Cash Flow - staying afloat

oakbookkeepingservices.co.uk        Based in Lower Earley, Reading.

No matter how good a sales team you have, or if you have the best product ever invented, without good cash flow control your business is dead in the water.  Many a business has gone into insolvency because they had no hard cash to pay their invoices.  All it takes is one large payer to delay making payment to you, you then delay paying your creditors which delays your purchases being delivered.   

The best way to resolve this is to ensure your invoices are sent out straight away.  The number of small businesses that leave invoicing till the end of the week, month or ‘when I have time’ is astounding.  This is the one time when as the saying goes ‘time is money’.

 A lot of companies pay once a week or once a month. By delaying the invoicing you could miss a client’s payment run and as a lot pay on thirty days this can also delay when payment is made.

Solutions

If you complete the work today leave your client with the invoice

Are you able to take immediate payment by credit/debit card?  More and more tradesmen now have mobile card readers to do this.

Offer a discount for early payment.

If you do not have time to invoice straight away see if your bookkeeper will do it.  Many will agree a cost per invoice and  can issue, post or email the invoice that day on receipt of the information from yourself.

Finally ensure they have several ways to pay so no excuses.  Bank transfer, cheque or debit /credit card.

Finally if you think you’re going to be paid late which will delay payment to your creditors notify them straight away and agree a date(s) for payment.  If they know when payment is being made this in turn will help their cash flow and they are more likely to keep trading wheras no payment will make them think you are next to go under and could stop deliveries.