Name: LCSE Ltd
City: Birmingham
Website: http://www.lindsaycs.com/
Cash is the oil in your business engine. Without it your engine will seize up and die.
We have always based our cashflow management on the following:
• Relationships
• Systems
• Processes that are bound by trust backed up by paper (written agreements made while relationships are good).Relationships
Informal – we have formal and informal ways to ask questions of prospective clients and suppliers that identify their core values (we're trained coaches and NLP practitioners). Our gut instinct is often a very good guide that saves us money in the long run. This also paves the way to understand how other people and organisations really operate so we can navigate through tough times – ours or theirs.
Formal – ranging from profile tools to credit checks. We set thresholds for putting various checks in place commensurate to the level of financial risk associated with the relationship. This can then be formalised in a written agreement or be used to assess if standard terms and conditions fit the situation.
Systems
Systems, particularly electronic systems, don't sleep and can keep us aware of where we are and, ideally, where we're headed. Systems ranging from accounting packages to sales systems provide an early warning prior to cashflow problems or can highlight opportunities to invest our surplus more wisely.
Processes
You can't control people, but you can control activities. Setting clear documented processes based on best practice for our industry and exercising the discipline to follow them every time ensures ongoing success.
Marcellus Lindsay is the principal consultant at LCSE Ltd
Find out how you can enter our Best Practice exchange here. All entries that meet the criteria are published online.