The Transcription People - Digital Dictation & Transcription Blog » australia

Why Would You Sack A Client?

Annalisa — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 10:43:20 +0000

This week I had the unenviable task of firing one of my clients. The decision to let this client go was not an easy one, it really goes against the grain of any business, after all we are here to attract clients not to get rid of them. But there are times when you have to make hard decisions which are in the best interest for your business and this week was one of them.

Let me give you a little bit of background. We provide a business to business service, our clients provide us with audio which we transcribe into text and give back to them in the form of a text document. When we sign up a new client, each receives and is required to sign, our terms of service agreement. This does exactly what it says on the box, it defines our terms of service, this is how we work and this is how our business functions. By signing, the client agrees to stick to our terms. Important for every business is cash flow and because of that we have, clearly defined in our terms of service, 7 day terms on our invoices. Why so short? Well remember we are supplying a service, a service which requires real people who are paid a real wage. We don’t ship something from a distributor who we have 30 days plus to pay for goods we have on-sold, we have real people who are paid weekly. Our staff work extremely hard, transcription is a skilled profession. My business works hard to create accurate documents in a very short time frame. Typically if you send us audio, say a 45 minute interview, we will have that audio transcribed and proofread and back to you within 24 hours. We require payment for a fast service within 7 days of invoice, after all, the service being paid for is supplied within 24 hours.

This is where sometimes problems can arise and arise they did with the client who has sadly departed. We tend to have long ongoing relationships with all of our clients and because of that we see patterns of behaviour for all clients. Some clients habitually pay late, a gentle nudge from our Rottweiler of an accounts person and payment appears the next day. But very occasionally a client slips with their payments and no matter how much barking from the accounts lady nothing happens. In fact a sign we have noticed is that clients become agitated, “why are you ringing again”, “I told you it will be paid tomorrow” are typical responses and of course tomorrow comes and goes with no payment. “We will have to take our business elsewhere” was the final comment made by this client, there have to be times when you have to agree and allow the client to do just that, their overdue accounts can then be somebody elses problem. It is at this point that your client will realise just how good your service is and regret that move.

In our terms of service we indicate that overdue accounts will result in the delay in transcription. We have to, unpaid bills are a risk to our business and our cashflow. We are not ogres, we know what it is like to run a business and we are flexible. If a client picks up the phone and says that 7 day terms are not viable but 21 days are, we are happy to amend the terms as long as payment does appear when agreed. In the “client that shall not be named case”, we became flexible and extended the terms. Then suddenly a payment for only one of the two vastly overdue invoices came in promptly followed by some audio files to be transcribed. This puts us in a predicament, the client has paid some of the overdue amount, should we go ahead and transcribe the audio they have just sent? This is where alot of businesses, in my opinion make the fatal mistake. A part payment is made, continue work for the client – you have to stick to your procedures in cases like this, money is still owed, money is still overdue, as per the terms of service agreed, to them work will stop until due payment is made. We implemented this rule for the particular client and did not process the incoming work. The second invoice still remains unpaid and overdue.

It may seem harsh, it may seem hard to do, but in any business you cannot carry clients who use your service but fail to pay their bills in the allotted time agreed to when the business partnership was made. I cannot stress enough the importance of a good terms of service agreement, our agreement won us a court case which I will talk about in a future blog post.

We asked Alycia Edgar ( @alyciaedgar ) from Coastal Accounting Services what her views were on this topic and in particular this blog post, here is what she had to say:

Great post Annalisa, I would add below (basically a summary of above with some extras):

Keys ways to ensure your service of agreement are being adhered to:

Actually have a terms of service agreement that is presented to all new clients and signed accordingly
Make sure the client has a copy of the terms of service agreement for their reference.
Ensure your terms of service clearly state that services will be ceased when accounts are overdue
Ensure your invoices clearly state your terms of payment
Ensure your statements follow these terms be being issued in the same time frame. For example, with 7 day terms, statements for (non-payers) should be issued every 7 days, unless there is an extended arrangement
If you have enough room on your invoice, you could have a summarised version (of the main points) of your terms of service as a further reminder
You could have your entire terms of service listed on the back of the invoice – lots of big companies do this
Make sure the statement refers to your terms of service as well
Accounts staff when following up by email or phone should refer to the terms of service as well
Stick to your guns, your business is just as important as your clients
Regular payers who suddenly become bad payers and quite agitated about the matter possibly have other underlying issues occurring in their business of which you are not aware, frankly you’d probably rather not know – it can’t be good. Walk away! In fact don’t walk run! Sure you may be left with bad debt but it’s best to stop at that debt than incur more and more.

