December 4th, 2013.
Business relationships – worth their weight in gold!
It doesn’t matter what your product or services are, without strong business relationships you will find that you are likely to struggle. Having a good working relationship with your customers and clients can drastically increase your sales and help you succeed.
Importance of a good relationship
There are a huge range of benefits when it comes to building good relationships. One of the most obvious is for B2C, as having great customer relations will encourage them to come back again. They’re also much more likely to tell their friends and family about your company, sending more business your way.
For B2B companies, a good relationship is even more important, as getting friendly with your suppliers may reap rewards such as discounted rates, partner credit and even sharing connections. Developing these types of relationships takes time and effort, but you’ll find that they pay for themselves in the long term.
Years to build, seconds to destroy
Reputation and relationships are funny things; you could have years providing a great service with excellent customer service and then one slight could ruin it all. One of the most common things that creates problems in these situations is money. It could be that a client hasn’t paid you for your products or services, which then puts a lot of strain on the relationship.
Without proper management this could escalate quickly, ruining the bond that you’ve taken the time to build and often eliminating the chance of working together in the future. If this has happened to you then the easiest way of dealing with the money struggle is by enlisting the help of invoice factoring brokers.
Money doesn’t matter
While that’s not strictly true, money doesn’t matter as much as your strong business relationship does! If you find that someone you’ve been dealing with for years is having trouble paying up on time then invoice factoring can give you the finance you need. The factoring company will give you a percentage of the invoice when it is first confirmed and then they will chase up your debtor to pay the bills.
This can help take the pressure off you as a company, both financially and in terms of your business relationship. If you’re not constantly chasing up unpaid bills and feeling the strain of having missed payments then you are less likely to get angry and make decisions you later regret. When they’re chased up it will be by the factoring company, removing the emotion from the situation and asking in a respectable, professional manner.
Encourage growth
Factoring also allows you to have income at a time when you would not normally have it. So if the invoice is set at the beginning of the month and you expect pay at the end, invoice factoring gives you money throughout the month that can drastically increase your growth. This extra financing can help you expand and increase your business, which in turn will mean that you will probably require more from your clients – therefore increasing both businesses.