Let your customers tell you what quality is.

Make sure that efforts to improve quality are driven by customer needs. You don’t improve quality unless you improve a product in a way that customers welcome and appreciate. Before you undertake a quality improvement effort, always ask yourself whether your customers will see it as a benefit to them.

Improve collections with a well-designed invoice.

A few key tips:  Keep the invoice clean and simple and test it on someone who’s not familiar with the business. Make sure the form is titled with the word “invoice.” Use a special typeface for critical information such as the outstanding balance and the item purchased. Use action words such as “please pay” instead of “amount due.” The invoice should have an area where the customer’s purchase order number can be indicated. Including a self-addressed return envelope will …