together a system that will allow you to collect what you're owed without going to court or getting into intense conflicts with your debtors. Check out the details here.]
Wanted: Investors Who Want to Grow Rich the "Lazy" Way
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Make Any Online Sales Campaign More Successful by Knowing These Numbers
As with any direct-response marketing method, having measurable key performance indicators is imperative to ensure the most effective advertising campaign possible.
Let’s say you create a text ad that gets mailed out to your e-newsletter subscribers every day for a week. If you haven’t set up a reporting mechanism to monitor the performance of that ad, you’re basically flying blind. Setting up the proper marketing metrics before you send out your ad will allow you to measure critical performance data about how your audience is responding to your message – which can then help you refine your sales copy for optimum results.
Your "CTR" or "Click Thru Rate" – the number of people who have actually clicked on your ad divided by the size of your audience – is one of the most critical online marketing metrics. Per Sitepoint.com, the average CTR for banner or other display ads ranges from 0.5 percent to 2 percent. According to Jupiter Research, the average e-mail open rate is 20 percent and the average e-mail CTR is 9 percent (ranging from 2 percent to 12 percent). If your message isn’t getting many clicks, that’s a sure sign it isn’t working on your audience.
To improve your CTR, consider testing different versions of the following four elements – one at a time – so you can easily pinpoint the problem:
- Design. Your ad design should be eye-catching and relevant. Faces work well (especially if they are notable personalities), as do strong images that complement the headline.
- Format. Test text vs. graphics to see which visual presentation gets the most interest.
- Placement. Your ad should occupy good real estate on the webpage or e-newsletter where it’s displayed. Above the fold, top left, or in the middle of the content are ideal placements.
- Headline. You’ve got only a few seconds to grab attention with your headline – so make it short, powerful, and pithy. Consider using words that pique curiosity, ask questions, trigger an emotion, or challenge the reader to take action.
[Ed. Note: Wendy Montes de Oca, ETR's Vice President of Marketing and Business Development, is a core contributor to ETR's new Internet business-building program, designed to show you how to take an online business from concept to execution and beyond. We've limited the number of spots to 250, and, as of today, we've only got a few spots left. So sign up now to be part of this exciting new program.]
Power Up Your Plate with This Cancer-Fighting Arsenal
When it comes to protecting against breast cancer, your best medicine may be right on your plate. In fact, you can protect yourself with one particular family of cancer-fighting veggies.
In a recent study published in the Journal of Nutrition, researchers examined the effects of sulforaphane – a nutrient found exclusively in cruciferous vegetables – on human breast cancer cells. Within 24 hours of treating MCF-7 (a human breast cancer cell line) with sulforaphane, the cancer cells stopped growing and dividing and there was an increase in a cancer-protective protein. The researchers found that sulforaphane, like a common breast cancer drug, disrupts components of the cell called microtubules.
Fight breast cancer naturally by powering up your plate with this diverse and delicious family of vegetables. Crucifers include arugula, Brussels sprouts, bok choy, broccoli, cauliflower, collards, daikon, horseradish, kale, mustard greens, rutabagas, turnips, radishes, and watercress – so there’s plenty to choose from. Because sulforaphane is destroyed by heat, enjoy these veggies "in the raw" for maximum nutritional benefit.
[Ed. Note: Kelley Herring is the founder and CEO of Healing Gourmet (www.healinggourmet.com ), and is editor-in-chief of the Healing Gourmet book series, including Eat to Fight Cancer. Learn more about how simple lifestyle choices can improve your health by reading ETR's free natural health e-letter.]
It’s Fun to Know: The Sound of Silence
We’ve mentioned experimental composer John Cage before. He’s the guy who wrote the musical piece, titled Organ²/ASLSP (As SLow aS Possible), that is supposed to take 639 years to play. Recently, the BBC Symphony Orchestra tackled another of his works, titled 4′33", which consists of four minutes and 33 seconds of… silence. Cage wrote the piece in 1952 in order to demonstrate that the world around us is full of noise.
(Source: BBC)
Give Yourself a Nice Pay Raise – And A Three Day Weekend, Every Weekend
By the end of this week, you can give yourself a pay raise. How does an extra $20/hr sound… and schedule a few days vacation while you’re at it!
After a month or two, how about another raise… to $2,000 a week.
It’s happening everywhere. Ordinary people — including folks who never finished school — starting their own businesses… and making side incomes in the neighborhood of $40,000… $60,000… even $100,000 or more a year.
They’re living the American Dream. Now it’s time for you to start living it too. Click here to continue…
- Charlie Byrne
Word to the Wise: Unctuous
Something that’s "unctuous" (UNGK-choo-us) – from the Latin for "to anoint/besmear" – is oily or greasy. The word is also used to describe insincerely or excessively ingratiating manner or speech.
Example (as used by Naeem Murr in The Boy): "He approached Sean wearing a smile so unctuous it seemed about to slide right off his face."
[Ed. Note: Become a more persuasive writer and speaker ... build your self-confidence and intellect ... increase your attractiveness to others ... just by spending 10 VERY enjoyable minutes a day with ETR's new Words to the Wise CD Library.]
Michael Masterson
Copyright ETR, LLC, 2007
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