COMPULIFE ® Software Inc. 
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Update News
for December 2016
These topics will be dealt with in more detail throughout this bulletin. Over 10 years ago Compulife closed its business office location in Kitchener and made arrangements with our 2 Canadian employees, who have both been with us for a quarter of a century each, to work from offices in their homes. About 4 years ago we did the same in the United States, closing down the business location and moving to the basement in the new home of Jeremiah. For the purposes of our operation this has worked out very well. It has let us keep our costs to a minimum so that we can offer software at VERY competitive prices. However, Donna Jackson, our Canadian office manager, has decided it was time for a new home and so that means there is a new office address for Compulife in Canada: 19 Pickett Court Mitchell On N0K 1N0 We will get the website updated shortly. The modern celebration of Christmas is closely associated with the giving of gifts to family and friends. The traditional celebration of Christmas is about the greatest gift of all. I think this is a good summary of that: See if you can figure out the color scheme that I used. The Postal Code "Land Rush" Begins Don't Miss The Opportunity! The next important date for subscribers participating at term4sale.ca, is January 9, 2017. Subscribers who purchase additional postal codes from Compulife, over and above the LOCAL postal codes acquired as part of a subscription to the Windows PC software, are invoiced for those postal codes on a calendar year basis. Each year a certain number of postal codes, which were previously purchased by subscribers, become available. Here are some of the typical reasons postal codes come back into the market:
2. Subscribers retire 3. Subscribers quit the business 4. Subscribers stop subscribing 5. Subscribers cut back on the postal codes they are buying The invoices for additional postal codes were sent mid-November. Subscribers have until Friday, January 6, 2017, to pay those renewals. If the renewal is not paid on or before that date, the un-paid postal codes are taken out of the new postal code listings which are then published the morning of January 9, 2017. Leaving the ability to pay until the first week of January permits subscribers to decide in which tax year they will expense the advertising cost. If postal codes are not paid by January 6th, the unpaid invoice will be automatically credited from our books, and the postal codes will become available to other subscribers. NOT A MINUTE EARLIER Every year someone complains because someone else beat them to a postal code that they wanted. To keep this fair and equal for all, we have a HARD starting date and time to ensure fairness. No one can complain if someone else beats them to it. I probably shouldn't say that, because there is always someone who complains. Even so, the rules are the RULES and they are fair and equal for all. IMPORTANT: Do not call or email postal code purchase instructions before 9:00 AM EST on January 9th. If you do, your email will be ignored. If you call early you will be told to call later. Because the phone lines will likely be busy that day, and a lot of the early part of that week, it is BEST to do your homework in advance and email your instructions for new purchases or changes. NOTE: You have two basic options for acquiring new postal codes. You can either ADD postal codes to your current list, or you can trade/exchange postal codes you already have, for postal codes you think are better. Available postal codes (ANY Postal Code with less than 3 agents listed) will be available on a first come, first serve basis. The new list will be published here on January 9th: Any additional postal code purchased on January 9th, must be paid for immediately. The cost of the postal code will be 11 X the monthly fee ($1.50 for the first 90, $2 for postal codes over 90; standard licenses only). Once your new postal codes are added, the remainder of the month of January is free. If you are switching postal codes for better postal codes we need will need specific instructions. Tell us what postal code you want to add, and which postal code you are giving up. If you don't know what postal codes you have, email and ask for a list of those postal codes ASAP. Once again, you can research postal codes at: If I was you, I would print a list of postal codes in areas you are interested in, IN ADVANCE of the 9th. TIP: You can use the column titles to sort the list of postal codes. Typically, when I am assisting subscribers in finding great postal codes, I will sort by the 5th column: "Number of Households". TIP: In densely populated, urban areas, increase the "Number of Listed Postal Codes" from the default number of 100. This will enlarge the area of the state that you are looking at. Once you have the list that you want, print that list. I would then highlight the postal codes that you would really like to get. Once again, make sure that list is done in advance of the 9th. On the morning of the 9th you will want to replicate the list again, doing the same search and sort. Check your old list with the new list to see if postal codes that previously had 3 subscribers Listed, now have 2 or less. If that happens, and it's one of the postal codes that you want, fire off your email to: TIP: Don't wait too long after finding postal codes you want. You can send multiple emails. Remember, first come first served. I promise you, if you wait too long, some postal codes that you want will be gone by the time you ask for them. Make sure we have your name and phone number in the email. Once we get to you in time order, we will call you and ask for your credit card