One thing that I often see in businesses of all shapes and sizes is a focus on the profit and loss account, or income statement, with not enough attention paid to the balance sheet. There may be hidden money in your balance sheet that you can use!
Do you pride yourself on paying all your suppliers on time, but find your customers don’t pay you on time? You are not alone!
** Make it easy for your customer to pay you
————————————————————
One business I advised had succeeded in winning business in the Ukraine, and this was turning into a significant opportunity. The sales team were getting very excited!
The finance team were getting worried – payments were erratic, and very slow.
The Ukrainian government had imposed currency controls – you could not pay in “hryvnia” outside the Ukraine, and to pay in US Dollars you needed to get finance ministry approval for each payment.
That wasn’t easy for our customers, and was hampering our business growth. We established a subsidiary company in the Ukraine, so our local customers could pay us in the local currency. Business boomed and the customers were paying much more frequently.
Now, that’s an extreme example, but how easy do you make it for your customers to do business with you, and how easy do you make it for them to pay you? I’m just asking!