Sue for money using the internet

BBC NEWS | Business | Sue for money using the internet

This is absolutely fascinating, and I must admit that it is the first time that I had heard about this.

The website: www.moneyclaim.gov.uk is a government website that provides and online alternative

About 100,000 people this year are likely to take advantage of an online government service to sue those who owe them money.

It is called Money Claim Online, which started in 2002 and is an internet version of the small claims court.

The chances of success when using it seem high.

Only 20% of claims are defended, which means they end up being heard by a judge in a county court.

Most of the rest are undefended - so the claimant gets a court order automatically in his favour - or the defendant admits he owes the money and offers to pay by instalments or in full.

A few claims collapse because the claimant just gives up, perhaps if the defendant appears to have disappeared or gone bust.

The system is run by a government department called HM Courts Services which administers the court system in England and Wales.

Also from the BBC News website:

How does it work?

The online process is fairly straightforward. Click on the Money Claim Online web site and follow the menu of instructions.

It should all take about 15 minutes.

You can sue for any amount below £100,000 but you must have an address in England or Wales (or a service address here if you live abroad) and be online with an e-mail address.

Likewise, the people you are suing must also live in England or Wales.

Once you have registered and written up your claim you submit it and pay a fee by credit or debit card.

At this stage you do not have to prove your claim with evidence, you just have to state it with concise details.

It is important to note that the online service will not tell you if you have a valid claim. For that you will need to ask a solicitor or a Citizens Advice Bureau.

But you must be telling the truth, otherwise you could be prosecuted for contempt of court.

A bulk processing centre in Northampton then sends out the documentation to the defendants in the name of Northampton County Court, telling them you are demanding the money.

What happens next?

The defendant has 14 days in which to respond to the documents once they are served, which is itself reckoned to be 5 days after they were posted.

If he simply ignores the claim then you can use the online system to request judgement by default and even ask the court to enforce your claim immediately by sending round the bailiffs.

Alternative responses from the defendant are

* paying in full
* admitting he owes all the money but fails to offer payment
* asks for time to pay
* admits he owes some money but not all of it
* or denies the claim altogether, perhaps lodging a counter-claim.

In some of these cases the online system effectively comes to a halt and you will then have to write back to Northampton, using some forms, asking for the court to make a decision.

That might be to decide on an offer of delayed or staged payments with which you are unhappy.

And if you are met with a full defence of your claim, or do not want to accept a partial offer, then it will be transferred to a county court for a conventional hearing before a judge.

If you are suing a person, that will be at his or her county court; if you are suing a business, it will be heard at your local county court.

So if you want to get your money out of people...this seems like a viable option and one, it seems, that has a high rate of success.

See the full version of this article: click here.

Go to the Money Claim Online website: click here

Lessons on how to loose customers – by Audi

One of the reasons I like these blogs so much is that you can write about day-to-day stuff that happens to you, which is often much more appropriate and interesting. No need for formal, business like English (God spare us!).

So, in a non-formal way – let me tell you about Audi, and how they are great at loosing customers. It is not because of the product. It is because of the staff they employ.
I am in the market for a new car – an Audi A4 infact. It was a car that I know little about, and it was recommended to me by someone.

So, I look at the website and to be honest, get a little confused with all the stuff they put on there. Why they have to have some many complicated bizarre jargon names I will never know…

…so what do I do? I call my local dealer to find out the answers. I end up speaking to a guy called Matt. Bizarrely, I suppose, but I always like talking to people with the same name as me…but not this guy. He cut me off half way through me asking what he thought were “basic” questions. I might be miss judging him, but wait to you hear the rest.

I call him back. It takes 5 minutes to put me through. I wonder why, had allsorts of theories – but I was, at least, willing to give him the benefit-of-the-doubt.

I arrange with him a test drive for Monday at 3pm. This is on the Friday afternoon. I give him my contact details, and ask him to call if there are any problems

Monday arrives.

Half way through the day, I realise that I have forgotten my driving license. D’oh! So, I go home to get it which causes some minor disruption for the day. Granted, this is not “Matt’s” fault – it is mine, but for “Matt’s” sake, the test drive needs to go well as I am not in the best frame of my given my stupidity.

