Our First Tip - Check Out Your Custiomer

All too often, businesses are more interested in securing that next order than ensuring that payment will be received, and checking out your customer's financial background.
The production of company reports and information on sole traders and partnerships can be costly to obtain. So, whatś the solution?
Our advice is simple. Forget about bank references. In all honesty, they are not worth the paper they are printed on. So to save time and money and to take that wee bit of extra care, ask your new customer for a Trade Reference. But don't stop there. Check out the phone book for other businesses in the area offering the same or similar services and ask them if they have had any dealings with your potential customer.
You may ask why do that? Simple - your new customer will not provide a reference for a company they have a bad reputation with. They will only tell you the good ones - they ones they pay regularly and on time.  Before you grant credit to any of your customers - do a bit of research first. It will pay you in the long run.
What would you rather have as a customer - one who places regular orders and pays on time or one who places the order and delays making payment?
You are running a business - not a charity. If you have any doubts about securing payment - ask for a deposit up front. If they are not willing to do this, then you may well have problems later in getting paid for the work you have done.

Introducing Allan Park Services

Welcome to our new blog. Our aim with this site is to post practical tips for small and medium sized enterprises to help them with the development of thier business, covering a wide variety of subjects.
Our one and only advertising post explains our business philosophy and introduces our services, details are on our web site www.allanpark.services.officelive.com
We do not believe in a single stream approach to business management. Every business is different, although their basic needs are the same. It's the manner in which the solution is developed which is the more important. What will work for one business will not necessarily work for another. It is that approach that makes us different. We look at what you need and together establish the best approach. So visit our web site and see for yourself.
For future posts, if you have a specific topic you would like us to comment on, drop us an e-mail - allanparkbusinessservices@hotmail.co.uk and we'll include our response in a subsequent post.
Allan Park Business Services - Solutions tailored to Your Business Needs