As the old saying goes – if you don’t ask, you don’t get. Are you reluctant to contact late payers? Here is what you can do.

1. Firstly make sure your accounts are accurate

• Make sure you send out accurate invoices as soon as the work is done (not next week or at the end of the month).
• Send statements every Monday if your terms are seven days, or send in the first few days of the month if your terms are 20th of the month following.
• Bank payments on the day they’re received.
• Track payments carefully so you know when payments are due so you can chase the overdue bill immediately.
• Click here for help with your accounts

2. Then be proactive and chase early

• Always take action – and take it promptly.
• Be consistent in the action you take.
• Send out the message that late payment will be picked up and dealt with promptly. Your late payers know they will hear from you!

The best ways to collect overdue debts (in order of effectiveness) are a personal visit, a personal phone call, a letter or email. If you can visit them personally, great, but that’s not always possible or necessary.

3. Make the call (or get someone else to do it for you)

Choose the right person to follow up. If you have trouble with confrontation, or don’t want to ‘rock the boat’, consider whether an independent person might be better making late-bill calls.  You don’t want to lose a customer, so using a third party (like Smart) to make these calls professionally on your behalf can help get you paid faster, while preserving the relationship with your customer.

First, we’ll call within a few days of the payment becoming overdue. Over the phone we’ll politely check if there is any dispute about the invoice (amount charged, delivery or quality of goods or services). If not, we’ll try to find out the reason for the delay and note this – along with the date your customer estimates the account will be paid. That way we can follow up again if it’s not paid on that date.

When we call your late payers, we’re polite but firm and we’ll follow through on what you’d like us to do. We simply deal with the facts and ask for payment.

4. Follow up with an email

The next step is to send an email. It’s more informal than a letter, but the advantage from your point of view is that it is much quicker to be received by your customer and creates an audit trail. We can also email the original bill and statement as an attachment.

5. Be consistent

A crucial part of collecting your overdue payments is to be consistent. You will send mixed messages to your customers if:

• You ignore late payments sometimes (like when your business is flush with cash).
• You suddenly take a much harder line (which is tempting when you’re facing a cash flow crunch).

If you usually do nothing about late payments, then you’re inviting your customers use you as a free bank to cash-flow their business.

Call us on 0800 99 86 99 for help asking your customers for payment, or click here to enquire.

However, we recognise that businesses, their customers and employees will  need information and support to get up and running again as a result of the earthquake.

For phone answering by Kiwi voices – click here.

For virtual office support – click here.

For tax information for businesses affected by the Canterbury earthquake on 22 February 2011 – click here.

Fed up with funneling cash into marketing that seems to cost more and to do less? How do you work out what ‘works’ and what doesn’t?

You need to know the return on investment (ROI) of each marketing dollar you spend. Especially when technology means your potential customers can access information in a multitude of different ways. The aim is to identify potential buyers and track whether they respond to your marketing by making a purchase.

It is called testing and measuring. Most people hate it. But if you don’t measure and you might as well stand on the footpath outside your business and give $100 dollar notes to the first 20 people that walk past. Remember the newspaper advertising you tried that ‘didn’t work’, and the radio spots that ‘only did OK’? Money you’ve given away that you won’t get back.

Start asking people where they heard about you.

Start right now. Immediately. If you don’t know you’ll never know which marketing to use and you’ll keep running (and paying for) advertising that never brings a dollar into your business. Every time someone calls or buys, ask them this question – “By the way, can I ask how you heard about us.”

Keep track.

Record customer details and how they heard about your business, and ensure every member of your team does the same. Keep notes on what was discussed and what action is needed. Pay attention to chit-chat and jot down some notes. Rather than relying on your memory invest in database/customer relationship software or outsource your phone answering to someone who can do this for you. At the end of each week or month, add up the figures. Now you can start making decisions…

Stop and change.