I get there at 3 as promised. Again, it takes Matt 5 minutes to come out to me. He greets me by saying “Matt, I have had a problem getting you a car to test drive”.

Awesome!

My immediate response – “You have tried for two days, and no where can you get me a car to test drive?”

“No”

“Yet you had my number, why didn’t you call?”

“I did. But your phone was engaged or not being answered or something…” This is where I switch off, and start to loose it.

He is lying to me. I know it straight away - prospects and customers always do.

My mobile always goes to answer phone, and even if he did call (I had no proof whatsoever of this – but let’s give the benefit of the doubt again) – he could have called again…

Given that he is not sure of what actually happened when he called either – all the evidence is stacked against him. He obviously didn’t want to talk to me by the way he kept looking around – so I left.

As I walked out of that door – my decision on whether or not to buy an Audi had been finalised. The answer was no.

Funnily enough, I saw a friend in the car park and immediately related my story to him.

So what can we learn from this?

1. Always show interest and enthusiasm to the customer, regardless of how small you think their order is…you never know who they will tell.
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2. Get their number immediately – so if you get cut off, call them back immediately.
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3. If you make an appointment, stick to it and don’t show up late.
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4. If there is a problem – call.
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5. Be honest, and stop lying, customers see right through it!
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6. If you treat a customer badly – the first thing they will do is tell a bunch of people how badly you have treated them!

So, what happened then? I thought right, blow this – I will stop by the local BMW place across the road.

What a difference. I walked in, and was pleasantly greeted. Immediately, they sat me down whilst they found a person to talk to me, and whilst I was waiting got me a drink of nice fresh orange (not Asda’s cheap stuff).

He shook my hand, looked me in the eye and was interested in what I had to say. Within 20 minutes, I understood all the options that I needed to know about and was driving a model just like the one I was thinking of buying.

They had taken my contact details, and when I got back to my office – I had an email waiting from them.

Such a different experience.

What about Lexus? They were the same as BMW – only better. They lend you a car for a while, “take as long as you need with it” they say.

My advice – forget Audi – get a BMW or Lexus – from a customer service point of few – you will be glad you did.

Oh, and make sure that you give your prospects and customers a reason to say good things about you to other people rather than negative – you don’t know how much business that one person will bring you!

Should Local Business Have a Website?

OK – so the internet is great for Amazon and eBay – a million products, a million customers. Great!

It is brilliant for a company like mine – we a not restricted by borders and can operate internationally (we have done work for companies in New Zealand, the US, Germany as well as the UK). A website a great way to communicate to these customers.

But what about a local service. A plumber? An electrician? A piano tuner? Is it worth setting up a website for such a service? After all – who will see it?

Too many people make the mistake of thinking that a local service business just isn't suitable for online business... and that's a crying shame! Because an online service business can be very lucrative -- as long as you recognize a few key factors and implement a few important strategies.

Most people, given the chance, will look at your website before calling you to get a “feel” of you. A poor website will be worse the no website as it will “turn-off” your visitors.

So there are challenges to taking a service business online, so we will show you how to overcome those challenges -- and even turn them to your advantage on the Internet! Plus, we'll also show you how you can turn his skills, knowledge, and expertise into products that can be sold to a global online audience.

Step 1: Get your website right!

A few simple tips:

• Your web site should have an attractive and clean layout with your business name prominently displayed
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• Use images that clearly indicate what type of services your business is providing.
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• An important factor is to put your contact information, including a contact number, clearly on each page especially the home page.
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• Create a sense of urgency with your contact information (eg. My appointment books fills up fast...)

Writing the text for your website:

• Your headline: Almost any web site can benefit from a compelling headline that instantly informs visitors of the biggest benefit of your product or service and attracts enough interest to draw readers further into your site.
  
  You cannot fill your homepage with a simple welcome message, and expect it to do your selling for you.
  
  What you need is a carefully constructed headline that introduces a problem your visitors face, and positions your service as the solution to that problem.
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• Your text: It is good to have well written copywritting on your home page because, generally speaking, it's the first contact you'll have with the vast majority of your customers.
  
  When you sell a service, you ARE the product, whether you are an Estate Agent... Mechanic... Accountant... Housekeeper... or Piano Tuner.
  
  When you're selling a service, you are typically selling a relationship with yourself. And this requires that you spend more time and effort establishing your credibility and developing a rapport with your visitors than is typically required on a site selling a physical product.
  
