aikido instructors journal #3
DESCRIPTION
The official journal of Aikido Instructors Organization.TRANSCRIPT
AIO PackageAIO Package M A Y / J U N E 2 0 0 9 - a i k i d o i n t r u c t o r s . c o m
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Adult and child advertisements/posters
included for external marketing.
Evaluation Program detailed to increase
adult student retention.
Establishing a manageable children’s
program curriculum: Rotating vs.
Traditional Curriculums discussed.
Creative use of dojo promotional gifts to
increase retention, new sales and
student satisfaction.
Children’s Camp Curriculum described.
Dojo Times Newsletter for dojo
members!
Andy’s next email tip arrives in June!
And MUCH MORE!
A Sneak Peek at AIO
Consulting Package 3 Coming Soon!
Member teleconferences to meet &
discuss pertinent topics related to
running a dojo.
Y. Yamada, 8th dan, Shihan, Chief
Instructor of New York Aikikai &
Chairman of the Board of the United
States Aikido Federation, sits down with
AIO to discuss his experiences in Aikido
and business.
Michael Veltri, Chief Instructor & Owner
of Okinowa Aikikai, Washington D.C.
shares the story of how life’s path led
him from a successful business career to
creating a thriving dojo of over 200
students in downtown D.C.
An in-depth look at various software
programs available for Aikido dojos to
help save time and increase member-
ship.
Creating a children’s testing for-
mat that promotes success, reten-
tion & revenue!
And MUCH MORE!
Life is about setting goals. We strive to achieve these
goals; however, many times we are unsure of how to begin. Numerous dojo owners face the same challenge. The goals are clear: to increase student body, to keep more students, and to spread aikido. The question is “How do I reach these goals?” The transition from a concept to a system can be a long one if you do not have a clear plan. Advice you hear often from AIO is that continuing education is imperative towards achieving your goals. Many professions already mandate continuing education, such as physical therapists, account-ants and teachers. Continuing education, whether man-dated by law or done independently, allows individuals to gather new ideas that can help one reach personal and business goals. For a dojo owner, there are various sources for martial art business consulting, such as Aikido Instructors Organiza-tion. Through AIO, members learn different methods and strategies to implement in their dojos. To meet their goals, however, effort is still required. An idea is only successful if it completes the trip from a concept to a working system. So let me lay out a clear roadmap to help you achieve your goals, and to break the procrastination that keeps so many dojos from being prosperous and thriving. Step 1: Choose your system. The first place to start is by selecting one idea or system that strikes a nerve with you personally. It should be one that you support 100% and honestly believe you will complete. Step 2: Research your system. Whatever the idea is, you will need to gather as much information about the topic as possible. AIO has researched each of its systems and im-plemented them in an aikido dojo which, as an AIO mem-ber, will decrease your need to spend significant time on this step. By not having enough information to implement your system, even the best idea can fail. Step 3: Analyze the system. Now that you have the infor-mation you need, decide if you think any part of the system requires some customization for your dojo. Maybe you would like to implement a specific referral program, how-ever, the program is geared towards children and you offer adult only classes. You will need to customize the system to suit your adult oriented dojo during this step.
Step 4: Plan on how to implement the system. Write down clear steps that are simple and easy to follow. Give your-self a timeframe for completion and stick to it. Caution! This step is often where many great ideas stall and never get started again. Over analyzing a plan can lead you into analysis paralysis, as it is often easier to ana-lyze the plan than to implement it. Be honest with yourself and resist the excuses that accompany change. Remem-ber that any change can be difficult, but change can also be what separates a failing dojo from a successful one. Step 5: Communicate with your staff and volunteers. Whenever you make a change that affects your student body, clear and positive communication is critical. Keeping your staff and volunteers involved will assist you in imple-menting the system. Effective communication will also keep the students informed of the positive changes and eliminate any fears the students may have regarding the change. With that said, too much communication can sabotage the change before it happens. Some dojocho feel the need to poll the students for their opinion about every decision be-cause they are afraid of change. Unless the dojo is owned by its members, decisions should be made by the owner(s). Students may express their opinion, but, when it comes down to it, students want the head of their dojo to take the wheel when business changes need to be made. Step 6: Track the success of the system. Many business owners do not keep true statistics regarding implemented programs. Because of this, many dojocho inaccurately estimate their successes and failures. Tracking your pro-grams enables you to make adjustments to the program for maximum results. Some systems will work perfectly upon your first attempt; others will need little changes to increase the level of success. You may even wish, after analyzing your results, to scrap a system all together. Without keep-ing data, you will never know what system is helping you meet your goals. Making your ideas come to life is more than wishing it to happen. Success comes from taking the time to implement your ideas, and then allowing the ideas to evolve with the needs of your dojo. Stop procrastinating. Attack an idea, make it your own, and start implementing your next system today!
