In these uncertain times, it has never been more important to maintain sufficient funds or cash within your business.
We have also recently recorded a video that gives more information how to help you get paid. Watch it here.
Cash is the oxygen that businesses need to survive, particularly in such a challenging climate so an appropriate mindset for getting paid is essential & we believe that there are three essential mindsets to adopt:
- You must be empathetic
- You must approach your debtor management with backbone and heart
- It’s ok to sell in these times – so long as you are solving problems for your customers that they have right now
Empathy in this respect is, seeing things from your customer’s perspective & being prepared to do something about it such as offering them options as to how to pay you.
Backbone is sharing that you are running a business too and need the cashflow that customer payments bring.
Heart is being empathetic, flexible and considerate in your approach
It’s ok to sell as long as your product or service is solving a problem for your customers and as long as you’re going to be paid for the work that you do.
Your empathy may present opportunities to inherit customers from your less caring competitors but be wary that you don’t take on their non-paying clients. Always credit check new customers whether it is during this current crisis or beyond – you need to be as certain as you can that you will be paid.
Consider outsourcing your Credit Control function to free-up your time and let a practised expert take on this vital function but be careful that any new provider understands your core values, style of communication and the language that you use.
Review your Cash Conversion Cycle – this is the average length of time that you hold stock or work in progress plus the average time taken by your customers to settle their bills less the average credit that your suppliers provide you with. There are tools that you can implement in order to shorten this cycle and reduce the length of time that it takes to turn your business’s inputs into cash.
Now is the time to ensure that you establish a workable Business Continuity Plan and we strongly recommend that you have a robust Cashflow Forecast in place that you can review and update on a regular basis (ideally this will be liked to your cloud accounting system so that it is up to date in Real Time.
We understand that this is a very stressful time for many in business, which is why we are here to help cover off any of the above issues and more.
Contact us for an accounts retrievable call script and a credit management guide.
Our aim is to support our clients not only to survive the current crisis but to thrive as the economy emerges on the other side.
Get in touch and we can help you.