Credit Control – “no sales transaction is complete until you have been paid for the goods or services you have supplied. If your customers are not paying you within the agreed timescale, be that monthly or whatever, then it’s time to call in these outstanding payments. Make sure you remind customers a few days before payment is due. Whilst a letter or email could do I personally favour a quick telephone call along the lines of “Payment for our invoice 123456 is due next week, can you confirm that you have no queries and that we can expect payment on time?”

If you don’t receive the payment then wait a day or two to allow for genuine postal delays – these do happen - and follow up with another call. Be polite but firm and don’t be fobbed off with excuses. Remember, other suppliers will also be chasing payment and if your client is short of cash they will get paid first.”

Of course a very simple point to remember in all this. If somebody has got no money, it does not matter what you do, it is not possible to get it back. Hence why a online/off-line reputation is so important and paying on time if you want to keep your credit.