FREEMAN-SPICER FINANCIAL SERVICES

Finance • Leasing • Accounting • Premium

316 South Eddy Street  South Bend, IN 46617

574.234.0069 (V) • 574.234.6414 (F) • surekey@aol.com

Vol. 23, No. 12 • December, 2005

You can find this newsletter on the web at Freeman-Spicer.com

 

A Thought and a Wish for the New Year

 

First, all of us at Freeman-Spicer wish you a very healthy, happy, and prosperous New Year. On the prosperous part, we hope that your business is well and your needs are plenty. We want to be a part of your New Year by being there for any of those financial “needs” you might have. We lease office equipment [computers / copiers / telephone systems / office furniture / etc.], construction and medical equipment, vehicles of all kinds, and any other equipment you might think of. We also do short term financing of equipment and vehicles. We want to help! Give us a chance by calling us, and see what customer service really is. We can have your lease / loan done in an hour. We don’t advertise, we use word of mouth to market ourselves. So, if you know of a good credit that could use our help, please pass along our name & number - we’d appreciate it. Happy Holidays and Happy New Year!    Eli / Ed / Judy / Michelle / Dawn

 

Speaking of Referrals

 

How do you get referrals? Put simply, you must ask. Most sales reps, however, don’t ask all the time. Here are thoughts for effectively working referrals:

 

Lost Another Sale To   . . . . . . . .

 

We’re losing on price, you hear again. But in most services, there is no clear “right price” for the service or item. What should something cost? What is the perceived value of the service or item? Some people literally cannot afford your price. But most people who can afford the low price are able to pay far more. They refuse to pay far more for your service / item not because of its price, but because of its apparent perceived value. You have failed to convey any more perceived value than the service / item that charges 30% less. So your prospect chooses to pay 30% less. Your problem was not your pricing; it was your selling. Don’t charge less. Sell better! (Business Digest)

 

Senility Prayer: Grant me the senility to forget the people I never liked anyway, the good fortune to run into the ones I do, and the eyesight to tell the difference. (B. Drevs)

 

What Housing Bubble?

 

Prices may be up, but you’re getting more for you money. Sure, buying a two-bedroom house in a city like Boston can cost you a million clams. But, concerns that the US housing market is too hot – and the bubble is ready to burst – are what’s really inflated. While average home prices have more than doubled since 1950, so have average home sizes. In today’s dollars, that means Americans are paying less per square foot now than they did then. Plus, thanks to better financing options and smaller family sizes, a year’s salary buys way more house than it used to, and everyone inside it gets more space. That McMansion you’ve been eyeing isn’t so overpriced after all.

 

55 Year Trend:  Housing prices – up 133% / Square footage – up 137% / Household income – up 113% / Heating costs – down 23%.

 

Comparison: (Dollars adjusted for inflation)

1950 Home - Average Sale Price = $59,575 includes 2 Bedrooms, 1 Bath, 1-Car Garage for a total of 983 square feet.

Today’s Home – Average Sale price = $138,607 includes 3 Bedrooms, 2 Baths, Fireplace, Central Air Conditioning, 2-Car Garage for a total of 2,330 square feet.

Other Comparison Data:

(Wired Magazine)

 

Are You Average

 

America is the world’s biggest melting pot – a nation of nearly 300 million different faces, personalities, and traditions. But if you crunched all the figures and tossed in every “most often,” “usually,” and “only on Sunday,” you’d end up with a composite of the single most average person in the country. Author Kevin O’Keefe did exactly that in his new book, the Average American, and on his web site (www.theaverageamerican.com). A sampling of his extraordinary discoveries about the ordinary:

Ø      35 – Number of greeting cards purchased annually, per household.

Ø      38 – Number of times a fridge door is opened each day.

Ø      22 – Gallons of milk one person drinks annually.

Ø      $80 – Monthly telephone charges per household.

Ø      185 – Red meat & poultry / 684 fruits and vegetables – pounds of food one person eats in a year.

Ø      3,700,000 – times one person blinks in a year.

Ø      100 – Number of dates a person goes on before getting married.

Ø        Ten minutes and twenty-four seconds – Length of a shower. (Weekendlife – Life Magazine)

 

Everyday Briefs

 

With everyone traveling ………………… this month – if you have someone in the air and want to keep track of them: http://www.flightstats.com will let you do just that. It even gives you a map to show you where the airplane is located. Easy to use – but loaded with information.

 

As seen on TV ……………….  I saw a report on TV the other night about this web site; http://paulenglish.com/ivr is a site that gives you phone numbers of companies that we all do business with. The neat thing about this web site is it gives you the codes on how to get around the automatic answering machines [and get a live person]. Now this disclosure! They all don’t work. Once the companies find that someone has figured out how to work around their systems, they change the “backdoor.” But this web site isn’t stagnant, with new work around numbers being posted. (IVR Cheat Sheet by Paul English)

 

Top children’s toys for 2005 holidays ……………..  As ranked by the National Retail Foundation (as reported in the Chicago Tribune)

Rank                Girls                                         Boys

1                      Barbie                                      Video games

2                      Bratz                                        Star Wars merchandise

3                      Dora the Explorer                     Legos

4                      Disney Princess                        Hot Wheels

5                      Video games                            Spiderman merchandise

6                      iPod / MP3 players                   Xbox

7                      My Little Pony                          Thomas the Train

8                      Leap Frog                                Batman merchandise

9                      Elmo                                        Bicycle

10                    American Girl doll                     PlayStation 2

 

Don’t be fooled ……….. There are some wonderful businesses that want to help you. For only $75.00, they will file your company’s “Business Entity Report,”  also known as “Domestic Report,” with the Indiana Secretary of State. In Indiana, you must file this report every year for “nonprofits” and every two years by “for-profit” businesses. OR – you could just go on-line and take two minutes and do it yourself. Go to the Business Entity Report Filing section of the following web site:  http://www.in.gov/sos/?scripts=https%3A%2F%2Fsecure.IN.gov%2Fsos%2Fbus_service%2Fonline_corps%2Fdefault.asp&x=7&y=9    

and do the filing yourself. To copy this web site address – go to Freeman-Spicer.com and find this month’s newsletter. Paint in the address and hit Control C – then go to your browser and hit Control V in the address line and the address will be there. (M. Drevs)

 

 A woman's husband had been slipping in and out of a coma for several months, yet she had stayed by his bedside every single day. One day, he motioned for her to come nearer. As she sat by him, he whispered, eyes full of tears, "You know what? You have been with me all through the bad times. When I got fired, you were there to support me. When my business failed, you were there. When I got shot, you were by my side. When we lost the house, you stayed right here. When my health started failing, you were still by my side.........You know what?"  What dear?" she gently asked, smiling as her heart began to fill with warmth.  I think you're bad luck, get the hell away from me....................... (D. Spicer)                                                                      

 

Sincerely,

 

 

Edward C. Levy

President