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Editorial
AI JournalAI Journal B Y A I O P R E S I D E N T , S K I P C H A P M A N
M A Y / J U N E 2 0 0 9 - a i k i d o i n t r u c t o r s . c o m
Improving your dojo one step at a time.
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Affiliated Acceptance Corporation Answers Your Questions.
Over the years, dojochos have asked us for our opinion regarding billing companies. Choosing
whether or not to use a billing company is a personal decision for each dojo owner. However, the
decision should be based on fact as opposed to misconception or rumor.
To shed some light on the topic, AIO went directly to Affiliated Acceptance Corporation, a well
known billing company in the martial arts community. The intent of this interview is to answer
your questions, alleviate your concerns, and to reveal the truth behind how a billing company
processes dues payments.
AIO would like to thank AAC for taking the time to answer our questions, and for providing infor-
mation on the inner workings of a billing company. The information provided in this article details
the process related directly to AAC’s billing protocol. Because billing companies vary with their
procedures, we encourage you to contact various billing companies, including AAC, to see which
company meets your needs. After reading this article, you will have the knowledge to efficiently
compare billing services and to make an educated decision for your dojo. We greatly appreciate
the assistance received by AAC and its exceptional service to create this informative article for
our AI Journal readers.
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AIO: Hello and welcome to another edition of AIO Live! I am your host, Andy
Politi, and today we have the long awaited and controversial topic the Aikido
community has been waiting for; outsourcing your billing: the Truth, the Myth,
Friend or Foe. Today we will shed light on this topic with our very special
guest from Affiliated Acceptance Corporation, Melissa Leeman. Melissa, wel-
come.
Melissa: Thank you.
AIO: Melissa, I understand you brought some guests with you. Would you like
to introduce them and tell me a little about their role in the company?
Melissa: Yes, I have Jeff Reynolds with me, who is from our IT department.
He oversees our software development. I also have Sabrina Reems with me,
who is in our sales department.
AIO: Welcome, Jeff and Sabrina.
Sabrina: Thank you.
Jeff: Thank you.
AIO: All right, Melissa, why don’t we start with you? I’d like you to give me a
little background about yourself, what you did prior to joining AAC, and what
you are doing now with AAC.
Melissa: I’ve been with AAC for eight and one-half years now. Before coming
to AAC, I managed a couple of tanning salons. Currently, I am the floor coor-
dinator. I oversee daily operations out on the floor and coordinate what’s go-
ing on with Jeff in the software department.
AIO: Great. Jeff, a little bit about you?
Jeff: I’ve been with Affiliated for 14 years. Before that, I ran a martial arts
school. I have always been involved in the IT industry and, because Affiliated
was moving into the martial arts market, I was able to come in and help them
with some of the software programming to make it more useful for dojos.
AIO: Well, that’s excellent and how lucky we are to have a martial artist with
us for this conversation, right?
Jeff: I thought it would be interesting.
AIO: (laughing) Yes. It brings a nice perspective to the table. Sabrina, a little
bit about your background for our readers.
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AIO: Excellent. Melissa, Sabrina, would you like
to chime in?
Melissa: He covered most of it right there.
AIO: (laughs)
Melissa: Basically, we do the dirty work. We col-
lect the money and we make sure they (the busi-
ness) is getting paid.
Sabrina: We also give the client more time to fo-
cus and grow their business while we take care
of their billing.
AIO: And that has certainly been an issue in the
Aikido community; the issue of not interrupting
the teaching on the mat with the professionalism
of running the dojo. It seems like the two some-
how always get in the way of each other.
Jeff: Well, one of the things that also comes up
is the worry that maybe we are not going to han-
dle the students with the same level of profes-
sionalism as the instructor would. We have cer-
tainly addressed that issue, and all of our staff
have been trained to be kind, but firm, and to
follow proper procedures. We can also alter our
behavior according to what the instructor needs,
or wants, to be done and how they want their
members to be handled.
AIO: I couldn’t agree with you more. Would it be
safe to say that, by adding an outside billing
company, you’ve added professionalism to the
dojo?
