Many people are starting their own enterprise, even in these difficult economic times. And Lincoln is the UK’s fastest growing city for new businesses. You have a skill, a product or an idea. But how do you convert a full order book into cash? BBC Dragons Den star Theo Paphitis summarised the issue as “profit is sanity; turnover is vanity”.
Credit control is the process of controlling payments coming into your business. Without it you have serious cash-flow problems, have to raise prices and become less competitive. Your business could fail.
When does credit control start? Your customer has to know your credit terms from DAY ONE. The best way to do this is by presenting a set of terms and conditions of business prepared by a lawyer who knows you and your business. This will inform your customers, for example, how and when to pay and the consequences of not paying, such as the interest you will levy on late payments.
Know your customer: Sounds obvious but it would not be the first time I have been instructed to collect a substantial debt based on a scrap of paper to the effect that “Big Rob” from the warehouse rang through an order for delivery to a site and he thought the home-owner would pay. If not, the builder. Maybe! If you are dealing B2B find out if it is an individual, partnership or company. Don’t be afraid to ask. Check them out on the internet. Try Companies House webcheck facility if you are dealing with a limited company.
Time limits: Adapt these to your type of business.
24 hours after you have supplied the goods or service, ring to check your customer is satisfied;
48-72 hours later, issue your invoice;
24 hours later ring to check the invoice has been received and is being processed for payment;
30 days after invoice start the letters: the first gives 14 days and the second gives 7 days. Politely but firmly asking for payment. The second letter escalates the urgency by referring to legal action. Now the invoice moves from what I call “pay when chased” to “pay when threatened”. There is no third letter;
At 60 days legal action is probably the only way forward now. Don’t leave it any longer.
Keep in touch: If your customer promises to pay by a certain date, write to them to confirm this; if the date passes without payment being received then ring them up straight away to find out what is going on. NEVER put this off.
Possible solutions: Offer a small discount for early payment. Agree instalments. Do your terms and conditions allow you to take back any oods not paid for?
The old excuses and what to say:
I seem to have lost your invoice: Ask if that is the only reason for non-payment? If not then it is a delaying tactic.
The cheque is in the post: Ask for details of the date of the cheque, its number and date of posting? If they cannot answer then it’s a lie.
The computer is down: Who is fixing it and when? How are the wages going to be paid?
We are waiting for a big customer to pay us and then we can pay you: Ask for the name of that big customer? If the money is definitely coming in then why can’t they get a bank loan on the strength of that certainty in order to pay you now?
Don’t overdo it: Section 40 of the Administration of Justice Act 1970 makes it an offence to harass a debtor “so as to cause alarm, distress or humiliation.”
The ultimate credit control tool: Not sending round your mate who is built like the proverbial brick out-house (see “Don’t overdo it” above). The ultimate form of credit control is full payment, up-front; cash. If you can get it!
Andrew Morley joined the legal profession in 1982 with a desire to put right injustice. Learning on the job whilst undergoing academic study, he entered private practice and qualified into the Fellowship of the Institute of Legal Executives in 1990, and joined McKinnells solicitors in Lincoln in 2004. Brought up in a village not far from Lincoln, Andrew is a keen cyclist and once completed the Lands End to John O’Groats ride for no better reason than is was there and it seemed like a good idea.
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A 38-year-old man from a North Lincolnshire village charged with murder will face an eight-day trial later this year.
Emergency services were called at 4.23am on Saturday, July 2 to reports that a man was seriously injured on South Parade in central Doncaster.
The 28-year-old victim was taken to hospital but was sadly pronounced dead a short time later.
A post-mortem examination found that he died of injuries to his head, chest and abdomen.
Formal identification of the victim is yet to take place, South Yorkshire Police said earlier this week.
Steven Ling, 38, of Park Drain, Westwoodside in North Lincolnshire, has been charged with murder and was remanded in custody to appear at Doncaster Magistrates Court on Monday, July 4.
Ling later appeared at Sheffield Crown Court on Tuesday, July 5 for a plea and trial preparation hearing.
No pleas were entered during the hearing, but an eight-day trial was set for November 28, 2022. Ling has now been remanded into custody until the next hearing.
The Lincolnite went on a ride-along with a Lincolnshire Police officer from the force’s Roads Policing Unit (RPU), which aims to disrupt criminals’ use of the roads and reduce the number of serious and fatal accidents.
The team will support the county response including local policing, neighbourhood policing and criminal investigation too.
Operations first began in Grantham in January this year and started in Louth earlier this week with a sergeant and nine PCs based in both locations.
The Lincolnite went out on a ride-along with PC Rich Precious from Lincolnshire Police’s Roads Policing Unit. | Photo: Steve Smailes for The Lincolnite
PC Rich Precious has been a police officer for 22 years after joining the force in 2000 and he recently rejoined the Roads Policing Unit, working out of Louth.
PC Precious, who also previously worked as a family liaison officer for road deaths for 16 years, took The Lincolnite out in his police car to the A1 up to Colsteworth and then back to Grantham. He described that particular area as “one of the main arterial routes that goes through Lincolnshire”.
PC Rich Precious driving down the A1 up to Colsterworth. | Photo: Steve Smailes for The Lincolnite
Speaking about the new Roads Policing Unit, he said: “It’s intelligence led policing, it’s targeted policing in areas that have been underrepresented in terms of police presence, on the roads certainly, over a number of years.
“We’re hoping that the development of this unit will help address that balance, and look towards using the ANPR system to prevent criminals’ use of the road, and to identify key areas or routes where there’s a high percentage of people killed or seriously injured on the road, what we commonly refer to as KSI.
PC Precious is helping to keep the roads safer in Lincolnshire. | Photo: Steve Smailes for The Lincolnite
When asked if he thinks the new team will help reduce the number of serious and fatal accidents in the county, he added: “That’s what the the unit designed for. Sadly, in Lincolnshire our road network does seem to incur a number of those KSI accidents year on year, and we need to reduce that.
“I’ve worked additionally in my roles as a family liaison officer on road death for 16 years, so I’ve seen first hand the impact that road death has on families and victims families.
“I know it’s important that we try and reduce those because, it’s very sad to see how a fatal road traffic collision can affect a family and the victims of that family.”
Marc Gee, Inspector for Lincolnshire Police’s Roads Policing Unit. | Photo: Steve Smailes for The Lincolnite
Marc Gee, Inspector for the Roads Policing Unit, told The Lincolnite: “Every day there will be officers on duty from both teams and they’ll cover the whole county or the county’s roads.
“Eventually, we’ll have nine police cars and we’ve got six motorbikes. We’ll be utilising them with as many officers as we can every day basically to make our roads safer and enforce against the criminals who feel like it’s okay to come into the county and use our road for criminal purposes.”
Lincolnshire’s Police and Crime Commissioner Marc Jones at the launch of the force’s Roads Policing Unit. | Photo: Steve Smailes for The Lincolnite
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