The problem with bill
Earlier this week I was in a financial meeting where our new financial system was unveiled for fiscal year 2008.
Our accountant proudly stood up and proclaimed.
"Starting in 2008 we will bill our clients daily."
Dead silence.
"... and are our clients happy about this?" asked my marketing counterpart (we have two divisions-long story).
"Well, I don't know. But they always pay their bill." the accountant sheepishly replied.
And so began a long debate with marketing and accounting as to when we should bill our clients. To the point that I finally stood up and said...
"Why don't we ask them?"
It may seem like a no-brainer. But it was a question that no one was asking. I wondered why we would spend all of our money trying to land clients if only to tell them how we were going to do business with them! I mean honestly. We get them in the door, wooing them every step of the way. Then once we decide to go beyond dating and actually make this relationship go, we suddenly lay down the law and dictate the relationship.
WOW. That was a scary moment for me.
Here's an idea for you.
If your in sales or marketing you know that customer satisfaction is your main priority. But everything shouldn't be on your terms.
Take billing for example.
Would it be easier to increase business just by having flexible billing?
Why not let your customers speak out--have them take a survey.
There are dozens of free online surveys available.
- www.freeonlinesurveys.com
-www.surveymonkey.com
My point is that its really simple to avoid the bill problem and not that expensive to increase sales. Changing your billing cycle to land more customers--seems like a no-brainer for me.
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2 comments:
Yes, online surveys are a great way of gathering feedback. They're fast and cheap and you don't have to spend time collecting a bunch of papers and doing data entry. Other solutions include:
VantagePoint
Zoomerang
Perseus
InstantSurvey
Was that a true story, or just something to set the stage? Did an accountant really want to bill clients daily?
Erik,
This is actually a true story. Unfortunately I found out that our accounting department had tried this earlier in our company's development and liked it. I could only wish that it was fictional.
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