Now a few words from guest blogger Doug Campbell

As a CEO Coach and Business Owner, I am constantly looking for ways to make businesses more efficient and easier to operate. About 9 years we began accepting credit cards for our tutoring business (Sylvan Learning Center in Darien CT). It seemed like a big step at the time, and it was also potentially costly because our average charge is $100+. Nevertheless, it has been widely successful. Within 6 months 70% of our clients were using credit cards, and it is now close to 85%. The time spent preparing bills and mailing each month has been cut by 6 hours. The money is in the account almost immediately each month. Cash flow is less of a worry, and the rent check can go out on the 3rd of the month.

If you are a small business and still not using credit, reconsider the benefits in time, administration, and cash flow when you think through your strategies. If you are using credit, you should also periodically review your vendor – we lowered our fees substantially after 3 years with the first vendor and now receive better service. There are also incredible new tools to help you with cash flow and profitability in your business that are constantly being developed. Don’t let your competitors get a leg up on you. Make the time to talk to a credit expert – you will be surprised on the upside.

All the best.

Douglas Campbell III "The Success Coach"
203-975-0320 cell 203-952-1161
www.thesuccesscoach.com

Speaker * Author * Entrepreneur * Executive & Career Coach

Coaching Top-Performing Executives & Business Owners to Achieve Even Higher Levels of Success

The Success Coach on Networking (7) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=boKH8yfYFNk

Business Conference Speech http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_b61rV19JAk

The Success Coach, Business Expert, for Wells Fargo Bank on Onboarding New Employees

https://wellsfargo.imaginationdigitalmedia.com/business-insights/?episode=C7 (5)

Author Where To Go From Here: Reinventing Your Career, Your Business, Your Working Life (2009). It is available through Amazon, at Barrett Bookstore (Darien), Elm Street Books (New Canaan), and through the author as a book or ebook.

Preparing your company for a recession

An article dated 30Jan08 by Tim Reason on CFO.com entitled, "Preparing Your Company for Recession" and was subtitled "Face it: Financial Crises are Inevitable. To Emerge Strong, Companies Must Be Quick and Smart in Their Responses" spoke about 3 general ways to prepare for a recession:
1) seek ways to reduce costs
2) optimize working capital
3) measure your performance

How right he is.

I want to embellish some of his points hinting at how our services work to prepare any size company or nonprofit for the economic downturn we are in and will see continue for a while. But why wait for a recession to implement keener business and achieve smarterpayments (name rings a bell, huh?)?

1) How can you reduce costs that can be pared down, and use technology to do so?
Think anew about all your routine processes and ask: Is there a better way? Does it have to be done this way? Can technology, especially email and the internet, accomplish the same?

Consider paper invoicing, mailing and labor costs: could an invoice travel from you to your customer by email, be opened and paid all in one transmission? Sure. See this blog's most recent posting or cruise over to our greinvoice website, for details of a new service we offer: http://www.greinvoice.com. Imagine saving postage (goes up again in May!), paper and envelope costs (I cannot believe how expensive paper is getting), and getting paid faster right on the email/web-based invoice you send the customer. That gives you more time and money to do other things like optimize your cash flow or measure your business results while your payment is on its way to you. Win win.

2) Why not optimize working capital: that's an essential practice even in good economic times?
Have you tried to get a loan recently? Bank liquidity is drying up; I know, a bad pun, but you get the point. Bankers sleep best at night knowing their customers' working capital (especially their CASH FLOW) is as smooth and efficient as possible. After all, that's what's paying them back.

However, banks do not market all the best solutions. You need to go outside the banking industry to find out about ways to improve cash flow. Independent financial consultants offer new ways that banks don't offer. And each service should be tailored ot your specific needs. Like: faster cash in the bank account, no matter who helps you get it there faster, is what makes a lower interest rate on your loan, or whether the bank gives you a loan at all. If you don't do this, someone at the bank will measure your efficiency, which brings me to #3.

3) How and what do you measure? Who has the time????
Statistical measurement is anathema when your business is growing quickly. There's just no time to stop and measure. When business slows down, you are fixated on revving it up. Once again, no time or inclination to measure.

Certain services we offer provide historic totals and other ways at looking at your business graphically and seeing things in a new way. We made it easy to see a graph or chart, so you could gain new insight. If you do not measure your business, your banker will (see discussion in #2 above).


So, there you have it, another installment of how we can help you prepare for the recession. Just ask, or we may just suggest a few services.