Monday, 10 August 2009 17:20 by
Julian
Played cricket on Saturday. Glorious weather, runs and wickets a plenty. Fortunately both were coming our way, unlike England who were going to pieces at Headingley.
To be successful when batting, or bowling, you need to apply the same technique each time. Every failure to apply that technique gets you into difficulty. Whilst compiling the match report the following morning (a credible 3 for 13 off 5 overs, I thank you!) it occurred to me that getting paid on time requires similar preparation and discipline.
For example:
- some months you send out statements, some months you don't, or you send them at different times. RESULT - your customers get an unprofessional image of your business and don't think you treat chasing invoices seriously
- invoices are issued late and sporadically throughout the month. RESULT - your customer thinks you are flush with cash so undeserving of prompt payment
- sometimes you follow up on invoices sometimes you don't. When you do follow up it's generally for overdue invoices. RESULT - your customer sees you as disorganised, and if you don't handle the call well, pretty grumpy
Succesful credit control is all about doing simple things well, repeatedly and professionally. Techniques, tools and resources are crucial within this. Ignore the basics and, like England, your cash flow will limp along until it suffers an embarassing collapse. Do you really want an Aussie to get their invoice paid ahead of you?
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