by John Graden,
published:
syndicated: 2 | total views: 319 |
word count: 602
laesbarhedsindex readability score: Average Readability
on the net: www.johngraden.com
UNITED STATES, Dec 06 — To illustrate, let’s use 10 percent in total fees as an easy number on the high end for tuition billing. If you could collect $10,000 without using the billing company, but the billing company could collect the same $10,000, no more or less, you might think you have a $1,000 spread. The truth is there are many expenses involved in DIY (Do It Yourself) billing. During dinner, he regaled us with stories of his days as a stand-up comedian
T
o illustrate, let’s use 10 percent in total fees as an easy number on the high end for tuition billing. If you could collect $10,000 without using the billing company, but the billing company could collect the same $10,000, no more or less, you might think you have a $1,000 spread. The truth is there are many expenses involved in DIY (Do It Yourself) billing. Your own time, energy, and hard expenses associated with playing bill collector quickly eat up that $1,000 spread. Here are just some of the hard and soft expenses DIY will cost you:
The software to track students (including annual upgrades).
The mailing expenses for late notices.
The time to run cards, send out late notices, call late students, audit payment histories, and so on ($50,000 annual wage = $24 per hour. Double that if you are earning $100,000 per year).
The loss of standing with your students when you wear one hat of the wise instructor and another hat of the bill collector.
The loss of students. A good billing company will help you retain students by providing improved customer service and by having a stronger contractual relationship with the student.
The reduction in actual collections because students are not as concerned about stiffing you versus a large billing company.
The reduction in actual collections because you are a green belt at collections, while the billing company is a veteran black belt at getting students to pay. What does all of this add up to? It varies with the school, of course, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it were pretty close to that 10 percent mark. I give stress a high expense value. The real costs are in numbers three to five from the list above. Playing accountant is not what you are good at, nor is it how you make your money. You will always make more by managing others than doing things yourself. A teacher nurtures, guides, and counsels students.
A bill collector harasses people for money. These two roles do not mesh well. Your image as the nurturing, caring teacher can be ruined in an instant with one phone call or letter from you about missing money. Finally, you may be a good black belt, but you are not as scary as a financial institution when it comes to deciding whom to pay. This is why big stores have their credit cards handled by outside firms. A good billing company will always collect more than you.
They can be tougher than you, and it keeps you positioned in your community as a teacher, not a bill collector. Even with the martial arts teachers’ Association tuition at just $24.95 a month, I use a billing company to handle it. I am a teacher by nature, and that is where I want my efforts expended. I focus on writing, editing, content creation, program development, marketing, and member retention. I enjoy all of those tasks. I do not enjoy bill collecting. You don’t hire a billing company to match your efforts. You hire them to exceed your efforts.
This also allows you to focus on your core strength and responsibility as a school owner, which is creating and keeping students. I presented the famed "Mr. Miyagi," Pat Morita, with an honorary black belt. He has a lot of respect for the martial arts. During dinner, he regaled us with stories of his days as a stand-up comedian. He called himself "The Hip Nip."
Communicate directly with John Graden, the author of this article. Ask questions, send suggestions, comments, engage in conversation, or perhaps you would like to submit a project.
Click Here to ask a question, send a comment, or proposal.
As a Certified Professional Organizer® one of the services I offer is coaching new professional organizers to help them start their business and guide them to success. Here are eight business strategies that can help any independent contrac
Take a look around and you will see a lackluster economy in many countries around the world. While some of this does have to do with financial crisis, much more has to do with poor management.
Leading scientists in the US have put together a bionic eye which runs on light, it has been widely reported.
The brand new device which has been developed by a team at Stanford University in California, works with the use of specially designe
All over Sydney people are moving about- moving in and moving out of houses, apartments, offices and other buildings. This has caused many furniture removals companies to flourish in Sydney, so residents have no trouble at all when it comes to findin
A number of leading rubber manufacturers from all over the world will be descending on a key conference next month to give their views on the industry.
The World Rubber Summit 2012, which is going to take place at the Raffles City Conv
Business correspondence is being defined as a way of communication through the exchange of letters. These are the letters written or received by two or more parties which may come in the form of letters, emails, text messages, voicemails, notes or po
This article looks at how to go about creating a business plan that has direction and can lead to success. It lists the eight simple steps for creating a plan. These include a business name, a vision, a mission statement, objectives and goals, SWOT,
A startup business requires careful planning. If you are thinking to start a business the very first step, which you have to accomplish is to develop a business plan that will lead your business towards success. A business plan requires careful and a
If you are a business do you know all about this? Surely it will help to grow your business successfully. Many people want to start small business. But they don’t have right information. Because of incomplete knowledge they fell in business. They req
Financial projections are one of the most important sections in a business plan that requires careful planning. It is necessary that the assumptions you have made in financial statements should be realistic, otherwise, your potential investors and le
When I opened my school, I presented the exact curriculum that I was raised on. Among the many problems that created for me was that I had a lot more kids in my school than my instructors did. Martial arts forms, hyungs, or kata were designed b
In the 1980s, Educational Funding Company (EFC) was the first to have success creating systems to support an agreement-based school. Our industry owes a debt of gratitude to Nick Cokinos and his ability to teach, motivate, and inspire some of the mos
I had lunch recently with a fourth dan in Uechi Ryu. We talked about how the Eastern mind-set is so different from the Western, and the confusion that creates for many instructors. Culturally, the East is more about conformity, or as I call it, cloni
If you can keep a steady flow of new students coming in, an ideal situation is high cash outs and high monthly billing. This is being accomplished by some schools that take a somewhat unconventional approach to their cash out and upgrade strategies.
Larry Dokes’s EasyPay billing company pioneered the electronic funds transfer (EFT) in the early 1990s. Larry was an early mentor of mine and has helped me a great deal. Based in Belton, Texas, EasyPay specializes in smaller schools in smaller
Syndication
tweet
PDF version
Printable version
Publisher HTML version
Discussions (0)
Email Article
Post New Comment