Checks are Resilient, Trusted
Business Week included the article "Checks Check Out" in its May 10 issue, and the story insinuated the use of checks is declining. (A link to the article appeared in DMIA's E-Weekly newsletter on May 7.) But according to the Federal Reserve's 2002 Retail Payments Research Project, checks remain the most popular form of non-cash payment in the United States. Checks are 65 percent more likely to be used than all other types of electronic payments combined, the research showed.
In February 1966, a Wall Street Journal headline read "Check Writing Seen as Being Reduced Sharply in Foreseeable Future." More than 40 years later, the majority of Americans (68 percent) still pay their bills every month by writing checks and mailing them, according to a new survey by KRC Research. This is true despite our having newer, technology-based payment options available. The media's prediction was wrong in 1966, and it's wrong today.
The real story isn't the decline of the check. It is the check's resilience and its ability to remain a steadfast and trusted financial tool for consumers.
Wade Delk
Executive Director
Check Payment Systems Association
Washington, D.C.
Editor's note: This following two letters respond to a posting on DMIA's members-only broadcast email system. The posting was from a distributor who helped a prospect solve a problem, but the prospect took the solution to its current vendor. The distributor sought advice about drafting a possible "commitment" document end users could sign before hearing about potential solutions.
Explain Your Company's Importance
If your client wasn't the president or CEO, pull out your stationery and a next-day FedEx envelope. Address both to the president/CEO and write a letter with the following content: 1) Introduce yourself as a person/organization responsible for a specific dollar amount in savings that his organization is enjoying and will enjoy during the next several years. 2) Explain that you offered the solution to increase your bottom line as well, which didn't happen. 3) Ask the person if he values the concept of win/win. 4) Ask why it took someone outside of the company's current supplier base to bring in such valuable information. 5) Explain that the company has a choice: Run off valuable people such as you to keep less valuable people in place, or move boldly into the future, unafraid to explore new relationships and the rewards that come with them.
If you get a reply, ask for a meeting. Explain your fear that any chance of doing business with the company would be sabotaged by the person who now knows you have made this contact. If you're lucky, you may get all of the business in the account, and your former contact will be given a cease-and-desist order from your new friend. If you aren't lucky, you'll be where you are already.
I hate this kind of spineless crap. I did what I'm telling you many years ago, and I got the results I've described. It was a rental company, and I actually formed a friendship with the original perpetrator after a year of cold-shoulder treatment. I enjoyed many years of profitable business before a nationwide rental firm purchased the client.
Robb Tipton
Owner
Star Business Products
Kemah, Texas
Confidentiality Statement Helps
We've used a statement on purchase agreements, quotes and renderings to new clients/buyers. We usually call attention to the statement and explain that if the company would like to use our ideas with another vendor, we would be happy to bill for "work to date" and sign a "release" for the work performed. Here's the statement:
Strict confidentiality shall be maintained at all times between [DISTRIBUTOR] and [CLIENT]. Any knowledge, information or data pertaining to this document and/or its attachments, including information exchanged between the parties relating to our client/supplier relations shall, at all times and for all purposes, be strictly confidential. Such confidential information shall not be disclosed directly or indirectly by either party or any employee, company or entity with whom either party is associated without prior written consent of disclosing party. This confidentiality provision shall be in full force and effect at all times during the existence of any business relationship between the parties hereto.
Lee Ryden
President
RBF Business Graphics
Escondido, Calif.
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