When you see something isn’t working (when your profit margin from the sales is not at least paying for the ad), stop it straight away. Then change it. Try a different headline, media, offer, look etc… Make one small change each time…If it doesn’t work again, make another change and give it another try…until you find what works, and weed out the costly ones that don’t.  Do this one at a time with each marketing media that you use…Stop and change.

Test and measure.

Track the result – how many enquiries were generated and how many of those turned into sales? Compare that with what it cost and check whether it paid for itself. If it costs $300 to run an ad that brings in 10 customers and makes you $1,000 in profit, it’s a good ad.

Upsize me.

When you know what’s working upsize it.  Do the same thing on a larger scale. If it’s flyers, then drop twice as many. If it’s an ad, run it in more papers, run it more often or increase its size. 

Check conversions.

This will tell you if you have a marketing problem, or a sales problem. Be honest – how many enquiries do you convert into sales? If you don’t know the answer – start measuring. Otherwise you’re throwing money away bringing people in that aren’t buying. Is it possible to increase conversions, even a little?

Give your customers more reasons to buy from you. Price is only one reason. What if the salesperson were a bit friendlier? Are you willing to back your product with a guarantee? Can you offer free delivery?

Remove the guesswork. Measuring your marketing ROI will give you a real competitive advantage.

Now you know what makes your phone ring – but how those phone calls are answered will mean the difference between a sale or not.

Smart’s personalised phone service ensures your calls are answered; your customers deal with a real person and get the answers they need as quickly as possible. We’ll manage bookings or appointments for you, qualify leads with a script, and then record the details in a database we’ll provide for you. Click here to enquire about Smart phone answering services.

Like it or not, come Sunday using a handheld mobile phone while driving will be an offence. Does your livelihood depend on being able to take phone calls?

Tips for keeping both hands on the wheel, two eyes on the road & your business on track:

Prepare for it

If you have employees who work on the road you’ll need to either provide those people with a handsfree device or ensure they are not permitted to take calls while driving, and you must include handsfree and mobile usage guidelines in your Company Vehicle and Health and Safety policies.

For your own phone – check all your frequently called numbers are programmed into your phone – your boss, your partner and kids, and even your favourite fast food places.

Have a Trial Run

If you’ve rushed out and bought a new handsfree car kit or Bluetooth headset – practice using it with your mobile phone before you drive. Get familiar with the controls. Adjust the microphone and the volume, check the connectivity and mount the phone so it’s secure and out of the way. And test your phones voice activated call receiving and voice dialling. If your mobile phone offers this feature – use it as much as possible.

Handle calls another way

These calls can be diverted and handled elsewhere. Let us take care of it for you;

• your phone answered quickly by a real person
• who can access schedules, take bookings & orders, make appointments or take a message while you’re driving
• then send the messages to you by text, phone, fax or email – whichever you’d prefer
• so you can relax, enjoy your drive and check your messages once you’ve arrived

Click here to enquire about a Smart phone answering service

The way you answer your phone will form your customer’s first impression of your business. Everyone knows the phone should be answered before the third ring and your answer needs to be warm and enthusiastic. But what else will ensure that callers know they’re dealing with a winning business?

5 tips for answering business telephone calls;

1. Identify yourself and your business. No caller should ever have to ask if they’ve reached such and such a business. Say something like, “Welcome to Smart. You’re speaking with Pam.”
2. Mind your language. Keep it positive. Never use slang or jargon. Rather than saying, “OK”, or “No problem” – say “Certainly”, or “All right”. If you’re a person who uses “um”, “uh”, “like” or “you know” – train yourself not to when you speak on the phone. Try saying, “Let me find out about that for you” – instead of “I don’t know”.
3. Take telephone messages completely and accurately. If there’s something you don’t understand or can’t spell, such as a person’s surname, ask the caller to repeat it or spell it for you. Check how urgent the message is. Then make sure the message gets to the intended recipient ASAP by phone, text or email – whichever method the recipient will respond to quickest.
4. Don’t use a speaker phone unless absolutely necessary – it gives the caller the impression that he doesn’t have your undivided attention, and makes him think that his call isn’t private – he doesn’t know who might be listening in. The only time to use a speaker phone is when you need more than one person to be in on the conversation at your end. Always let the caller know you’re putting them on speaker, and why.
5. Train everyone else who answers the phone to answer the same way, including other family members if you’re running a home-based business. Never leave it to chance. Check how your business’s phone is being answered by calling it regularly.

