80 | How to Write a business Plan
people, consisting of an accounts receivable section, a billing section, and a delinquent accounts section. Reorganized both our collection department and our credit-granting process to accomplish the following: 1. Collected $200,000 in delinquent accounts that had previously been consigned to the “unlikely to ever collect” category. This was a result of my decision to keep in closer contact with customers. 2. Reduced accounts receivable from an average of 90 days to an average of 38 days, considerably below the industry norm, again primarily by getting to know our customers better. 3. Reduced bad debt losses from 4% of sales to 0.5% of sales in two years by streamlining the credit application process and credit checking procedures as well as requiring our sales reps to personally vouch for customers’ creditworthiness. Maintained the 0.5% loss
percentage in the following years. As part of this, we successfully brought 15 lawsuits with no new staff. 4. Through sales conferences, newsletters, and frequent phone contact, worked closely with the sales force to ensure that new accounts were creditworthy. During this time, XYZ sales grew from $3 million to $7 million. The following two resumes—Jim Phillips’s and Sally Baldwin’s—share two important attributes: • knowledge of the particular business the individual wants to start and • specific business accomplishments. In this respect they are somewhat different from many typical job application resumes. For example, a potential employer might be concerned about whether your independent personality will fit in well in a job environment, where these resumes focus on concrete accomplishments. Jim Phillips wants to start a retail computer store. Here’s how he drafts his resume.
Resume
James T. “Jim” Phillips
WORK EXPERIENCE Manager, The Computer Store, San Jose (2000 to present) Manager of chain retail computer and electronic store with annual sales of three million dollars. • Hired, managed, and fired sales and support staff of 15-20 to meet sales goals established by chain management.