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As an independent supplier of Temporary Workers, Wote St Employment Bureau finds cash flow pivotal to our company’s well-being.

It’s one of the reasons that our terms for supplying temps are just 14 days. We have a legal obligation to pay our temps on time and why shouldn’t we; they are a valuable resource and should be rewarded appropriately. Over the last couple of years, we have noticed a gradual “stretching” of the terms by more and more customers; it’s hard out there.  So, we came up with the brain wave of asking our regular customer base (89 companies), if they would be interested in receiving a settlement discount for paying early.

To be honest, giving money back always brings me out in a cold sweat, so this took some gumption on my part.  I was amazed at the response – although I shouldn’t have been.  Only 1 customer said they would seriously consider it.  Everyone else preferred the time to pay.

The positives to be drawn from this include the fact that our pricing is affordable and that more importantly it really is good to talk to your customers.  We could have introduced this measure thinking we were offering a better service, when in fact it added no benefit to our Clients whatsoever.

The other conclusion is that people respect good service; they just need an appropriate amount of time to pay for it. So, Wote St Employment Bureau won’t be introducing settlement discount, but we do need to keep our debtor days to a minimum. 

It’s back to the drawing board and the credit control calls – if anyone has any answers, send them on a postcard to…….. Seriously speaking – it’s good to talk, tell us what works for you.