  Establishing your credibility is critical to closing the sale. Not only do you need to establish the benefits of the services you are offering, you need to establish the value of YOU providing this service.
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• Your credibility as an expert: You can establish your credibility in a couple of different ways.
  
  One way is to simply provide your credentials. Explain what makes you an expert in your field by providing information about your experience.
  
  Another excellent method of establishing credibility is to include customer testimonials. When you are trying to establish trust, you will need to back up your claims. And the most effective way to do this is by showing that other people -- people just like your web site's visitors -- have benefited from your services.
  
  This means that you're going to have to approach some of your customers and ask them to write some testimonials for you. That's right -- just ask! And don't be shy about it. You will find, more often than not, that people will be flattered that you value their opinion.
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• Your opt-in offer: No matter what sort of business you have, collecting visitors' names and e-mail addresses should be one of your top priorities. Only a very small percentage of your visitors will purchase your service the first time they visit your site, so it's extremely important that you capture your visitors' contact information before they leave. Then you can follow up with them by e-mail.

Step 2: Promote your site

What we've been discussing above work equally well for both product and service-based business models, but the local aspect of your business does create some unique challenges -- especially when it comes to attracting qualified traffic to your web site.

Now remember – most people, if they get the chance, will look at your website before calling – so, if you have a great site – promote it, as this will persuade more people to contact you.

So – put your website on every advert you do. In the Yellow pages?

Put your domain under your company name.Put it on your business card and fliers .Even put it on the side of your van and on your workwear. Remember though to keep you domain simple and memorable.

What about the search engines? Are they worth a look? Absolutely! Google Adwords will even let you display your ad based on location – so you can advertise your services to a specific county.

Clever – very clever!

And it means that you get your targeted traffic. Of course, after reading the next section – you might not want to limit yourself to counties, but go national or even global!

Step 3: Go national or even global

By providing a local service, you are also essentially limiting your target market to people who you can physically visit. Because of this, you should always consider ways to convert your service into a product (or products) that can be sold globally over the Internet.

To take full advantage of the global nature of the Internet, you could also launch a second web site to sell information products related to your skills and experience that can be sold and delivered electronically.

“What??” you cry! “You truly are nuts!”

Well – that might be true – but read on a little bit first.

The key to creating information products that will sell online is to do some research to find out exactly what people are searching for on the Internet – and then create your eBook based on that research.

One of the best things about running an online business is that you are able to find out exactly what people are searching for on the Internet using free and low-cost tools that are available to anyone who wants to use them.

One of the most powerful of these tools, which we use are Lutroo, is called Wordtracker.

Wordtracker is an essential tool for finding niche online markets. With Wordtracker, you can determine which words or phrases people are using to search for information on the 'Net. The key is to find terms that many people are searching on, but very few other web sites are using -- which means fewer competitors for you.

Wordtracker do a free trial – so click the link and have a play – alternatively – give us ring as we can do the research for you if you would prefer.

So – for a plumber – people are keen to know how to stop the dripping tap and other simple tasks. Why not create a book that shows simply how to do this?

eBooks are downloadable, so your customers will receive their purchase immediately, and the profit margins are excellent because once you've spent the time creating it, there are no printing or postage costs that eat into your profits.

eBooks are easy to create using software like eBook Pro, which uses "point-and-click" wizards that walk you step-by-step through the entire process so you can build and start selling your first eBook in just minutes. (Again – you can click the link to read about eBook pro for yourself, or we can produce your eBook for you – just contact us for more information).

Of course, you could take it one step further – and sell the tools and parts that you mention in your eBook on line. This will require a bit more effort as you will have to keep some stock and ship the products when ordered (to get around this – you could use a fulfilment house to send your products).

Is this all starting to sound a little scary? Write a book? Sell products? “I am just a humble plumber” you say. It might not be “worth the effort”. Then again – it might be! It is not as difficult as you think to set up – it just takes a little time to write the book – and you can write it, or at least the basics of it and have a copywriter do the rest.

You obviously have talents and experience – why not sell that information to the world as well as your local customers?A new trend is web video – so if you can’t write a book, have somebody video what you are doing and sell access to those.

