[Jack Wallace]

As per normal for the time of year my cash flow has slowed right down.

I always assume its down to many customers being away on holiday, anyone else notice it? I am at about 3.5k outstanding at the moment, about a grand up on normal. 
I dont worry anymore but do find it frustrating.

[Sean Dyer]

3.5 k??

wow if you have a big firm and turning 1k a week + then fair enough but for one man its time to collect !

[dazmond]

mine always slows up a bit in the summer holidays and usually first month after xmas but no where near £3500!

you must have one hell of a round to be owed that much!id be ringing around or knocking them doors pronto!!

are you mainly commercial?sounds a lot of money to be owed mate.

and do you collect?sounds like you dont!! : :

[Dave Anderson]

This time of year always seems to slow down for me....but knowing this makes me a little quciker off the mark chasing the debts...

3,5k sounds a lot but it's not totally out of this world for a busy w/c...with dom & com.

Dave.

[david watts]

got a fist full of cheques and nat west wont take em :
they have window cleaning service and initials wrote so no good been ok for last ten years though :

[Jack Wallace]

We are 95% domestic,
This happens a couple of times a year, as dazmond says, Christmas is the other time.

I stopped collecting years ago; it was the best move I made. It was hard to start with but once your cash flow is used to the amount outstanding you should not even notice it until times like this.

I made the mistake of going out to collect a few who were late once, they paid no problem but then expected me to do it again so I soon stopped that.

As my business has grown so has the amount outstanding but I don’t worry as it’s all relative, as long as I keep an eye out for persistent non payers it works fine. No one ever goes more than 3 cleans. (well the odd one occasionally slips through the net)

My time is better spent doing other things, (or relaxing). I don’t like spending hours of unproductive time collecting.

[dazmond]

i take it you ve got staff then jack?!!

im a one man band with most of my round in the same area.the furthest i go is about 8 miles away.i also have a lot of very compact work so collecting for an hour or so once a week and SAE for stand alones and custys that pay on the day(quite a lot!)my cash flow is pretty good all year round.

ill never moan again when im owed a fair bit of money(for my round!)ill just think of you jack and the 3 and half grand!!!

[Jack Wallace]

i take it you ve got staff then jack?!!

im a one man band with most of my round in the same area.the furthest i go is about 8 miles away.i also have a lot of very compact work so collecting for an hour or so once a week and SAE for stand alones and custys that pay on the day(quite a lot!)my cash flow is pretty good all year round.

ill never moan again when im owed a fair bit of money(for my round!)ill just think of you jack and the 3 and half grand!!!

Ha ha yeh you do that, anytime you want to know how much just let me know    George currently reads £3752.50 but I have not processed today’s BACS yet.

Yes I do employ, 2 at the moment.
When I was on my own I used to go out collecting and actually enjoyed it as I got to see customers who otherwise I never saw, but as my business grew it became apparent that collecting was not a good idea for many reasons, least of all I would now have to go out every night for hours.
I would recommend to anyone the benefits of not collecting.

[Window Washers]

i take it you ve got staff then jack?!!

im a one man band with most of my round in the same area.the furthest i go is about 8 miles away.i also have a lot of very compact work so collecting for an hour or so once a week and SAE for stand alones and custys that pay on the day(quite a lot!)my cash flow is pretty good all year round.

ill never moan again when im owed a fair bit of money(for my round!)ill just think of you jack and the 3 and half grand!!!

Ha ha yeh you do that, anytime you want to know how much just let me know    George currently reads £3752.50 but I have not processed today’s BACS yet.

Yes I do employ, 2 at the moment.
When I was on my own I used to go out collecting and actually enjoyed it as I got to see customers who otherwise I never saw, but as my business grew it became apparent that collecting was not a good idea for many reasons, least of all I would now have to go out every night for hours.
I would recommend to anyone the benefits of not collecting.

great point,

as long as the flow of debt does not run over a months takings then I would class money owed a good debt.
if thats over a months money I would be getting itchy feet

[Jack Wallace]

i take it you ve got staff then jack?!!

im a one man band with most of my round in the same area.the furthest i go is about 8 miles away.i also have a lot of very compact work so collecting for an hour or so once a week and SAE for stand alones and custys that pay on the day(quite a lot!)my cash flow is pretty good all year round.

ill never moan again when im owed a fair bit of money(for my round!)ill just think of you jack and the 3 and half grand!!!

Ha ha yeh you do that, anytime you want to know how much just let me know    George currently reads £3752.50 but I have not processed today’s BACS yet.

