Today I had the pleasure to be a featured guest on the radio show “Small Business Big Ideas.”
The host, David Cohen first asked me about debt collection in a time of economic downturn. I was thrown off my feet by the question because the plan had been to talk about small business contracts first and then wrap up the interview with the debt collection issue. Nonetheless, I quickly gathered my wit and re-organized my materials.
Generally, letting your customer know that you’re charging interests on overdue accounts helps. For big accounts, you may want to consider hiring a lawyer to do your collection. In my experience, over 80% of overdue accounts can be collected via a lawyer’s demand letters.
David then moved onto the topic of small business contracts. I reminded David that it’s generally a bad idea to do business on trust alone. If one day you unfortunately end up in court, you’ll have a difficult time proving exactly what the terms were.
If you’re a small businesses person who routinely conducts transactions over the phone, I suggest you keep a check-list handy. The check-list should include what the products are, how much they cost, what’s included and what’s not, and your return policy. As you go over the list with your customers, check off each item. At the conclusion of the transaction, initial and date the list. If one day you regrettably end up in court, at least you’ll have sufficient documentation to protect yourself.
The entire interview lasted about five minutes, though I was barely one-third through my materials. (I spent hours preparing for it yesterday!) In the end, it’s a very cool experience being featured on a radio show. I certainly hope to be invited again.
To listen to the episode, please click here and choose the podcast of December 7, 2008.
