Never let your guard down

The pace of work certainly seems to be holding the same high rate of momentum off of the back of last year and now we find ourselves into the second half of February already!!

The headlines in the media may have changed from Recession to that of Brexit as well as Mr Trump!  BUT what remains ahead of us on the horizon in a business capacity, is still very much holding a great deal of uncertainty!!

In the hear and now, LPL who has always gauged a general feel across many sectors and industries due to the benefit of serving our 13,000 strong and loyal client base. It is in our opinion, based on feedback that expectations of growth and profit have been lowered in recent years. For some the ability to stay head above water has been the equivalent of growth in itself. Having said that slowly and surely business’s are realising that with focused hard work growth is possible and without having to rely too heavily on the banks support.

Therefore LPL feels as though it is our duty to remind our clients when giving credit to new or existing customers of the basic rule of (credit) law…… ‘Never let your guard down!’  Which LPL has promoted for..ever! As many of you would have heard me tell you.

The issues sometimes preventing us for securing the risk of providing credit still remain the same…..

Time! with too much to do and not enough time to do it in allows us to rely on the old excuse of “Well, we know this customer, they have always been a bit slow but they eventually pay! When in fact if you run a very simple and quick Credit Check you may be surprised to see a very different story?

The Powers that be! Whether it is the Boss or the sales team who ultimately make the final decision to give credit. LPL will stand firmly in the corner and support your Credit Control function in providing ‘Opinion’ and ‘Advice’. Two basic commodity’s which can safeguard your cash flow! Which for today it maybe fine but we safe guard it for tomorrow too, think about it?

Could you answer Yes to the following questions?

Do you know the credit position of your customers. accounts, returns, net worth etc?

Do you have written orders in place, confirming quotation, payment terms, authorised and signed by the correct person and not relaying on a verbal?

Do you have systems in place for ensuring overdue invoices are chased up immediately if they are not?

Do you have systems in place to ensure you have met customers requirements for when you invoice, and deal promptly with disputes?

As mentioned to you earlier the most important commodity you have with LPL is the benefit of our 38 years of expertise and experience to aid and assist with any credit related matter.

Now more so than ever it is vitally important to use LPL in safeguarding the risk of making sensible credit decisions or that of chasing overdue accounts sooner rather than later in a professional way.

Should you have any query whatsoever and you wish to discuss either with myself or one of our expert advisers then do not hesitate to get in contact.

With the finger on the Article 50 trigger and America’s new president aiming at anyone and everyone else!! here is to, what will no doubt be,  an interesting 2017

Kind regards

Gavin Levene MCICM

Director

LPL Commercial Investigations

020 8551 4019

glevene@lplgroup.com