Yes I do employ, 2 at the moment.
When I was on my own I used to go out collecting and actually enjoyed it as I got to see customers who otherwise I never saw, but as my business grew it became apparent that collecting was not a good idea for many reasons, least of all I would now have to go out every night for hours.
I would recommend to anyone the benefits of not collecting.

great point,

as long as the flow of debt does not run over a months takings then I would class money owed a good debt.
if thats over a months money I would be getting itchy feet

So would I, But I am still within my comfort zone, so providing this dip in flow is no worse than previous years I will still sleep ok. for now 

[Window Washers]

i take it you ve got staff then jack?!!

im a one man band with most of my round in the same area.the furthest i go is about 8 miles away.i also have a lot of very compact work so collecting for an hour or so once a week and SAE for stand alones and custys that pay on the day(quite a lot!)my cash flow is pretty good all year round.

ill never moan again when im owed a fair bit of money(for my round!)ill just think of you jack and the 3 and half grand!!!

Ha ha yeh you do that, anytime you want to know how much just let me know    George currently reads £3752.50 but I have not processed today’s BACS yet.

Yes I do employ, 2 at the moment.
When I was on my own I used to go out collecting and actually enjoyed it as I got to see customers who otherwise I never saw, but as my business grew it became apparent that collecting was not a good idea for many reasons, least of all I would now have to go out every night for hours.
I would recommend to anyone the benefits of not collecting.

great point,

as long as the flow of debt does not run over a months takings then I would class money owed a good debt.
if thats over a months money I would be getting itchy feet

So would I, But I am still within my comfort zone, so providing this dip in flow is no worse than previous years I will still sleep ok. for now 

its holiday season m8, people cant afford them but all seem to be on them. I saw three people today when working which is odd, I blame the sun holidays 

[Jack Wallace]

i take it you ve got staff then jack?!!

im a one man band with most of my round in the same area.the furthest i go is about 8 miles away.i also have a lot of very compact work so collecting for an hour or so once a week and SAE for stand alones and custys that pay on the day(quite a lot!)my cash flow is pretty good all year round.

ill never moan again when im owed a fair bit of money(for my round!)ill just think of you jack and the 3 and half grand!!!

Ha ha yeh you do that, anytime you want to know how much just let me know    George currently reads £3752.50 but I have not processed today’s BACS yet.

Yes I do employ, 2 at the moment.
When I was on my own I used to go out collecting and actually enjoyed it as I got to see customers who otherwise I never saw, but as my business grew it became apparent that collecting was not a good idea for many reasons, least of all I would now have to go out every night for hours.
I would recommend to anyone the benefits of not collecting.

great point,

as long as the flow of debt does not run over a months takings then I would class money owed a good debt.
if thats over a months money I would be getting itchy feet

So would I, But I am still within my comfort zone, so providing this dip in flow is no worse than previous years I will still sleep ok. for now 

its holiday season m8, people cant afford them but all seem to be on them. I saw three people today when working which is odd, I blame the sun holidays 

Maybe if I got all my money in I could afford a holiday  Looks like its the back garden again this year. :

[Dean Taberner]

Ive currently got just under 10k owed out,

Tax bill time too

[geoffreyspecht]

ive got £4000 outstanding

[ok cleaning]

3,5 k outstanding for a domestic window cleaner  sounds a bit tooooooooo much you tink £15 a customer  it is well over 200 hundred customers i have been cleaning windows for over 15 years and  can easly notice someting goig on here dream world

[Paul Coleman]

Mine is nudging £2k and I'm a sole trader.  I could do with a cash injection too (couldn't I always) with a tax bill and a holiday looming.

[Spruce]

Hi
IMO the market is changing and we need to adapt. The window cleaner usually is quite low on the payment priority list for many of our customers and hence the reason why both of us collect on a Friday evening. As money gets tighter your debt will increase as it does with all businesses. Ours has increased as customers say they don't have money when we collect. At one time we had mininal debt owed by maybe 5 or 6 customers but it's now between 15 and 25 each week after we've collected. Its 38 as of this afternoon and about 17% of our weekly turnover - which IMO is too high. I've always been a bit paranoid with regard to debt.

IMO again you all (especially your employees) need to actively take responsibility to reduce your outstanding debts or you could find yourself in real trouble with cash flow in a few months. The current recession hasn't started to really bite yet. Customers who we find pesistently difficult to get money out of are being dropped.
Spruce

[Dougaldum]

ive got £3.50 owing me and if i don't get it in i can't sleep

[dazmond]

jack i have to laugh at the last line of your post!I WOULD RECOMMEND THE BENEFITS OF NOT COLLECTING!!

eh....?? ???and what benefits are that then?BEING OWED 3 AND HALF GRAND??

ill stick to collecting!!!


regards

dazmond

[Dave Anderson]

Why is it that when someone posts a figure all the ney sayers jump out and call the poster a dreamer? just because something has not occurred in your world does not mean it's not possible.

I'm a one man band, have 247 customers (mostly 8 weekly) at present and a little over a week ago I had just over 4k in debts..now whilst that is nothing to boast about..it could be that I had just worked very hard the previous 6 weeks and a few of  my com customer are still on 30 days to pay...so perhaps not in your world but still possible.

The thing that makes most companies successful is not so much the product but the work behind it.

Dave.