What
do you like about managing cash flow with Clients &
Profits?
A recent survey asked: What do you like about managing cash
flow with Clients & Profits? Their answers explain why
so many shops use it as their one, and only, agency
software.
CASH
FLOW Q&A
When is the right time to write off a client's unpaid
invoice? Get answers to this and other important questions,
along with some guaranteed
great ideas.
CLIENT
INVOICE AGING REPORT
How to know what's outstanding, pay what's due, and plan
for the future
A detailed Report showing the individual client invoices
whose grand totals appear in the Cash Flash Client
Balances.
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Click the link below to download the complete Acrobat-based
version of the Trafficking newsletter:
Cash
Flow
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By Judith
Hector
W hen the dot-com bubble burst in mid-2000, agencies took
it in the shorts. Big-time. But step back from the
write-offs and red ink and look at the underlying cash flow
lesson. The main reason, maybe the only reason, dot-coms
tanked is bad cash flow management. Not to vilify them --
some dot-coms are indeed profitable and their collective
growth fueled a terrific economic expansion -- but overall,
the two-rule lesson is this: get your income as soon as
possible and make sure there is cash to pay the bills when
they are due.
"Five years ago times were good so I managed my revenue by
watching sales to make sure income was coming in steadily.
Now my business paradigm has changed," says Roxanne Cowan,
controller for Rutherford Bolen Group in Campbell, CA.
"Every morning I check my bank balance so I can release
checks."
Planning costs and monitoring your revenue stream is the
foundation of good cash flow management. Clients &
Profits has many built-in features to get you started, from
budgets to automatic e-mail to client and financial reports
as well as invoice choices for every scenario. The first
step is to develop a strategy to manage cash. This includes
establishing budgets, invoicing and collections processes,
payment strategies, and investment options for idle cash
(because, of course, cash should never be idle!).
Sloppy budgets don't help
The biggest part of planning cash flow is budgeting.
Budgeting is hard work, and a lot of shops don't bother
doing it, or they do it with loose numbers. Sloppy budgets
don't help, so let's break down the process and tighten up
the numbers:
First, know your costs. There are two types of costs, fixed
and variable. Fixed costs are ones that don't go up or down
as the volume of business changes (like rent and salaries).
Variable costs change as the amount of work you do changes
(like paper and long-distance phone calls). To budget for
these, you need to determine how much they change and
whether they go up or down (i.e., will you get a volume
discount if you use more) and what the relationship is to
sales.
Continued on the next
page
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Who's
the debt collector at your shop?
It's a
job that no one really wants to do. But it helps to know who
is best suited to be the debt collector.
TIPS FOR GETTING
PAID FASTER
Getting paid faster is the result of taking the right
steps at your shop and getting clients to do the same.
Here's
how . . .
Squeezing
Vendors: Get the most from suppliers
At the grocery store,
it's how you choose the most delicious fruit. Why not apply
the same method to secure the best possible terms from your
vendors? Squeeze 'em!
WHY
BUDGETS MATTER
In today's business environment, an entrepreneur is most
likely to succeed when using a budget to measure business
performance. A budget forecasts cash flow -- how money will
move through your business -- and is the dollars-and-cents
implementation of your business plan.
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