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Design Element

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Cash Flow is a Pain Point

September 14, 2012

He’s back! This week Chuck addresses a common pain point for many members is cash flow. He discusses why this is becoming more of an issue with not only members but manufacturers and how to eliminate the problem as much…

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Avoid Paying Insurance for Individuals that have Never Been on Your Payroll

September 7, 2012

Q: We recently lost an unemployment insurance claim made by a 1099/independent contractor. This person has never been on our payroll. We had two appeals to the hearing and we still lost. Have other NSCA members experienced anything similar? A:…

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Company Cars Vs Mileage Reimbursement

August 24, 2012

Q: Do most of our members provide company- owned cars for sales people or do a mileage reimbursement? A: The last time we surveyed the membership about 72% paid mileage and 21% provided company owned vehicles. With sales managers it…

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How Much Financial Sharing Should Be Done?

August 10, 2012

Q: How much of the financial information should we share with our employees? A: Many have argued this point both ways at our management conferences. I personally believe you should share only the information they need to do their job,…

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Avoid Signing a Bad Contract with Responsibility and Procedures

July 28, 2012

Q: We’ve had problems recently with managing responsibility over contracts and discovered we have signed some bad contracts. How do most members set up a contract signing procedure? A: Great question and a major source of trouble with everyone lately….

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How to Handle Trip Charges for Service Calls

July 5, 2012

Q: I’m going back and forth with our customers and accounting department over trip charges for service calls. How do other NSCA members handle this? A: There are several common methods and practices used. Some work better in larger markets,…

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Difference Between a VAR and an Integrator

June 29, 2012

Q: What is the difference between a VAR and an Integrator. A: The closer we get to the IT world the more we hear the term VAR or Value Added Reseller. In my opinion that term was developed in order…

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Job Candidates and Simulated Work?

June 6, 2012

Q: We want to have our final job interview candidates do actual simulated job site and technical work for a couple days prior to making an offer. Can we do that? A: I just had a great conversation with a…

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Design Work for Owners and Engineers

May 24, 2012

Q: Does doing system design drawings to the specific system/product level put us at risk if there were ever any issue with the design? Have you ever seen a contractor provide any kind of disclaimer with their drawings? Should we…

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New Rates on Workers Comp

May 16, 2012

Q: Our local insurance broker said to brace yourself for the new rates on workers comp insurance. Is everyone seeing this? A: I did some investigating and apparently so. The experts we use said several things are occurring that have…

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Managing Receivables

May 4, 2012

Q: Our A/R is getting worse each day, yet we try harder than ever to manage this. What is the average collection time and what can we be doing differently? A: Receivables should be looked at in two parts. One…