One of the things that I found so frustrating when I was running my last business was waiting for the money to arrive. I delivered a great service, the client was happy but then it would take months to be paid. On paper I’d made a profit…but the bank account said something different.

So with this business I thought, what can I do to rid my self of a debtors book? Simple – allow credit card payments and not deliver the goods until after payment has been made.

In practice this does not always work, our corporate clients require invoices.

If you have delivered the goods, they have been used, and a customer has stated that they will pay on a certain date. Then why do we still have to chase the money? Ultimately it means that more rules are put in place. Penalising the good payers because of the actions of the bad payers.

One customer has used our services in a very small capacity over several years. (This franchise group is a business coaching organization).

They promise payment, we wait, no payment is received , time consuming to chase and very unproductive on our people’s time.

I get a phone call from one of the franchisees ? touting his wares. I think as he is speaking, “This is an organization that has not paid its bill. It has little regard for the well being of us as a supplier. Is this how they ‘coach’ their clients on how to ‘manage’ their cash?”

I had no intention of engaging in any level of professional conversation with this organization. Its reputation and brand forever sullied in my eyes (and that of my team).

Supplier branding is just as important as customer or employee branding. You never know who knows who.

We all like doing business with people we like ? and we all like people who pay their bills. It is not rocket science