Guest Blogger Arun Sinha always has something pithy to say...

...and this time it is on one of my favorite subjects, cash flow:


Cash flow blues

A friend from one of my networking groups told me about a cash-flow crunch he found himself in, through nobody's fault. He has a 3-person firm, and like many small businesses, he gets the bulk of his revenues from one client. Currently, about 62% of his sales come from his largest client.

Sometime in December 2008 he sent this client his monthly invoice via email as usual. 30 days passed, and he hadn't received his check. Since this was a huge client, my friend was treading very softly around them. He didn't ask about his payment until another 10 days.

Client said, "We never got the invoice." There had been a glitch in their email system. Some incoming emails were lost, some weren't. Guess which email was lost.

So my friend sends the invoice out again. By now it's getting close to February 09. He has depleted his rainy day fund, so he draws on his line of credit at his bank so he can make his payroll and utilities.

Meanwhile, the client's business has slowed, so they don't pay in 10 days like they used to. They take the full 30 days. Which means my friend finally gets his check a little over 70 days after emailing his invoice. Then, because it's an out-of-state check, he waits another 7 calendar days for the money to land in his account.

There are a couple of lessons from this saga: Don't rely on one big client and one big check. Things can go wrong without malice on anyone's part. You always need more in your rainy day fund than you think.

I have had the pleasure of networking with Arun for over 6 years. I value his judgment and input. Arun's copywriting skills are shown well on his website http://www.AccessConsultingInc.com and his blogs are:
Envirobuzz and AccessNotes.

Both are worth subscribing and reading. Thanks, Arun!

Guest Blogger Adrian Miller writes on How to Screw Up a Good Introduction

Before I let you read the guest blog post, I have to set the stage:
Have you ever met a person who exudes so much vitality and business savvy that you are left saying to yourself, "Wow, I REALLY need to get to know that person better. I have so much to learn from him/her."

Adrian Miller is unique in these areas. I am fortunate to know her and had her come make a great sales presentation to a private group of clients. My clients loved her!

She knows some amazing people and routinely networks people. I know this personally, she has connected me to the leader of a great group of nonprofit consultants in NYC!

Recently, she has started a unique way of bringing people together in virtual network sessions she calls Adrian's Network. Check it out!

Adrian recently posted a piece on Gotham's list-serve and I wanted to repeat it on my blog. It was that good.

It's called How to Screw Up a Good Introduction and since we are all guilty of this sometime, I thought it was worth distributing on this blog. Enjoy.

How to Screw Up a Good Introduction

Networking isn’t a short-term strategy. It’s not about power selling and moving onto the next lead. Smart networkers understand this concept.

Unfortunately, there are many misguided networkers out there that thoroughly don’t “get” the give and take of networking. They only consider introductions as opportunities to sell and irritate fellow business professionals with their short-sighted, myopic view of networking. They don’t take the time to explore all of the potential opportunities and feel that is more important to lunge ahead and aggressively sell to anyone who is put in contact with them.

If you’re having a lack of success with your networking efforts, it’s well worth your time to explore how you are approaching introductions. Some questions to ponder:

Are You Taking the Time to Get to Know New Contacts?
Relationships of all types, including those with networking contacts, require a period of discovery. How can you begin to explore how you can help each other until you understand each others needs, wants, capabilities, likes, and dislikes?

Are You Looking For Ways to Help Them?
Only after you have a good understanding of how you can possibly work together can you begin to offer suggestions. Use the information that you’ve gathered to find logical, thoughtful ways to help.

Are You Uncovering All Possible Opportunities?
Again, networking is a process not a one-time effort. Don’t stop at one attempt to assist a new acquaintance.

Are You Making Yourself Available?
Out of sight, out of mind definitely certainly applies to networking. Keep in good contact with your new networking acquaintance and provide them with all of your contact information so that they can reach you.

Start reading her blog.

I welcome your comments and war stories, and I encourage you to reach out to Adrian and get to know her and her work. Thanks for everything, Adrian!

We were asked to be a guest blogger

... on bizriskadvice, a blog produced by HUB International in New York City.

Thanks to Michael Zeldes of HUB International, and a fellow Gothamite for the invitation.

I hope to add more value on this topic for his clients at another date.
http://bizriskadvice.com/blog/clients-who-pay-by-check-how-your-company-can-protect-its-cash-flow-with-new-payment-technologies.html