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Late client payment can really cost you

Many companies are carrying customer accounts that are still outstanding after 60 or even 90 days. Sometimes this is acceptable if that’s the arrangement they’ve made with the customer and planned for in their budgeting. But when an outstanding account gets beyond reason you may have to bring in external agents to help collect the debt.Debt collection experts have identified four ‘triggers’, apart from lateness, that are definite indicators that the time has come to call in the professio...

Don’t Freeze Making Cold Calls

Cold calling is a widely used method of prospecting for new customers. Any business owner with a telephone knows that two or three times a day someone they have never met will contact their company with some kind of proposal like seeking an opportunity to quote against an existing supplier.It’s not easy to make cold calls and those who have the job of making them often feel uncomfortable about their assignment. But there are ways to ‘warm up’ to the task so that you will feel more relaxed ...

Developing Your Team Members’ Basic Skills

Employers that provide their team with training are making a commitment to better customer service and to being more competitive in the marketplace as well as encouraging a reduced team turnover rate. Few businesses are incapable of providing some sort of in-house training to improve skill levels and the improvements in performance that result makes it a highly cost effective investment.A typical small business’ basic skills training programme can incorporate on-the-job instruction of individu...

Don’t Let Others Waste Your Time

Most business owners find there’s never enough time in the day. Your time is valuable and the demands of your business usually dictate how you spend it. The last thing you can afford is to have your time wasted by others.Time-wasters are people who take up your time in such a way that it distracts you from running your business. You’re unable to manage because you have to spend your time dealing with people who just don’t seem to understand that you have more important things to do.Busines...

Putting your business on the right track

Keeping Your Business On the Right TrackA business plan is a roadmap that sets out your route for the development of your business. It doesn’t tell you just about the current state of the business, its strengths and its weaknesses, it will also show up the opportunities and what needs to be done to stay ahead of the competition.You might think you know all this now and don’t have to write it down. But what if something happened to you and someone else had to take over the operation? What wou...

Getting your business sale ready

Getting Your Business Ready For SaleSelling a business can be a complex and time consuming process. When the time comes to sell your business there’s a lot you can do that will increase its perceived value to prospective purchasers. You will also be much better prepared to discuss the sale with prospective purchasers and their advisers.Be sure that you have a clearly defined reason for wanting to sell your business that you can articulate to others. Have you considered the options to selling y...

Get Your Business Ready For Sale

Selling a business can be a complex and time consuming process. When the time comes to sell your business there’s a lot you can do that will increase its perceived value to prospective purchasers.  You will also be much better prepared to discuss the sale with prospective purchasers and their advisers.Be sure that you have a clearly defined reason for wanting to sell your business that you can articulate to others. Have you considered the options to selling your business? If you’re sell...

Discounting Is Dangerous

Offering a discount in the heat of negotiations may seem like a good idea at the time but thoughtless discounting is an easy way to lose money fast.Before you succumb to the temptation to win new business by offering a discount take a moment to consider these ten problems associated with discounting.1.    Discounting eats away profit margins!2.   Negotiating a discount focuses the customer’s attention on your price. If your only competitive advantage is price you are i...

Cash Management Creates Choices

Managing cash is one of the most important tasks for any business owner and even if it’s not as glamorous as sales and marketing it is the job that makes sure the bills keep getting paid on time.  The cash position of a business at any time is easy to determine if you know just three figures – the cash in the bank, the cash that’s going to be received by the business, and the cash that has to be paid out. It sounds simple, and it is, yet it’s  amazing how many business own...