Are you struggling with Accounts Receivable? Do your customers string you out on collecting money every time they can find a reason to do so?

Would your business benefit if you could go out and pick up checks for 50% of all your outstanding A/R tomorrow?

Most dealers wish they could shorten their time to collect, even from their largest customers they do business with all the time. The game is always about the “cash float”, especially from your financially savvy customers (or crooked ones!). The longer they keep YOUR money, the better they can float THEIR business

Well, here is one answer to your cash flow problems:3d illustration character_usherette

Meet Carol. Carol is your friendly, non-threatening, well-spoken, just pushy enough “squeaky wheel”.  I call her Carol because, well, Carol used to work for me when running our cabinet dealership years ago. Carol was worth her weight in gold.

Her job? In addition to watching the front of the store (showroom receptionist), she spent a good part of her time making phone calls to our customers about the money they owed us, and coordinating people to pickup checks from them as soon as they had one ready (especially the really large ones). This is how she paid her own salary. The cash flow “return” on the salary we paid her was SO MUCH better, it was like having a free receptionist.

How did she do it? Well, a few ways. Here’s what YOUR Carol needs to do.

Friendly Problem Solver

First – Carol is on a first name basis with your customer’s Accounts Payable  or other personnel. That’s because whenever your customer is late paying you she is on the phone with them finding out if there is a problem she can help solve, and getting a commitment for when the check will be ready. She’s so on top of making sure you get your money, that your customer’s people expect her call whenever they know they will be making a late payment. Some of your customers may know very well when they will be paying late, because they instruct their people to delay payment for “whatever” reason they can find. And Carol will find out exactly why.

When she finds out what the problem is, she communicates it directly to whomever in your company can resolve it the fastest, and then follows up AS SOON as it is resolved ready to pickup the check.

Time Shrinker

Your cash flow is so much better because Carol shrinks the timespan from the 1st day payment is late to the time you have the check in hand. And she shrinks it by a LOT. This is the place many dealers fall down. They don’t have the capacity or time to chase the money effectively because they’re too busy trying to sell more jobs or dealing with current ones.

No worries. Carol has you covered.

Squeaky Wheel

Your customers expect to hear from Carol. Not because they LOVE to talk to her, but because she’s like clockwork. She calls whenever she thinks money is delayed. Don’t get me wrong. She’s friendly. Not the kind of friendly where she chats with them for 20 minutes about nothing. She’s “business friendly”. They like to talk to her, but they know she’s about the business and her mission is to get a check.

That’s why Carol is your squeaky wheel. Your customers know that they will have to explain to Carol why they didn’t make the payment if they delay. And most customers pay the squeaky wheels first.

You’ll know when you have your Carol, because she is always at the TOP of that list at your customers, and your cash will be in the bank much sooner than without her.