Getting a Taste of Live-Tweeting at Media140 for Foodies

Annalisa — Mon, 31 May 2010 00:20:09 +0000

Those readers who follow me closely know I love all things social media, so when I was given the opportunity to live-tweet at the Media140 for Foodies event I didn’t think twice. My fingers were poised, ready to send tweets via my trusty iPhone, @dictates wouldn’t hand over his iPad !

Media140 was founded by Ande Gregson in February last year as a way of bringing people together at events and conferences all over the world to “explore the future of the real-time web”. Twitter icon Mahei Foliaki ( @iconic88 ) and his partner The Internet Chef Bridget Davis ( @Bridget_CooKs ) decided to extend the idea further by holding a media140 event for Sydney’s passionate foodie crowd and Johanna Baker-Dowdell ( @JohannaBD ) and I were invited to guest tweet throughout the event.

Johanna and I travelled down to Electrolux at Mascot for the evening thinking we were going to be tweeting, eating, drinking wine and mingling with other guests, but when we arrived we discovered we were actually part of the set!

Johanna was to blog throughout Media140 for Foodies for The Internet Chef website and also the Media140 website. That meant the tweeting was up to me – and I’d never live-tweeted before. Well, I’ve tweeted interesting comments at events like Flying Solo and ConnectNow before, but this was different. I WAS the tweeter this time and everyone was watching my Twitter feed to see what was happening at the event. No pressure!

The food Bridget and her team cooked was sumptuous and matched perfectly with wines from Robert Oatley Vineyards. It was great to hear from food bloggers, writers and chefs about how they use social media.

I’m not a huge foodie like some of the people at the event, although I have sent the odd food tweet out when I’m eating somewhere and I want others to share the experience. I usually follow every step of a recipe and don’t stray from the guidelines in case it all goes wrong, but by going to Media140 for Foodies, I was motivated to explore eating and cooking new foods – and then how to tweet about them.

Even though events turned out unexpectedly, I had a great time (and was even a bit cheeky when they forgot to bring Johanna and I food while we were blogging/tweeting. Sadly we missed out on the gorgeous bread Mei’s team from @brasseriebread were cooking while the event unfolded) and ended up ranking as fifth in tweets about the night.

It was an amazing opportunity for me to meet Julie Posetti ( @julie_posetti ) who was the editorial director for Media140 for Foodies and the first Media140 event in Sydney last November. I also got to see @carmR in action helping out Bridget and meet @bradatslice who coordinated the whole event.

Here are a few of my tweets from the night to give you a taste of what happened:

Just arrived #media140 smells gooooood (@ Electrolux Demonstration Centre w/ @johannabd)

Doing the media thang at #media140 with @JohannaBD

I’m in the corner waving from my mac @PushCreatives \0/ #media140

Assuming my “tweeting” position, in the corner, watching the crowd at #media140, the culinary aroma is overwhelming #foodies #yummy

Would love to sample some of this fine food – @JohannaBD and I official blogger and tweeter in the corner – feel free to bring us some!!!!

Around 10pm I have the program, bring us food and we’ll show you RT @_ToniTones_: Does anyone know what time #media140 finishes tonight?

Kicking off the evening with intro by @julieposetti introducing @Bridget_Cooks #foodie #media140 salmon entree to die for!! more please!

Defining her cooking style @Bridget_Cooks, lots of seafood, organic & fresh produce, simple, sustainable #urbanfoodmarket #foodies #media140

Passion is to share food experiences @Bridget_Cooks – @iconic88 big influence (but of course) #media140 #foodies

Social media works really well due to @Bridget_Cooks experience with large community #newzealand #foodies #media140

Next up warm roast chicken sandwich @brasseriebread @Bridget_Cooks #foodies #media140 – ohh I can smell it from here (the corner)!!!