Jeff: I absolutely think that it did. It gave my wife
and myself time to work with those individuals
and not have to fight with them over past due
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Sabrina: I’ve been with Affiliated Acceptance for
three years. I started off in customer sales and cli-
ent services; now I’m in the sales department. Most
of my previous employment background has been in
the sales field.
AIO: Melissa, I’ll put the first question to you. When
was AAC founded and what, specifically, are the
services you provide?
Melissa: We are actually celebrating our 20th anni-
versary this year, so we’ve been in business since
1989. We cater to health clubs, martial arts schools
and tanning salons.
AIO: Any services above and beyond what you just
mentioned?
Melissa: We have software for the businesses, and
we also complete the collection efforts on billing for
their services. Outside of just those three indus-
tries, we also help with daycares, some car washes,
and just about any industry that would require a
monthly billing option. We are capable of handling
all types of businesses in need of billing services.
AIO: Great. And, Jeff, since you have experienced
both being on the martial arts school side of billing
as well as working for a billing company, what are
some of the benefits you see with using a billing
company?
Jeff: Well, having used AAC at my own dojo, I found
that separating the business part from the teaching
part was a big help. I found it very difficult to work
with students on a daily basis and then have to
chase them down to discuss money. Once I turned
that over to AAC, it relieved that burden and we
were able to focus on teaching, rather than all the
behind-the-scenes money and collections efforts.
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they want done and you are just following their lead.
Is that correct?
Jeff: That’s correct.
AIO: There’s always been the talk, when you out-
source something, that you lose control. It applies
to all aspects of business, in that people feel if
they’re not doing it in-house and they are letting
somebody else do it, they are losing control. Now, I
necessarily don’t agree with that, but I want to hear
it from your standpoint, about the control that you
maintain when outsourcing something.
Melissa: I think
that the way we
make sure that
the client stays
in control is that
we provide them
with reporting.
They are able to
see comments
made on every
customer’s ac-
count regarding
the conversa-
tions that they
have had with our reps. We send them emails
whenever we have phone conversations with their
customers, if there are any issues. The dojo stays
in full control. They tell us how, when and where to
handle their accounts. They set all the guidelines
for us to follow.
Jeff: The software that we have available lets them
see all of the things that Melissa is talking about: all
of the comments, every transaction, and every letter
that we send on their behalf. They are able to see
and respond to whatever is happening. We have
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payments. It really does help to just get yourself
in a different mindset.
AIO: Good. Melissa, anything to add? Sabrina?
Sabrina: I let the client know that they set the pa-
rameters. We just enforce the procedures that
they want followed. As far as interacting with
the customer, we are enforcing what they have
advised us on how to handle the account which
takes the load off them.
Jeff: And that can take a lot of burden off of the
instructors.
We can handle
the accounts if
they allow
freezes for
medical rea-
sons, if there is
a cancellation
due to a relo-
cation,
etc. Many
things occur
when manag-
ing an ac-
count. De-
pending upon what the instructor wants, we can
set up those procedures and follow through with
them, which keeps the instructor from having to
handle those specific calls.
AIO: Well, you both led me into my next ques-
tion. Some questions that the owners of dojos
in the Aikido community have asked are: Will
they lose control? Do they have any say in how
things are run regarding billing? It sounds like
what you both, Sabrina and Jeff, said is that the
dojos can actually set the parameters of what
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the facilities in place for them to send us a quick
note on a specific account, and to let us know any
additional information that will help us in collecting
that money. Moreover, they can let us know when
to back off, because there are definitely times in a
martial arts environment where it is better to save
the account and let somebody slide through. We
can do that too.
AIO: So, the dojo can make special circumstances if
they need to so that, although the majority of their
accounts are being handled one
way, they can have exceptions to
the rule. Am I hearing that right?
Melissa: Right.
AIO: Okay. I’m going to go out
on a limb here. Based on what
I’ve been hearing from the three
of you, and correct me if I’m
wrong but, it almost sounds like
they are going to have more con-
trol by outsourcing then by trying
to do it in-house. Am I stretching that a bit?
Melissa: Basically, what they are doing is hiring. We
have a staff of about 100 people right now. So they
are hiring a staff of 100 people to help run their busi-
ness and they are adding those people on for a very
low cost.
AIO: (laughing) A hundred people. Jeff, if you had
100 people to run your dojo, what would that have
done for your business?
Jeff: (laughs) Well, I wouldn’t be here. There is no
way you can even hire one person for the cost that
we’re talking about and have them do all of the bill-
ing on a regular scheduled basis following a set pro-
cedure that has been proven over twenty years.
