Monday, August 13, 2007

ast May I wrote a ecolumn titled, Is the Copywriter's Keyboard Mightier Than the Dentist's Drill?. I shared with you how a dentist, for whom I'd written a two-page ad, hadn't paid up after the project was submitted. He still owed over $1,574.72 (plus taxes) above and beyond the $1,000 deposit he sent at the beginning.

I promised I'd fill you in on how I got the money. Sorry, it's taken me so long.

What Was Far More Tempting...

It was far more tempting to just say,"Ah, forget about it. If he wants to rip me off, fine. I'll just never work with him again."

Yeah, that'll show him.

Sounds somewhat noble doesn't it?

Lazy and cowardly, really.

What About Turning the Other Cheek?

It's good to turn the other cheek, but it's not good to let people turn your cheek into a doormat. I mean... I wouldn't break into his clinic and steal the money back. But at the same time, I wasn't going to let him get away with it so easily.

Anyway, if you use some creativity and brain power, it doesn't necessarily require a lot of work to get paid up (in most cases). I mean if he only owed $150, I probably wouldn’t have bothered.

It took me about five minutes of work to get paid up, I think that's a fair wage. I don't know about you, but I'm not making $1,500 every five minutes. That would work out to $18,000 per hour—more than THREE times what Jay Abraham charges.

So What Did I Do?

I sent my tardy client a greeting card.

Nothing harsh or offensive (that only makes people your enemy).

No, instead I sent him a GET WELL card.

Why? Because he must be sick! What other reason would explain why he hasn't paid his invoice, doesn’t return my calls, doesn't reply to my emails, doesn't acknowledge my faxes?

So I sent him the card using Send Out Cards Easily. I didn't finely polish the prose or take out the grammar dictionary. Such efforts would have made me look needy for the money.

Anyway, I think this is a situation where quantity would outnumber quality.

Sadly, He Sent the Cheque For the Full Amount Immediately After Receiving the Card

I say sadly, because I had a fax all ready to send him, also. This fax followup was a little more strong. In fact, this fax was something he would NOT have wanted his staff to see. I hinted at it in the greeting card. He must have took my hint.

In the end, I think he's an honest guy. Who knows? Maybe he just got caught up in drilling and filling that he forgot all about my billing?

Want to See the Contents of the Card?

Anyway, if you'd like the see the card, just click here. I hope you'll never have to use the idea, but in case the situation arises.

P.S. By the way, here's a copy of the two-page Yellow Pages ad I created for him...

P.P.S. If you're interested in writing Yellow Pages ads for small businesses (the above two pages brought me over $2,500 total) you can contact Shaune Clarke. For a crash course in Yellow Pages advertising, check out the Yellow Pages Profit site.

P.P.P.S. REMEMBER: Simply leave your full name and postal mailing address and I'll send you an actual copy of the card (yes, on real cardstock), in a envelope (not an email), at no charge. Click here now and it'll be in your physical mailbox via your country's respected postal service in the next few days.