In Summary

A local business should definitely have a website – but make sure it is a good one and follows the simple principles outlined above. It will add credibility to what you do and get you your extra customers.Of course – you can also dare to think outside the box and offer your experience to a global market.

Want to know more?? Why not drop me an email!

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Toilets and Self Service: two genius ideas that keep us coming back.

I have been travelling a bit recently, more than usual, so I hadn’t really spent the quality time with my kids that I would have liked. So, as I like to do – I take them out somewhere, usually one on one. You know – Dad and son bonding time.

So when I got back from my travels, I asked Josh (my eldest) if he wanted to come out to eat with me – he could pick the restaurant and eat whatever he liked.

I like doing this with him – we go to some unusual places. Last year, he wanted a Chicken Kebab and to eat it in the car overlooking the park. That was great. But more recently – he picks Pizza Hut.

This has now happened two times in a row – which surprises me a little because he is not really a big fan of pizza. Sure, he’ll eat it – but he likes other stuff better.

I am intrigued by this. I want to know why my 4 year old is now a devoted customer of Pizza Hut.

The reasons are simple I think:

1. They give him a “kids pack” when he comes in. This pack usually contains a few crayons, a small booklet with colouring in to do and a few puzzles.
2. The toilets. Now this sounds strange, but Pizza Hut is the only place that I have found that does this – they put a urinal on the wall that Josh can use, on his own and “be like Dad”. This is important to a four year old. He wants to be grown up and is always upset when he can use a urinal.
3. The sink. Like the unrinal – there is a sink for Dad and a sink, that is exactly the same (this is important) only a lower so Josh can use it himself. The same with the hand dryer.
4. The Ice Cream. Josh can add his own sweets to the ice cream. This simple act gives him a great feeling of being grown up and, of course, it is a special treat.

I don’t know how much Pizza Hut thought of these things. I imagine quite a lot. The food is not that great. It has no real nutritional value, but what they have done well is my children feel important, so now they want to come back time and time again.

You can imagine the meetings. All the sales guys are sitting around the table. The President and Vice President are there: “How do we increase sales?” is the question from the top man. One guys shouts, “Increase prime time TV advertising”, another “feature ads in all of the newspapers”. Still another – “All you can eat buffets” (these are great of course!.

One guy though, puts his hand up. The president looks at him, “Well, sonny, speak up!”. The room goes quite. They all look at this guy now. He starts to speak. “Well sir, I think you just lower one of the urinals by 6 inches.”

Genius!

Sometimes the answer to increasing our sales is not looking at the obvious, but thinking outside the box. Pizza Hut have done this well. They get me to buy Pizza because they made my Kids feel great. I go there not for the food, but because I know that we will have a great time whilst we are there.

How a tv aerial repair company taught me some great business lessons - Part II

(This is carrying on from my previous post - so if you haven't read that - you might want to.)

So, Paul - the engineer - called me to let me know he was on his way.

When he arrived - he was very polite - listened to the problem and told me about some clever tests that he could do to find the problem. He then also confirmed with me the price for doing the test – the same price that the lady on the phone mentioned.

A simple point here – but make sure that there is uniformity of message coming from you company – especially where prices are concerned. I have been in the situation where two people in my company gave two different prices for the same thing – it can make you look foolish and puts you in embarrassing situations that is for sure. It also confuses the customers – which, I am told, is bad, very bad!

So, as suspected, it is the aerial that is knackered. Nuts! We have to get on the roof to inspect the extent of the problem.

The problem with my house though is that it is four stories high. Still, the engineer bless him took his ladder off and put it against the house. It was a 40ft ladder and it got no where near the top.

So we looked at climbing through the sky light in my roof. This was quickly turned into a no-no given the state of the roof (covered in green moss – which is very slippery) and the current Health and Safety regulations.

What I appreciated about this engineer was that he tried different ways. He tried the ladder, just on the chance that it would work. He tried the Velux Window too.

This is a key point because most people come and just say “can’t do it mate”. Because I had seen this guy try – I knew he couldn’t do it, and I understood why. It took more effort on his part – but for me he built on the great reputation of the company – he made the effort to show me something that we probably both knew, but I felt better about it rather than annoyed.

So we talked about the possible solutions to my problem. It seemed that the only way to get to my roof was scaffolding – which has two problems: time and cost.

