The reality is that business is cutthroat.
While it is always a lovely experience to meet honest people looking to do the right thing, not everyone is like this.
Unfortunately, many times you will meet people who are only out for themselves.
Or perhaps you will meet someone who, while they do not have bad intentions are short-sighted.
The unfortunate reality is while you may be making a hypothetical profit, if your clients have not paid you, you do not have the money (cash).
Instead, you are owed this money.
Does your business make a profit, but not have any cash? This is a problem that SME's (Small-Medium-Enterprises) regularly come up against.
They often have clients who they perform a service for or sell their products to who procrastinate in paying them back.
You do not want to fall in to this trap! Don't let people use you because you are small or inexperienced.
You need to put into place systems that will help you fight this.
The problem then becomes; what can you do to solve the issue? One idea is to tighten your debtor policy for clients who conveniently seem to have trouble paying you back on time.
Reduce the number of days that they are allowed to pay you back in.
Better still, only do business with clients if they will pay in advance or at the very least demand a deposit.
When choosing clients, be a little picky.
Get trade references for your customers and validate that they can be trusted to pay you back.
Another solution that many don't consider is making sure your customers/clients have multiple ways to pay you.
For instance, if you require a direct deposit into your bank account and your client has issues getting to or accessing their bank account, this slows down the process.
However, if you opened up your business strategy to allow them to pay by paypal, then they have yet another option to pay you with and no excuses.
These options often involve fee's.
It is however better to eat the fee and have the cash than the alternative.
It would be understandable if you were skeptical of these ideas.
The saying is that the "customer is always right".
Won't this scare way your precious customers? The answer is this will only scare away the customers who are not taking you or your business seriously.
Consider your favorite cafe.
Do you balk at them requiring you to pay in advance to receive your food? Or would you be upset if your restaurant let you walk away without paying the bill? Absolutely not.
Obviously some services/products will require a long-term payment plan, but you should only in this case work with clients you can definitely trust.
It is not worth it to be out of pocket.
SME's, especially newer businesses, are often taken advantage of.
People use their products or services, then pay them back at their own leisure or sometimes not at all! Without the cash to pay for your own needs your business will not survive.
Use the tips suggested here and take back the money you deserve.
While it is always a lovely experience to meet honest people looking to do the right thing, not everyone is like this.
Unfortunately, many times you will meet people who are only out for themselves.
Or perhaps you will meet someone who, while they do not have bad intentions are short-sighted.
The unfortunate reality is while you may be making a hypothetical profit, if your clients have not paid you, you do not have the money (cash).
Instead, you are owed this money.
Does your business make a profit, but not have any cash? This is a problem that SME's (Small-Medium-Enterprises) regularly come up against.
They often have clients who they perform a service for or sell their products to who procrastinate in paying them back.
You do not want to fall in to this trap! Don't let people use you because you are small or inexperienced.
You need to put into place systems that will help you fight this.
The problem then becomes; what can you do to solve the issue? One idea is to tighten your debtor policy for clients who conveniently seem to have trouble paying you back on time.
Reduce the number of days that they are allowed to pay you back in.
Better still, only do business with clients if they will pay in advance or at the very least demand a deposit.
When choosing clients, be a little picky.
Get trade references for your customers and validate that they can be trusted to pay you back.
Another solution that many don't consider is making sure your customers/clients have multiple ways to pay you.
For instance, if you require a direct deposit into your bank account and your client has issues getting to or accessing their bank account, this slows down the process.
However, if you opened up your business strategy to allow them to pay by paypal, then they have yet another option to pay you with and no excuses.
These options often involve fee's.
It is however better to eat the fee and have the cash than the alternative.
It would be understandable if you were skeptical of these ideas.
The saying is that the "customer is always right".
Won't this scare way your precious customers? The answer is this will only scare away the customers who are not taking you or your business seriously.
Consider your favorite cafe.
Do you balk at them requiring you to pay in advance to receive your food? Or would you be upset if your restaurant let you walk away without paying the bill? Absolutely not.
Obviously some services/products will require a long-term payment plan, but you should only in this case work with clients you can definitely trust.
It is not worth it to be out of pocket.
SME's, especially newer businesses, are often taken advantage of.
People use their products or services, then pay them back at their own leisure or sometimes not at all! Without the cash to pay for your own needs your business will not survive.
Use the tips suggested here and take back the money you deserve.