As we've said before, time is money. With that in mind, the last thing you or your sales reps want to do is spend time with a client who:
Timing is also everything. Your salespeople need to be able to identify if the client meets all of your qualifiers and is ready to buy.
Yesterday, the LA Times reported "'Work from Anywhere'" is Here to Stay" noting that tech companies are leading the way to making remote work permanent for their employees. IBM's CEO also stated that even with a predicted COVID vaccine, remote work would continue. It's not a surprise that for technology or digital marketing companies, remote work will be the norm, even after the pandemic. What was a bonus for employees before, has now turned into cost savings for these businesses.
Small businesses and startups must think on their feet, and that includes getting their accounts receivables paid quickly. Business relationships are an integral part of the success and growth of these companies. Protecting these relationships should be a part of the collections process as well.
In the age of social media and rapid-fire news stories, it's important for businesses to consider their brand reputation. If your accounting team outsources its bad debt or unpaid receivables to a collections agency, it's also important to protect your brand. Quite simply, a negative experience with a collections company could sour business relationships and your branding.
Communication, especially in the time of remote work and virtual meetings, has never been more important. As a freelancer, agency or business owner, you may also feel distracted or overwhelmed when juggling work, clients and working from home. If you've found client communication especially challenging recently, we've created a few example scripts that we hope will help you.
A recent report by Freelancer.com revealed that freelance jobs increased over 25% in the 2nd quarter of 2020. With the continuation of uncertainty in the pandemic, employers are looking for a more flexible and remote workforce, even replacing some full-time positions with independent workers. Striking out on your own can be daunting but it can be done, and quite successfully.
For this post, we turned to the freelancers on Twitter to learn some hard-earned advice.
Whether you're working for an company or on your own, the thought of saying 'no' to a client can be panic-inducing. It can be especially stressful if you're starting your own business or trying to grow your new business. The good news is that there are particular situations that actually call for a resounding negative response. When you say "no," you can feel like you're doing what's right for you and your business.
The pandemic has highlighted businesses that chose to switch up their business strategy in order to remain profitable. Retailers have found new ways to sell to consumers, such as The Gap's highly successful pivot to selling masks, and many manufacturers are turning to a DTC (direct to consumer) model. Any crisis is a true test of agility for entrepreneurs and large enterprises alike, and the COVID crisis is definitely testing most companies around the globe.
Once your sales team has built enough trust to land a new client, the onboarding process will lay the groundwork for the ongoing client relationship. This is the time that the client is open to you and, at the same time, cautious of your next steps. It's important that you hit the ground running (or even before signing the agreement!) so the client feels an immediate sense of relief.
No matter the type or size of your business, accounts receivable and collections is a valuable part of your operations and cash flow. B2B (business-to-business) accounts receivable and collections, however, is very different than B2C (business-to-consumer) for a number of reasons. In this post, we will uncover the differences between these two types of businesses and how their receivables and collections processes are different.