So we talked about putting an aerial inside my loft. This had its own problems – but his comment to me, “I’ll make it work!” Great – just what I want to hear.

He built the aerial in my roof, spent a while finding the best position and fixes it in.

You know what – I now have a better picture. He even put an extension into my bedroom at no extra charge.

Sure - I could have got this aerial cheaper, but frankly, I am willing to pay more money for something when I feel this well looked after.

Everybody from the lady on the phone to the engineer impressed me. The engineer was even great with my 4 year old boy who wanted to climb the ladder and see what he was doing.

So – here I am, telling you to use this company – but more than that – learn from it.

I have! Already, I have put a new system in place for the service department in another company that I run. Guess what – we call them two times to confirm the arrival of the engineer as well as the prices involved. It meant that we had to completely change the way that we record things in our database – but it was worth it.

Guess what – already, we have had comments about this improvement – clients feel like they know what is going on.

The engineers now know that where possible – they should just try it, and make sure that the client sees them trying it rather than telling them that it can’t be done. This little extra effort and time doesn’t really cost that much more – but it sure works!

When you have a great experience with a company – sit down and think why you enjoyed it. There may be some lessons for you in it!

How a tv aerial repair company taught me some great business lessons

For the last two weeks - I have been getting poor reception on my TV. The aerial had busted. Like most "little" jobs it took me a while to calling a company.

And call a company I did, and what an experience that we had with them. My wife even commented that the experience was good -- and if she is impressed, then take note!

So what did they do that in reality meant that they could charge me 40% more than any other company and I was happy to pay it?

They got me to call them. Now this is not as easy as it first seems. There were hundreds of ads in the yellow pages - so why did I choose their company to call first?

1. Their ad did stand out.
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2. Their ad was easy to read - by which I mean you understood what they did instantly without having to read a lot of text. The lesson - whether it is an ad, letter or website - make sure that it is easy to scan and get an instant gist of what you are about.
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3. The ad was specific. You will be surprised out of all the ads that I saw, only one of two of them told me that they did ariel repairs. I am sure many more of the businesses did - but you know what, I simply could not be bothered to call them and find out. I wanted to sort this out quickly because I had already done nothing for two weeks.
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   So the lesson here - tell you customers what you do quickly and concisely so they don't have to guess.
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4. They had the all important free phone number. For me - this is still a big thing, I noticed the free phone number. And in that instant I am still foolish enough to think that it will not cost me anything to call them. So I call. (As an aside here - I hate calling mobile numbers! Why advertise them - just divert the number to your mobile if you need to, more people will call! Rant over!)
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   Lesson - make it cheap and easy for your potential customers to contact you.
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5. They advertised that you can pay by credit or debit card. In this day and age - this is important. I rarely carry cash and I never know where the cheque book is as it has been a while since I used it.
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   The lesson - make it easy for customers to pay you. Forget about your needs for now - make it easy for you customer to give you money.
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6. They put "Same day service where possible" on the ad! What? Are you kidding me? Nobody offers same day service, and I mean nobody! Now - when I called, it was 6 in the evening and I knew nobody would come out that day - but what what this told me was that they were serious about getting to me quickly to solve my problem.
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   The lesson here - get to your customers quickly before someone else does!
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So - they got my attention. Here I am - a highly motivated buyer. I have scanned the ads and they have quickly told me that they can solve my problem and it will not cost me anything to call.

So I call.

What happens then? They stop me calling someone else! How? Simple:

1. Politeness! The lady that answered the phone was polite. I was instantly re-assured by this lady. I obviously wasn't calling a one man band where someone's child or wife answers the phone with "hello". No - I had a nice polite greeting where lady starts off the call with the name of the company, her name and asks how she can help.
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   The lesson - make a good first impression - answer the phone clearly and with enthusiasm.
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2. After explaining my problem - she apologised that she could not get anyone to me today! What? Are you still kidding me! They are sorry that they cannot get to me today because it is early evening. "But..." the lady goes on to tell me, "I will have someone there tomorrow, it will be late morning - is that OK?" Is that OK? Of course it is OK! You mean I don't have to wait until Tuesday or Wednesday - someone will come to my house on a Saturday morning, within 18 hours of me calling - heck yeah that is OK!
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   The lesson - impress people with how quickly you can get to them!
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3. She explained the pricing structure. Some people don't like to talk about money and almost hide their pricing to the last minute. They didn't - she told me on the phone. And after she had told me how much, she would ask - is that OK? Of course, I can only answer yes - but to be honest, I am still impressed that they are coming tomorrow. There are no hidden surprises when the engineer comes. I know how much to pay.
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   The lesson - don't be afraid to give customers a simple pricing structure early in the dealings -- it means it won't be a shock later.
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4. She told me what would happen next: that in the morning I would get a phone call from the company confirming the appointment and then the later that morning the engineer will call me when he is on his way to my house. I, of course, politely replied OK - but did not believe a word she was saying - no one ever calls before they come. I was wrong.

