Business is hard. Bloody hard. Anyone who thinks otherwise is a fool and has clearly never owned one before. A slow week here, a tough month there, before you know it your landlord is demanding their rent, creditors are calling you wanting payment, final reminders and letters of demands are mounting up and there doesn’t seem to be any end in sight. If this sounds familiar I have some good news- you’re not alone. Owing money doesn’t make you a bad person- it makes you human. Here is what to do:
1. Be honest. Just tell them you don’t have it. Avoiding them and hoping it goes away is the worst thing you can do. I’ve never met a business owner that isn’t sympathetic to the plight of another business owner doing it a little tough.
2. Pay something. Just put $100 in their account each week, or just whatever you have spare. You don’t even have to tell them you’ve done it, just pay something. You’ve got their bank details, they’re on the invoice.
3. Respond. They tried calling? Call them back. Received an email? Email them back. Whatever you do, please just do not ignore them.
4. Apologise. I still for the life of me can’t understand why so many people have such an aversion to saying sorry. It literally is the single most powerful word you can use in this scenario.
5. Don’t promise something you can’t do. If you can’t guarantee you can pay them tomorrow, don’t promise it. If it’s not certain, don’t promise it.
6. Don’t make up a dispute that isn’t genuine. This is a HUGE one. As tempting as it might be to say you aren’t happy with their work or product, if you don’t mean it, don’t say it. So many people think that by saying they aren’t happy will justify them not paying, and this is just wrong on so many levels. By all means, if they didn’t deliver what they promised, or you genuinely don’t believe they deserve to be paid, then withhold payment until you are happy. But making up a dispute to make yourself feel better is just a cop-out.
Every single hour, of every single day, we witness firsthand the damage NOT doing the above does. Every debt sent to us probably could have been avoided. That is how important this stuff is.
Cheers guys and I hope it helps.