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Newsletter Production
Making Sure They Can Pay
You’ve gotten a call from a potential customer for your
newsletter production services. You’ve won their business with your great
examples of past jobs, your price can’t be beat, and they are ready to get
rolling on their first issue. Before you spend any time on this new job,
it is essential that you protect yourself. Since you will only be able to
bill a client after the job is completed and delivered, you will be
risking not only your time, but money that you spend to print and complete
the job. If this new customer does not pay, you will be unable to recoup
those costs.
You may consider running a credit check on new clients. In
general, you will need to gather the following information:
|
Complete name of the business
or person. |
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Current address and phone
number(s). |
|
Social security numbers. |
|
Names of contact in the
business. |
|
Bank name and account numbers. |
|
Names and phone numbers of
other creditors. |
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Names and phone numbers of
references, including suppliers, former employers, and customers. |
|
Name and contact information of
nearest relative not living with the client. |
This information will be needed in order for you to run a
proper credit check, available through a credit reporting agency. Be sure to
notify your customer that you will be running a credit check before you send
the information in for processing. If you do not decide to run a credit
check, this information is still important in case you need to later collect
on an outstanding debt.
If you decide to deny a person credit, be sure to
familiarize yourself with the Fair Credit Reporting Act and other state
laws. You must comply with some requirements, such as informing the person
you are rejecting of the name and contact information of the credit
reporting agency you used.
It is more common today for new customers to be asked for
this information when opening an account or establishing a new business
relationship with a company. If you are uncomfortable running a credit check
on a new client, you may consider asking for some or all of the payment up
front. This can be labeled a retainer or set-up charge.
In order to get your business relationship off to a good
start, be sure to discuss your payment policies with your client and give
them a written description of your procedures. You can include the amount
you are charging (an hourly rate or a set rate), when you bill, when payment
is due, your late payment policy, and the amount of interest you charge on
overdue accounts.
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