We came across an interesting article the other day posted by Linda Hurley on Helium.com. The article discusses how firing certain customers can better your business, as well as it’s bank account…

The article touches on the topic of nonpaying customers and those that are continuously paying their bills late… “Across the range of customers the worst possible type of customer to have is one that consistently pays late.” Another great point is made in the article that for every day a payment is late, the business will lose the profit “equivalent to the cost of the working capital.”

The article then goes on to list three steps to determining whether to fire a customer or not… The article is then closed by “The only good customer is a profitable one.” — Is this not 100% true?!? How else will your business survive??

Be sure to check out the full article.

Take it from us, fire you habitual late payers and non-payers!

money, money, money, monayyyy… monaaaayyy! =)

“What’s wrong with them??”

– PC Out

Just 2 days ago we launched new membership options for Business Beware. Originally it was free to register and if you wanted to send our “beware letters” to your non-paying customers you would purchase letter credits. Well after everyone having such great success with the letter and our team having to constantly send an overwhelmingly amount out each day and more members using the service to collect money we created new membership options. Here’s how they break down:

BB Basic Membership:

• 1 year membership
• 2 “beware letters”
• File unlimited complaints
• Unlimited database search

BB Silver Membership

• 1 year membership
• 7 “beware letters”
• File unlimited complaints
• Unlimited database search

BB Gold Membership

• 1 year membership
• 12 “beware letters”
• File unlimited complaints
• Unlimited database search

Custom Bulk Order – Beware Letters

If you have more than 12 you need to send out (someone had 40 they needed sent out the other day!) you can contact us and let us know how many you need sent out so we can get you a quick quote.

This covers our cost to have the team get the letters together, costs of the paper, envelope and stamp. We love that this has become such a huge thing for business owners and we are doing our job if there are less complaints filed and businesses are getting paid.

Ready to get started? What the heck are you waiting for?! Sign up here.

If you have any questions please feel free to contact us at support(at)businessbeware(dot)biz

Happy Memorial Day weekend!

To show our viewers just how much we loved these tasty wines, Ashley and I decided to make them one of our… (pause for effect)… “Favorite Things!” Coming to you soon =)

Check out Robert’s interview with Vince now by clicking here.

We are excited to get Part two out to everyone, so hang tight a little longer!

<—– Mango Mamma: Delicious.. just saying.

Thank you again to Vince Shook and everyone from Florida Orange Grove Winery!!

– PC Out

We talk on our show about how if you do a search on Google or Twitter for “customer service” or “bad customer” the only thing that ever seems to pull up is “bad customer service.” It blows our minds every time too because this is all you see and hear from people. For kicks here is a recent timeline of search.twitter at 10 am this morning with the search word “customer service.”

Do you see a pattern of what we are talking about?

As a business it’s important to listen to what they’re saying as a customer of yours but don’t feel like you have to assist those that just want something for free. Those are the customers you just have tell “you’re fired.”

www.youtube.com/watch?v=d9WSDosvCaw

Our friends at Base6 Films did this for us. They do some amazing videos so if you need anything done for your business, organization etc. check them out.

They’re back…

Learn more at BusinessBewareShow.com

Think about it this way…put yourself in your shoes and what would you as the customer appreciate from a business that cares about you? And we’re not talking about a coupon that is worthless we’re thinking bigger.

One thing that we love about Zappos is the customer service of course but they are so awesome about surprising you with free shipping or an upgraded shipping etc. That little incentive makes peoples days all the time and it turns them into repeat customers.

3 Ways to reward your good customers:

1. Give them something for free when they purchase a large sum of products from you. The coffee place we go to always gives us a bag of his roasted (amazing) coffee for free because he truly appreciates the business. And he genuinely cares.
2. Send them a gift card. Whether it’s for your company as a “credit” or even for a restaurant. Include it in their invoice or paperwork. Sometimes you can catch people so off guard by this that it just makes them smile from ear to ear.
3. Have a BBQ. Totally for real on this one. In the south we love BBQ and good people. So get together a time and place, invite your employees and customers that have been with you for quite some time. You will be amazed at how many show up and truly love this idea. It’s a way for you to get to know them outside of work and who knows you might end up best friends (true story).

These are just a few suggestions and creative ways to reward your good customers that you love to work with. Be creative and let them know that you care, it means more than you know.

And of course you know what to do with naughty customers aka CustoMonsters…

COMMUNICATION is definitely the key.

If you are upfront with your customers from the start that’s great! Keep the communication going throughout the time you work with them so there (hopefully) won’t be any miscommunication. Now here’s where it gets tricky…What if you have a customer who you were up front with the entire time but when it came down to collecting money from the recent job you did they won’t get back with you at all?

This happens all the time even with some good customers and not just the CustoMonsters. Sometimes no matter how many times you try and reach out to them or contact them they won’t call you back. This is where we come in to help you as the business owner. We help get the communication started and let the customer know that you just want to work out the situation before it becomes a problem, collect your money and be done with it. Your first step with BB is to try our “beware letter.” It’s a pre-warning letter as we call it. So rather than filing a complaint you simply let them know you have the chance to file a complaint but just want to work out your situation.

Just the other day a business owner in OH used our letter and days later his customer sent him the payment he had been trying collect from the customer for over 2 months. The total amount was a little over $13,000. Nice huh?

So let us help you get the communication started with your customer. Find out how with our how it works page.

They seem to be the ones that are unhappy about how you run your business, want money taken off their bill, don’t agree with the way your service tech worked on their house, the coffee is not hot enough and the list goes on and on. These are the customers we refer to as “CustoMonsters” if you didn’t already pick up on that.

CustoMonsters:

• take up your time
• take time away from your good customers
• unable to be pleased
• cause problems
• voice-tress
• rude to employees
• a disrespectful bully

The 3 things you need to say to a CustoMonster are:

1. Thank you but we don’t need your business.
2. Here is our competitor’s number.
3. Click.

While that’s awesome of him to do that, at the same time it could totally cause problems for him down the road…Thomas states: ““Since we began the business back in 1983,’’ he said, “I told my sons and all of my employees, ‘Do not focus your attention on the dollar. Focus your attention on the customer and the dollar will always follow. Communicating, understanding, and reacting positively to your customers’ needs will have people ranting and raving about you. I am very thankful and feel very blessed for having such wonderful people to work for.’’

Sounds like an awesome guy who knows what he’s talking about and a great business owner. While most business owners feel this way it doesn’t mean that all customers truly appreciate that gesture. Some might even take advantage of that if you don’t charge them and the next time you go out for a service call they will expect that. The lady probably had full intention of paying but was treated to that since she was a long time customer and the predicament she was in with the ice everywhere.

It proves there are good people out there and those businesses who do love their customers. Good for you Thomas but just be careful not to let customers take advantage of you when you’re doing such good things because they totally will and those are called….CustoMonsters.

You can read the full article here.

As you know we are going to be at UnGeeked in Orlando March 3-5 and so should you. Here is a little info about what we will be talking about and why UnGeeked is better than other “conferences” out there.