If you are in the credit repair business, you may have at one time or another expressed interest in purchasing credit repair leads.

Credit repair leads can be provided in many different ways. Such as referrals, a toll-free number allowing for people to contact you that may need your assistance, and a web site for people to visit to familiarize themselves with your company and educate themselves about credit repair and the services you can provide them with.

Along these lines of leads, you may have considered purchasing credit repair leads from an internet company.

This isn’t such a bad idea if you are looking for an alternative lead source for credit repair.

The benefits . . .

The benefit of purchasing credit repair leads from an internet company is that the person that needs the credit repair came to a site and found an on line form to fill out specifically to acquire credit repair from a credit repair company.

The customer already understands that they will be contacted from somebody in the credit repair industry and they are waiting for a phone call.

Graphic designers frequently play a prominent role in launching or repositioning a company. When they create a look (or new look) for a company’s stationery, brochure, ads and web site, this often goes by the name of an “identity package.” Don’t let this convenient term mislead you into believing that a company’s identity consists of merely the logo and look. No, every company has an identity or image in the minds of its customers comprised of at least nine other factors besides the graphic look.

How your market perceives your company should be deliberate, calculated and coherent rather than accidental and confused. Think about how you’d like your company to be perceived along these dimensions. Then investigate whether or not actual perceptions match your intent – and adjust your marketing to reinforce the qualities you want your customers to associate with you.

Components of Company Identity

1. Values. Do you stand for stability, like Prudential insurance? Innovation, like 3M? Educational curiosity, like the Discovery Channel? Social consciousness, like Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream? Child-friendliness, like McDonald’s? Rugged individualism, like Marlboro cigarettes? Personal freedom, like Harley-Davidson motorcycles? Serendipity and tradition, like the local hardware store whose owner knows where everything is and has parts and tools dating back to the previous century?

2. Personality. If the company were a vegetable, which one would it be? If it were a cartoon character, would it be Bugs Bunny, Wonder Woman, Road Runner or Dick Tracy? If it were someone in a high school yearbook, would it be Most Likely to Succeed, the Homecoming Queen, the Nerd or the Class Clown? From the company’s personality can flow ad campaigns, kinds of special events to sponsor, company colors and typefaces, corporate gift selection, even the talent chosen to record company voice mail messages.

3. Behavior. Your company’s image includes not only how you promote yourselves but also how you act toward customers and the public. Things like how you answer the phone, how you greet shoppers, how cheerfully you correct mistakes or accept returns, how aggressively you negotiate contracts all become bound up in one composite image.

4. Price. How much you cost in comparison to competitors often becomes part of your image. If you’re tempted to keep price out of the equation until someone expresses a desire to buy, think twice. When you’re candid about pricing, you cut down on the number of “tire-kickers” you need to deal with. Above all, make sure your pricing fits with the other components of your image.

5. Range. Customers should understand the spectrum of products and services that you sell. If you handle only, say, commercial cleaning accounts and not residential, or only, say, bookings of locally based and not nationally prominent speakers, make sure your specialty becomes part of your company image. If it’s not part of your company name or company slogan, include your focus in your ads, brochures, sales letters and other promotional pieces.

In the November 2005 issue of Inc. magazine, Norm Brodsky wrote: “Your company’s name plays little, if any, role in determining your success.”

I agree completely that a company with a bad or mediocre name can reach success. However, here are 10 reasons why coming up with a snappy, interesting and memorable name is worth the business owner’s or organization’s time and energy.

1. When you call or speak with strangers and mention the name of your company, and the name in and of itself provokes delighted recognition, this can get the business relationship off on a positive footing.

2. A distinctive name can attract the kind of customers you want and keep away those you don’t want. For instance, if you can’t stand dealing with those who have no sense of humor, a punny name repels such folks. Au contraire, if you want people to know you’re serious and weighty, a shrewdly chosen traditional name can impress people accordingly.

3. Cool company names can in and of themselves generate media coverage, either because there’s something newsworthy in the name or because many journalists are more attracted to highlight companies with fun names than boring ones. Case in point: Rent-a-Wreck.

4. A distinctive name increases repeat business because it helps previous customers remember it when looking at a list of possibles in the Yellow Pages or elsewhere. For instance, House Husband would jump out of a list of competitors like A-1 Handyman, Acme Home Repair, etc.

After years of hard work, you’d like a vacation. Maybe even that snorkeling trip to Cozumel you’ve been promising yourself since the day you went into business. But you can’t. And business isn’t the vacation it once was either.

You put in all that hard work to get your business off the ground, but it hasn’t gotten easier, especially when it comes to finding new customers. And you aren’t getting any closer to dipping your toes in the ocean than you ever were.

The good news, however, is the trip is still possible. And so is a business that runs like a dream. You just need to stop spending so much time chasing business and let it come to you instead.

The solution is to create marketing systems that work over and over again to fill the pipeline with prospects and convert more of them to customers. And don’t forget the most important part – to get better at managing your existing customers. They’re the solid gold of your business.