Where's the Cash? Look at Your Receivables

     When you stop and think about it, it is amazing how many different choices we have to pay for the products and services we can buy. We can pay in person, over the phone or on the internet. We can pay by American Express, Discover, Visa, Mastercard, PayPal, store credit card, debit card, [...]

What Could Possibly Go Wrong?

You Don’t Have the Cash Until You Have the Cash

     There is a direct relationship between a sale and the cash in your pocket. If you have the cash, you have a sale. If you don’t have the cash, you don’t have the sale.

     So many things can occur to prevent you from getting cash [...]

Heed These 13 Warning Signs

Are you surprised when your customer tells you they will pay late or, even worse, won’t pay at all? You shouldn’t be. After all, there is often at least one warning sign—a red flag the customer raises to let you know there is a problem. Be alert to the following signs of [...]

The True Cost of Bad Debt

     When you finally decide to write off an uncollectible receivable, what is the total cost to you?  If you think it’s just the amount of the invoice, you’d be wrong.  To calculate the true impact on your business, you must add in the cost of other important factors that are often overlooked by management:

The Credit Decision

     In an ideal world, businesses would never have to extend credit to their customers. Instead, as soon as a product or service was delivered, the customer would pay immediately in cash.

     Of course, we don’t live in an ideal world.  Extending credit is just a fact of business life; you must offer credit terms to be [...]

Managing the Credit Policy

     It is important to have a written credit policy to ensure that you are consistent in making your credit decisions.  However, the credit policy is not just a document that you put on the shelf and refer to on occasion.  Instead, it is a process that must be constantly monitored and managed.

     If you are not willing or [...]

Effectively Manage the Marginal Account

     It would certainly be a miracle if your marginal customers could become credit-worthy overnight.  Don’t hold your breath…it simply won’t happen.

    However, the marginal customer can be a profit generator for your business, while at the same time representing increased risk.  Regardless of how hard you try to justify open account privileges, there always remains that element of [...]

Create a Credit Policy That Increases Profits

Extending credit is an excellent way to increase sales, but you must be careful how and when you extend credit.