Who's your best customer?
Is it the one who's been with you the longest? The one who buys the most from you? The one you like to talk business with over coffee?
The answer may be none of these-or all of these. But the answer is available in your list of accounts receivable.
Your best customer's name shows up briefly on that list and then goes away. Your best customer is the one who pays promptly, or even pre-pays for your goods and services, keeping you from financing those purchases by holding the bill longer than you should.
The end of the year is a great time for business operators of all sizes to take a fresh look at their accounts receivables and review what's going on. Look at your list of who owes you money like I would-like a banker would. Are you collecting payments from your customers within 30 days, as you should? Or do you say you're too busy running your business to stay current with your receivables?
If your answer is the latter, you're becoming not only the service provider but also the bank for your customers-and they are costing you money. How much? If you operate with a business loan, the answer is the rate of interest you're paying your bank. Money that you could use to pay down your loan or avoid taking out a loan altogether is right there on your receivables list waiting to be collected.
Nobody likes to be the bad guy when it comes to collecting bills. We're all in business to do the work we love, not to be the collection agent. But your customers know the score. Unless your agreement with them is unique, you should expect full payment within 30 days. To be clear with your customers, write this into your contracts and invoices.
Uncollected payments are the fastest track to business failure. A fundamental rule of business is that you have to collect payments for the goods or services you provide. If you don't, nothing else really matters. You'll go broke.
When you apply for a business loan or ask a banker for business help, one of the first things we'll review is your list of accounts receivable. Receivables are considered a satisfactory asset for loan collateral. But we'll analyze your receivables to see how they look when measured against industry standards. And we'll look to see that you're actively managing your receivables.
The size of your receivables list matters less than the age of that list. A list that shows a lot of long-overdue and uncollected customer bills is an immediate red flag.
In most industries, borrowing against receivables isn't a great idea. It's like a payday loan-taking money and paying interest now to cover expenses that you expect will be paid at some point when your customers pay you. Better to collect the money you are owed in the first place. Cash on the balance sheet gives you the most flexibility in running your business.
Lots of businesses tell me they don't want the hassle or extra cost of taking credit cards. But offering your customers another option to pay is one of the best methods to collect and to prevent problems with aging accounts receivable. Sure, the credit card company will charge you for this service. But their fee will almost always be lower than the rate at which you could borrow from a lender. Better to pay the credit card company and get your money quickly than to become the credit card company yourself for overdue customers.
It's never fun to have to make a call or send an email reminding a good customer that his or her account is overdue. Who doesn't feel awkward? We all have been in the position, too, of accidentally forgetting a bill or letting one go longer than we should.
Occasional mistakes happen, and certainly good customers deserve the benefit of doubt. But if you find yourself repeatedly calling "good customers" to collect accounts receivable from them, think again.
They're not the customers who are good for your business.