Industry Links and Small Business Resources
Collections Resources
We mention several times on this site that we are not a collection agency. In fact, our reason for existence as an entity (our mission if you will) is to prevent accounts receivable from becoming bad debt to begin with. However we’ve learned over the last 20 years of working with small business that most will require the services of a collection agency eventually. We tried, unsuccessfully for years to outsource our agency work. For a multitude of reasons which we discuss throughout this website and on our blog it just never worked out. Finally, back at the end of 1997, we gave in and opened an agency of our own. We of course strive to take care of our customers in the ways we felt the agencies we tried to outsource to would not. So, if you have bad debt and you need an agency, check us out here Asset Recovery Group.
Click here if you want to actually read the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act FDCPA (PDF)
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Sales & Marketing Resources
Want to catapult your sales by 30% or more? I met Steve Clark of New School Selling a few years back through Roy Williams of the Wizard Academy, a great resource for marketing information. He’s more tightly affiliated now with Marketing Guru Dan Kennedy, another must know about resource for marketing. If you’re trying to grow your business you need to know about all three of them.
Here is a bit about Steve from his website …….. In 1996, Steve was making $53,000 per year as a salesperson and he had over $40,000 of credit card debt. Taking out a second mortgage on his house and borrowing $10,000 from his Mother, he set out into the world of sales and marketing consulting with zero clients, zero income, a wife and two daughters aged 10 and 13.
…………In his first 12 months in business Steve increased his yearly income to over $110,000. That was more than double what he had previously made in any of his sixteen years in sales. Using strategies, tactics and techniques that he was developing and implementing, the following year he doubled his income again to over $220,000…..and in his 3rd year in business he increased his income again to over $353,000. That’s a 700% increase in income in 3 years
For more of Steve click here New School Selling
Here is something from the Wizard Academy Website
“The faculty of Wizard Academy studies what gifted people do when they’re feeling inspired so we can reverse engineer their unconscious methods. We teach you how to do consciously what a gifted person does unconsciously.”
Ok, I know that sounds a little heady, but trust me they’re worth checking out if you’re trying to talk to your customers.
And last but certainly not least, in my opinion if you’re trying to grow and you haven’t checked out Dan Kennedy.com and the many, many marketing resources they make available to small business, you are really missing the boat. Here is a snippet from their website……..
…………………. “Glazer-Kennedy Insider’s Circle (GKIC) is a membership-based company with a comprehensive array of products, resources, and services designed to market and grow small businesses. The company’s extensive success solutions encompass five key topic areas: marketing, copywriting, sales, information marketing, and wealth creation.”
Other Resources
Here are some other links we found and thought you might find useful.
IOMA. Business Intelligence at Work…. “For over 20 years, IOMA has been an independent source of exclusive business information for experienced senior and middle management professionals.”
Inc.com – Small Business Information for the Entrepreneur …….”Find the Right Solutions and Become a Smarter Midsize Business.”
US Small Business Administration …….”SBA Direct gives you information and services based on your unique business needs.”
SCORE ………”Find a mentor online, or call Score for answers to business questions.”
Businessweek.com …….. there’s too much here to even start listing the resources they have available
Entrepreneur.com ……. blogs and resources galore!