Corporate Speaker London
Corporate Speaker London
Corporate Speaker London
Great Businesses Are Great With Money
How good are you with money management?
Ok, I accept that you have pretty good accounting systems and you can push a button to see what is owed or your on-going balances etc...but honestly, are you imaginative or creative with money?
Do you ask How can I manage getting it better?
How can I spend or collect it differently?
Heres a thought...recently I coached a business owner where the cash flow pressure was typically beyond the means. Most month ends there was a stress on meeting the wages bill with suppliers screaming and a difficult juggling act going on! (Maybe you have seen that somewhere??)
What did we do?
Well I asked my client several questions?
How long after invoicing do you collect...he said average 30 days but sometimes 45 or even 60.
I said why/ what are the reasons for not paying offered up to you?
He replied that his invoice missed the clients cut-off for monthly cheque runs.
I asked him did he know their payment rules? Could we learn more and plan accordingly?
Yes!!
What happened?
My client scheduled 2 meetings with financial hierarchy and learned their proffered supplier process, their paying of bills process and their preferred methods of invoicing and paying.
He also learned that they were a lot happier when suppliers fell into their way...and so my client was favourably looked upon, tweaked his invoicing process to meet his clients and enjoyed a great relationship with better cash flow than ever!
All because we created a shared platform of dialogue to learn each others preferred ways.
Could you do that?
Could you meet with clients and suppliers and make a deliberate effort to match timings and system??
How about another scenario.
I was with a business that struggled to make ends meet yet had a full order book sales were up but pressure increased because paying for staff and stock was needed before monies from clients came in.
We looked at deposits...they werent currently asking for any so we made a decision to always ask for a 30% deposit.
Guess what happened? Some people paid!!!
Further some even asked if they could pay 100% up front!!! Genuinely more than 1 client asked if they could just pay and get it cleared because they were cash rich!!! My client wasnt even asking and was creating himself pain with no reason!! ASK ASK ASK the worst they can say is No and you are absolutely no worse off!
Then we looked at payment terms in relation to job completion and stick purchase...and we made a ruling that on certain jobs where there was m ore need to outlay for raw materials we made the deal subject to staged payments just like many other industries such as housing or developments.
Again, guess what happened?
Yes, genuinely not much of a problem and most of the larger jobs were funded by up front staged payments!!
Another smart tweak we added looking closely at the invoicing history...measuring the payment record and very simply adding a penalty of monies up front and deposits to those who had a poor record. We explained to them why it had been done. Politely but firmly letting clients know that their work would still be done but as they and had poorer payment record (and we couldnt afford a bad debt issue) then their terms would change until their payments record improved.
Guess what happened?
Some clients were lost! Yes, but in reality only potential bad debts were lost. You simply cannot afford to increase your exposure to risk.
Get creative, get stronger and get tuned to the fact that good clients work with you and the ones who it appears you have upset and you lose, understand that in fact you havent lost a client you have lost a bad debt waiting to land on you.
Please, please be smart with managing money.
For more ideas see www.benkench.com
Kyla have been writing articles for nearly 2 years. Come visit his blogs more often for tips and advice that helps people with the interest for Sales Training Seminars and great passion and knowledge for Sales Team Training and all the different options & providers available in the market today. Find out for more info also here http://www.benkench.com
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