A recent report by Begbies Traynor showed nearly 600,000 UK Businesses were in ‘significant financial distress’ in the last quarter of 2021. With the enhanced restrictions through December, and so many people succumbing to Omicron, sadly that number is likely to be higher still in Q1 of 2022.

That’s a huge number!

It’s very likely that one of your suppliers or main customers is going to be in that group.

How can you protect your business?

It’s a sad fact that more businesses fail as we come out of a recession than during one, and the pandemic is going to be no different. Courts were closed so legal action couldn’t be taken against debtors, and the support that was available kept many businesses afloat that are now feeling the full impact of two years of disruption.

You may need to act now to ensure you don’t join those statistics. 

If you’re worried, please get in touch, but there are lots of areas that you could be thinking about in the meantime, as follows:

1. Get any debtors under control, and keep up with your credit control process. There’s a lot of information here to ensure you’re looking at things in the right way.
2. Make sure you’ve got signed Terms and Conditions for every customer. If you need to enforce them, a court will want to see that they agreed to the contract that you say they did! Paying a solicitor to review them is a worthwhile investment.
3. Get a grip on your cash; know where it’s going and be absolutely sure that you’re not wasting any of it. Again, there’s more information here if you need it.
4. Get to the cash as quickly as possible in your business. Look for deposit payments, stage payments or to reduce any credit terms you offer as standard.
5. Can you find a way to protect or improve your supply of product? Many businesses have customers, but are struggling to get the stock they need to satisfy that demand. It may be time to get creative if you can!
6. Avoid being too reliant on one or two primary customers if at all possible. It’s great to sign a big new contract, but if those invoices don’t get paid, you could be in trouble. More, smaller customers may need more support or cause you more administration, but in difficult times your risk is spread across a wider area.

Our Rebound Resources were launched to help businesses come out of the first Lockdown as strongly as possible, but they are still hugely relevant now. Subjects covered include the following:

• Monitoring your Cash Flow
• Improving your Cash Position
• Budgets for your Business
• Your new Breakeven position
• Refining your Pricing
• Transform your Business with the right Apps
• Your Debt Collection Process
• Your Wider Team
• Maximising your conversions, maximising your Profits

PLEASE don’t suffer in silence if you’re concerned.

There are options, even when situations look really bleak. It’s more difficult though for a company to escape the worst if taking action is left too late. Please don’t delay picking up the phone or dropping us an email. When the chips are down, there’s absolutely no judgement from us, just the best advice and suggestions we can come up with to help you through in the most suitable way.