Wild Oats Sauvignon Blanc – that’s what we’re drinking at #media140 #foodies gorgeous drop – in the corner if you’d like to bring me one

OMG bring back the chicken! Amazing turning the simple chicken sandwich into a culinary delight #media140 #foodies #meltinginmymouth

Next up @Julie_possetti introducing panel @blues_junkie @notquitenigella @gosstronomy and then audience Q&A #media140 @foodies

How seriously are people taking restaurants tweeting? Its not about broadcasting ads its about relationships #media140 (via @CatrionaPollard)

No words describe the sensation @Bridget_Cooks #media140 #foodies duck confit pie red wine reduction

#media140 mainstream media isn’t doing enough to tackle issues about food re palm oil @elegsufficiency #media140 #foodies

@elegsufficiency trusts food reviews over food bloggers and people posting their opinions on Twitter and Foursquare #media140 #foodies

Ooh coming out is miniature wagyu buyers with onion jam and piquant cheddar #media140 @Bridget_Cooks I’d marry you !!!! #foodies

Real time web has positive implications in getting people through the door! #media140 #foodies uses social media to monitor, measure & gauge

Check out Johanna’s guest blog for Bridget’s website The Internet Chef: http://www.theinternetchef.biz/2010/05/the-internet-chef-stars-at-media140-for-foodies/

And her live-blogs for Media140: http://media140.org/?p=2896

Add Some Colour To Your Life – Become Your Own Boss!

Annalisa — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 12:35:30 +0000

The corporate world can be a bit grey at times – you travel to work on the same route, sit at the same desk every day, complete the same tasks, go to meeting after meeting… After 15 years of this grey existence I wanted to add some colour to my work life.

While working in the very corporate world of American Express, I started my own virtual office business, AMC Professional Office Services, from my dining room table in 1999 with my husband. It was a side business at first, but became much more when I was made redundant. I wanted the opportunity to work from home while I was pregnant with my son, so this seemed like the ideal opportunity for me. Initially AMC offered office services such as typing, resumes and PowerPoint presentations and just grew from there.

I have since had a daughter, and found working from home around two children met my dual aims in work and life. I am stimulated through work and building a business, while at the same time being a great mum. The flexibility of being my own boss means I can drop the kids off at school/day care and pick them up, attend their special events and take time off when they need me.

Like many successful business people I realised I couldn’t be everything to everyone – nor did I want to be – so I created my own niche. AMC’s strongest point was our transcription work, so I decided to concentrate on what we did well and be the best in the marketplace. This made great business sense because we had built up a good network of online typists and a strong client base, so it wasn’t hard at all to do away with all the little things that really were never quoted on.

We decided to rebrand AMC Professional Office Services to The Transcription People and we became a company on July 1, 2007. Now we concentrate on providing high-quality outsourced transcription services from our Australian base to clients throughout the world. The calibre of our clients is growing constantly and our client list includes Ernst & Young, Sony BMG, Tikitiboo, Canon Australia, IBM Australia, Wesley Mission, Macquarie University, KPMG and Sydney Water.

The business has become more than just fulfilling my goal to be a successful businesswoman. As interest in my business grew, I started contracting other work-at-home-mums (WAHM) as typists and proofreaders to cope with the increasing workload. We have now just taken on some on-site typists from our local area to help out with transcription.

Not only am I building a business for myself, but I am helping other female entrepreneurs grow too. It’s the ideal job for a WAHM because they can choose how much work to take on every day, based on how everything is running at home.

This year we took the plunge and moved The Transcription People from our home to office space in a growing business district and haven’t looked back. While it was great to be able to combine home and work, it’s better to be able to switch off, close the office door and go home at the end of the day. Our office space also gives us the room to expand that our home office didn’t, and this is becoming more relevant every day as our staff needs grow.

Running my own business means I now have a great work/life balance and I can guarantee no day is ever the same, like it was when I worked for someone else. This opportunity has shown me what I am capable of and added much more colour to my life – especially bright pink, in our logo and office feature wall!

For more information regarding our transcription service, please visit The Transcription People – Australia