Images_Digital_Edition_November_2019

BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT www.images-magazine.com 44 images NOVEMBER 2019 Marshall Atkinson is a production and efficiency expert for the decorated apparel industry, and the owner of Atkinson Consulting and co-founder of Shirt Lab, a sales and marketing education company, with Tom Rauen. He focuses on operational efficiency, continuous improvement, workflow strategy, business planning, employee motivation, management and sustainability. atkinsontshirt.com A customer that doesn’t pay you isn’t really a good customer ■ Talk to a few key customers. Let them know about the expected change and ask them to review your materials for their opinions. Get their feedback. ■ Some customers might take exception. Have a plan to deal with this. Instead of a purchase order, ask them to place their order with a credit card. That company, organisation, school, or group probably buys from Amazon too. Discuss your change and help them understand what you are doing. Ask them: “Do you make purchases with a credit card?” Financial stability is what we are after here. It doesn’t matter how great your business model is, how wonderfully your website works, how many orders are in the system, or how profitable you are. You can’t survive if you can’t manage your company’s cash. As my Uncle Bill has always famously said, “Money greases the skids of life.” Who can argue with that? Get paid! his graphic designer create some signs to place on the wall. In his system, he changed some wording on the invoices. It’s been about three months since that Shirt Lab, and I talked to Bobby a few days ago about the switch and the reaction from his customers. Here’s what he told me: “It’s going great. I only had two customers really complain about it. It is surprising the traction it has had with my customers. What’s great is that everybody has adopted it, and it hasn’t been a big deal at all. In fact, because I’m a contract printer, even some of my clients have told me they wish they could go that route too. It’s amazing.” You can do it too One hundred percent upfront payment isn’t an isolated thing. Tons of shops do this. Just check out any Facebook group, and you will see many people in those groups talking about it. If you’re interested in changing to this policy here are a few things to think about: ■ Talk to your financial team or accountant. What would this change mean to the company? Imagine the impact it would have if your accounts receivable amount was always zero. ■ You can’t go halfway. It would confuse your customers and your staff on who is exempt. Just make the switch and go. Don’t look back. ■ For existing customers that are sending orders in, let them know what’s going on and give them some space to adjust. Bobby told me he sent out notices and let each customer have one order ‘the old way’ before they were required to switch. But after a cut-off date, every order that came in was the new 100% upfront on payment. ■ Put a sign on the wall and include wording in any customer-facing notice about the requirement – if it isn’t written it doesn’t exist. ■ Train your staff. You need them to not only get involved but to be a part of the process. Ask them to help.