And if you want professional phone answering – click here to enquire

Incoming phone calls can eat up a lot of time and the interruptions can constantly pull you away from other tasks. But there are ways of handling incoming phone calls to cut down on the amount of time you burn up speaking on the phone. These phone answering tips will help.

Prioritise who answers the phone

Is the call best handled right now or later? Does every call have to be answered by you, and you alone? Everyone likes to feel indispensilbe, but the reality is that many of the telephone calls businesses receive are quick inquiries that are easily answered, such as, “How late are you open?” or “What’s your email address?” If answering these calls is a waste of your precious time, delegate phone answering to someone else or outsource it.  When more complex and time-consuming answers are required, the caller can be asked when it would be convenient to call back to discuss it. Click here to find out more about outsourcing your phone answering

Summarise to keep phone calls on track

If you’re speaking to someone on the phone who wants to chat or stray from the point, say something like, “So what you’re saying is…” or “So the key points are…”, to bring them back on track.

Close each phone call with a summary of the action you and the caller will take

This only takes seconds, but can save you a lot of time by avoiding errors and ensuring you’re both agreed on what will happen as a result of the call. Clear up any miscommunications on the spot so you can get on with it.

Give your customers the email option

Many of them will use email to contact you rather than phoning if they know what your email address is. Email your customers, suggesting email as another way to communicate.

Use technology to manage the time you’re spending answering the phone

As a minimum, your business should have an answering machine and voice mail – or better yet a professional phone service to answer the telephone for you when you’re out of the office, in a meeting or need to work uninterrupted. Technology means your phone can now be diverted to an answer service all the time, only at certain times and days, just when it’s not answered within three rings, or only when the line is busy. Messages can even be emailed or texted to you. Then schedule time to answer these telephone messages– grouping them together will give you valuable time back.

It’s always best to have a person answer the phone

Having a machine pick up or worse, an automated “choose one of these numbers” system is an absolute turn off that will cost you business when people can’t get through to a real person, and don’t bother to leave messages or call back. If answering incoming phone calls is taking up too much time in your day, consider hiring a professional answering service to answer the phone for you. The cost of having someone else do it may be more than offset by the increase in your productivity, billable hours and sales.

Remember, the telephone is supposed to be a business tool, not an intrusive timewaster that rules your day. Handling your incoming phone calls according to these tips will help you put your telephone back in its proper place – helping you run your business rather than running you.

To get a team of real people answering your phone with the knowledge to answer questions about your business and the technology to message you by phone, email or text, click here to enquire about Smart phone services.

Whatever you do to get prospective customers to call your business (advertising, website, mail, etc.), the last thing you want to do is lose them once they do call. And yet, the average business loses thousands of dollars per year due to office phone answering skills that could be improved.

How much are those phone calls worth?

We asked a car hire company to tell us the value of a wedding booking. Knowing that their customers phone for a price before making a booking we asked them what it would mean to their bottom line if they converted just one more call to a booking every day. Guess. It was in excess of $125,000 a year…and they were botching on average up to four calls every day.

Hello-o-o-o-o-o! Can you hear $500,000 going straight down the gurgler?

How many sales are you losing because of missed, bungled or non-returned phone calls?

Check this out;

Multiply your number of missed calls per week x the percentage of calls you convert to sales or bookings x your average sale x 52 weeks a year

For example 5 missed calls per week x 50% conversion of callers to sales x $500.00 average sale x 52 weeks = $65,000 of lost business a year.

