COMPULIFE ® Software Inc. 
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Update News
for October 2016
These topics will be dealt with in more detail throughout this bulletin. Jeremiah was off for a week of holidays in September, and Pat was in for surgery, and so we have been stretched for time. The changes which we talked about last month, for www.term4sale.ca, were not ready to be published for October the 1st. Our goal is to roll those out as early in October as possible. Our plans for those changes are unchanged, and you can read more about those here: Incidentally, there is a repository of past bulletins, which we keep on the website here: As we move into fall, we are seeing the agent contacts starting to pick up again. Summers are usually relatively quiet, versus the months when the kids are back in school, and people are engaged in their normal routines. Term4Sale Bumping Week Begins Every Windows PC subscriber of Compulife has the opportunity to obtain 3 local postal codes which give you special options for listings in your local area. Those who purchase Compulife Basic (formally the "mobile" edition), pay less and cannot get postal code listings. Most basic purchasers are those who ONLY want the web quoting option(s). We require agents who are listed at www.term4sale.ca to have the better Windows PC software. IMPORTANT: We define your "local" area as a circle with a radius of 20 miles from where you are located, based upon the address that we have for you in our database. We will "stretch" the radius where it is obviously from the Postal Code Analyzer that you are located in a rural, sparsely populated area. Decisions in that regard are based upon what we find/learn here: Within that 20 mile radius you can use the 3 local postal codes that you obtain with your Windows PC subscription, to BUMP people who paid to be listed in your area. BUMPing can only occur in the week following the first Monday in November. This year bumping week begins: You snooze, you lose. That day will be very busy for us, and so we encourage you to do some preparation in advance. Make sure you have your list of possible, better postal codes, and if you call and do not reach us that day, email your requests to: Do NOT email before: Any requests sent by email, after the above date/time, will be honored on a first come, first serve basis. The reason for the choice of date is that all additionally purchased postal codes are sold on an annual, calendar year basis. If you pay to buy additional postal code listings, those postal code listings are your's for that year. Further, you will have first right of refusal to keep those listings and renew them for the following year. The only way you can lose a previously purchased postal code is if you get BUMPed from that postal code. You can ONLY* be bumped if someone who is physically located within 20 miles of that postal code decides to use one of their local postal codes (most only have 3) to BUMP you out. If that happens then you will NOT be invoiced for the renewal of that postal code for 2017. So the first priority for EVERY subscriber is to ensure that they have taken full advantage of the ability to get the best 3 postal codes available in their local area. Once again, the time to do that is: NOTE: If we worked with you last year, to improve your local postal code listings, there is likely nothing you need to do this year. So this will only be advantageous for those who did not do so last year, and who have read and prepared for this year. VERY IMPORTANT (again): A person who has a local postal code listing CANNOT be bumped from that postal code. They have a LOCK on the postal code as long as they remain a subscriber to the Windows PC version of Compulife. If the subscription is not renewed, for whatever reason, and we cancel the account, those postal codes go back into the pool of available postal codes. Option for 3 More Local Postal Codes As we have previously announced, pricing for Compulife will be changing: The price change has been further delayed until Jeremiah can get the time to make the necessary changes to our database/invoicing system. Until it takes affect, we have been giving subscribers the benefit of any situation that lowers their price. Before we enact the price changes, we will alert you so that you have a last chance opportunity to "buy up" additional subscription time at the old prices. While we have not finalized the changes for Canada, we are leaning toward making the pricing in Canada and the U.S. the same. Less confusion. That will mean a price increase for personal use subscriptions, although if you don't care about postal code listings at term4sale, the price change would only be $149 up to $156. Standard License would move from $299 to $300. Once again, while this is not finalized, we are leaning toward the U.S. pricing model, and with that in mind, here is what we told our American subscribers this month:
As part of the change that we have announced, the Standard License subscriber will now have the option to purchase up to 6 local zip codes, not just 3. Once again, those postal codes will be LOCAL meaning that they can be used to BUMP paid listings from your 20 mile radius. For some standard license subscribers, in large urban areas, that will be VERY important. IMPORTANT for Canadians: The option for standard license subscriber to buy 3 more local postal codes, for a total of 6 postal codes, is a change we are moving forward with. Therefore, on November 7th, those Standard License subscribers who wish to do so, can call us with instructions on obtaining up to 3 additional postal codes (over their current 3 local postal codes), and they can elect to pay $1 per month per listing for the balance of their current subscription. NOTE: Local postal codes will be added to the subscription price and are attached to your subscription. Purchased postal codes run on a calendar year basis ONLY. Example: If you want 3 additional postal codes, and your subscription has 8 months months before renewal. We will take your credit card for an additional 8 X $3 = $24 plus tax. When your renewal comes up, you will be invoiced $372 for the following 12 months; $300 for software and $72 for 6 postal codes. Local postal codes, when purchased with software, are eligible for the multi-year discounts of 10% for 2 years, and 20% for 3 years. Therefore, the $372 for 3 years would be: 3 X $372 X 80% = $892.80. That brings the cost of your local postal codes down to $9.60 each per year. If you add 3 additional postal codes, and then elect to add 3 years BEFORE the price increase, you will be able to pay: 3 X $336 X 80% = $806.40 Compulife compensates subscriber referrals for new customers with a FREE local postal code for 2 full years, plus the balance of the remaining year. Refer an agent to try our software, and that agent gets 6 free months of software (instead of 4) providing that they do the "Dare To Compare" challenge/tutorial to get the 6 free months (no purchase required). Once again, if your referral does that challenge, to get the free software, then you get a LOCAL postal code FREE for 2 full years, plus the remainder of the current year. When your FREE period on that postal code ends, you will have first right to renew it as a paid listing. Before that, you will be able to use it as a local postal code to bump. The time to use the bump will still be the first Monday in November. IMPORTANT: You have until November 7th to make referrals, earn your additional FREE local postal code, and use it to bump on: If I was an enterprising subscriber, who knows that term4sale is a profitable experience, I would be VERY busy in October referring everyone I can get my hands on. Use the following form to make your referral(s): Given the benefit of being able to bump paid listing in your local area, I am surprised that more subscribers do not take advantage of this opportunity. A lot of gold is being left on the table. With increasing participation at www.term4sale.ca, we have arrived at the point where demand is beginning to exceed supply when it comes to postal codes. To counter that problem we will be increasing this years price for "paid" postal codes listings from $12 to $15. IMPORTANT: We are not trying to penalize subscribers so much as we are trying to make sure that ALL subscribers get a kick at the can. We want term4sale to benefit ALL Compulife subscribers, not just a few subscribers a lot. 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 is being removed from the new version of Term4Sale which will be 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 $162 (11 X $15) 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 $90 (6 X $15) 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. |