Keep Your Business Healthy by Getting Paid Fast

One of the top challenges that we face in the staffing industry is getting paid for our services. It shouldn’t be such a headache. Staffing firms find themselves in a cash crisis when waiting out extended payment terms or late payments from customers and as a result, they are unable to make payroll, provide benefits for employees and meet tax requirements. 

Aside from the cash flow impact, time chasing payments is time taken away from recruiting new candidates and securing new placements preventing some companies to grow their business.

A new survey by Melio and YouGov filled between March 26, 2021 and April 7, 2021. Completed by 1,002 U.S. B2B small businesses shows the following key findings:

  • 55% of small businesses think their clients are deliberately delaying payments
  • 50% say late payments should incur significant interest
  • 59% say they have direct experience with late payments
  • 44% say late payments are a challenge affecting their business
  • 47% say late payments have gotten worse due to COVID-19

Melio’s survey shows that due to late payments small businesses have or have considered: 

  • Delayed hiring (40%)
  • Delayed purchasing inventory (39%)
  • Cut employee hours (36%)

It also reveals that if they were paid on time, they could have:

  • Invested in growing their businesses (64%)
  • Paid back and lines of credit more quickly (58%)

Here are some tips on how to get paid in time:

  • Maintain great client relationships: Maintain a good relationship with your clients. A client that feels like more than just a revenue stream will want to do more business with you and as a result, will pay you on time.
  • Invoice on time: It should go without saying, but if you want your clients to pay on time, you need to invoice them on time. The sooner you get them that bill, the sooner they can pay you.
  • Use cloud-based services: Cloud-based accounting automation software help agencies stay on top of their accounting with some advantages that the old method lacks.
  • Stick to a payment schedule: If you expect to get your payments regularly, you need to invoice your clients regularly. You maintain the same, consistent calendar. One of the top challenges that we face in the staffing industry is getting paid for our services. It shouldn’t be such a headache. Bill was designed by a busy staffing agency to radically improve back-office payment processes and to ensure that invoices are in perfect order before sending them to customers/clients. 

One important thing you can do to improve your payment processing is to migrate from manual accounting to automated accounting. At Bilflo, we find ways to help staffing agencies become more efficient and improve their current process to make room for growth.

See how our integrated solution works by checking out our resources:

Source: Melio