Getting Paid: Ensuring Customer Payment.

“Show me the money!”

Getting paid is surely a top priority for any business (especially in this economy), but it’s also one of the hardest things to accomplish. Making sure that customer transactions are seamless and reliable is a difficult task, but one that is crucial to mastering with regard to operating your business.

Finding more efficient ways to ensure payment is an issue for many entrepreneurs, making it hard to get a handle on cash-flow and budget projections. In fact, according to the latest American Express OPEN Small Business Monitor, 60% of business owners are experiencing cash-flow issues and 26% are now worried about paying their bills on time. Therefore, it’s increasingly important to recognize the tools and policies that can help you ensure customer payment, before things get out of control.

First, it’s important to take inventory of the payment methods you do offer, including those which suit your business best and cause you problems. You might also familiarize yourself with guidance provided by the government on accepting cash and checks. (For example, if you accept cash payment of over $10,000, the government requires you to file Form 8300 with the IRS to capture more information about the buyer.) And with regard to accepting checks, you should probably make sure that your business is rubber-check proof.

As many business owners know, performing payment collections is a necessary evil of conducting business. Here are some tips to make sure your customers pay their bills:

• Getting paid starts with the invoice – notably writing them and submitting them in a timely manner.
• Keep your invoices clean.
• Beat the payment deadline of your customers – know the accounting practices of your customers and beat their payment cycle when submitting invoices.
• Be prompt with your follow-up – timing your courtesy and collection calls.

Even if you practice due diligence when it comes to invoicing and requesting payment, you may need to indulge in a little creative thinking. The Wall Street Journal recently posted an article about the three best ways to make sure customers pay – in this article, the following methods were recommended:

1. Figure out your customers’ payment history – ordering an inexpensive report detailing a company’s payment history and profile.
2. Make it easy for them to pay.
3. Try mobile devices – supplying field workers with cell phones equipped with Bluetooth devices that allow credit cards to be swiped or punched in manually, granting fast and easy payment.

Identifying more efficient ways to accept customer payment and taking the time to get to know your customer’s themselves is no easy task, and it certainly takes time. But the more you know your cash-flow operations, the easier it will be to identify areas of risk and areas to improve. Speeding up your cash-flow deposits will surely make a wealth of difference to your bottom line.

…And if certain high-maintenance or late paying customers cause you to spend more time on them than it’s worth, you might consider filing for customer divorce.

Photo courtesy of Walter Knapp.

Small Business Holiday Planning.

Navigating the holiday season is not easy – particularly if you’re operating a business. Preparing your business for either an increase in traffic or lull can be daunting; regardless, it’s important to recognize the opportunities in front of you and prepare yourself accordingly.

Before setting out to structure preparedness, it’s likely a good idea to get a pulse on the market. The National Retail Federation is a great resource for understanding what makes both retailers and consumers tick. And as a small business owner (retailer or not), having a meaningful grasp on what consumers are thinking about this year is crucial to preparing yourself for a successful end of year.

For instance, the NRF’s recent 2009 Holiday Consumer Intentions and Actions survey found that consumers are aggressively looking for bargains, while retailers are greatly cutting back on inventory due to weak demand. The conductors of this survey also put together a list of the top ten trends for this year’s holiday season, as suggested by the survey results (categorized for small business owners between these Part 1 and Part 2 articles). Acknowledging these trends may allow you to focus your priorities on the type of tasks that will help your business be more profitable in the coming months.

So what do you do to avoid becoming extinct? Broadly stated, this article promotes the following six success tips for staying afloat:

1. Bank enough savings – to ride out this recession storm.
2. Emphasize good customer service – because personal customer relationships make up a key asset that small businesses have over big chains.
3. Strategize on attracting the deeper pockets – as price becomes more of a focus over quality this year, directing your efforts towards wealthier clients less affected by the recession may help to keep your business afloat.
4. Look to web and online opportunities – by means of an online presence (or store) that attracts more visitors or intrigue.
5. Watch your inventory – by finding products/services that can be delivered/offered within a few days to avoid stockpiling.
6. Try out affordable advertising and beef up promotions – with creative and targeted strategies.

Happy Global Entrepreneurship Week.

Happy Global Entrepreneurship Week! (November 16-22, 2009)

Throughout this week, participating countries across six continents are coming together to celebrate Global Entrepreneurship Week, an initiative to inspire young people to embrace innovation, imagination, and creativity. In these seven days, the goal is to inspire, connect, mentor, and engage young people (under the age of 30) to generate new ideas and seek out better ways of doing things.