It is hard if you have your own family working in
your dojo or if you are hiring students. Talk
about not having control! That is when you don’t
have control. So, yes, we feel like we do pro-
vide a really good service while keeping every-
body connected to what is going on with the ac-
counts. The dojo is definitely not going to lose
control.
AIO: So what we have at this point is that the
owner of the dojo, the chief in-
structor, can concentrate on
teaching his students and spread-
ing his art on the mat. He has, in
effect, hired a professional group
of people, in your case of about
100 staff members, that knows
how to do billing, allowing him to
spend more time on the mat.
Melissa: Correct.
AIO: Okay. We’ve got that point
now. That sounds all well and good, and here’s
a question we have been asked many times.
Some dojos are still in the growing mode and
they do not have many students. Is it expensive
to hire a billing company, even for smaller dojo,
and, typically, what are the charges? If you had
three students or ten students, does it make a
difference, or is it only when you hit a certain
number that you should go to an outside
source? Is there a critical mass number, or is it
open to any number of students?
Sabrina: We have found that it actually makes it
easier if the dojo starts with a low number of stu-
dents.
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“It felt uncomfortable
to ask the student for a
payment when I just wanted
to teach.”
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AIO: Really?
Melissa: Then they can grow their business and
have control of the billing from the begin-
ning. So as far as cost-wise goes, our EFT
drafts are 25 cents. If they can get a student to
give them a checking or savings account num-
ber for us to draft from for the payment, that is
only going to cost them a quarter a month.
AIO: So for 10 students, if they are all going to
sign up with you as the billing company, you
would typically only charge the dojo 25 cents per
student for all 10 students per student. For
$2.50 a month you will handle the billing?
Melissa: Correct. And that is the reoccurring cost
for them each month.
AIO: Does that include everything? Does it in-
clude any reports they might get?
Melissa: We have a $20 monthly service fee
which gives them access to our website. There
they can pull up all of kinds of reports, load con-
tracts, cancel customers, make changes to cus-
tomer accounts, etc.
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AIO: Is that an optional charge or is that part of the
contract?
Melissa: It’s part of the contract.
AIO: Okay. So now they can go onto your system,
load student information, edit it, and look at all the
reports. By reports, I assume, Jeff, from an IT
standpoint, reports meaning what you billed out,
who has paid, who is delinquent, and the length of
their delinquency.
Jeff: Absolutely. And then it goes even further than
that. You can access renewal and expiration re-
ports so that you can see the remaining term of the
student’s membership. Even more than just the im-
mediate financial information, we are giving the dojo
everything they need to follow their accounts receiv-
able. They can see projections needed if they are
trying to get financing. They can show their banker
what is going to happen in the next 6 months, 12
months, etc.
AIO: That’s excellent. So, if a dojo is looking to
grow or change the space that it is renting or buy a
space, your projections are coming directly from the
students’ dues payments, which can be given in fi-
nancial format to their banker to see if they qualify
for a loan. Is that correct?
Jeff: That is correct.
AIO: All right. Melissa, do you want to add any-
thing? Sabrina?
Sabrina: Only to say that we are full service which,
compared to some of the other services that are out
there, means that we follow up on the customers
that may have had a financial situation.
an online system to pull your reports, it sounds
more than reasonable; almost too good to be
true.
Melissa: Another offer that we have is that we
also report to the three major credit bureaus.
So, if they (the dojos) are signing up students
on term contracts, we are able to report to the
credit bureaus on those as well.
AIO: Oh, you are?
Melissa: Yes.
AIO: Okay, if you are reporting to the bureaus,
you are not acting just as a third party collec-
tion source. You are still acting as the upfront
creditor versus, let’s say, a collection agency,
correct?
Jeff: We offer full service collections and that is
something that is optional. It is a choice that the
client can make. The fact that we report to the
credit bureaus in the long term is going to allow
the dojo to have a revenue stream ten years
from now, whether they are teaching or not. The
students at some point are going to need to buy
a car or a house and that is when the money is
going to start flowing back into the dojo. Again,
that is something that is optional if the dojo
chooses to do that. It really can help balance
your business in the long term.
AIO: So again, the dojo here has the control.
Melissa: Correct.
AIO: That’s excellent. The more that I am hear-
ing from the three of you, the more it sounds like
the dojos control more than I thought they would
before we started this call. It sounds like that
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AIO: Excellent. I assume you have some competi-
tion in the industry. There are other billing compa-
nies that may be doing something similar. Is there a
large varying of price differences? Is everyone
around the same price? Do you really choose a
company on the level of customer service, or is the
pricing all over the place?
