Benjamin Franklin said that in this world only death and taxes are certain. And it seems he was right.
In this new article, Miguel Ángel Lacoma Cambra talks about something else that can also be taken for granted, besides death and taxes, from the point of view of the company's financial management: payments.
Payments always arrive on time . However, when it comes to collections, if they aren't in cash or in advance, we're playing with probabilities. That's why credit insurance , commercial risk information tools, surety bonds, etc., exist.
Why am I telling you this? So you can be prepared. Because while a payment might be delayed, it will arrive on time. Especially around this time of year. People tend to take vacations in the summer. Coincidentally, in my experience, those who go on vacation are always the ones responsible for making the transfers. And sometimes, there's no one else who can replace them in that simple and specific task.
But, on the other hand, pay attention: the person in charge of sending you the bills is never on vacation . Never. Those people never take vacations. A mystery I haven't been able to solve.
We have a great corollary: there is a good chance that your receipts will be delayed this summer, but no chance that your payments will be delayed.
So get ready, plan, and act.
I'm going to tell you about an experience I had a few years ago. It's curious because the events actually magnified the consequences of what I'm telling you.
I have a client who likes to spend a few weeks each summer in Galicia. The seafood, the Atlantic, the rain… I don't know exactly what it is, but there's something about it he likes . Because he goes back every year. Like his payments, he's always on time. And I think what he likes most is relaxing. Breaking the routine of work and disconnecting for a few days.
During his break, what bothered him most was getting calls from bank branches telling him a bill was due and he didn't have enough money in his account. And those bills couldn't be paid. You know, collections can be delayed, but a payment, never. Never.
Add to all this the fact that they were starting a kind of vacation before leaving, and since at that time they didn't attach importance to administrative tasks, they postponed them.
Where I wrote "administrative tasks," I should have more specifically written "invoicing recently completed work ." Because to take their vacation, they had to leave the client satisfied and fulfilled. And the client was even more satisfied if they took an extra month to send the invoice.
The customer was a regular and a repeat customer. He was more than satisfied. The problem was with the company , which was intentionally and unwittingly delaying payments. And meanwhile, the person responsible for sending the invoices was still working at full capacity in the middle of August. Typical of these people who, as I said, never take vacations.
Following the events of that summer seven years ago, I recommended they "change their mindset," as the trendy coaches say. Besides ensuring the customer was satisfied before the holidays, there was another vital objective for the company at that time: accumulating cash flow.
They had to invoice everything that was billable before the holidays. And send it for collection, as far as it depended on them, obviously. Because, even if the person in charge of transfers was on vacation, rather than returning receipts, with an issued invoice, you could discount it at the bank and get some cash in advance.
With this simple measure, your vacation can be much more peaceful , and your rest can truly be just that: rest. No more annoying calls from banks trying to disrupt the peaceful and relaxed life you enjoy on vacation.
