How successful businesses beat the Christmas cash flow blues

Christmas. It conjures many emotions, from relief at the upcoming break from work to dread over chasing bills. You know the feeling: there are bills to pay, but your clients are already ramping up for summer. It could be they are waiting for payment from a client themselves, or their business is simply struggling with its own cash flow. Whatever is at play: you’re staring down the Christmas cash flow blues.

The Christmas summer holiday period is a four – five week break from business as usual for a large number of businesses. It’s not uncommon for owners to end up going without pay during this time. Some businesses even max out their credit cards to solve cash flow problems during the holiday period. Even if you haven’t experienced this extent of cash flow blues in your business, you’ll be aware that cash gets scarce this time of the year. Do you have cash flow management processes in your business? How do you ensure clients don’t pay you slowly (or wait until the new year to pay)?
There’s still time to review your processes before holiday mode kicks in.

Talk to one of our specialist ledger managers today.

• Issue new invoices earlier than you normally would – get billing fast!
• Offer flexible payment options – including fee funding if you are a professional adviser.
• If you need to, consider offering an interest free fee funding option.
• Prepare a three-monthly budget for the holiday period.
• Talk to your suppliers about the possibility of delaying or spreading payments to them.
• Utilise a dedicated accounts receivable resource/specialist supplier to improve payment speed. Check out  smartAR Virtual Ledger Management service for more information.
• Get paid faster by offering payment options via your own branded online payment page. You can integrate this page onto your website, and showcase ‘pay now’ buttons and links via your invoices, statements and reminder emails. By making payment seamless from any device, it will speed up your payment collection process.

Christmas break doesn’t have to be stressful. Successful businesses have a robust cash flow strategy in place that takes the pain out of getting paid on time.

Beat summer’s cash flow blues with smartAR. Book a call with our friendly team to find out how our fee funding service can help your business get paid faster.