In the last economic downturn for your industry, did your bad debt increase materially? While on the surface, customers not paying may seem bad for business. It leads to lost revenue and potentially lost customers, which ultimately will hurt your bottom line. Yet, this increase in bad debt during the downturn can actually show that you …

If your customers are experiencing financial difficulties, they may suggest changing their credit terms with you. Other times it may be you who suggest changing the terms in order to reduce risk. One arrangement to be wary of though is any in which you supply the goods on a consignment basis. This may seem to …

As it becomes easier and cheaper to do business in other countries, you may begin to look outside of the United States in order to expand your sales. While this can help your bottom line, it also brings its own set of problems that you do not typically have to deal with. Here are a …

Before establishing a line of credit with a customer, you should always require a thorough credit evaluation. It is key to mitigating risk to your bottom line and provides the foundation for a good business relationship. Every good credit application should require the following information: 1.Business name and Officer name(s) 2.Type of entity (i.e., partnership, …

More and more business is being doing online and in the cloud. Yet, for some reason, many customers still love to receive their invoices by mail. This can not only cost you in terms of labor and shipping, but can actually slow down the payment process. Switching to electronic invoices can save your company money …