Getting your outstanding invoices paid from your customers can be very time consuming and could damage your relationship with the people and businesses you serve. Most collection companies could cause even more problems when they use hard-lined tactics.

Transworld Systems, Inc. (TSI) takes the pain out of collecting your money. Karla Weisberg has been with this company for over 25 years. She has seen the major changes in the way her company reaches out to your customers owing you money. They have adapted, changed and grown, and have maintained effectiveness of collecting.

Today I talk with Karla about how you can increase your companies' profit, without increasing sales.

When we put together a business plan for a business owner, most of the plan has to do with Customer Acquisition Strategies. These include Networking, Marketing, Sales, Social Media, Strategic Partnerships and Advertising.

This Podcast focuses on the power of Advertising on all the "Advertising Elements." Most Retail and some Business to Business owners rely on powerful advertising messages on Television, Radio, Print and Digital (Google, You Tube, etc.)

Today I visit with Dave Koss from RRG, which means really Resourceful Group. It is an Advertising Agency. Dave and I talk about the differences between Marketing and Advertising and how he can help your phone ring more often.

Broncos Win the Super Bowl!

I have to admit that I really enjoyed watching the Broncos win the Super Bowl. Although I am a die-hard Chicago Bear Fan, my second favorite team are the Broncos. I also like Peyton Manning as a hardworking, talented player. Him winning the Super Bowl over the Bears helped me get over that loss.

The business side of the Denver Broncos, is a good lesson in Succession Planning. The owner, Pat Bowlen, had to step down from day-to-day business operations 2 years ago. Even with the owner ailing, the Broncos won the Super Bowl. Pat Bowlen put a management team in place long before he became sick. This not only allows the business to continue to be successful, it makes the ownership of the business more attractive to potential buyers, if something does happen to the owner.

The last time the Broncos Won the Super Bowl, John Elway was the Quarterback. This time, John Elway is the VP of Football Operations and General Manager. My understanding is that during the last few years of Elway’s playing time, he spent some time with the General Manager, learning how to run the team. Since he has taken over, he had to make some tough decisions, including firing Legendary Coach, John Fox (to the Chicago Bears benefit). Elway thought Fox could not get them a Super Bowl Victory, and with Peyton Manning getting older, he had to make a decisions and live with it. It turned out to be the right one!

What tough decisions have you been putting off making? Are you setting up your business for Success even after you leave it?

You save money on expense by streamlining your processes. As we begin the second month of 2016, let’s take a look at your business process.
Let’s look at an example:

Quote: A quotation is generated in Microsoft Word and sent to the customer for the work to be done. Quote includes estimate on materials, shipping and scheduling.

Purchase Order: Once the customer agrees and signed the quote, a Purchase order is generated in Microsoft Works to the vender. This starts the Job Expense Sheet in Microsoft Excel. It includes specifics on materials, shipping and scheduling.

Vender Bill: Now the job is done, and the vendor bills you. Your company then has to run it through a Tax Worksheet (in Excel) to calculate sales tax, and Services. After doing the Tax Worksheet, they enter the amounts on the Job Expense Sheet.

Freight Costs: Make sure the freight costs are entered onto the Job Expense Sheet.
 
Invoice to Client: The invoice is prepared in QuickBooks from the Job Cost worksheet and Emailed to the client.

This maybe the process you have been using for years. Maybe it started simple enough, but then new steps needed to be added along the way. Let’s say this process takes about an hour per sale.
Streamline the process to use one program instead of 4. Sure, the initial set up may take some time, but the change in the long run saves you both time and money. If you notice, the sample company does use QuickBooks to do their invoicing. We can also assume they track their expenses in QuickBooks in order to be able to come up with financial statements.

After some training by a certified QuickBooks advisor, the company could use QuickBooks for:

1. Quoting the Client
2. Generating Purchase orders to venders,
3. Receiving the job from vendors,
   1. and paying that bill, set up the sales tax, adding freight cost,
4. Generating an invoice to the Client.

 
The company would enter the info into QuickBooks and the bookkeeper would check it and follow up on invoices. After a 3 hour (or so) QuickBooks Training and Set up, the whole process may only take about 15 minutes per sale, as opposed to the hour it previously took. Thus saving both time and money!

Improve your process and improve your business!