So I put the phone down - I have had a really great experience with this company so far. So much so that I do not feel the need to call another company or "shop around". Perhaps this is a cardinal sin - but frankly, I don't care. These people are very helpful and quick, and I know how much I will have to pay.

The following morning - sure enough - the company called at 9.00am, just like I was told they would. What do you think this does to my impression of them? I am almost looking forward to this company coming now. I am not dreading it or wondering what kind of person will turn up. I am more than confident that this is the right company and that I have done the right thing in asking them to come to my home.

And this is important - help your customers as much as possible to believe that they have made the right decision in choosing you. Constantly affirm to them that you are concerned about their problem and want to solve it.

And again - a few hours later, I get the phone call from the engineer, "Mr. Edmundson -- this is Paul from Action Aerials, I am on my way to your house and will be there in 10 minutes, is that OK?" At this point you can pick me up off the floor. What the lady on the phone told me has come to pass - he did call.

You know what has happened now - I trust this company, before he has even got to me - I trust them. Why - because they have done what they said that they would do. A simple thing such as this will make or break your business. If your business is struggling, check how many times you don't deliver what you said you would - and my experience is, on average - quite a lot!

The secret I think to getting great referrals is to offer a great experience to your customer. To do that - you have to do what you say you will do. It is that simple.

So - in my next post - I will let you know what happened when the engineer came.

And in case you need to have your ariel fixed - you can call them on 0800 318 196. They might not do your area, but always worth a call.

Web site design - how in the halibut* do we create a great web site?

Owning a web site design company here in the UK as I do -- and being involved in design websites, many of them, as I have -- there is one question that I am constantly asked by clients and non-clients alike.

Believe it or not - it is not "can I have this website designed for free"...which is a surprise - but not a reason for you to contact me and ask for a free web site.

In fact the question is much more basic than that. It is more along of the lines of "where do I start with my website?"

My reply is oftent the same -- forget everything that you have seen or know about websites for a minute and answer me this question: What is it you want your website to do? In other words - what is the reason your web site exists? Is it to get leads? Sell a product online? Promote your company? Service existing customers?

I know you might need to know what can be done with your website before answering this question - but before we get to that - what do you think your website should do?

Answer this question and you are well on your way to having a great website.

I will add more about this topic as we go on - but if you really want to know more - I have put together a little eBook for you that you can get off our website - simply register with us and you can download it for free from the members section! Definately worth a look...


(*The "how in the halibut" quote is taken from the kids movie - Shark Tale!)

Stop Me - I am already promoting blogs to customers!

Ok - there are a number of reasons that I started this blog. I would like to say that firstly it was to help you, dear reader, in your business endeavours - but I would be lying.

It was to see how the blog would affect my rankings and traffic over a period of time. I am trying it with the Lutroo site as well as a few others that I own.

Of course, there is benefits to you - I will give you something worth reading (I hope!).

But, having the primary reason I started this blog in mind - I find myself in a meeting today convincing my customer that the best thing he can do for his website is to start a blog - just like I am doing.

I am so sure that this will be more than just a good thing to do - I am actually convinced that it is a great thing to do...

...so here is my first piece of advice, untested though it is -- start your own company blog. I will keep you posted on how mine is doing.

Set your blog up at blogger.com. It is easy and quick to do. You could host your blog on your website - I have set one up on the Lutroo site (www.lutroo.com) but this is more for testing than anything else at this stage. I can't help by feel that Blogger (owned by Google) is a great place to do your first blog given that Google is the biggest search engine to be listed on.