Melissa: I think the pricing is probably more all over
the place. Our pricing is based on how you run your
business.
Jeff: We really try to charge based on transactions.
You are picking how you want things done. That
means that there are certain things we are always
going to do on an account, such as sending out a
welcome letter. However, there are a lot of things
that the dojo can do to control costs. The fact that
we charge a flat rate and not a percentage of fees in
the martial arts industry is a huge thing.
AIO: I agree. If you have just five students and you
hear that, with the cost of 25 cents (per student) and
$20 at the end of the month, you will have your bill-
ing taken care of for you, as well as have access to
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they have all the say in the world with how this
program is going to work, especially with Affili-
ated Acceptance Corporation.
Melissa: That’s correct.
AIO: Sabrina, let me ask you something. You
are in the sales environment, is that correct?
Sabrina: Yes.
AIO: When you are out there talking to martial
art schools, what are some of the objections you
are hearing. What are some of the fears that
they have?
Sabrina: I would say the control issue is a con-
cern. They want to know exactly what we are
doing for them and what that includes. New
members who have never really interacted with
a professional billing company are hesitant to
fully turn everything over. Turning over their
customer’s contract, being unsure of what ex-
actly happens, and how these customers will be
taken care of are frequent concerns.
AIO: When you’re talking with them, some of the
ways you overcome some of these objections
would be . . .?
Sabrina: How they are the ones that actually
manage the account and that we just enforce it
for them. That they set up the parameters and
we follow through with them for the dojo.
AIO: Okay. Now let me ask you this; how diffi-
cult is it to get started or to enroll a student? Is it
a big process? Are there a lot of steps? Run us
through a little bit of what it takes to enroll some-
body.
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Melissa: Basically, what we do is send you a packet
of about four or five pages that require the dojo’s
authorization. Once we receive that package back,
along with one customer agreement, your account is
set up in our system and you are ready to go that
afternoon.
AIO: What do they need internally to get started?
Hardware, let’s say.
Melissa: There is no hardware required. They only
need access to the internet. If they do not have a
computer at the school, they can access the website
from their home.
AIO: Could you go through the process of signing
up a student? Is it cumbersome? Is it simple?
Melissa: When the member comes in to sign up,
the instructor signs him up on a month-to-month, 6
month, or 12 month agreement. That agreement
would then get loaded into our system. That same
day we would send all new customers welcome let-
ters letting them know who we are, and that their
account will be drafted for a specific dollar amount
on a certain day.
AIO: A letter of introduction so that there are no sur-
prises. You are proactive. You let them know
ahead of time who you are and what’s going to be
taking place.
Melissa: Exactly.
Jeff: The dojo owner can even customize the letter
so that they can promote any special event happen-
ing in the dojo. We try to not just send form letters.
AIO: So again, the dojo can customize and have
control on what you say in these letters.
current without harassing the customer. If the
dojo wants us to call them, we can do that as
well.
AIO: Are there additional charges to have the
customer called?
Melissa: No, there are not.
AIO: Okay, so you are very passive. You send
them a letter, and certainly 72 days is more than
enough of a grace period for payment. So after
72 days, do you automatically report to the dojo
that a payment has been missed? Is there a
special report that you generate automatically?
Melissa: We have an auto-generated email that
notifies them of the delinquency.
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Melissa: On the welcome letter, that’s correct.
AIO: I’m keeping track here. I’m up to number 19 of
things the dojo has control over! (laughing) Here’s a
question for you that is very important, both in com-
munity and in public relations. Does the dojo have
control when somebody goes delinquent? Are they
automatically put into collections? Can you tell me
what happens when somebody goes delinquent?
Melissa: We have three different phases. Phase 1 is
when a customer is 1 to 72 days late. What we do
is mail the customer a letter explaining that we have
set them up for a special draft to bring them current.
They are notified of this draft via mail. We try to not
make too many phone calls to them because we
prefer to give them a chance to bring the account
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AIO: Oh, you do? Okay. Now, let’s say you
have tried to collect the dues a few times. You
have sent letters and the person is not respond-
ing; you just cannot get them to pay. Are they
put into collections? Do you go back to the dojo
and ask them what they want to do?
Melissa: At that point, the customer is in Phase 2
and they will stay in that phase for 103 days.
During Phase 2, the customer receives more
letters and we begin making phone calls. After
Phase 2, when the account is over 104 days
past due, the customer receives more frequent
letters and calls. Sending a customer to collec-
tions is always an option for the dojo.
