Small Business Funding
One of the basic problems of small businesses is cash-flow. One of the most insidious situations is the one when you start getting long and painful late payments. Mode of payments available for us, and one of the easiest are the credit cards, and the debit cards. Another very safe way of getting paid could be by a cross-cheque, with the name of the entitled written with the account number, either mailed or provided by hand. One way to get paid on time is to even out irregularities and look for clients who can guarantee you payments on time, this will help in better cash-flow.
The best way to get assured and on time payments is by the plastic card, such as the credit or debit cards. This is due to the rapid online system created by the credit card companies. You’ll have a slight charge on the sales made by cards, but those will be negligible in front of the time and money which would have wasted due to the late payments. It is a win-win situation, even if the customer delays payments, you’re not the one suffering. In cases where payments are made by cheques, there is a slight chance of getting late. It could be due to the bank policies, or insufficient funds in the customer’s bank account. But the advantage one has is the cheque itself which is the proof that the person is liable to pay. So considering payments by cheque could be considered as a secured mode of payment. One way is to talk about the payment terms upfront in case of a corporate client. It is important that you explain to the client the terms of payment and why it is important to be on time, for which it is important that the customers receive their invoices on time so that the payments could be made on time well. Cases where customers do not like to make payments via credit cards or by cheque, than provide them with other modes as well. This could generally be in the cases where the amount is quite large, and makes the customer uncomfortable. In this case look for finance companies which are ready to provide small loans, so that the customer could be provided with the facility of financing as well for the products that would have been out of their reach. Even in this case you get your payment on time and its financing company which will have to go after the customer.
I believe that the one of the most suitable mode of payment could be by a card or in the most likely situation cash. There could be no set backs for getting payments in cash accept for the unwanted situations of a robbery. Keeping too much cash at a time at a place is not a suitable idea, due to the risks involved. Which makes the credit/debit cards the best option. The risk, and the effort involved is quite low. The payments are directly debited to the account, and you are convinced that you’ll get your payments. In the case where online trading is involved, credit card is the best available resource to be assured of payment, because it is secured. Considering the fact that now most of the people prefer sitting at home a paying online through a secured and fast method such as credit cards. It even allows the businesses to receive payments without any hassle, and even in certain cases reducing costs. Cheque is another decent mode for payment because even in this case the risk of getting robbed is omitted. But one needs to be careful before accepting cheques from unknown customers; cheques should be usually accepted only from the people whom you have got a certain track record or in severe cases where there is no other option available.
But with keeping all the risks involved aside, the best and the fastest way to get paid is by cash. It omits all the probabilities of being cheated, like with the cases of fake cards, or fake cheques. The moment customer decides to purchase the product and pays, the same moment you earn what you have been working for. It Is indeed the fastest mode of payment available.
Faraz Ali
