Credit Matters Newsletters

Credit Matters first Professional Development Award topic and details are now available on our website at www.creditmatters.com.au You must be a Member of Credit Matters to participate and it is not too late to become a Member to be eligible to submit your effort.

On the Credit Matters Home page, there is a new feature which will allow you speedy access to essential Government Agencies if you should have a need of their services.

We have added a new feature to our Members Area - Mini Conversation Scripts. These scripts are designed to provide business owners and new employees with greater confidence and operate more effectively when contacting customers for unpaid invoices.

Advertising via Credit Matters

If you are interested in reaching business prospects who need your services or products, contact Kim to see what he can do for you. There are many different opportunities to advertise your business via Credit Matters and it may not be as expensive as you might imagine.

This month, flyers from the A.I.C.M., RSM Australia and IBAC with valuable information and contact information which you may wish to access again in the near future.

I thought that as we are now in the era of "The Donald", it may be useful to review his quote in the context of our monthly Inconvenient Truth comment. In fact, it also goes along nicely with our Essential Reading article, Contract ambiguities: Do you know for sure who owes you?  The link for the article is on our Home page at www.creditmatters.com.au.

All these references seem to have come together at the one time as if to endorse the concept; spending on protecting your assets is not just an expense. Such spending is also an investment in the survival and growth of your business.

There is one group of marketers and sales people which talk about expenses as costs. This group are usually trying to sell a cheaper product or service for sale than those products and services you may currently be using. These expenses are nothing more than the basic costs which are required to operate a business; such as rates, electricity, gas, lighting etc.

The second group of marketing and sales professionals selling their services and products, often class their offerings as being "... an investment in your business or future." The expenses in this category include; due diligence services, quality security systems, accounting software, training of employees etc. It is these expenses which help build the foundations of a successful business by maximising profit potential or to protect the business when adverse circumstances are encountered.

The old fable, "The Three Little Pigs" provides us with three examples of home owners who built their houses under different circumstances. One house was built out of straw, another built out of sticks and the third, of stone. At the first sign of trouble, the first two houses were found to be inadequate in protecting the home owners from the big bad wolf. It was only the third house of stone which provided long-term protection and stopped the wolf in his tracks. 

We can see similar examples in the world of commerce today where more than one big bad wolf will be circling and testing the defences your business. It is regrettable therefore, to still see so many business owners and managers fail to grasp the need to build a business with solid foundations. I understand not every business has deep pockets to spend endlessly on the foundations of their business. However, this does not excuse their lack of spending on even the basics.

Consequently, we can see the value in Donald Trump's quote if we paraphrase it to read "Sometimes the best investments are the ones you make to build a business with strong foundations."