During what has been stated as “the world’s most innovative week,” entrepreneurship will be introduced to millions of young people and innovation will be promoted as a vehicle that can take them anywhere. The vision to inspire innovation in youth began with British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and Carl Schramm, president and CEO of the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation. There are no geographic or socioeconomic boundaries to Global Entrepreneurship Week, and anyone can participate.

In this Business Week article, Jonathan Ortmans, the President of the Public Forum Institute and head of Global Entrepreneurship Week, and entrepreneur Vivek Wadhwa, outline why it pays to encourage entrepreneurship among young people around the globe. As they have stated, “[g]iven the opportunity to explore entrepreneurship as a career path, proper guidance, access to credit, and a cultural climate that makes risk far less intimidating and failure far less damaging, young people can unleash their potential and turn the marketplace into a generator of economic and social value.”

Check out the Global Entrepreneurship Week blog, get inspired, and become involved by registering your activity. To find out what activities are going on in your area, click here. Use this initiative to tap into the creative genius of our youth, mentor them, and encourage them to consider entrepreneurship as a career.

Photo courtesy of the Ewing and Marion Kauffman Foundation.

Networking.

Networking. Whether you’re in pursuit of new business or looking for a job, networking is crucial – particularly in these economic times. Because companies are advertising less and spending more time on improving operational efficiencies, word-of-mouth communication is likely your best bet for gaining a presence in front of the people you want to meet. And you don’t have to think of networking as just a business affair, personal networking is a good way to meet people who share your same interests as well.

After reading through a few articles about networking, everyone (as you can imagine) has their own spin on how to network and why it is important. In the end, it’s all about time and place. Put yourself in a place where your target audience or circle of influencers will be and attend events that match your personal interests. If you don’t show up, you are purposely missing that window of opportunity leading you closer to meeting your goal(s).

In general, it’s important to do the following:

• Create a networking strategy driven by who you want to meet, when, and where – use your personal brand and interests as a guide so that you stay on point. (i.e., industry group boards or committees, local organization volunteer efforts, Chamber of Commerce events, etc.)
• Control conversations by asking others questions about themselves, genuinely listening to what they have to say, and modifying your elevator pitch to integrate key points of the conversation in a way that solves one of their problems or creates a value added benefit for their clients.
• Think about networking as an avenue to build long-term relationships. Therefore, follow up with each person in a way that keeps you top of mind and relevant to their interests. (i.e., thank you cards, e-mail, LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, send related articles, request a coffee chat, etc.)

As you build your audience and meet more people, you will also need to consider what it takes to be an active member in the circles you have joined. Remember, you’re building long-term relationships – maintaining and sustaining these relationships is up to you. If you’re networking online, check out these helpful hints about staying in touch with your online circle of colleagues.

What about making contact with a busy person who seems out of grasp? It’s important to remember that busy people are busy for a reason – lots of people want to connect with them, either for business or personal reasons. They also triage communications based on their needs or perceived benefits. The less you are hung up on thinking that you’re entitled to a response or expect even a short moment of their time, the better your chances of connecting with them. Respect busy people for setting priorities, find the most efficient way to communicate with them, be direct, and create connections with their interests to add relevancy to your communication.

The reality is that networking is hard work. It takes time to research opportunities, attend events, listen genuinely, and follow up thereafter. But, hopefully, if you’re focused with your interests and intentions, you’ll create more opportunities for establishing deep relationships with the people or communities that can also help you succeed.

Photo courtesy of Incitrio > Brand Speak.

OMG – Managing millenials.

Millenials. They are the children of babyboomers. They have birth dates that range in and around 1980-2000. Politely stated, they have developed work characteristics and tendencies from doting parents, structured lives, and contact with diverse people. Directly stated, they are called the “Trophy Generation”, or “Trophy Kids,” a term that reflects the trend in competitive sports, as well as many other aspects of life, where “no one loses” and everyone gets a “Thanks for Participating” trophy – which symbolizes a perceived sense of entitlement. In reality, they are new breed of the American worker that is ready to attack everything you hold sacred: from giving orders, to your starched white shirt and tie.

Sounds like exactly your next line-up of new hires right? Yes, you are right – and this is a good thing.