information. IMPORTANT: Compulife keeps no credit card records for subscribers. If we don't have your credit card number, they can't be stolen from us. Every purchase by credit card, requires the credit card again. Those who contact us inquiring about term4sale listings generally want to know what they can expect by way of results. I always say the same thing. For every 3 postal code listings you can expect ONE solid email contact through the system. Some subscribers do better than that, but it is a general rule of thumb. Now I say "email" referring to the contacts that come through the term4sale "agent" list where the consumer completes the email form and it is sent on to the 3 listed agents. NOTE: Virtually all contacts use the contact 3 method. There was a way to contact individual agents, but that has been removed from the new version of Term4Sale which was introduced in October. Only those with ulterior reason for contacting our subscribers seemed to be using it. In addition to email contacts, your name and phone number are displayed in the listings. If a consumer calls you directly, and we KNOW some do, then we have no record of those contacts and that is icing on your cake. For the new guarantee this does not factor in, simply as we have no way to monitor such activity. For the first time we are going to GUARANTEE the One for Three result. Here's how the guarantee works: If you get to the end of December, and you did not have have at least one email for every 3 postal codes you have, we will reduce the cost for you to renew those postal codes for 2017. EXAMPLE: You have 14 postal codes, three local and 11 that you purchased. For 14 postal codes we expect: 14/3 = 5 contacts (4.67 rounded up). Let's assume that you had only 3 email contacts (note: we do not count duplicate or BOGUS contacts) On November 15th, we would have invoiced you $198 (11 X $18) for 2017 renewal. However, you really only got the activity we would have expected for 9 total postal codes, which would have been 3 local postal codes, and 6 additionally purchased postal codes. Therefore, we will credit your invoice DOWN to $108 (6 X $18) and give you the same 14 postal codes for 2017. In other words, you will have 5 of those 11 paid postal codes for free. If you did better than 1 for 3 (many have) then you owe us money. NO, we're just kidding. This is a minimum guarantee. IMPORTANT: There are NO REFUNDS, simply a reduced renewal cost for the SAME postal codes for the following year. You can add postal codes, and pay for those, but if you substitute any of those postal codes then the price of renewal for those will still be $18 for the year. This guarantee is designed to act as a way to retroactively balance out the cost of postal codes listings that are NOT as attractive or not producing. The ability for ALL Windows PC subscribers to buy an additional 20 postal codes is unchanged. However, as previously announced, the renewal price for those 20 postal codes is going from $1.00 per month, to $1.25 per month, payable to the end of the calendar year. This means that those renewing for 2017 will receive an invoice of $15 per postal code for the year (over their local postal codes). Remember, you have last year's email traffic, and the postal code Analyzer, which is found here: The combination of those two things will guide you in that decision making process. Yes, at some point we will build a system to give you better information about postal code contact performance, but we will introduce a new pricing structure at the same time. So while you're thinking about some of the work this involves, we think you will eventually look back on the "good old days" when we make those changes (not in the short run). Once again, when you are invoiced for 2017 renewals, you are NOT required to renew any postal code. If you decide to drop all or some of your postal codes, those postal codes will come back into the pool of available postal codes on January 9th. In fact we expect that will happen, giving subscribers who are hungry for more, better listings a chance to jump in. IMPORANT: We give subscribers from November 15th to January 6th to pay their postal code renewals. That means you can decide in which year to expense the cost for tax deduction purposes. Yes, term4sale listings are an advertising expense and you can deduct them from your commission income. If you think you may benefit from the one in 3 guarantee wait until late in December to make your claim and pay your invoice. In addition to being able to buy an additional 3 local postal codes for $12 each (for 12 months), Standard License subscribers can buy an additional 60 postal codes over the first 20 that all Windows PC subscribers can purchase (most Compulife subscribers buy the personal use edition which only allows 3 local postal codes). The price per postal code, for postal codes over 20, will be the same increase, $1 to $1.25 ($15 per year). In the U.S. we actually add a surcharge of 50 cents per zip code per month, but we are not doing that (yet) in Canada. We deeply appreciate your business, and want to make sure that Compulife remains profitable for you. On the other hand, we need to free up space for other subscribers who want to participate but simply can't find good postal codes to be listed in. We are doing this in small yearly adjustments, trying to find the right balance. Here's a Tip: Personal use subscribers may want to upgrade from personal use to standard license to take advantage of the ability to get those 3 additional local postal codes (for a total of 6), and to be able to purchase more than 20 additional paid postal codes. We can do that upgrade for you on November 7th, when you call to maneuver into 3 additional better postal codes in your local area. |