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Collecting Your Receivables Is Not Personal Its Business
By: Dr Gary S Goodman
There is recurring line in the ?Godfather? movies that is a gem.
Whenever a family transgressor is about to be whacked, his old pal, turned executioner, says, ?It?s not personal; it?s business.?
I had to remind myself of this as one of my clients was having a cash crunch and couldn?t pay me on time.
Over a twenty-plus year consulting career, I?ve had a few slow-paying businesses on my books, but really, not very many given the overall number of contracts I?ve performed.
But now that I?m doing coaching for smaller enterprises, in addition to the larger company consulting assignments, I?m part of a more delicate ecosystem. When one of my customer?s customers doesn?t come through on time, it?s affecting me, something that never happened with Xerox or DuPont.
I had to catch myself, momentarily, before I lapsed into taking this personally. I was hearing myself think, ?Gee, this is flaky; I?ve never had to put up with this before!?
Then, I remembered the time a Fortune 500 company strung me out for 100 days without payment. Headquartered over two thousand miles from me, there was no way I could drop in and see anybody about the tardiness.
So, I contacted my Uncle Jack, a distinguished attorney in that city, and he made a call for me, to find out what was up, and when my check would be forthcoming.
?No problem!? they replied. ?We?ll get it out right away!?
I think they were a little shocked that I reached out that way for help.
Hey, there was nothing personal about it; only business!
Dr. Gary S. Goodman, President of Customersatisfaction.com, is a popular keynote speaker, management consultant, and seminar leader and the best-selling author of 12 books, including Reach Out & Sell Someone? and Monitoring, Measuring & Managing Customer Service, and the audio program, ?The Law of Large Numbers: How To Make Success Inevitable,? published by Nightingale-Conant. He is a frequent guest on radio and television, worldwide. A Ph.D. from USC's Annenberg School, a Loyola lawyer, and an MBA from the Peter F. Drucker School at Claremont Graduate University, Gary offers programs through UCLA Extension and numerous universities, trade associations, and other organizations in the United States and abroad. He holds the rank of Shodan, 1st Degree Black Belt in Kenpo Karate. He is headquartered in Glendale, California, and he can be reached at (818) 243-7338 or at: gary@customersatisfaction.com. |  |