I’ve read multiple articles that all use the following bullet points by Susan M. Heathfield, HR expert for About.com, to describe this so called new breed:

• Have developed work characteristics and tendencies from doting parents, structured lives, and contact with diverse people.
• Are used to working in teams and want to make friends with people at work.
• Have a “can-do” attitude about tasks at work and look for feedback about their performance frequently-even daily.
• Want a variety of tasks and expect that they will accomplish every one of them.
• Are positive and confident, and ready to take on the world.
• Seek leadership, and even structure, from their older and managerial co-workers, but expect that you will draw out and respect their ideas.
• Seek a challenge and do not want to experience boredom.
• Are used to balancing many activities such as teams, friends, and philanthropic activities.
• Want flexibility in scheduling and a life away from work.
• Need to see where their career is going and exactly what they need to do to get there.
• Are waiting for their next challenge (and there had better be a next challenge).
• Are connected all over the world by e-mail, instant messages, text messages, and the Internet (and thus can network right out of their current workplace if their needs are not met).

Now, do you feel like you need a sudden jolt of energy? Apparently you’re not alone because there are companies that are hiring consultants to teach them how to deal with this generation. Every gadget imaginable is practically an extension of their bodies. They multitask, talk, walk, listen, type, and text – all at the same time. And their priorities are simple: they come first. Positive and confident, millennials are ready to take on the world.

Profit from cash flow management.

I admit, I’m not an accountant. But I am intrigued with the idea that the effective management of a business’ cash flow could result in higher profits. Today, everyone seems to be scraping for what little funding exists. But what about making the most with what you have?

Here’s the deal. Even if you wanted to work with more money, a bank (or other source of funding) will only lend you money if it knows that you are in control of your business – because, at the end of the day, the bank wants to be repayed. So the first step to making more with what you have is  improving the quality, accuracy and timeliness of your financial statements. There are lots of tricks to the trade, but the theory behind this is not at all brain numbing. It’s simply this, you need to be diligent and efficient in recording information on a timely basis. And managing your cash flow isn’t a task that you do once and a while. A good cash flow manager reviews his/her business’ cash flow position daily, monthly, quarterly, and yearly. It’s a mindset, not just a concept.

Let’s back up and look at the big picture. As a broad standpoint, it’s important to:

• Accurately detail your planned monthly expenses.
• Examine the cash flow from each line of business or client.
• Update your monthly cash flow projections.

And yes, the above points are very broad. But the gist is that you take the steps to become financially literate. Financial literacy allows you to read the numbers, and the numbers tell you the story of the business, based on facts. For instance, if you are financially literate, you’d know the difference between profit and cash flow. (Click here for the answer.)

National Business Women’s Week.

This week marks National Business Women’s Week (October 19 – 23), and this is truly something to celebrate. I recently wrote about the influence of women business owners in my Small Business TV post, and this week grants yet another opportunity to give credit where credit is due. According to the Business and Professional Women’s Foundation,

“National Business Women’s Week provides an opportunity to call attention to women entrepreneurs, facilitate discussions on the needs of working women, share information about successful workplace policies, and raise awareness of the resources available for working women in their communities.”

Shockingly,  it was still legal to require a woman to have a male co-signer before receiving a business loan twenty years ago. That changed with the passage of the Women’s Business Ownership Act in 1988. This Act not only made the requirement of a male signature illegal, it also created the National Women’s Business Council, the Office of Women’s Business Ownership and the network of Women’s Business Centers around the country. (Find your local SBA Women’s Business Center here.)

To further promote why we honor women business owners this week, take note of these facts:

• 10.1 million businesses in the U.S. are owned by women.
• Women-owned businesses represent 30% of all U.S. businesses today, 40% of all private U.S. businesses.
• Women-owned businesses employ over 23 million people, 16% of all U.S. jobs.
• Women-owned businesses generate about $3 trillion in revenue.
• If women-owned businesses comprised their own country, they would have the 5th largest GDP in the world.

Given this information, it’s easy to recognize the influence of women-owned businesses in our economy. And it’s well known that recessions breed entrepreneurship, which supports economic recovery. So as the number of jobs held by women v. men tips in favor of women, the definition of work and family may finally become balanced. Hooray for women starting, sustaining, and working in women-owned businesses.

Read more at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/nanette-fondas/ipeaceful-revolutioni-the_b_326229.html

Read more at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/nanette-fondas/ipeaceful-revolutioni-the_b_326229.html

Photo courtesy of Jdong’s Flickr.

Business website success strategies.