There are retailers, hairdressers, service providers, contractors, trades people, real estate agents, property managers, insurance brokers, mortgage brokers, distributors,  landscapers and lawn mowers all of whom have been mortified to learn that they and their employees have personally blown tens of thousands a year just by being lousy on the phone!!

How many more customers and sales could you get if this was fixed?

Every phone call is precious

Money is tight. To capture your share of the available dollars you need quick phone answering, short hold times, no run around, no fobbing off from one person to another person and no one telling the caller they don’t know the answer – in other words a Smart phone answer service.  Click here now to enquire

Some consumers will phone many businesses before deciding to buy. Why? They’re not just fishing for the best price. They’ll keep on phoning until they get someone on the other end of the phone whose voice and phone manner makes them feel liked, who sounds genuine and trustworthy to them. Someone with telephone answering skills.

If they don’t get that from your business, they’ll go elsewhere.

Here’s what your phone answering says to callers about your business:

You’re too slow

This caller…just gave up on calling you because you took too long to answer the phone and he needs help NOW. He’s giving his money to the next business listed in the yellow pages

You sound so bored

This caller…just hung up on your business because the person who answered sounded bored and uninterested. She’s your competitions customer now.

You don’t listen

This caller…is up in arms because of the way one of your employees talked over the top of him. Now he’s telling everyone he knows that you’re an idiot. He’s damaging your business.

You don’t  know anything

This caller…cannot believe you let someone who doesn’t know anything about your business answer your phone. She’s giving her money to someone else and making their bank balance healthier.

After all the expense and trouble you go to to get someone to call your business, the last thing you need is for them to be put off by the way your phone is answered. Fortunately, you can remedy these phone issues with Smart phone services. Click here now to enquire

If anybody took $100 from your till you’d jump up and down demanding payback. You’d drop everything else and go right off the deep end. You wouldn’t rest till you found the culprit. Would you?

Yet while you’re reading this your business could be losing hundreds…maybe even thousands of dollars…because of the way your employees and family members answer your business phone. Can you afford to let that happen?

How much of your business comes through the phone? How many of those phone calls are converted to sales or bookings? And how many missed calls do you have each week?

You might be mortified to learn that your employees or family members may have blown tens of thousands of dollars a year just by not being great on the phone!!

Take a hairdresser for example, whose customers phone for an appointment. What would it mean to their bottom line if they converted just two more calls to a $100 booking every day? Guess… In excess of $50,000 a year. If they’re missing up to ten calls every day you can hear $250,000 a year going down the gurgler! And add to that what it has cost you in advertising and promotion to make that phone ring…

It’s not about simply missing calls. Having a human voice instead of a recorded message maintains your business’s image and reassures customers that your company is legitimate, accessible and that their call means something.

So what is a phone call worth to you if it’s answered properly? What is your average sale worth? How many sales are you losing because of missed, bungled or non-returned phone calls?

How many more customers and sales could you get if this was fixed? Fix your phone answering. Find out how Smart can help you increase your phone sales right now.

What would that be worth to your business right now?

Creating a great impression over the phone is art, science, ears and a smooth voice.

1. The tone and level of your voice is what makes the biggest, fastest impression. This is what makes the caller feel liked, and makes you sound genuine and trustworthy. And you want them to trust you with their money when they purchase from your business.
2. It is all about listening.
3. Clarify the caller’s needs and desires to ensure you fully understand what they’re asking.
4. Be respectful and yes, patient. If the caller is going to pay you for a service or product, they deserve your undivided attention.
5. Be knowledgeable but talk to the caller in language they can understand, and never talk down to them. Never allow a caller to “lose face” or make them feel stupid for asking a question. They’ll pay you for your knowledge if they can understand you.

You can trust Smart to create a great first impression for your business over the phone.  Click here now to enquire about Smart phone services