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Do's and Don'ts
of
Debt Collection
Follow These Tips to Avoid Fines
By Alvin
Hattal
(Published in My Business magazine)
Do you lose your cool when you're
trying to collect money on past-due accounts? Be careful. You
can be sued for overly aggressive debt-collection attempts, even
if you've turned the duties over to a collection agency. More
and more businesses are being sued for violating debt-collection
statutes themselves, or because of the mistakes made by the debt
collectors they hire, commonly known as "vicarious liability."
Alan Reffkin, a former FTC senior trial attorney, says there are
more than two dozen dangerous traps for creditors and
collectors. Some are well known to business owners, many are
not.
What you can't do:
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Putting PR to Work
for YouBy
Alvin M. Hattal
© 2000
ChamberBiz
Many
small businesses that can't afford to advertise trace their success to
public relations. Yet it remains a mystery to
many otherwise savvy entre- preneurs how PR helps launch startups and nourish established ones. Many PR firms are small businesses themselves.
Public relations is a relatively inexpensive but cost-effective tool
that can influence what your customers, prospects, colleagues, employees
and others think of your company. Many affordable PR firms, including
one-person shops, have the expertise to assist you, and many
small-business owners find that PR delivers more bang for the buck than
advertising.
Tough Customers
…I’ve got a
little list—I’ve got a little list….
The
Mikado
Attention
fakers, fact gatherers, mental rehearsers:
they’d none of them be missed!
By Alvin M. Hattal
(Published in Selling Power magazine)
 You’ve
met them all, right? The glassy-eyed prospect who
pretends to be taking in every word you utter. The fact-gathering stone face
who takes copious notes. The criticizer who clearly enjoys poking holes in
your pitch and the mental rehearses who plan their remarks while you’re
speaking? They’d none of them be missed!
Unfortunately,
they never entirely go away.
So
how do you handle them? How do you break through the barriers—barriers your
prospects are often unaware of—and get to a substantive discussion of the
excellent, organized reasons why they need what you’re selling?
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Alzheimer’s group aims efforts at baby boomers
By Alvin Hattal
(Published in PR Week)
As more
than 70 million baby boomers get ready for
retirement, the Alzheimer’s
Association is targeting the group with
a $20 million campaign to raise funds and awareness.
Over the past two decades, the growing senior market has called
increasing attention in the past two decades to one of the world’s most
dreaded diseases. And with more than 70 million baby boomers nearing
retirement, the Alzheimer’s Association is responding dramatically. In
February the 24-year-old organization launched their aggressive drive to change the way
people think about the disease and to raise the funds needed to educate
potential donors.
The Global Obesity Epidemic
Virtually every
country has or will have a weight problem
By Alvin M. Hattal
(Published in Trend Letter)
Until recently, obesity was considered to be a
somewhat benign condition that often went untreated. Today it’s becoming a
worldwide epidemic, recognized as a major cause of premature death and
spurring the development of expensive, new treatments. It affects more
children than any other disease, experts say. In the US alone, where
overweight children are said to be a time bomb of medical and social ills,
the cost is $100-billion annually.
The New Rules of Advocacy
Have elections become too important to leave to the candidates?
By Alvin M. Hattal
(Published in Trend Letter)
Traditional methods of influencing policy makers and voters have given way
to a new, vastly different brand of advocacy. Beyond employing the usual
tools of advertising, marketing and public relations, interest groups of
every stripe have invented a raft of innovative ways to get their views
across to consumers, lawmakers and the media. Their techniques range from
traditional, no-nonsense approaches to more ingenious ones, but all are
carefully crafted to reach precisely the right audiences with the most
persuasive messages.
Running With the Video-Game Talent
By Alvin Hattal
(Published in ChamberBiz)
 The increasing sophistica-tion of video games and the growing demand for artists, designers
and programmers to create them opened the door for Paul Cunningham. A former
parts buyer Hughes Electronics, he started a recruiting company in El
Segundo, Calif., in 1993 to find that talent. But Interact has turned into a
much more complex enterprise as it has boomed along with the video-game
industry.
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Preventing workplace violence
Recognize the signs before it happens
By Alvin M. Hattal
(Published in My Business magazine/e-zine)
It’s not only in the post
office. Workplace violence involving employees erupts every day throughout the
business world, according to the National Institute of Safety & Health, which
reports that:
· The most dangerous place to be in America is in the workplace.
· Workplace homicide is the fastest-growing category of murder in
the U.S.
· Homicide is the leading cause of workplace death for women, and
the second leading cause for men.
· There are more than one million victims of workplace violence
every year.
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