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Recurring problems in our business
Is it me, or does everyone have recurring problems that come up… just when you thought you solved them for good.
I’ll start off with most ridiculous one first:
Late payments: Why is it, that customers (and I’m talking about school customers) feel it’s okay to not pay any invoices because the of school holidays?
One in particular has responded (by email) with something along the lines of "I can post a cheque when school starts again on 3rd September, so you should have it at the end of the week. Because of all schools being closed in the summer holidays people are not at work and our cheque book is in the safe."
Sods law and broken promises: More often than not, when we get a rush job, we order up something from our suppliers (with a day or so spare) and that’s the order that gets delayed or completely forgotten about. I’m looking at you, Blackburns!
Tell me it’s not just us…
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3 Replies
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Payment issues we have stamped out.
Deliveries yes. But we have a 10 working day policy for most things. Anything under that if it’s not a stock item I tell the customer our shipping times and if it goes missing in the post there is nothing I can do about it. It’s there risk.
But yes it’s always the ones you really need that turn up late. We’ve stopped putting things on a 24hr service as that seems to take longer in this neck of the woods. 5 days for a packet of hats once…
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I’m a firm believer of having a ‘workflow’, and it isn’t static thing, it often needs reviewing.
Mistakes (problems) happen, but if they keep recurring, it’s time to step back, find out why and try and reduce the chances of it happening again.
Even if it’s just deciding when you’ll take the deposit from a customer, how much deposit, at what point you confirm completion dates… it also acts as a great way to filter out time wasters.
quote Albert Einstein:Insanity – Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results -
We’re going to trial the deposit payments on school customers when it’s close to the holidays… which for me feels like all the time.
Either that or we will ensure if the payment date will fall due during holidays, our system will notify the sales staff with plenty of time.
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