AIO: Okay.
Melissa: Again, the dojo has full control over how
their account is managed. If they do not want us
to handle delinquent accounts after they go 72
days past due, we can cancel them out of our
system and the dojo can handle them in-house.
AIO: Martial arts schools in general are very
concerned about their reputation in the commu-
nity; it is very important to them. I know you
cannot speak for other billing companies, but I
would ask, in general, what are some of the
steps that a billing company takes to ensure that
the dojo and its members are satisfied with their
billing experience?
Jeff: You are absolutely right that it is an issue.
You work very hard to build your reputation in a
community, and you do not want it to be ruined
by somebody who is harassing the students. By
the same token, it is our responsibility to collect
the dues. So we try to walk that line between
becoming overly pushy but firm enough to col-
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lect the money for the dojo. You talked a lot about
the owner having control and we work closely with
that owner to determine how he wants to set up his
membership billing, whether it is open ended with-
out terms or term memberships that renew as
terms. It is an important consideration. It is just a
matter of us working together with the dojos and
understanding their needs in the community.
AIO: That certainly is important and I echo your sen-
timents there. If you could, please clarify for our
readers the difference between a payment proces-
sor and a billing company.
Melissa: What we do differently is that we, as a bill-
ing company, are going to handle the back end of
the account for you. We are going to make the
phone calls and send out letters when a payment
does not go through. We are always attempting to
get that payment, even after it declines the first time.
AIO: And a payment processor?
Melissa: A payment processor only processes the
payment one time and then they are done with it.
AIO: They are done?
Melissa: That’s right.
AIO: Okay, so they are more of a mechanized ma-
chine, more of a mechanical thing. They just do one
thing and that is it?
Melissa: Exactly.
AIO: Okay. If you had to pick or describe the single
largest benefit of using a billing company versus
processing payments in-house, what would it be?
Melissa: The ability to focus on and grow
your business instead of having to worry
about the billing. We do that for you while
you focus on getting new members and
building relationships with your current mem-
bers.
Jeff: For me personally, it was the ability to
have a teacher-student relationship that
wasn’t being interrupted by finances. That
was about the last thing in the world that I
wanted to do as an instructor. We were a
small group and we were all very close. It
felt uncomfortable to ask the student for a
payment when I just wanted to teach.
AIO: Absolutely. Thank you. As we come
to a close of this segment of AIO Live, I want
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to give my very special thanks to Melissa, Jeff and
Sabrina, and most importantly to Affiliated Accep-
tance Corporation for helping us bring new infor-
mation to the Aikido Community. Thank you all.
AIO Live brings the news and business informa-
tion you want to hear to make you successful.
Yesterday’s a cancelled check. Tomorrow’s a
promise for a note. Today’s the only day we have,
so spend it wisely.
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Frequently Used Billing Terms
Term Billing: When a student enrolls for a length of time greater than a month-to-month member-
ship. Frequent terms for billing are 3, 6, and 12 months.
Open Billing: When a student enrolls for a membership that does not have a term. This type of
membership is typically a month-to-month membership.
Renewal Billing: When a student has completed their initial term membership, their billing goes into
renewal. The renewal billing can be month-to-month or term periods depending on the dojo’s dues
options.
Payment Options:
Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT) - Funds are directly debited from a checking or savings account.
Typically the least expensive way to process dues.
Credit Card - Dues are automatically charged to a specific credit card provided by the student.
Coupon Book/Statement - A student is mailed either a coupon book or a monthly bill to submit pay-
ment.
Freeze: Where a student has suspended their membership for a period of time.
Notice: A period of time required by the billing company to freeze or cancel an agreement.
Andy Politi - Sales Consultant: Andy has been training in Aikido since 1995 under Chapman Sensei and holds the rank of Sandan. Andy has specialized in business development and
sales training for the past 29 years in various indus-tries including banking,
finance, asset management,
biotech, pharmaceutical, and
martial arts. Andy attributes
his success to the support of
his loving wife and three
daughters.
Come visit our newly improved
website & learn more about what
AIO has to offer you & your dojo!
www.aikidoinstructors.com
Have Questions?
Contact us today and an AIO
representative will assist you
immediately!
Our mission is to help you every step of
the way towards achieving your goals.
Talk to Us!
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your input and feedback on topics re-
lated to Aikido, AIO, business, the
marital arts industry, or any other topics
that appear in this magazine.
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contact Aikido Instructors Journal 732-674-9753
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