RIABU - Tips and tools for getting paid on time by your customers

What Singapore SMEs can do to brace against a slowing economy

Singaporean SMEs have scaled back their expansion plans for 2020 due to a slower economy ahead. Companies have been advised to “watch and wait”.

RIABU’s Simon Littlewood tells Mark Laudi what measures they can put in place to guard against the potential impact of a slowing economy

Australia’s government to speed up payments, but will this solve late payments to SMEs?

The government in New South Wales will pay their suppliers in five days, down from 20 days. They are stepping up to plug the cash flow gap, but does it help late payments to SMEs?

RIABU’s Simon Littlewood tells Mark Laudi that big businesses need to step up and pay small businesses faster, and if automation and technology will help companies get paid faster.

RIABU recommends some new year resolutions for SMEs

In a poll by The Federation of Small Businesses (FSB), almost half of small firms in the UK are predicting a downturn in their performance for the near future.

RIABU’s Simon Littlewood tells Mark Laudi his advice to SMEs looking to start the year well on the receivables front, by looking at specific risk components and ironing out any difficult relationships with their customers.

How to deflect payment excuses before the recession hits

Late payments became prevalent in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis and have remained. Now that a recession is coming, it seems companies are going to continue using this excuse.

RIABU’s Simon Littlewood talks to Mark Laudi about how smaller companies can use consistent customer service as a way to deflect any excuses for late payment from their customers

SME owners: manage and screen your customers for better mental health

Surveys have shown that late payments have caused nine in 10 small business owners to suffer from mental health issues while it has also caused some SME owners to stop paying themselves salaries.

RIABU’s Simon Littlewood and Mark Laudi talk about how to manage and screen your customers so that you don’t need to suffer anguish and mental health issues over late payments.

Law firms suffer from late payments, too

Law firms experience difficulties in getting paid, with them never seeing payment for up to 14% of all hours billed to their clients, according to Clio’s 2019 Legal Trends Report.

It might be hard to sympathise with law firms who get ripped off by their customers, considering that they charge such high fees and have little assets in their business models.

RIABU’s Simon Littlewood and Mark Laudi talk about the value of having upfront discussions with your customer, and ask questions such as:

• Should there be a tier system for customer service experience to avoid delayed payments?
  
  
• Should there be upfront negotiations over ancillary charges?
  
  
• Do offering more payment modes result in more prompt payments?

When do you decide you cannot continue with a business anymore?

The Ogdensburg International Airport has been seeing delayed payments for its security force from the OBPA, the city’s bridge and port authority. OBPA is already three months behind on payments. This is an unfortunate case in which the payer and the payee are both struggling for cash.

RIABU’s Simon Littlewood and Mark Laudi talk about what you should do if your operations are three months overdue on payments to your suppliers, and at what point to decide that you cannot continue with the business anymore.

 

Construction of nuclear plant in Argentina halted because of late payments

Construction has stopped in a nuclear plant in Argentina because the government is late in its payments to the contractors.

Late government payments are an endemic problem in the construction industry and in many countries as governments run low on cash towards the end of the year.

RIABU’s Simon Littlewood and Mark Laudi dare to ask the question that is on everyone’s mind when they read about this - what happens when contractors don’t get paid? They do shoddy work. What happens when there’s shoddy work in a nuclear plant?

Failed SMEs in Singapore land owners in huge debt

Most business owners think only positive thoughts when they start their company, but when it fails, they usually end up with huge debts and can even lose the family homes they put up as collateral for loans.

RIABU’s Simon Littlewood and Mark Laudi talk about what new SME owners need to know about the invoicing process and managing relationships with their customers so that their businesses stand a chance of surviving.

UK SMEs are wasting millions of hours chasing late payments, but whose fault is this?

If you’re spending your early mornings and late evenings chasing payments, you’re not alone. SMEs in the UK spend 56.4 million hours a year chasing overdue payments, most of which is done after hours. And at any given time an SME has nine outstanding payments.

The phrase: “cash is oxygen” is often used to describe the small businesses, meaning they should get paid on time, all the time. But is it always the customer’s fault if payment doesn’t come on time? What can companies do to stop chasing payments?

RIABU’s Simon Littlewood and Mark Laudi talk about the need to manage your receivables and customers properly, and why if you find yourself always chasing payments, it’s always too late.