Websites. They can be daunting. Most businesses have their own version, built with different infrastructures and with different functionalities. And haven’t you at some point been completely frustrated with a website – either by its lack of information or its lack of functionality? As a joke between my friends, we are often aghast at how hard companies make it for consumers to give them money.

On that note, let’s talk about those all to familiar issues that we have with bad websites. Entrepreneur had a great article recently entitled, “5 Things I Hate About Your Website.” It listed the following:

• Your contact information is not visible on your home page.
• You only offer me a fill-in e-mail form.
• You have no phone number.
• Your “About Us” page doesn’t tell when your company was founded, or by whom.
• Your “News” or “Press” page has no media contacts – or no information listed at all.

This is a great start to the discussion, but I can add a couple more myself. For instance, I’m always shocked when I receive an e-mail, after my order has been placed, to find out that there was no inventory to order in the first place. This is a basic back-end distribution functionality that should be a part of any retail website. Or when the only contact information listed is a link to upload an Office browser – I’d much prefer the actual e-mail address to copy/paste.

I’m sure I could come up with many other petty issues to discuss, but it’s a better use of time to talk about the successful strategies that make websites great. The whole point of building a website is to increase your return on investment – investment in your business and investment in your website. In theory, what strategies make it successful?

Do you know your strengths?

I’m obsessed with business books. At a book store, if I’m not swayed by cookbooks, I’m sure to be pilfering through anything related to business, management, entrepreneurship, etc. So when I was last at the bookstore, Tom Rath’s “Strengths Finder 2.0″ became the latest addition to my book pile.

I’ve read a lot about other business successes, what makes people successful, and the like. But I had never really thought about my own strengths. I think I’ve been spending the majority of my time trying to improve on what I know is not my strength. And that is pretty much the premise of the book – invest your energy in developing your strengths instead of making the correction of your deficiencies a priority. This right away sounds positive. I jumped right in.

The theory behind the book is genius. Recognize peoples’ strengths, develop them, and build successful teams by knowing each member’s strengths. I wrote about engaging employees a little bit ago, and this book further complements that theory. When a manager recognizes and focuses on an employee’s strengths, the employee’s satisfaction in their job shoots through the roof. Who wouldn’t want happy employees who utilize their strengths to contribute to the success of a business?

How do you find your strengths? Well, there is a convenient and easy-to-use website that walks you through an online personal assessment (about 30 minutes), which does not ask about your knowledge. If you bought the book, it should have a unique access code in the back to grant you access to the assessment upon registering. If not, their site walks you through the registration process otherwise. Thereafter, the site gives you a report of your top five strength themes, what they mean, and an action plan for developing them. And the book serves as a great reference guide. I found out that my strengths include the following five themes:

• Individualization
• Arranger
• Relator
• Achiever
• Futuristic

As the book mentions, most successful people start with a dominant talent, and then adds skills, knowledge, and practice to the mix. And when they do this, the raw talent serves as a multiplier. So why wouldn’t we all want to know our dominant talents as early as possible? After all, “every human being has talents that are just waiting to be uncovered.”

Go forth, discover, and enhance your talents. After all, the assessment measures your strengths - the results are guaranteed to be positive. Enjoy the ride and take pride in knowing that going in the right direction is within your grasp.

Photo courtesy of Goal Geek.

Spotlight on Business: Celebrated Chefs

A little over a week ago, I dined at Urbane in Seattle before heading to see Wicked at the Paramount Theater. I hadn’t actually planned on going to Urbane until passing by it earlier that day, curiously entering inside and spontaneously making a reservation. Boy am I glad I did. The food was fresh, creative, and tasty – and the restaurant also introduced me to Celebrated Chefs.

Celebrated Chefs is a program designed to raise money for non-profit organizations continuously and seamlessly. Its the brainchild of Bob Sarkie, along with the healthy support of Pete Higgins and Nicholas Hanauer. And given Mr. Sarkie’s experience with Entertainment Publications, Celebrated Chefs is the culmination of his work towards creating a smooth transaction-oriented program that supports non-profits. It practically makes all enrollees of the program continual donors, without even knowing it – and I mean that in a good way.

How does it work?

There are two ways to enroll in the Celebrated Chefs program, one of them is through their participating restaurants. The program essentially offers restaurants the opportunity to diversify their marketing and further contribute to their non-profit support. Celebrated Chefs has carefully handpicked these restaurants for being local, serving quality ingredients, and having an all around chef team of their peers. Inclusion is exclusive, price points vary, and all of these restaurants are worth trying at least once in your life.