Improving company cash flow

Hi,
Can anyone recommend ways to improve cash flow. I.e. getting customers to pay up!
We have some very good customers (as in purchase a lot) but getting payment can be hard. Are there any book keeping companies that provide this service? PM me if anyone has any recommendations.

Thanks

do you work on your own? do have anyone doing your books that would do a bit of credit control? I ring our customers who are behind in payments or i email them reminders etc to speed up getting the money in.. usually when statements go out i mail them after a couple of days to request payment.

Use an invoice discounting service?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Invoice_discounting

Keep in close contact and use times like this - end of year returns - to bitterly complain about your fate.

Most have been in the situation of the Revenue looking for their dues and will pay up something.

Also engage in a dialogue with the worse offenders and suggest agreed stage payments.

Use the law if necessary - maybe as a last resort though...?

http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/2002/en/si/0388.html

Constant contact. From experience on both sides of the fence it is the person that is in the ear of the debtor the most (in a professional manner obviously) that will get paid, be firm and continue to make the calls. The person that gets paid may not be the most critical supplier but if you are constant in the requests you may be paid simply to get you off their back.

If this is not working a letter to the debtor could suffice.

Invoice discounting is a good system for immediate cashflow assuming you have decent turnover but it is not a substitute and the debts should still be chased to keep cash moving and reduce the cost of the discounting.

You need to be very clear that your customers understand your payment terms.

Have them sign an agreement when you start dealing with them first.

When you send out your invoice, attach a note of the payment terms and let them know that you will be in contact before the due date to ensure that all is in order.

You need to give then no excuse for delaying the payment.

To improve your cash flow, try to negociate longer payment terms with your creditors.
If your custom is important to them they are often willing to increase the terms.

We have some very good customers (as in purchase a lot) but getting payment can be hard
people who purchase a lot and dont pay ARE'NT 'good customers' sorry

+1 what callybags has stated.

"Payment terms" are sometimes referred to "terms and conditions" or "the small print" in insurance contracts.
Its important that you draw your customers attention to these from day one.
They should confirm this back to you or you should write to them confirming that you pointed these out.

Having done this will stand to you if you have to resort to legal action as suggested by Clubman.
The Courts are reasonable towards people who have fallen on hard times, but they are not foolishly forgiving.
If you can show that you did things by the book, using terms and conditions, this may help you prove your case.
The court may form the view that your client is misinforming the court as to his means and you may be more likely to get an order from the court.

If you do go to court, your client may play the card of "if I have a judgement (order) made against me I'll lose my credit rating - you don't want that do you?"
Don't fall for this - it may be true as far as it goes, but there are other ways to resolve matters.
You can suggest to your client that he voluntarily enters into an agreement to make scheduled payments for an agreed amount, which may include solicitors fees to date.
This agreement may then be registered with the Court and is a firm commitment to pay and if he fails to pay the court may then issue an order for the full amount.

The courts know you cannot get blood from a stone and its not a crime to be poor.
It is a crime to withhold payments from people who are due them if you are in a position to pay.
The courts will look very askance on people who enter into a formal agreement to pay who fail to follow up on it.

Thanks everyone. The problem is that it's a side business so I'm not able to phone (hassle) accounts departments during office hours. I have a girl who looks after book keeping for me and she is helping getting in the money but it's a constant struggle. These are all repeat customer and they do pay up it's just a big stress.

Sceach,

I wonder would it be a good idea to take a couple of days off to go meet the customers? It might bring home to them the fact that you are not just a person on the end of a phone and that you have bills to pay too!

Even if you could get them to enter into an arrangement and perhaps moot the idea that such delays cant be tolerated in future.

At least if you knew the cash was coming in you could plan accordingly

Don't allow your customers to exploit you on the basis that you are running a part-time business. If they're taking advantage of you, you might be better off dropping them altogether and slowly building up a better quality client base, even if this costs you money in the short term.