Layne & All who apply,Layne wrote:I recently signed up with eDirect. I haven't received any calls from Lynx nor SGC. In fact, I seldom get calls from SGC.
Yes, by all means make sure all your vendor information is correct. Beyond that, do not expect to be spoon feed by these networks. The reality of it is that it is gravey on top of your own efforts. There are a few variables that might be playing against you. As I understand it if you are in an area with very few shops you stand to get more referrals. This might be the case with some tech that are reporting 20-30 a month. They might also be discounting deeper than what the networks contract you at. So if you have many shops in your area you may get none or a few here and there.
Now, the networks have there own shops as well that they are trying to funnel work to first. Sure it is not supossed to be that way but it is. Some networks are worse than others.
It might also be your business name. What do I mean by this? Well I believe that we all get put on a rotational list and when you are in the top 3-4 your business name is given to the customer, so if your name shylock glass and the next guy is say, Insight WSR, they might get picked more than you just becuase the customer not knowing either shop has nothing to go by but the name.
I am sure there are other factors that might cuase this or it just may be one or a combination of the speculative reasons I mention. Either way, don't hold your breath on referrals. The rewards of your own efforts is much sweeter anyway.
For us, we switched from direct billing aggravation to being approved vendors through all networks for conveinence. We were recieving more referrals when we were submitting invoices via fax and paying the processing fee. Then we switched to EDI for even more convienience and eliminate the processing fee. We also thought that the networks looked more favorably towards shops that billed EDI. Well it seems since that point our referral numbers are down overall. That is okay though as we are constantly looking for new customers and we are trying to sell all jobs cash.
This is not a business that you can sit around and wait for it to come to you. You must go find it. Your efforts will pay off more than referrals will.
