|
MEETING MINUTES
Friday, February 27,
2009
Volume 16; Issue 8
Leads
51-22 (x2), 17-28, 17-13, 28-22, 52-13, 52-51, 56-10,
56-13, 56-15, 35-47, 15-46, 42-23, 12-29, 13-12, 46-41, 46-13,
07-26, 07-28, 07-05.
Board Elections
Board elections were held today. Dave Crissman
and Erin La Grassa will join the new board on March 6th. We would
like to thank Bob Busch for his 18 months of dedicated service on
the board.
Member Comments
Steve Chilton found a way to
increase business. He knew someone that filed Chapter
11. Steve bought all his contracts which included Taco Bell,
Olive Garden and other large franchises.
Don Ellis also suggested purchasing phone
numbers to increase business.
Steve Chilton also talked about his problems
with air bags and warranties. Be careful!
Featured Speaker - Charles
Hultstrand
Websites
A new version of Charles's golf website, designed by his son, is now
up - www.2centgolf.com.
He found it interesting to see how big of a deal it is to get first page
ranking. His site was designed for one purpose only, to rank.
To keep high ranking it also helps
if your page is interactive. Ranking is important
because others will want to advertise on it. They are using
keywords, RSS feeds along with other tools to maintain ranking. You are also
ranked by the time a visitor spends on your site. Google likes
new sites and ranks them high at first. But after the initial
posting, they say it can take a year to move your rank up again.
Several large companies are going from 5% to 50% online advertising
next year.
Charles decided not to post a website for his business. The
leads he has received from the internet is not the business he wants.
They never want to pay for service. Another reason he doesn't
have one is because it is difficult to explain what he does.
He is not certified in any specific area. He believes if he
does put up examples of what he does, it might limit him as people will
assume he doesn't do other things. He has very diversified
cases he is working on right now. He does a lot of appeals.
Personal Guaranties & Leases
Guaranties are closely tied into leases. Charles discussed
a case he had many years ago where he represented a supplier that
was owed money and had a guarantee signed by a couple that had since
sold their business. The guarantee was not conditional on them
still having an interest in company. He used this
illustration to show the many things to consider when signing
guarantees: statue of limitations, limited exposures,
community liability issues, guarantee expirations, successor
liability and how to cancel or rescind a guarantee. If you have been in business a long time but have no good record
of what guaranties you have out there it would be a good idea to
contact your vendors. Tell them you are doing an audit and need copy
of all guaranties for your files.
Banks are inflexible on their requirements. But with
others, ask for a guarantee expiration clause.
| 